EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW WITH J.H. WILLIAMS III (PART TWO)

Last week, in Part One, we revealed the cryptic mystic secrets of a metal band called The Sword and their collaboration with artist J.H. Williams III (Batwoman, Promethea, Chase) to create the artwork for Apocryphon. This week, we continue our talk with J.H. on such varied topics as Batwoman, The Sandman and about the process of writing comics for other artists to draw.

DIGBOSTON: Let’s get into this and talk about Batwoman! Issue #14 is out, with #15 hitting right before Christmas. We’re in the middle of the arc with Wonder Woman. Your run on this book in the New 52 is existing comfortably in the spot where the Morrison comics are, where they are not really affected by the change in the New 52. You’ve taken over writing from your partnership with Greg Rucka. Now you are working with W. Haden Blackman and Amy Reeder. How much can you tell us about being able to stay off in your own little world? J.H. WILLIAMS III:  I don’t know how it happened actually. In my conversations with DC, they’ve always been supportive of what I want to do, and they instinctively knew the book had to be not isolated but needed to be doing it’s own thing for a while. The stuff I did with Greg was significant, and at the same time there was still so much more to explore. Those stories were still relatively new when the New 52 shift occurred. We had already been working on Batwoman: The Series before the New 52 happened. Instead of trying to reconfigure everything, they just let us run with it.

Batwoman was so new, that to reboot the character would be nonsense.

The stuff that Greg and I did, as far as her origin, her sister the psychotic Alice, the fallout with her father…It would have been insane to throw that all away. It had to remain as canon. It seemed like a very natural thing for them to accept it. Very cool. How are you enjoying being on the writing side and giving some issues over to other artists? It’s really an interesting process, actually. In enjoy it a lot, seeing how other people interpret the scripts. What I find the most interesting on a creative process level is that when I’m writing for myself, I’m writing the same as if I write for someone else in sense of detail.

Writing for myself, it’s not as though I cut corners on my scripts. “OK, I’m in writer’s mode, I’m wearing my writer’s hat, so I’m going to write”.

Almost like, if something were to happen in the middle of writing and drawing, you’d be able to hand off the script to someone else. (Laughs) Yeah, and it’s just good practice anyway, if I’m going to pursue being a writer, I need to know what the hell I’m doing and write things fully fleshed out. The fun part for me is seeing what someone when Trevor McCarthy comes in with his interpretations of what we’re writing and run with it as well. I’m really happy to be working with him, he is an open minded artist willing to try different things and puts a lot of thought into what he is doing. It is super exciting to be writing for other people, it is not my first experience doing that, a long time ago, I had co-written a book called Chase for DC. It was short-lived, but then we did a lot of short stories based on the concept for DC Secret Files where other artists got to draw those. I also co-wrote a five part Batman story called Snow that another artist drew. I found the whole thing interesting, how another artist would interpret how I see things.

When I write, I’m very descriptive and try to convey visuals with words. Seeing how someone else would interpret how I know I would interpret the script is very fascinating.

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 You’ve introduced a new vocabulary into page layout, and your panel shapes. I think you’ve got some imitators out there now as well. There may not be much for you to say about your process but I wanted to compliment you on our page layouts because they are really amazing, and sort of changed the game a little bit.

  Thank you, I appreciate that you feel that way. When people talk about my work in that regard, I feel like I’m cheating. In all honesty, some of the things I’m doing aren’t all that new! People like Jim Steranko and Jim Starlin to name a couple were doing this in the 60s and 70s, to name a couple who pushed the boundaries of what a page can do. I feel like all I’m really doing is trying to expand on that. I gravitated to that stuff when I saw it.

It seeped into my head and I can’t help but think in those terms now.

You could be introducing that to a whole new generation of artists that never have seen the 70s Steranko. Exactly, and to me on a personal creative level, I can’t settle on doing things the traditional expected way. Certainly there is a place for that and there are times where I do that myself, even in Batwoman when we go highly traditional. But when I’m doing it, it now has a different meaning because of the way it is being used in relation to the more wilder stuff.

If I had to draw just the way that people superficially expect comics to look, I probably would be pretty bored. That sounds like a terrible thing to say in some ways because I love comics and I read lots of comics that are very traditional. For myself, I’m compelled to just push it.

After a year of the New 52, we get a “0” Origin issue of Batwoman. The 0 Issue reveal was spectacular. With the training, it was everything you want out of a new Batman origin, except for here it is, Batwoman.

Thanks, that was a tricky issue for us to write because we knew what was going to remain canon and not canon from Greg and I’s run, that with my partner Haden, it would be a disservice to deviate from that at all. When the whole Zero issue thing came up and DC wanted an origin story it was a challenge because we felt all that ground had been covered already, and relatively recently from one of the best writers there is! It was vey tough for us to figure out how to retell that story but bring something new to it at the same time without deviating from what was there. We had to treat this as more of an expansion. What solidified the issue and what makes it stand out in comparison to what came before with Greg’s story, was for the first time, we are getting to see these events from Kate Kane’s inner point of view. We get to see her looking at that stuff in hindsight.

This brought out new emotional revelations for the character that aren’t necessarily evident from the stuff Greg and I got to work on together. I thought in that regard it was really successful.

It was great and it was Year One in 22 pages. Very cool. We all heard at San Diego Comic Con this year about the 2013 Sandman Comic with Neil Gaiman. Are you excited about the fan feedback that you’ve heard so far?

Oh yeah, people are so excited for it. I had art collectors pinging me about being on a list to get pages, before anything had even been drawn yet. httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GndnR7oSYYk A funny thing about announcing projects, is that sometimes the audience thinks that it must have been worked on already! I think the fans are really excited, and that excitement is really going to ramp up the closer we get to it actually coming out, especially when we are able to show people what we are going to do. I can’t wait to do it.

Honestly, I can’t wait to see it either! It is going to be so amazing.

We have to know, though, what is your preferred format for The Sword Apocryphon? Are you going to get the cassette version as well? Yeah, I have the cassette version, that was part of the deal I made with them — they had to send me a copy of everything they do! For one, I want to have a copy for my own personal archives, and also I want to physically s ee it so I can go, “Ooh, look at this, isn’t that cool”! But I have to say, I’m stoked with all the different vinyl versions that are coming out, that are amazing. I just heard from Napalm Records, the label responsible for some of the overseas stuff are going back to print on some of the vinyl with even more variations.

Something about seeing it in vinyl is so much more powerful to me on a visual level than the CD version. It is just really cool.

It is an amazing record with amazing artwork, it has been a pleasure to talk to you, J.H.! Part One of this interview can be found here: EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW WITH J.H. WILLIAMS III (PART ONE).

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

[Quoted on ROBOT 6] 

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for December 5, 2012

 

COMICS

Much to the chagrin of everybody, the 50 year run of The Amazing Spider-Man is coming to an end at issue #700, and you had best believe we’re being dragged kicking and screaming to the finale. This week in ASM #699 we find out how Doc Ock has been pulling the strings on Peter’s life as he himself lay dying in the hospital. Don’t let this get omitted from your collection! … You can’t tell a book by it’s cover unless Todd McFarlane drew a parody of his own classic Hulk #340. Check out issue #226 of Spawn this week and hang it proudly on your wall. Darklon, Destro and Dreadknocks deftly dabble at defeating the Joe’s in the classic G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #185 by original Joe scribe Larry Hama! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW WITH J.H. WILLIAMS III (PART ONE)

When we can open our eyes and see the connections between people, places, and things as more than just coincidence, but rather as a web stretching across the universe and back home to Earth, great discoveries happen on a spiritual level. Metal band The Sword thinks about these ethereal associations and tapped modern comic book maestro J.H. Williams III (Batwoman, Promethea, Chase) to create the artwork for Apocryphon. Following a sold out show at The Middle East Downstairs last week, we talked to the artist about his craft and the collaboration that brought the band back to Earth after spending some time in outer space.

  DIGBOSTON: Thanks for taking the time with us, J.H.! Can you let us know what kind of direction you were given by the band for the artwork? We’ve been listening to Apocryphon by The Sword non-stop since their show last week.

J.H. WILLIAMS III: It was kind of an organic process. Ultimately it was born of having conversations with the singer John [D. Cronise]. For something like this to be really successful from my point of view, as someone who is creating visuals for someone else’s artistic endeavors, I feel like I need to get inside their head a little bit. We started talking about what the new music sounds like and they had sent me over some demos. We started talking about what some of the lyrical content was going to be like and what the overall feeling of the album would be. When he told me the meaning of the title, that word means secret writing. This led into a whole esoteric conversation about mysticism, a little bit about the occult, and more esoteric ideas. As we would talk, different things would come into my head, and I would sketch or think about some ideas and send those things over.

The biggest thing we were wanting to convey was a lot of symbolic imagery without it typically being just symbols. We ended up using some rune-like symbols, and overall the rest of the imagery needed to feel symbolic of different things. Some were purposeful, others were random and organic, more metaphoric in a sense.

That definitely fits into what I know of your art in the comics. You can get into some abstract symbols and symbolism. I was thinking about the runes and I meant to ask because everyone goes back to the Led Zeppelin IV — where everybody ‘has their own symbol.’ I feel like what the band was trying to do with the record and the overall look of your awesome artwork was that there are symbols people can relate to, but don’t exactly know why. I also know from their website that John did a lot of research on his own to get inspired for this new record. It is a great fit.

I think so, too; one of the things I was trying to convey visually was that with their previous albums, there is a great sense of story to their stuff. I wanted to keep that going, so that when you look at the artwork there is a great sense of story to it. A lot of it is more metaphoric, symbolic images that represent other things. The sense of story comes out through the use of those images.

The idea of the runes is like creating a sense of story that has mystery to it.

You aren’t going to get necessarily all of the answers concretely, or some of the stuff might make you feel something in particular, or make you think of something subliminally so that it becomes more interpretational.

When you are listening to the record and letting the art wash over you, you are filling in the gaps with your imagination, like in between pages or panels in a comic book, in a way.

Yeah, exactly. The only thing I was really concrete about wanting to convey was that the previous album, Warp Riders, was a far out, space, sci-fi fantasy epic thing. This record, the first thing that came to my mind when John was talking to me was that even though the lyrics are metaphorical, this is a much more personal record for him than Warp Riders was. When you look at the first image, I wanted you to have a sense of the cosmic-ness at the top, but [also the sense that] you are returning to a planetary body. In doing so, we wanted to show that a planetary body at first seems like a dead-looking planet. But there is a piece carved out, where there is still fire inside of it.

So the band is returning to a personal place to rebirth this fuel inside themselves, therefore re-birthing vitality in a way.

 The whole symbol of the planet being dead there, and then you turn the cover over to the back and you see life growing from death. This becomes rich, and has almost a summer kind of feel to it or a spring kind of feel. At the bottom you can see the skulls and the sunflowers rising up from that. To me that was symbolizing the idea of being out in space and returning to someplace deeper and personal.

I see the contrast of reaching out to a big fantasy world of spaceships and sci-fi mysteries out there with the mysteries grounded by bringing it back to the Earth on a personal level best illustrated by your image of a sword cracking though the crust of the Earth on the back of the jewel case.

By returning to Earth and getting more personal, you are invigorating new life, and seeing things from a different point of view than you were before. That’s why we used the diagram aspect of the sword penetrating the planet. We wanted to follow through with another diagram of the human cell. That round shape of the human cell correlates to the round shape of the planet.

The planet itself is a symbol of life in a way, and the basic biology of small cell life builds up us, just as the planets build up the cosmos.

What I think is great about this is that other bands might be trying to go for this type of thing, but this is a whole package. A lot of thought and care went into this. And it is not just that they hired an illustrator to draw something cool for the record cover.

I was super stoked to do it, I was a huge fan of the band prior to getting to know them a little bit. At the same time, I was trepidatious because John was telling me he was a huge fan of my work. The first thing I thought of was “Please don’t tell me you want something that looks like Batwoman on the cover”. (Laughs) John said such a nice thing, that they were coming to you because of what they saw in my comics work. My comics work hits them at such a level that they trusted me to do whatever I wanted as far as visuals I could bring to the table as far as open and far reaching.

I think it’s also very cool that you guys are super big fans of each other! That’s the best.

Ha ha, yeah, they’re a killer band! Coming back to the runes, and the idea of secret writing having to do with metaphysics, there is a metaphysical bent to some of John’s lyrics and the name of the album, Apocryphon, when I did my research on what that word meant, I found two things. One was secret writings, two was about how things were very personal.

Even though they are conveying music to an audience, personal can also mean very personal secrets or privacy.

I was thinking about this thing called the alphabet of desire. This is a ritualistic technique developed by occultist Austin Osman Spare. You think of something you desire to have in your life, a personal mantra about how you want to live or something you need to accomplish in your life. You write down a sentence on what that is, and you take the first letter of each word and create a sigil from that. Then you would meditate on the idea. There are a couple of different interpretations. In one, you would burn the original sentence, or you would burn the sigil for yourself. No one else knows what this means. This becomes highly personal. When I explained this to John, he loved that idea. Since he loved it, I insisted his band to do it, and just tell me the letters and I would design sigils for the band. By just telling me the letters, that retains the power of the secret message. We created those, and I thought it would be interesting to make runes out of the titles of the songs as well.

For that, did you reach for comic book letterer Todd Klein’s assistance?

No, I designed all the runes and the book myself, where Todd comes in, was figuring out some of the technical aspects. We were under the gun to get this done in time and I couldn’t do all the lettering myself. So I went to the best guy there is! He designed all the text lettering for the credits and the song lyrics. Another cool element that was very concrete in the artwork was the use of the winged serpent, an interpretation of Quetzalcoatl. Here the band was returning to a personal place in the year 2012, looking for renewal and change.

Everyone is talking about how the world and society needs to renew and change as well. The Mayan 2012 stuff is a bunch of junk, but it got me thinking about the real meaning of apocalypse isn’t destruction, it is change from what we know.

Musicians constantly need to be reinventing themselves, selling records, but also bands don’t want to be stuck in the same place. Some bands get ethereally abstract about that, but Kyle (Shutt, guitar) was saying “We’re Not Making a Conscious Decision To Do Anything But Be Awesome”. The sound on this record is not a huge departure but it is more grounded as you said, so thank you for sharing this with us!

It was super exciting to do, and it seems like we enjoyed the collaboration enough that I’m hoping that we will be able to do more things in the future. I’ve expressed interest to them that I’d be game to be involved in other releases or however else they would like to join forces.

J.H. was awesome enough to let me keep him on the phone to talk about Batwoman, The New 52, his upcoming Sandman book with Neil Gaiman. Stay tuned for Part Two of our interview next week! EDIT: Here it is!

[READ MORE AT DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for November 28, 2012

 

COMICS

Alex Ross is a master of the fully painted interior comics page. He returns to the storytelling with Chris Roberson (Superman, Monkeybrain Comics) to tell the tales of masked vigilantes The Green Hornet, Kato, Zorro, and The Spider in Masks #1 set in New York circa 1938! … Last week, we had our followup interview with Grace Randolph, creator of Boom! Studio’s Supurbia. This ‘Real Housewives’ of superhero story was so successful as a mini-series, that Boom! picked it up as an ongoing. The best part was getting talking to Grace about the development of the characters that get a change to grow in the second art. Like gossip and reality TV with loads of robot smashing and demonic interference? Supurbia Vol. 1 Trade Paperback is out today, collecting the hard to find sold out issues. Grace Randolph EARTH PRIME TIME interviews Part one here and Part Two here. … Bronies, your comic dreams have come true! IDW Publishing will now be delivering your monthly dose of My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic starting this week with issue #1. Ponyville talent includes Katie Cook (Gronk, Star Wars) and Stephanie Buscema. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: SUPURBIA ONGOING INTERVIEW WITH GRACE RANDOLPH

Back in March, we interviewed writer Grace Randolph about her BOOM! Studio debut mini-series Supurbia. What happens if the lens of reality TV were pointed at the lives of superheroes and their families? You can read that first tale in a Trade Paperback starting next week, November 28 at your local store. The big news that we’re talking with Graceabout today is that Supurbia has been upgraded to an ongoing series, available today (Wednesday, November 21, 2012). Comic stores sold out of the previous issues, so be sure to get your copy this week. Here is Grace to dish the latest gossip on the real housewives and husbands of her fantastically popular universe!   

DIGBOSTON: Hi Grace! It’s been a while. Not true, we got to meet at New York Comic Con this year. What a delight. Did you have a great convention?

GRACE RANDOLPH: Yes! It was such a nice surprise to see you at the BOOM! Studios panel! NYCC was wonderful this year — it’s been really interesting to watch the show grow. As for my own convention experience, between the BOOM! Studios and Bleeding Cool panels, plus co-hosting Newsarama’s coverage, I got to talk to an awesome mix of industry professionals and fellow readers!

Your miniseries is collected in trade on November 28th and the title is now ongoing with a new Issue # 1 in stores today! How excited are you for expanding your audience?

I’m hopeful!

All you can do is put a book out there and try to spread the word, but then it all depends if new readers are compelled to pick up the book off the shelf.

This is where comic book stores have been crucial, as they have a great relationship with their customers and can recommend new books. I did a signing at Third Eye Comics at the beginning of the month, and it was great to see how much their customers trust their recommendations. Thankfully, Third Eye Comics owner Steve thinks Supurbia is a good read!

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for November 21, 2012

COMICS

Captain America #1 comes out from Marvel NOW! this week, with All-Star scribe Rick Remender (Fear Agent, X-Force) and artist John Romita Jr. Rick is sending Cap into space in his first arc in the The Saga of Dimension Z. … Want more from your super smart “enormous green rage monster”? How about if he’s an of Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Mark Waif gives us his Marvel NOW! Indestructible Hulk #1 this week with artist Lenil Yu (Ultimates, Super Crooks), variant cover from Walt Simonson. … Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise, Echo, Rachel Rising) continues his art educational series with How to Draw - 5 Lessons for the Serious Comic Artist. From pen to PDF, this book is a great gift for anyone interested in drawing comics *hint hint*. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: JOHN DE LANCIE ‘Q’ AND A – RHODE ISLAND COMIC CON [VIDEO]

As part of our obsessive completist series here at Earth Prime Time, we fill in the time gap from a computer-less week with coverage of the first annual Rhode Island Comic Con (November 3-4, 2012). I was asked to moderate my first panel at a comic book convention with actor John de Lancie, best known to Star Trek: The Next Generation fans as the mischievous villain Q and to Bronies as Discord in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
 

Fortunately for all involved, right before the panel, Forces Of Geek editor-in-chief Stefan Blitzinformed me that my ‘moderation’ was now to be downgraded to ‘introducing John and sitting next to him’. John is an engaging speaker and has spoken to hundreds of audiences in his time. He didn’t need my help up there. Self-doubt and nervous energy had already pervaded my senses just as the 11AM Red Bull started taking effect.

Somehow, I just knew that my 12 plus hours of Netflix ‘research’ and my 10 questions for an actor of John’s caliber were not good enough.

Well, not good enough in comparison to the questions his die-hard fans would have for him. I was still busy revising my queries on I-95 just minutes before.

I was showered, caffeinated and a strange combination of unprepared and over prepared.

In the panel room we delayed the start of the talk to allow more people an opportunity to get inside. The line outside was long as first-time convention volunteers attempted to process hundreds ofBrowncoats, Jedi, Finns and Fionnas. Day 1 of Rhode Island Comic Con was off to a slow start but there were already over 30 people here for John De Lancie’s panel. Snacking on a convention breakfast of leftover M&Ms, I broke out my 2007 White MacBook to take a final look at my questions. I was confronted by the gray Mac Screen of Death and Matrix digital rain. I’d seen it before. This was a gasp, a final plea from ol’ Lappy to for me to say ‘goodbye’ to her just one last time.

For some reason when it was time to go on to the dais, I brought her with me.

“Maybe Q can fix my computer”, I must have thought. Nay. No snapping of fingers could fix the logic board.

John did pick her up, though. Using her as a prop and coaster for his coffee was a right send off for the old bird.

Was I disappointed that I didn’t get to ask my all of my questions? The answer is unequivocally “No.” I got to sit back and listen to John with best seat in the house.

Below, please check out the full hour of John de Lancie (also Donald Margolis on Breaking Bad, Eugene Bradford on Days of Our Lives, Frank Simmons from Stargate: SG-1) discussing his craft, music, writing and his involvement with BronyCon: The Documentary.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

Walt Simonson and Stafan Blitz from Forces of Geek BY YOUR COMMANDBatmobileBatcycle

EARTH PRIME TIME: SUMMER OF VALIANT – SHADOWMAN

 

Our coverage continues of the resurrection of the Valiant Universe with a review ofShadowman #1. Look, we know it isn’t summer, but unlike CVS, who seem to want to cram Christmas down past our discount-candy-corn-weakened teeth, we prefer to remember the past season with fondness and celebrate the roll out of the Valiant characters with the thrill of a summer fling. New Orleans is the setting of Shadowman, a place resilient to climate change, storms and more than a few stories of rejuvenation. Artist Patrick Zircher co-writes with Justin Jordan (The Strange Talent of Luther Strode) the revival tale of Jack Boniface in Shadowman #1.   

The first incarnation of Shadowman was created as a featured Valiant Comic in 1992 by Jim Shooter and Steve Englehart, with artists David Lapham and Bob Layton. The original Jack Boniface was a down on his luck jazz musician drinking at a club. He is taken in by super fan Lydia for a nightcap.

This happened. On Duck Boats. On Commonwealth Ave. last Monday.

Awakening from feeling woozy, Jack has a mark on his neck and unexplained hours missing. Taking to the streets to seek revenge, he sees someone being assaulted. Super natural strength takes over and Jack defeats the assailant. Being drawn to a carnival mask on the ground, it is revealed later that he is now possessed by a Voodoo spirit.

Shadowman protects the city from the evil necromancer Master Darque.

Shadowman was a successful and popular character for Valiant and the affiliated company Acclaim Entertainment, who launched a successful video game franchise loosely based on the comic. Many creators such as Christopher Priest (Black Panther), Garth Ennis, Frank Miller, Joe Quesada, and more have worked on Jack’s original 80 issues. Crossovers are an integral to storytelling in theValiant Universe.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for November 14, 2012

COMICS

There’s a new book from Robert Kirkman’s (The Walking Dead, Invincible) Skybound imprint out this week. Clone #1 is written by David Schulner (TV’s The Event, Trauma) and confronts a doctor with his own clone in a conspiracy sci-fi thriller! Preview at CBR. … The cover to Star Trek Ongoing #15 has Zach Quinto’s Spock sporting a goatee. That can only mean one thing, he’s evil! This is a modern take of the classic ‘Mirror Universe’ Trek tale! … Matt Fraction is taking on Fantastic Four in a Marvel Now! #1. We’re stoked to see what cosmic craziness Fraction fantasizes for the Fantastic flagship family! Read more about Marvel Now! here at our EARTH PRIME TIME column! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for November 7, 2012

Back after some MINOR technical difficulties! Computer was hit by Gamma Rays!

COMICS

Valiant is rebuilding the Valiant Universe with one of it’s most popular characters, Shadowman in Shadowman #1. … Based in New Orleans, musician Jack Boniface nearly died one night, only to find he urges to fight demons at night. Fun fact, Aerosmith appeared in a past issue of Shadowman, surviving to grace the streets of Allston on Monday! … Kieron Gillen and Greg Land take on Marvel Now’s Tony Stark in Iron Man #1. What will happen to Tony’s armor to protect him from a deadly strain of the Extremis virus? … Usagi Yojimbo’s Stan Sakai illustrates Mike Richardson’s take of national Japanese legend 47 Ronin this week in 47 Ronin #1 from Dark Horse. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

EARTH PRIME TIME: BILL FINGER – SECRET CO-CREATOR OF BATMAN WITH MARC TYLER NOBLEMAN

The stories of how comics are made are half the reason we pay so much attention to the brightest and most talented creators out there today. We want to be able to say we have been paying attention to an artist right from the beginning, or that a writer has had his breakthrough arc on a particular series. Much of this idea runs parallel to following the hottest underground bands in the music business. When Simon and Kirby created Captain America or when Jack teamed up with Stan Lee to create the Marvel Universe, there was no telling the effect superheroes would have on the culture.

Marc Tyler Nobleman has written many books about comic book history. He joins Earth Prime Time today to tell us about his new book, Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman, drawn by Ty Templeton, and how Bill’s legacy affects the comic market today.

DIGBOSTON: Marc, thanks for taking the time to talk with us about your book today. I don’t think I’m overstating by saying this is an important book for Batman fans or Batmanians. Has the Bill Finger story always been interesting to you?
Marc Tyler Nobleman: I don’t remember when I learned the “Batman created by Bob Kane” credit was inaccurate, other than that it was sometime after college. Soon after I sold the manuscript for my first superhero picture book, Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, Bill’s story grabbed me as a natural (not to mention more heartbreaking) follow-up.

In a sense, his story is even more important—Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster lived long enough to win back credit and compensation for their icon, but Bill Finger didn’t.

There has not been much coverage of this topic beyond the comic book convention scene crowd. Comic book historians and other creators certainly know a bit about the story, but for the first time you are presenting the information so that there is less mystery surrounding the origin of Batman’s creation. Why did you want to write this book?
For the reason you just stated! Comics diehards indeed know the name Bill Finger, but his contribution to pop culture is so significant that I feel the mainstream should know the back story, too. That’s also why I wrote it as a picture book for older readers.

I want kids to grow up knowing the truth about Batman’s creation rather than learning about it (like me), as an adult—if at all.

A rare photo of Batman Co-Creator Bill Finger from Green Lantern #1 (1941)

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.com]

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for October 31, 2012

COMICS

Cassie and Val had a hard knock life in the Kung Fu Orphanage and now spend their L.A. nights as bounty hunters on the strip. Freelancers #1 from Boom! Studios debuts at one dollar! … Showcasing some rare and unseen stories from the late Joe Kubert and a crop of talented writers and artists is Joe Kubert Presents #1 (of Six). This week includes a never before printed Kubert Hawkman tale. Gail Simone adds to her Barbara Gordon Batgirl run with Batgirl Annual #1. Batgirl makes an uneasy alliance with Catwoman and we find more about the Talon Babs fought in Night of the Owls. It’s the new status quo, and a year in, Barbara is still not Oracle. And we like it that way. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: BEST VAMPIRE COMICS

Boy, someone must have made me overnight, because with this October change in weather it feels like staying in bed in the daylight hours is the only thing that feels good any more. When you are literally drained by whatever work stuff, band stuff, or relationship stuff, you’ve just got to perk yourself up with a True Blood marathon or some classic vampire comic books.

Buffy, Angel, Faith and Spike … So I’ve got kind of a problem.

This … is just part of my problem - Buffy and Spike by Phil Noto

While my friend was letting me crash on her couch a few years ago (a required growing pain in this town), she let made me watch my first episode of Joss Whedon’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Years before directing Marvel’s The Avengers, Joss established a world in Sunnydale, California where vampires, monsters, demons, and ghouls lived in the Hellmouth below Sunnydale High School. The show lasted seven seasons and spun off good guy vampire Angel (David Boreanaz of Bones) into a five-season run.

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DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for October 24, 2012

COMICS

Iron Man gets a reboot after 61 amazing issues with writer Matt Fraction and artist Salvador Larocca having faced Tony against his drinking, future octo-bots and his own mind. Get Invincible Iron Man #527 this week to complete an immersive run on the character that ties in nicely with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. …Wolverine MAX #1 is a new ongoing for mature readers unleashing the beast from crime novelist Jason Starr and drawn by Jock (Batman, The Losers) …The League collects comics because they are fun, not to make eBay money. BUT, if one were to judge by Pendleton Ward’s success with Adventure Time selling out all over the place, Bravest Warriors #1 from kaboom! is the book to keep in excellent condition for the resell. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: WHAT’S NEW WITH MARVEL NOW!

Marvel NOW! is an exclamation, a reaction, and a well needed shot in the arm to the Marvel Comics properties this fall, 13 months after the reboot of the DC Universe known as DC New 52. The blockbuster movie summer is over and the company seems to be aligning the characters with the now familiar on-screen versions of our heroes. It’s not at all strange to see these announcements right after The Avengers Blu-ray hit the shelves. Here’s what we heard about and read about the Marvel NOW! books at New York Comic Con this weekend.

Shocker! The Amazing Spider-Man is 50 years old this month and is approaching issue #700!

What happens after such a long string of numbers? They decide to call it quits and start again at a new number one.

We were aghast to see this happen to Detective Comics and Action Comics last year but really we got over it, especially with Grant Morrison taking on Superman and NYCC celebrity all-stars Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo dropping Batman #13, reintroducing The Joker last week. The relaunched Spider-Man title will be The Superior Spider-Man, (January 2013) written by longtime Spidey-writer Dan Slott. Here’s the rub though—it ain’t Peter Parker behind that mask, and he’s making out with Mary Jane. No secrets about this hero revealed at the Con, but the new Spider-Man is someone we are familiar with in the 616.

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DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for October 17, 2012

COMICS

Hungry for more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action? Creator Kevin Eastman writes and draws his first full length story in 20 years at the TMNT Annual #1 (IDW). Eastman had to ask for more pages for his story and for you and he got ‘em! Raphael and Casey investigate the NYC criminal underworld in this tale that fans have been waiting for. … Aww yeah, Marvel Zombies return for the Marvel Zombies first Halloween Special written by Fred Van Lente (Marvel Zombies, Spidey, Archer and Armstrong). Find out if it’s safe to go trick or treating in the zombie apocalypse (probably not a good idea). … Get psychedelic with Brendan McCarthy (Judge Dredd, 2000AD, Shade the Changing Man) and Al Ewing’s inter-dimensional magician Zaucer of Zilk #1! … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: NEW YORK COMIC-CON PREVIEW 2012

New York Comic Con ’12 October 11-14 is sold out! Are you lucky enough to have a pass? Got that cousin with a table spot sneaking you in the back of the Javits Center? The League bought passes months ago, and have a Secret Origin at NYCC ’09 — we can’t miss this weekend’s spectacular convention, the world’s safety depends on it. Here’s a guide to the madness, lines, dollar hot dogs from Hell’s Kitchen and how to avoid Con-Crud from one of those television Walking Dead zombies.

The New York Comic Con (presented by ReedPOP, 2006—present) is the East Coast’s largest comic book convention set in the heart of Manhattan. The 2011 convention broke attendance records at 105,000. Programming continues to grow and expand to a fourth day, adding Thursday to the schedule this year and last. Saturdays are the craziest in the expansive and somewhat bleak Javits Center. Getting from a screening to a panel in time can be frustrating, and expect there to be hours spent in line.

Vendors, artists, writers and gamers occupy every spot on the floor and it will feel like you are being pick-pocketed by Catwoman every two minutes (you may be). Is the convention worth all of the craziness, blisters and cosplay? Absolutely. Every second of it.

Advice from the League forthcoming. The convention offers two convenient ways to plan out your time and of course the program book each year is invaluable. Take some time checking off the panels and screenings you want to attend, and be sure to block off some free time to meet up with pals, or walk around to the various tables.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

EARTH PRIME TIME: NEW YORK COMIC-CON PREVIEW 2012 by clay-fernald

DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for October 10, 2012

COMICS

The Joker returns to Gotham City in the most highly anticipated book of the month, Batman #13 (Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo). This story kicks off the ‘Death of the Family’ storyline, we anticipate Snyder’s Joker to be particularly freaky with his face attached to his skull with straps and hooks. Preview at Newsarama. … Here’s some collected editions we think are worth checking out! Smoke and Mirrors is collected and available for pre-order. This book incorporates magic and a strange new world. Check out our interview with the creators here! … Saga from Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples is a must read sci-fi drama recommended for all Star Wars fans. New 52 Nightwing Vol. 1 and Neal Adams Batman: Odyssey Hardcover are also recommended for pre-order. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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EARTH PRIME TIME: INTERVIEW: NEW YORKER COVER ARTIST ADRIAN TOMINE SIGNS ‘NEW YORK DRAWINGS’ AT HARVARD BOOK STORE

Contemporary comic book artist, writer, cartoonist and New Yorker cover artist Adrian Tomine signs his most current Drawn and Quarterly hardcover at Harvard Book Store tomorrow. New York Drawings is an anthology of New Yorker covers, record covers, and character sketches from in and around New York City. Adrian spend most of his life on the West Coast, cultivating a cult following for his Optic Nerve mini-comic. Here is an exclusive interview with Adrian touching upon his successes, the comic market, and insight into the process behind his signature clean line style.

Thanks for taking the time with us today, Adrian. The preface to New York Drawings is a short autobiographical strip wherein you find yourself at a New Yorker Christmas Party. Like a true artist, you find yourself full of self doubt, even at a point where you can be proud of your successes. Is there a lesson in humility there or was this a passing observation?

Well, I didn’t intend for it to be didactic, but I suppose if someone is putting together a book of all their work for The New Yorker, it wouldn’t hurt to add a drop or two of humility. Basically, it’s just a little story I’ve had in the back of my mind for a while now, but didn’t know what to do with.

I initially sat down to write a more traditional prose introduction for the book, and then it just seemed like it would be more interesting to do it as a comic.

Optic Nerve had it’s origins as a self-published mini-comic. Do you feel like the kind of success you had at an early age in comics could be duplicated in the market today?

  I think the market has changed so much since then that what was considered “success” for me at an early age wouldn’t really register now. I was elated when five copies of my mini-comic sold at the local comic shop—now people can track the number of “hits” to their website, they get big advances for their first book, etc.

If I was any kind of success back then, it was mainly because the stakes were so low!

Was the leap from autobiographical comics to more in-depth stories about other characters a natural move? In other words, how were you able to start writing more complex stories and building your ‘world’? Did your English education at UC Berkeley drive your creative writing?

My college classes certainly exposed me to a lot of literature that would’ve been too intimidating for me to tackle on my own, but I don’t know that that had a direct influence on my comics. I mean, if you look at the stuff I was doing back then and then you look at the books I was reading for school, it would be pretty hard to find any kind of direct correlation.

I was reading the best literature ever created and I was drawing the worst comics of my career.

I think that progression towards longer, more fictionalized stories is really the result of a rather embarrassing competitive streak. I was watching a lot of other cartoonists achieve great success and acclaim with ambitious “graphic novels,” and I felt like I needed to try to at least get in the race. And now I’ve reverted back to short stories, so I guess we know now how that all played out.

Were you the first of your friends to get published and get attention for your work? Optic Nerve put you on the map as a young man.

You assume that I had friends! I actually started doing Optic Nerve in response to being an unlikeable teenage loner, so it wasn’t like I was part of some cartooning community then. And when I did eventually make some friends in the comics world, they were basically already seasoned veterans, so any little accomplishment I might’ve experienced wasn’t anything new to them.

You are also known for multiple record covers, illustrations, and your famous New Yorker covers. New York Drawings is a hardcover book composed of many of these covers, skits, and sketches. Even your sketches are of high quality and have a clean line. Are you still thrilled when you see The New Yorker on the newsstand with the logo typeset over your art?

I don’t think that drawing a cover for The New Yorker is the kind of job I can ever take for granted or become blasé about, mainly because of all the work I do, it’s the thing that still garners the biggest response by a wide margin.

If I told some in-law that I got nominated for a Harvey Award or whatever, they would have no idea what I was talking about.

But especially around here, The New Yorker is a big part of people’s everyday life. 

 You capture people in these little ‘moments’ that life sets us up with. Does the young man help the struggling mom with a baby carriage? He seems like he wants to, but doesn’t want to miss the train. Two readers are sharing the experience of reading the same book, stuck between stations, pausing for just a moment as their two trains are aside each other for a tiny second. These are moments that will make you feel alive and connected for a second, especially in a big city. Do you feel like an outsider in New York City? You appear to feel very at home after your transplant there.

Like most cartoonists, I think I’m kind of an observer no matter where I go. Even after living in Berkeley for fifteen years, I still felt like someone who had moved there from Sacramento. And it’s the same thing here in New York.

I’ve lived here since 2004 and I still feel like the typical West Coast transplant who complains about the weather and the bad burritos.

Recently I’ve come across two of your books, Scenes from an Impending Marriage and Shortcomings. Impending Marriage was a short and fun read about you and your wife Sarah preparing your wedding. This honest and fun book gave nods to Family Circus and Peanuts while being set in the very real world nightmare of picking guests and a DJ for the wedding. In stark contrast, Shortcomings was the story of a man sorting out why his relationships suffer. In Shortcomings, there is humor, but the laughs are more subtle and conversational. Also, race, gender, and sexuality play a huge part in Ben Tanaka’s biases in the book. Does your writing and planning process change to adapt to the kind of book you are working on?

Of course, yeah. When I was writing Shortcomings, I went out of my way to block out thoughts of how it would be received. I knew it was the kind of book that would suffer the more I worried about a hypothetical audience’s reaction. Whereas with the wedding book, I had a very specific target audience (the guests at our wedding) in mind completely, and I was basically trying to create something they’d enjoy. 

Do you draw digitally or with pen and ink?

I do all my drawing with ink on paper, and just use computers to color the artwork.

Many will continue to aspire to reach some of the creative milestones you have under your belt, Adrian. Please continue to inspire. In what ways do you see challenging yourself next? Do you have any book projects coming up?

I’m working on a book of short stories in comics form, and I’m challenging myself to approach each story in some different way.

I chose this format mainly because I have a two-year-old daughter at home now, and getting any kind of work done is something of a challenge.

But I think it will be a useful book for me because in a lot of ways, I’m still trying to figure out what my own style is, and it’s nice to not feel locked into one big story for the next five years.

ADRIAN TOMINE DISCUSSES NEW YORK DRAWINGS THU 10.4.12 HARVARD BOOK STORE CAMBRIDGE 617.661.1515 7PM/ FREE @HARVARDBOOKS

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DigBoston and LeaguePodcast Comic Book Picks of the Week for October 3, 2012

COMICS

See how it all ends for the blind lawyer Matt Murdock in the much anticipated Bendis, Mack, Janson, Sienkiewicz & Maleev creation Daredevil: End of Days #1. Reporter Ben Urich writes a posthumous tribute to Daredevil after finally being defeated by the likes of Hell’s Kitchen’s underworld rogues Kingpin and Bullseye. … Mike Allred revealed in a recent iFanboy Don’t Miss podcast that Daredevil was the inspiration for Frank Einstein’s MADMAN costume. There’s no doubt Tick creator Ben Edlund was also inspired by the Man Without Fear when making the monochromatic Tick garb. Tick #101 follows up the Invincible crossover with another team-up crossing MADMAN, Arthur and Dr. Flem! … Jim Downing seeks answers to the righteousness of his previous life in Spawn #224. Special Spawn Anniversary ‘Dark Knight Triumphant’ Variant Cover by Todd McFarlane. … Picks this week from LeaguePodcast.com.

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