To whomever's editing Grant Morrison's THE MULTIVERSITY project:

I'll just come out and say it. If Dave Gibbons won't (and god knows he shouldn't) draw Morrison's Charlton heroes/Watchmen riffing comic, can Chris Weston draw it instead?

"Well, if you know Lichtensteins references, or are familiar with the Foss/Brown debate, you know who the better artists really are. The fine art world can be culturally myopic. It's obvious that in music, if youre a DJ, playing something obscure and forgotten loud, in a new context like a club, does not make you the author. The art world equivalent redrawing something big and hanging it in a gallery should not make you the author either. If you fiddle with it a bit, thats called a remix or a cover version. It still does not make you the author. Never mistake an act of curation for an act of creation."

A fine interview with Rian Hughes, over here.

Note to self.

Buy this when you get home.

Affirmation.

From Mr Action Jackson, action photographer, currently ensconced in a floating hotel (a "boatel", if you will) somewhere on the Danube. Cheers for that Jacko, started my day off nicely.

More WEDNESDAY COMICS leakage. This time, Paul Pope does Adam Strange.

Argh, this is so very good. Look at those colours: very comics-Sunday-supplement-on-cheap-newsprint. The kick-assed hand lettering. The approach, as influenced by Burroughs and Raymond as Gardner Fox. Oh, Mr Pope, you've done it again.

I heart Barry Windsor-Smith.

And Herb Trimpe's alright in my book, too.

In response to "9 WOLVERINE BOOKS YOU MUST READ BEFORE GOING TO SEE THE MOVIE!"

1. Well there's this one, definitely.

2. And I loved this as a kid. Read it 'til it fell to bits.

3. And this is maybe the most influential super-hero comic of its time. Even Alan Moore would rip it off soon after, and HEROES seems to be based entirely on it.

4. Well, John Byrne left and things got a bit... inessential. Won't recommend the Claremont/Miller mini 'cuz it's tedious. But I remember thinking Claremont got his mojo back somewhat when Paul Smith came on board, and I loved this comic, too.

5. Even though I remember the Smith era fondly, I realise Claremont was very much repeating and recycling plots and themes for diminishing returns by then. Don't think I ever truly loved anything he did from this point on. Didn't enjoy another Wolverine comic (especially his dreadful solo series) until this cropped up.  And even then, I only really like it for the art.

6.  And again, I only like this for the art.

7. And then the long drought. Eventually Grant Morrison signed on to do the X-Men, and there was something of a knock-on effect throughout the line, which resulted in Milligan's X-Statix and this neglected classic.

8. Uh, and at a pinch... um... Nope, that's it. Graeme McMillan is maybe just a little bit more attached to the character than I am.  He can think of loads of shit. But I wouldn't touch half of it with a bargepole.

"Tonight... we dine... IN LARNE!"

The solicitations for WEDNESDAY COMICS #1-4 are out...

...and yes, this still sounds like my new favourite comic of the summer.

"WEDNESDAY COMICS #1-4
  In July, DC Comics gives a fresh twist to a grand comics tradition with WEDNESDAY COMICS, a new, weekly 12-issue series by some of the greatest names in comics today!
  WEDNESDAY COMICS is unique in modern comics history: Reinventing the classic weekly newspaper comics section, it is a 16-page weekly that unfolds to a sprawling 28 x 20 tabloid-sized reading experience bursting with mind-blowing color, action and excitement, with each feature on its own 14 x 20 page.
  
Spearheaded by DCU Editorial Art Director Mark Chiarello, whose past editing credits include BATMAN BLACK & WHITE, DC: THE NEW FRONTIER and SOLO, each page of WEDNESDAY COMICS spotlights the continuing adventures of DC heroes, including:
BATMAN, WEDNESDAY COMICS weekly cover feature, by the Eisner Award-winning 100 BULLETS team of writer Brian Azzarello and artist Eduardo Risso
ADAM STRANGE, by writer/artist Paul Pope (BATMAN: YEAR 100)
METAMORPHO, written by New York Times best-selling writer Neil Gaiman with art by Eisner Award-winner Michael Allred (Madman)
THE DEMON AND CATWOMAN, written by Walter Simonson (Thor, MANHUNTER) with art by famed DC cover artist Brian Stelfreeze
DEADMAN, written by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck, art by Dave Bullock
KAMANDI, written by Dave Gibbons (WATCHMEN, GREEN LANTERN CORPS) with art by Ryan Sook (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, ARKHAM ASYLUM: LIVING HELL)
SUPERMAN, written by John Arcudi (The Mask) with art by Lee Bermejo (JOKER)
WONDER WOMAN, written and illustrated by Ben Caldwell (Dare Detectives)
GREEN LANTERN, written by Kurt Busiek (TRINITY, ASTRO CITY) with art by Joe Quiñones (TEEN TITANS GO!)
TEEN TITANS, written by Eddie Berganza with art by Sean Galloway
SUPERGIRL, written by Jimmy Palmiotti (JONAH HEX) with art by Amanda Conner (POWER GIRL)
HAWKMAN, written and illustrated by Kyle Baker (PLASTIC MAN, Special Forces)
SGT. ROCK, written by Adam Kubert (SUPERMAN: LAST SON), ilustrated by legendary comics artist Joe Kubert
THE FLASH, written by Karl Kerschl (TEEN TITANS YEAR ONE, THE FLASH: THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE) and Brenden Fletcher, illustrated by Karl Kerschl
METAL MEN, written by Dan DiDio with art by Ian Churchill (SUPERGIRL)
  
WEDNESDAY COMICS will arrive in stores folded twice to 7 x 10, with the first issue set to reach stores on July 8.
Issue #1 on sale July 8; Issue #2 on sale July 15; Issue #3 on sale July 22; Issue #4 on sale July 29 1-4 of 12 7 x 10, 16 pg, FC, $3.99 US"

$3.99? Let the whinging commence.

Cop a load of these

Brendan McCarthy art exhibition at Orbital Comics.  Do get along if you can.

Paul Pope draws a STAR TREK strip in the latest issue of WIRED.  Anyone else feel a bit disappointed by that?

Design a beer coaster and win shit.

Hey, I know for a fact some of you cats can draw a bit.  Take one step forward everyone here who's a professional artist.  Not so fast, Weston.  Here's a brewery running a design a beer coaster competition. Prizes include a shitload of beer. Result.

Nothing to see here: things to look at elsewhere.

Ohh, a Risso/The Azz Batman page  from upcoming uberprojekt WEDNESDAY COMICS.

Part two of that Alan Moore interview.

And if you're into that kind of thing, Jim Mahfood doodling over naked ladies.

Alan Moore knows the score: Chelsea 4, Liverpool 4.

Adi Tantimedh does a great job interviewing The Beard about the new L.O.E.G., over at CBR. Moore to come later in the week apparently, too.

Hey - see what I did there? Fuckin' hilarious, me.

Decent news, for a change.

1. Michael Chabon will be taking a swing at the JOHN CARTER OF MARS script for Pixar's adaptation. That's a lot to be conjuring with, right there.

2. And some preview pages from LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: CENTURY #1.

The Hellacopters - "Hopeless Case Of A Kid In Denial"

Haven't heard this in a while. Best live band EVAH, by the way.
 

Down, boy.

When I'm bored on any given Sunday, I go and look at original art I couldn't possibly afford. Like this, Sir Duncan Fegredo's greywashed cover for the latest Hellboy novel.  Worth four and a half grand of anyone's money.  Unfortunately, my spare four and a half grand is earmarked for buying a new kitchen. D'oh.

This monkey's gone to heaven.

Long time, no hear from yer man Tiernen Trevallion. Well, he's rectified that, and sent this along to have a gander at: Behold!

Been Caught Soliciting, July '09: DARK HORSE.

More Mignola: Moon and Ba turn up in this playground, Fegredo covers another Hellboy paperback, and the long-trailed Victorian occult detective Edward Grey finally gets his own title.

And though the cover thumbnail is less than inspiring, this anthology sounds like le plums de le chien:

"NOIR: Brian Azzarello (W), Ed Brubaker (W), Alex de Campi (W), Jeff Lemire (W/A), Rick Geary (W/A), Paul Grist (W/A), David Lapham (W/A), Dean Motter (W/A), Chris Offutt (W), M. K. Perker (W/A), Eduardo Barreto (A), Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba (A), Sean Phillips (A), and others. On sale Sept 30, b&w, 104 pages, $12.95, TPB, 6" x 9". The biggest names in comics crime fiction assemble for an anthology of original tales of murder and deceit, presented in glorious black-and-white! Comics luminaries Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets), Ed Brubaker (Criminal, Sleeper), David Lapham (Stray Bullets), Rick Geary (A Treasury of Victorian Murder), Chris Offutt (HBO's True Blood), and Paul Grist (Kane) show why they're masters of the genre, while newer talents like Jeff Lemire (Essex County), M. K. Perker (Cairo, Air), and Alex de Campi (Smoke) reveal their surprising dark sides. Aided and abetted by some of the most gifted slatherers of thick, black India ink in the field, such as Sean Phillips (Criminal), Eduardo Barreto (Cobb), Dean Motter (Mister X), and more, this gang is headed straight for the bad parts of town, and you're invited along for the ride!"
Groovy.

Full Solicits here.

Pigeons in flight, I want to see you tonight.

You know who also wants to take a swing at THE MONKEY KING some day? Victor Santos.

I like Booker T Jones. And I like Neil Young. But which is better? There's only one way to find out. FIIIGHT!

Strikes me that any Neil Young fans who want to order a new album next week should get this rather than this.  They might have to wait a while longer, but they'll end up with a product without his dopiest lyrics ever on it.  And better guitar solos.

BOOOOOGIE!

It's been a great month for the Muppets, what with the new comic, and now Animal announcing the new line-up of The Electric Mayhem. Good to see him bouncing back from the massive drum riser explosion that killed Floyd, Zoot, Janice and Dr Teeth.
(via WJC)

Toothy links

1.The current series of Rob Williams' LOWLIFE running in 2000AD is a thing of glory. Here its erudite artist D'Israeli gives us a nice little potted visual history of Mega City One.

2. As a big aul' Brendan McCarthy fan, I've a special place in my heart for his Brit Cit Judge design. After the B-Man, the best use of the design was in ARMITAGE, by Dave Stone and Sean Phillips. Not everyone's favourite character, but I always thought it was a decent stab at utilising the other (British, non-procedural) crime-writing tradition within the Dredd ethos.  Sean returns to the character for an upcoming cover of JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE.

BRUNO trailer. Oh yes.

Bond will be back in...

...RED HERRING.  I know he's probably living a contented life as a house husband, but hell yeah! Phil "Solid Gold" Bond's drawing interiors again! Nobody does it better, etc, etc, etc!

Merry funsters.

Is this FOR REALS or the cruellest April Fools Day gag ever? Guess we'll find out soon enough.

Also: Tharg really should commission Al Ewing's Rogue Trooper. In fact, they should call it exactly that.