tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-330258782024-03-05T01:52:33.669-05:00A Criminal BlogDedicated to the Crime Comics by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips: Criminal, Kill Or Be Killed, Pulp, Reckless, and more.Bubbanoreply@blogger.comBlogger359125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-40584325174155809602023-06-17T11:40:00.039-04:002023-06-17T11:48:54.801-04:00Night Fever and a New Undertow Podcast, Out This Week!<p>We're writing very briefly to note that the latest Brubaker-Phillips collaboration came out this week: <b>Night Fever</b> is a stand-alone original graphic novel following one man's descent into decadence and violence while on a business trip to Europe.</p><p>It's worth noting that <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/night-fever-hc-2">the cover art</a> has changed from what was <a href="https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/multiple-eisner-award-winning-duo-ed-brubaker-sean-phillips-bring-noir-thrills-in-upcoming-night-fever-graphic-novel-on-shelves-in-june-2023">originally announced</a>, with the orange and blue image of protagonist Jonathan Webb's back, shown on the left, replaced by the image shown on the right: the gray and white image has Webb facing the reader, still carrying a knife, standing in shadow, and obscured by a mask one would find at a masquerade ball.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS-91eHoELcQTPwiauhObV-q4nMrJQXuqBrq-fQEcI6_LOvmM_nAk0MHmRjqW80TQ0Sl3AiiZToTsvNcjbhowLCBNmLFAdmvxKObf9zq89ucAdA6hnrV1Peh0sDPzte0yrIVHmGJ3i6uABC5cfCFLJmEX-NzU4l3bbUZdyYZ7jVCxcs6-BG3g/s900/Night-Fever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="590" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS-91eHoELcQTPwiauhObV-q4nMrJQXuqBrq-fQEcI6_LOvmM_nAk0MHmRjqW80TQ0Sl3AiiZToTsvNcjbhowLCBNmLFAdmvxKObf9zq89ucAdA6hnrV1Peh0sDPzte0yrIVHmGJ3i6uABC5cfCFLJmEX-NzU4l3bbUZdyYZ7jVCxcs6-BG3g/s320/Night-Fever.jpg" width="210" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCULbSnNoETZwP7ZmcdKObT02cA4y03RHsjcGOmC6s_kKTevNLwxiR-VuL-sDO40ZsKElwPjfnlVJoT0ReVQcRB0IAjW3lUtfAXKkMQXUsluU8RJdMhvXptyWKQPvETDzrIfKkMkfldl_kPQKj3C6FnScCDVRRRoZFKvEhXwJ2H4PiTRACoB8/s900/Cover-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="595" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCULbSnNoETZwP7ZmcdKObT02cA4y03RHsjcGOmC6s_kKTevNLwxiR-VuL-sDO40ZsKElwPjfnlVJoT0ReVQcRB0IAjW3lUtfAXKkMQXUsluU8RJdMhvXptyWKQPvETDzrIfKkMkfldl_kPQKj3C6FnScCDVRRRoZFKvEhXwJ2H4PiTRACoB8/s320/Cover-02.jpg" width="212" /></a><br /></div><p>(I honestly prefer the original cover art.)</p><p>The hardcover edition went on sale at local retailers Wednesday, with an MSRP of $24.99.</p><p>In anticipation of the new book coming out, Robert Watson and I briefly chatted for a <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-45-night-fever-anticipation-and-hollywood-news/id1108267868?i=1000616873493">new episode</a> of <b>The Undertow Podcast</b>. We talked about the recent news in Hollywood: </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>a <a href="https://abovetheline.com/2023/01/26/tom-mccarthy-ed-brubaker-pulp-movie/">film adaptation</a> for <b>Pulp</b> with Oscar-winning writer Tom McCarthy</li><li>an <a href="https://deadline.com/2023/02/criminal-series-ed-brubaker-comic-amazon-studios-1235247948/">Amazon series</a> for <b>Criminal </b>with novelist Jordan Harper as the <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=142f2b943f">co-showrunner</a> </li></ul><p></p><p>Robert had an amusing list of casting choices, straight out of a 90s-era issue of Wizard magazine.</p><p>This isn't the first time that Hollywood has tried to adapt Brubaker and Phillips, and we hope these projects bear fruit and produce work that is worthy of the source material.</p><p>In the meantime, we also discussed the announcement for the team's next book, surprising in that the news broke before <b>Night Fever</b> hit store shelves.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9MKQMVv3rpHklbAENo-JU7dloK-am0k3Pgo9LuZTsCiQSXTnbgiTLh2hk_k0W8vf9DjoK8ipqh7FFyHcMX4MTSvM-bMp9mjUVTGi95KuFG2VTT11I4KAEP4dnk4ut8GEOjPup254LTnDpvMfA5lus6qj5L7GVbgF33Po0kPvC91GZTF47f2k/s1500/Where-The-Body-Was.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="976" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9MKQMVv3rpHklbAENo-JU7dloK-am0k3Pgo9LuZTsCiQSXTnbgiTLh2hk_k0W8vf9DjoK8ipqh7FFyHcMX4MTSvM-bMp9mjUVTGi95KuFG2VTT11I4KAEP4dnk4ut8GEOjPup254LTnDpvMfA5lus6qj5L7GVbgF33Po0kPvC91GZTF47f2k/s320/Where-The-Body-Was.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><b>Where the Body Was</b> is due this December, and in a recent <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=90bdd09c1a">email newsletter</a>, Brubaker explained that the book begins with a map of the neighborhood where the body in question was found. This is a bit of callback to the <a href="https://crimereads.com/dell-mapbacks-a-history/">mapback editions</a> of pulp paperbacks, where the back cover would draw in readers with a diagram or map of the scene of the crime.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4N5Ed-n2g9LO5LkGzYYY7MiK8AS2LP5R7LFWVc_JflhnH7CUGHFEqXbRr5XohKuJ0GK1u02uUeRrrRbkaOSxViUkSIaZBXvqHKecbgQ_PriJgTy6ySL4l08bD_UE0lrIuGtZZmR-Ij3Wtswlri7XLJb4IzevcA7n5z_Auje6DgSr4jtH0j84/s2044/Where-The-Body-Was_map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1566" data-original-width="2044" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4N5Ed-n2g9LO5LkGzYYY7MiK8AS2LP5R7LFWVc_JflhnH7CUGHFEqXbRr5XohKuJ0GK1u02uUeRrrRbkaOSxViUkSIaZBXvqHKecbgQ_PriJgTy6ySL4l08bD_UE0lrIuGtZZmR-Ij3Wtswlri7XLJb4IzevcA7n5z_Auje6DgSr4jtH0j84/s320/Where-The-Body-Was_map.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>We've already enjoyed <b>Night Fever</b> on our first readthrough, and we'll probably reread the book just prior to our next podcast recording -- possibly as soon as July! -- but we're already quite looking forward to <b>Where the Body Was</b>.</p><p>It seemed we picked a good team to follow so fanatically!</p>Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-33057502934713706782023-01-01T20:00:00.066-05:002023-01-01T20:15:02.943-05:00Reckless: Brief Biographical Timelines<b>Note:</b> If you've received a copy of the Neo Noir comic book, see <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2022/10/to-rz-ab-others-personal.html">my previous post</a> for more info.<br /><br />Our friend Robert Watson has just posted the <a href="https://anchor.fm/undertowpodcast/episodes/Episode-44---Follow-Me-Down-Like-I-Said--I-Make-My-Own-Laws-e1svb57">latest episode</a> of the <b>Undertow Podcast</b>, where we focus on <b>Follow Me Down</b>, the fifth book in the <b>Reckless series</b>. This is the final book in this particular run as Brubaker and Phillips take a break to publish <b>Night Fever</b> and possibly other books, including perhaps the long-awaited follow-up to <b>The Fade Out</b>.<br /><br />This seems as good a time as any for me to summarize some notes I've taken, to produce a timeline (or three!) for the main characters and the central location in the series. I'll try to avoid serious spoilers for the <b>Reckless</b> books.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMwr2-Yq6qc-m9cD6EQ1NpLOCer6dQ7n_9wBY8K6B_vqiAneSu-mGOv2NJBBxFaWXYjySciFcvTIPkYUmL3sHqgqDZOYGuVzLyFyu4suIQsoyVO4woW4yVPtwKuuLrpui8n-H1GGMgdhzZemyksdmOlwWifP6LI15tMe272Et59sclvSkWgI8/s500/Ethan-cropped.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMwr2-Yq6qc-m9cD6EQ1NpLOCer6dQ7n_9wBY8K6B_vqiAneSu-mGOv2NJBBxFaWXYjySciFcvTIPkYUmL3sHqgqDZOYGuVzLyFyu4suIQsoyVO4woW4yVPtwKuuLrpui8n-H1GGMgdhzZemyksdmOlwWifP6LI15tMe272Et59sclvSkWgI8/w200-h200/Ethan-cropped.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Ethan Reckless</b></div><br /><div>1950-1951, born<br /><br /><i>With his father in Naval Intelligence, Ethan lived in Sterling Park, Virginia; Berlin, Germany; Oahu, Hawaii; and "half of the 60's" in Gitmo -- Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.</i><br /><br /><i>Ethan was recruited by the FBI to infiltrate radical groups in college, using the alias "Donovan Rush" and working with Special Agent Frank Hancock.</i><br /><br />1967-1968, ~age 17, spent his first year in college at UC Berkeley<br /><br />1971, June, ~age 21, while working undercover, suffered a serious head injury from an explosion<br /><br /><i>Ethan soon left the FBI, and Ethan's father was never again promoted after 1972. </i><br /><br />1975, ~age 25, began working for hire, as an unlicensed private investigator and fixer of problems<br /><br />1979, ~age 29, befriended Anna<br /><br /> 1981, ~age 31, <b><span style="color: red;">Reckless</span></b> (book 1)<br /><br /><i>Ethan revisits coastal town Santa Teresa, an apparently <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Teresa_(fictional_city)">fictional town</a> that was mentioned as a "vacation village" in the Criminal novella My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies.</i><br /><br /><i>Ethan stopped speaking with his father around this time; his father died before Christmas, 1984.</i><br /><br /><i>Frank Hancock retired from the FBI and suffered a stroke.</i><br /><br />1985, Summer, ~age 36, <b><span style="color: red;">Friend of the Devil</span></b><br /><br />1988, April-August, age 37 (stated explicitly), <b><span style="color: red;">Destroy All Monsters</span></b><br /><br />1989, November, age 38, <b><span style="color: red;">The Ghost In You</span></b> & <b><span style="color: red;">Follow Me Down</span></b><br /><br />2004, Summer, age 54, concluding chapters to <span style="color: red;"><b>Follow Me Down</b></span><br /><br />c. 2021, about age 71, during the pandemic, Ethan types his memoirs<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguGURtr-8o7vjR7Sssv668AGijs8aRzfXkJsP7eSp0uU_sHjdsSjGdZOMaHw-up7uPXmyGpVYcOVKLNaPG9DbkZKNy4vNcTUJ8yEVv50KbRJdjj3v1YNZNCc8ciPNIbhq44c-FWMIiNW4rxrMercCf78H6Pkd6VogSHcHpTEl2hRDgOPVkbdc/s500/Anna-cropped.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguGURtr-8o7vjR7Sssv668AGijs8aRzfXkJsP7eSp0uU_sHjdsSjGdZOMaHw-up7uPXmyGpVYcOVKLNaPG9DbkZKNy4vNcTUJ8yEVv50KbRJdjj3v1YNZNCc8ciPNIbhq44c-FWMIiNW4rxrMercCf78H6Pkd6VogSHcHpTEl2hRDgOPVkbdc/w200-h200/Anna-cropped.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Anna</b></div><br />1962, born<br /><br /><i>Anna's father worked as the projectionist at the El Ricardo theater.</i><br /><br />1968-1972, ~age 6-10, watched Evilina on local channel 14<br /><br />1975, age 12 (stated explicitly), father died<br /><br /><i>Anna's mother Sharon would have a series of unhealthy relationships with boyfriends and husbands.</i><br /><br />1979, age 17 (stated explicitly), befriended Ethan; was previously a runaway<br /><br />1988, age 26 (stated explicitly), had a brief falling out with Ethan, moved to east LA and then back<br /><br />1989, age 27, works first case as the primary investigator, for Lorna "Evilina" Valentine<br /><br /><i>Christmas Eve, Sharon marries for at least the third time, with Anna as a bridesmaid.</i><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb7dWOpuqonl6iYHs3A4kH4X_ddoMGLZWrDo9l3X71wYnOtu8cCfk21uZKG3VVnDwV5Vt6a4wipGiovqG-zv8lkjUIaIzJvLWLZxRXGO7qODPttpd67ZccMGPcCcpfjN3ip0IEXUsvpreDqrEhvDyeXcR3ueaK7HxIN2h7VSh2ziKA04mMiII/s1100/El%20Ricard_cropped.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb7dWOpuqonl6iYHs3A4kH4X_ddoMGLZWrDo9l3X71wYnOtu8cCfk21uZKG3VVnDwV5Vt6a4wipGiovqG-zv8lkjUIaIzJvLWLZxRXGO7qODPttpd67ZccMGPcCcpfjN3ip0IEXUsvpreDqrEhvDyeXcR3ueaK7HxIN2h7VSh2ziKA04mMiII/w200-h200/El%20Ricard_cropped.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>the El Ricardo theater</b></div><br /><i>The El Ricardo is located on Strand Street in Santa Monica.<br /></i><br />1974, closes for the first time<br /><br />1979, is given to Ethan Reckless by a client; Ethan moves into the theater<br /><br />1988, is damaged and renovated; Ethan gives the theater to Anna, who reopens it for curated showings<br /><br />c. 1999, closes for the second time<br /><br /><i>This second closing may have been prompted by the tragedy mentioned at the end of <b>Destroy All Monsters</b>.</i></div>Bubbanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-4432941380717332562022-10-21T17:45:00.099-04:002022-12-22T14:26:00.667-05:00To RZ, AB, & Others: Personal Recommendations & Free Comics!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVJTQfvWNlTRVP14iLoJNFVYDtgdJJuE8YSCmc2wh1rOfpH5hgLj3RiossylziCWiktClGZmwWLIUWlU9cJtGXE6UtGYr8vIK5d8u85JUgywsvnsilLTaahfgdvIdx2P3SjRMnbjbkWRyBNth_rG-rt1kbpiF-RiAdD4F1RQTZOoBEwyIQ2II/s3072/Neo-Noirs.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2835" data-original-width="3072" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVJTQfvWNlTRVP14iLoJNFVYDtgdJJuE8YSCmc2wh1rOfpH5hgLj3RiossylziCWiktClGZmwWLIUWlU9cJtGXE6UtGYr8vIK5d8u85JUgywsvnsilLTaahfgdvIdx2P3SjRMnbjbkWRyBNth_rG-rt1kbpiF-RiAdD4F1RQTZOoBEwyIQ2II/w200-h184/Neo-Noirs.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><div>As I mentioned in the <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2022/10/follow-me-down-undertow-podcast-more.html">previous post</a>, I'm using the <b>$1 Image Firsts Neo Noir</b> comic book to introduce friends to one of my great interests, the crime comics of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.<br /><br />I'm sending them the comic book and directing them here for more info, at least to reveal something about my personality and hopefully to get them hooked on my favorite comic books!<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">What's the BLUF, the Bottom Line Up Front?</span><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>If a particular book by Brubaker and Phillips caught your eye in that <b>Neo Noir</b> comic or in our <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-complete-collaborative-works-of.html">bibliography</a>, do check it out: <span style="color: red;">you can't go wrong</span>, their books run from very good to jaw-dropping.</li><li>My <span style="color: red;">personal recommendation</span> would be <b><span style="color: #990000;">Criminal: The Last of the Innocent</span></b>, and I'll elaborate on my preferences below.</li><li>Or, <span style="color: red;">you can always pick up the team's most recent book</span>, as they strive to make every project accessible to new readers, even those who have never read comic books before! </li></ol>Their latest project is <b><span style="color: #990000;">Reckless</span></b>, a series of fairly self-contained graphic novels, and its most recent entry is <b><span style="color: #990000;">Follow Me Down</span></b>.<br /><br />(<b>UPDATE, DEC 16.</b> In his email newsletter on Wednesday, Brubaker released the <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=bff60a090e">four-page trailer</a> for the team's next project <b><span style="color: #990000;">Night Fever</span></b>, a stand-alone graphic novel expected this June.)<br /><br />If you're still only half curious, issue #1 for several of the duo's books are available online, absolutely free from the publisher's official website: links are below.</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3jaQT_42eQBaCvtakRVy7Wp0NZIdP4uneqo9Fe8duQmLIKTXdAdp44zdbpWHeRudl-u_9s4BM7B_1VwdIaZy3EQOyDBr13wYkoGs-A3e-Eg3foaNImCXZxLN2txOTcRP1wMgZYAHkM4uDX8qRu0K9jrXVLJWxomUeDebpfMyaD0LwmPL_tE8/s1530/CRIM06b_cvr-01.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LUJ08lHfUgTXSXrJ7TCdoL9T4vstnEJs3TyiIZaQp5y9m7VHcSrvKnYAiDVS2ssTNlwj0nT1MkbREq_T7fr0KTtOXnkV9UCYiVOK0ET9Pa8O9IQYNZ0h72tT0iWAjjpdlS-MeKHJXlw-M16O8M8bQtp-Xqnzfn7_OfYS5410lP0eCNajoK0/s1600/CRIMlast_cvr_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1238" data-original-width="1600" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LUJ08lHfUgTXSXrJ7TCdoL9T4vstnEJs3TyiIZaQp5y9m7VHcSrvKnYAiDVS2ssTNlwj0nT1MkbREq_T7fr0KTtOXnkV9UCYiVOK0ET9Pa8O9IQYNZ0h72tT0iWAjjpdlS-MeKHJXlw-M16O8M8bQtp-Xqnzfn7_OfYS5410lP0eCNajoK0/w320-h248/CRIMlast_cvr_1.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /></div><div><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Personal Background<br /></span><br />As far as hobbies go, I tend to emphasize depth over breadth. I don't follow all major sports closely, just my one undergrad alma mater in its seasonal athletic endeavors. I don't devour all of Star Trek, just Deep Space Nine (its greatest series) and to a lesser extent The Original Series and The Next Generation. My musical interests focus on the magnificent singer-songwriter <a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4e1_4X7FyYZG0jW6Dx_ijvAnRFI6sU6W" target="_blank">David Gray</a> and, somewhat to a lesser extent, vintage U2. And I don't have shelves upon shelves of sophisticated board games, just a handful of games with an overwhelming emphasis on <a href="https://www.monolithedition.com/conan-en/">Monolith's Conan board game</a> and its numerous expansions.</div><br />I'm a little OCD; I do obsess.<br /><br />(Here, it's not all Conan games, neither its licensed RPG nor its computer games. And it's not all iterations of Monolith's "Tactical Homeostatic System," it's just the original implementation with Conan's milieu of Sword and Sorcery. Much as I adore Batman, the Gotham City Chronicles game holds no real appeal for me!)<br /><br />I do enjoy comic books generally, but I adore the crime comics by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Consistently productive and always bringing new wrinkles to their work, the team is now responsible for two decades' worth of critically acclaimed noir comics.<br /><br />Separately, Brubaker is a fine writer and Phillips is a skilled artist, but together, it's alchemy.<br /><br />I didn't closely follow either creator at the time, but I was already a big fan of <b>Gotham Central</b> when <b>Criminal</b> was announced. I was hooked the first time I read the "trailer" for the first arc, and I've been a fanatic ever since, with each new project providing further validation for my enthusiastic support for the team.<br /><br />I soon became a co-contributor to this blog, then its sole contributor (currently providing infrequent updates), and then the co-host of <a href="https://anchor.fm/undertowpodcast">The Undertow Podcast</a>. I maintain a <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-complete-collaborative-works-of.html">complete bibliography</a> for the team's collaborative works, and I occasionally(!) share my interest with friends.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9tVr_enrLdS7ccUYeqLsyhzaFEkHkmnu1Ojal99KK0cFq1xgJ_s6JeRZfnjJbWPlqcEodm1nWy9mL6p1JTuNa19Pbl0TSdS9SkUv8wu9twB8LXPVfpiFxKB8gjY97CIdnGN1tJ9Smp7Xa3GlBkkwXiPRwZIDneSdxA9kQjWP9SBvEOqs91Dw/s400/Undertow-Podcast.jpeg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9tVr_enrLdS7ccUYeqLsyhzaFEkHkmnu1Ojal99KK0cFq1xgJ_s6JeRZfnjJbWPlqcEodm1nWy9mL6p1JTuNa19Pbl0TSdS9SkUv8wu9twB8LXPVfpiFxKB8gjY97CIdnGN1tJ9Smp7Xa3GlBkkwXiPRwZIDneSdxA9kQjWP9SBvEOqs91Dw/w200-h200/Undertow-Podcast.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">My Favorites by Brubaker & Phillips<br /></span><br />I recommend <b><span style="color: #990000;">The Last of the Innocent</span></b> as an excellent introduction to the team -- which it certainly is, even though it is, in some ways, a very unusual entry in their bibliography -- but that doesn't mean the book is my all-time personal favorite.</div><br />Indeed my favorite series is <b>Criminal</b>, easily, and I'm thrilled that the team keeps coming back to the title over and over again: three ongoing series, mini-series, an original graphic novel, and short stories. It's been close to two years since we've visited that world, but another short story is due before New Year's.<br /><br />But within <b>Criminal</b>, my favorite book is <span style="color: #990000;"><b>Wrong Time, Wrong Place</b></span>, which collects two extra-length one-shots. I particularly love the magazine-sized variant for each story, with covers and bonus material mimicking the vintage comic book that the main character is reading -- the "Savage Sword" of a barbarian pastiche or the "Deadly Hands" of a kung-fu werewolf!<br /><br /><b>Criminal</b> is their first creator-owned series and my all-time favorite, but <span style="color: red;">their most fun comic</span> might be their first lengthy collaboration <b><span style="color: #990000;">Sleeper</span></b>, a self-contained spy story set in DC's WildStorm universe. It's pure noir, so it's plenty dark in its premise, characterization, and plotting, but it has the most laugh-out-loud moments -- and it has the most innovative page layout, to boot.<br /><br />And I wouldn't describe <b><span style="color: #990000;">The Fade Out</span></b> as fun, but I suspect that it may be the team's magnum opus. It tells a single lengthy, self-contained story set in Hollywood's Golden Age, and in its scope and focus (movie-making rather than superheroes), I think it compares favorably to that epic from the Eighties, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen. It may not be quite as intricately told, but it may actually be a better story, one with continued relevance for the new century.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPijUoLron0F2IMNK_uW-fa9tn0Zsw01ilITFI56MA0mYzT-Dst6qz4ZgZAvxTERIjYUw7ycT4wPHJnLLWMc6qUrKB8ucdTVHJfkNlJxYOHl_LagiI0l2b5p0_HN1URBOr34YVTAR8bnuKJ6aFbYbJIes-SaikfyWLrAIId3xtOtocFO3zb6Q/s900/criminalcvrmagazine_web72.jpg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPijUoLron0F2IMNK_uW-fa9tn0Zsw01ilITFI56MA0mYzT-Dst6qz4ZgZAvxTERIjYUw7ycT4wPHJnLLWMc6qUrKB8ucdTVHJfkNlJxYOHl_LagiI0l2b5p0_HN1URBOr34YVTAR8bnuKJ6aFbYbJIes-SaikfyWLrAIId3xtOtocFO3zb6Q/w153-h200/criminalcvrmagazine_web72.jpg" width="153" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1n4grva6H-lrEdhYxcKPyxxgV5EK4NQ0KqvXJCNyw30AKlUq9tacV2J0h4aAxqdwLMxMgWQuiatvXyBp89cR317CZsh5d_WrrqjZTb0xWmnklya8erbGuocSjmlctSbw6sqtppye1-8826MMSHJgs1xoKb00ildoREfR7w7ShpYO_7e3b90/s900/CRIMINAL10thANNIV-MAG.jpg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1n4grva6H-lrEdhYxcKPyxxgV5EK4NQ0KqvXJCNyw30AKlUq9tacV2J0h4aAxqdwLMxMgWQuiatvXyBp89cR317CZsh5d_WrrqjZTb0xWmnklya8erbGuocSjmlctSbw6sqtppye1-8826MMSHJgs1xoKb00ildoREfR7w7ShpYO_7e3b90/w153-h200/CRIMINAL10thANNIV-MAG.jpg" width="153" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVAdK0SHwTs34mrfXHedY9dDDxXNw-dTkGS88EiCvrbQ2Mk0_tbTiZR0mU5-cVbP5Y_ownNKpPtkYWdJBiOsI3sMwiJ06j6LB8nHzTVjT1vz1xY-53eH-fu9lFJG9OeJidwXFsASisct_LFSGjyImWsixIW-sOV1T4dnwvQ1rW2GHhByk6KG0/s1600/Sleeper-1_ebay.jpg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVAdK0SHwTs34mrfXHedY9dDDxXNw-dTkGS88EiCvrbQ2Mk0_tbTiZR0mU5-cVbP5Y_ownNKpPtkYWdJBiOsI3sMwiJ06j6LB8nHzTVjT1vz1xY-53eH-fu9lFJG9OeJidwXFsASisct_LFSGjyImWsixIW-sOV1T4dnwvQ1rW2GHhByk6KG0/w131-h200/Sleeper-1_ebay.jpg" width="131" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiltUrmGRIN78J0pkxOG6KMRhOYutSB9Auq-wgJpyA8beHt5VB-gXizYhzpSotj_BW6869EwBfyhDA4onpexOXSvJzkhByc11_WnJvydh_J3jvfT9KY9qd61hqzpf86bLaCj-Rn66ywrDpk0vxZIC0tHRwWhbb9yp24EQ3Q-2JQPcqQf24PHAk/s900/thefadeoutmagazine_01_web72.jpg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiltUrmGRIN78J0pkxOG6KMRhOYutSB9Auq-wgJpyA8beHt5VB-gXizYhzpSotj_BW6869EwBfyhDA4onpexOXSvJzkhByc11_WnJvydh_J3jvfT9KY9qd61hqzpf86bLaCj-Rn66ywrDpk0vxZIC0tHRwWhbb9yp24EQ3Q-2JQPcqQf24PHAk/w153-h200/thefadeoutmagazine_01_web72.jpg" width="153" /></a></div><div><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Other Recommended Comic Books</span><br /><br />There are other books that I adore, beginning with another of Brubaker's frequent collaborators, <span style="color: red;">the late, great, and irreplaceable Darwyn Cooke</span>.<br /><br />Cooke's <span style="color: #990000;">DC: The New Frontier</span> is another book that I think demands comparisons to Watchmen; it's a more optimistic book, and I think optimism may be harder to get right. His <span style="color: #990000;">Catwoman</span> with Brubaker is a great compliment to <b>Gotham Central</b>. And Darwyn Cooke's <span style="color: #990000;">Parker</span> books are AMAZING, the best comic adaptations of crime novels just as Criminal is the best original crime comic.<br /><br />As far as adaptations go, I also thoroughly enjoyed Lawrence Block's <span style="color: #990000;">Eight Million Ways to Die</span>, intelligently adapted by John K. Snyder III.<br /><br />And a very original, very humorous crime comic I've enjoyed is <span style="color: #990000;">Chew</span> by John Layman and Rob Guillory: it takes a bizarre food-related premise and runs with it at full speed. (You can read the first issue for free, see below.)<br /><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8JwcAAU2Lfrs8rz1iFWhDD4rhcqvSXIg-9ZISO-jCNtweFuxvZSljcFZeCieG5CxbCYZje8L2Nj_2ENJiltyeYzt5VgtlduYCoaTbE_AFz-alOyKKQnr0GzQ6QwQ_wKI6YnmkJj81Crf7PJT_lXD9GpqAFIGC9kzPp8rBF_RuFC3FcfPZdXk/s1650/Catwoman-1.jpg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8JwcAAU2Lfrs8rz1iFWhDD4rhcqvSXIg-9ZISO-jCNtweFuxvZSljcFZeCieG5CxbCYZje8L2Nj_2ENJiltyeYzt5VgtlduYCoaTbE_AFz-alOyKKQnr0GzQ6QwQ_wKI6YnmkJj81Crf7PJT_lXD9GpqAFIGC9kzPp8rBF_RuFC3FcfPZdXk/w130-h200/Catwoman-1.jpg" width="130" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsQK99MDgUoJ5nDe5LXrxZlOHyvD4ktU1fRJ_esHJxHyrHrsRv5o7A-VkJMpmFzEwG4HYp5UCw8NJD54VaX0cN_OsKebjrrbsiseRKSdawnGYQDIj31OREJOofndCzNbliOxvMnM41FNXgaH8yTu-n_ovCVRKOKMLKWwjI3ovQgcFoeLbAin8/s1947/Parker-Last-Call.jpg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsQK99MDgUoJ5nDe5LXrxZlOHyvD4ktU1fRJ_esHJxHyrHrsRv5o7A-VkJMpmFzEwG4HYp5UCw8NJD54VaX0cN_OsKebjrrbsiseRKSdawnGYQDIj31OREJOofndCzNbliOxvMnM41FNXgaH8yTu-n_ovCVRKOKMLKWwjI3ovQgcFoeLbAin8/w144-h200/Parker-Last-Call.jpg" width="144" /></a></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My life with comic books started with Batman and Star Trek, and I can still strongly recommend a few other comics set in Gotham or built on sci-fi premises.</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="color: #990000;">Batman Black and White</span> is an excellent anthology series, particularly the first volume.</li><li><span style="color: #990000;">Batman Year One</span> remains the best Batman story, better than The Dark Knight Returns.</li><li><span style="color: #990000;">Planetoid</span> by Ken Garing is a brilliant sci-fi series, a great story beautifully told.</li><li><span style="color: #990000;">Strange Science Fantasy</span> by Scott Morse isn't for everyone, but I loved it.</li></ul><div><span style="color: #990000;">Star Trek: Early Voyages</span> may be the best Trek comic, despite its cliffhanger ending remaining unresolved when Marvel's Paramount imprint closed up shop. <span style="color: #990000;">Star Wars Tales</span> is an excellent anthology, and the best ongoing series was <span style="color: #990000;">Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic</span>, written by John Jackson Miller and quite satisfying from beginning to end. <br /><br />And if you remember the cartoons from the early 1980's, you might just adore, as I do, the brilliant but bonkers <span style="color: #990000;">Transformers vs GI Joe</span> by Tom Scioli.<br /><br />As much as I like Conan and first got hooked thanks to the Dark Horse anthology, <span style="color: #990000;">Robert E. Howard's Savag<span>e Sword</span></span>, I'm not sure there's a modern story that stands tall as a must-read book. My hopes are high for Titan's new series due in 2023.</div><br />And I do like comic strips wholly apart from comic books -- especially <a href="https://www.thefarside.com/">The Far Side</a> and <a href="https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes">Calvin & Hobbes</a>, with a fond spot for <a href="https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts">Peanuts</a> and (more recently) <a href="http://www.shoecomics.com/">Shoe</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMeF7kE4qwnPtbkX7Lq_CfzykOjUQbBnK7eUoSZ2hZYz8K4dX0bghvrBELh4tDwD7HDb8s7CDkUWHgtk7EfBwkO_Hncycqtzw_fGEe0CtOEpjsaEZfsEOC8-1ncT-Vm7S3PKFxM6eTuLfgvaWXaxuNOuYUqt4RGMNvnhwQ2_2rFIqvoUbZk24/s2156/Batman-B-W.jpg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMeF7kE4qwnPtbkX7Lq_CfzykOjUQbBnK7eUoSZ2hZYz8K4dX0bghvrBELh4tDwD7HDb8s7CDkUWHgtk7EfBwkO_Hncycqtzw_fGEe0CtOEpjsaEZfsEOC8-1ncT-Vm7S3PKFxM6eTuLfgvaWXaxuNOuYUqt4RGMNvnhwQ2_2rFIqvoUbZk24/w133-h200/Batman-B-W.jpg" width="133" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTRqEywtryT8JEiZpzOBZfXy5AM4oSuQlsRNCgeZhugltoGa_bv1yA1-6iF9Z7A55TfNc92lAtsFDyNmT6L3yXnnOWqYUTM9_hWz67TkWC2Ytfy9OHb1cvsfq6LNAk4-TWge0VR3UwJ_nnx_aeT6BO8OR9JmuKeVQwb431SpqrdKSh3XrTYLY/s1257/Planetoid-1.jpg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTRqEywtryT8JEiZpzOBZfXy5AM4oSuQlsRNCgeZhugltoGa_bv1yA1-6iF9Z7A55TfNc92lAtsFDyNmT6L3yXnnOWqYUTM9_hWz67TkWC2Ytfy9OHb1cvsfq6LNAk4-TWge0VR3UwJ_nnx_aeT6BO8OR9JmuKeVQwb431SpqrdKSh3XrTYLY/w130-h200/Planetoid-1.jpg" width="130" /></a></div><div><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">A Brief Digression on Batman</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Batman: Black and White</span> was one of the first comic books I deliberately picked out for myself, and I distinctly remember getting it off a supermarket shelf. Along with Tim Burton's Batman from 1989 and the subsequent Batman: The Animated Series, this anthology kindled my <a href="https://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1543">enduring love</a> of the Dark Knight, through Nolan's masterpiece trilogy -- yes, including The Dark Knight Rises -- to today, when just about the only Batman book I get is for the kiddos, the excellent Scooby-Doo team-up.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0RsozsWxcwA7_24lRRFTgqVWTn-Iwnz-swzkuHmi-frAWgcrH1xnkgsxaAj-0P_VuaDMjgBJ849zuqxIgbsQumeQsqC9u8ndl1TPPBwOFaKaZ3VAEdtfTG0akJxulDqST5hEzjMrrMFgvC5h4MtevWY2LruoDFKq331imd74BEBNrHar-qZM/s2700/Dark-Knight-Trilogy_StudioKXX.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="2700" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0RsozsWxcwA7_24lRRFTgqVWTn-Iwnz-swzkuHmi-frAWgcrH1xnkgsxaAj-0P_VuaDMjgBJ849zuqxIgbsQumeQsqC9u8ndl1TPPBwOFaKaZ3VAEdtfTG0akJxulDqST5hEzjMrrMFgvC5h4MtevWY2LruoDFKq331imd74BEBNrHar-qZM/w400-h200/Dark-Knight-Trilogy_StudioKXX.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gorgeous fan-made Dark Knight Trilogy posters by <a href="https://studiokxx.com/The-Dark-Knight-Trilogy">StudioKXX</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Just as one can draw a straight line from Batman through Gotham Central to <b>Criminal</b>, I can see another line being drawn, with Scooby-Doo as the first crime comics for my kids.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqUh2G2fEWXolRewxXJFj8dsP-rzklejBhkYmNIB7mM34MmAWCXvnYgfH-LmLn13EwSe2SLKAMSWXQoG-AKYl5HUzEaXXIcTIWdnK2vlWwtc1vq4f-3BTzhtMgzpVB3zkjC3H1INuNPo-0peVRA5LvRmcUWHqonLGD8U3Yb0L7c7AyLUzrvUo/s1384/Scooby-Doo_Team-Up_Vol_1_1.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqUh2G2fEWXolRewxXJFj8dsP-rzklejBhkYmNIB7mM34MmAWCXvnYgfH-LmLn13EwSe2SLKAMSWXQoG-AKYl5HUzEaXXIcTIWdnK2vlWwtc1vq4f-3BTzhtMgzpVB3zkjC3H1INuNPo-0peVRA5LvRmcUWHqonLGD8U3Yb0L7c7AyLUzrvUo/w130-h200/Scooby-Doo_Team-Up_Vol_1_1.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKrbijaaIrQXqNgb0xXQXbX7FYGouCFGO6XeyHbdEuyoidYnj_lWUgD0QbmSXu_sG-W-SRFkRUzH1l4Dntv8-i0ZioTi4GDuUIij8KJe0JxPEIx0HhW7EFKh1tKo9LNy1S1qHWBMYirHixfQcot9mcf45sQAS_i-VLkM6lBBQmhzVe97wL2vE/s3056/Batman-Scooby.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKrbijaaIrQXqNgb0xXQXbX7FYGouCFGO6XeyHbdEuyoidYnj_lWUgD0QbmSXu_sG-W-SRFkRUzH1l4Dntv8-i0ZioTi4GDuUIij8KJe0JxPEIx0HhW7EFKh1tKo9LNy1S1qHWBMYirHixfQcot9mcf45sQAS_i-VLkM6lBBQmhzVe97wL2vE/w130-h200/Batman-Scooby.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">FREE COMICS ONLINE!<br /></span><br />Many creator-owned comic books find their home outside the "Big Two" publishers of DC and Marvel, and there's probably no bigger home than Image Comics. Image has found a few ways to advertise their books; in addition to their $1 "Image Firsts" reprints of #1 issues, they have an extensive online collection of <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/read-first-issues">free first issues</a>, from The Walking Dead and Saga to some quite obscure titles.</div><br />Here are the ones I'd recommend.<br /><br />Brubaker & Phillips<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b><a href="https://imagecomics.com/read/fatale">Fatale</a></b></li><li><b><a href="https://imagecomics.com/read/the-fade-out">The Fade Out</a></b></li><li><b><a href="https://imagecomics.com/read/kill-or-be-killed">Kill Or Be Killed</a></b></li></ul>Artist Jacob Phillips, Sean's son and the team's current colorist</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://imagecomics.com/read/that-texas-blood">That Texas Blood</a></li><li><a href="https://imagecomics.com/read/newburn">Newburn</a></li></ul>Other Crime Comics<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://imagecomics.com/read/chew">Chew</a></li><li><a href="https://imagecomics.com/read/gunning-for-hits">Gunning for Hits</a></li></ul>Miscellaneous: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Humor</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://imagecomics.com/read/black-science">Black Science</a></li><li><a href="https://imagecomics.com/read/farmhand">Farmhand</a></li><li><a href="https://imagecomics.com/read/gogor">Gogor</a></li><li><a href="https://imagecomics.com/read/shirtless-bear-fighter">Shirtless Bear Fighter!</a></li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYECxIjSqYZ83cnu1fu3ow3KFn0NTmCAjLtzl1ewpF1Y8wVZlIqOuHlRRnddopbhdURpHH9jRLKgfuftJHKEATbpVCJtf47vjcHepa0P6lrYmryURQq1NYEkkH1e_KpW-UIajcx7rtleYPPw41EbRzcNnjYebjoRibI3kRnKMNFu-YnHrGcs/s1529/fatale.jpg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYECxIjSqYZ83cnu1fu3ow3KFn0NTmCAjLtzl1ewpF1Y8wVZlIqOuHlRRnddopbhdURpHH9jRLKgfuftJHKEATbpVCJtf47vjcHepa0P6lrYmryURQq1NYEkkH1e_KpW-UIajcx7rtleYPPw41EbRzcNnjYebjoRibI3kRnKMNFu-YnHrGcs/w130-h200/fatale.jpg" width="130" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72mBNviKoNp_-eS37oTCliyK3SaVIPHrpySOaxUgvCH2IG8lIYNVuygBL2o1U7pP3s-pg10mF24Va38KBHwRbsEvy1ATBthyLFeh6beMprIIyBdpAJW1V2xjkONo_SUZBfFy99CeZAhKZ9ZaWPs0boukbLyFtxHajBTd4dEP90hLaATewDaY/s900/KOBK-5.jpg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72mBNviKoNp_-eS37oTCliyK3SaVIPHrpySOaxUgvCH2IG8lIYNVuygBL2o1U7pP3s-pg10mF24Va38KBHwRbsEvy1ATBthyLFeh6beMprIIyBdpAJW1V2xjkONo_SUZBfFy99CeZAhKZ9ZaWPs0boukbLyFtxHajBTd4dEP90hLaATewDaY/w129-h200/KOBK-5.jpg" width="129" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcHKucUdYjvCqIA-tSlwcOpb2_sBtgBfWadqhC-GKI3piWj6-QWbKVpvEcC4rzFrxUO4yPr-zFL74ECbko7jEhJRiEdbhq-a2-kG9W6An07FmR9HRyU2KV9IPP8RS3_QLT1rp02J7Uo8yl1zsuvxDbgrqFJXG_93-MMYlacjoEGh6G4n2JtTQ/s416/Chew1-1stPrinting.jpg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcHKucUdYjvCqIA-tSlwcOpb2_sBtgBfWadqhC-GKI3piWj6-QWbKVpvEcC4rzFrxUO4yPr-zFL74ECbko7jEhJRiEdbhq-a2-kG9W6An07FmR9HRyU2KV9IPP8RS3_QLT1rp02J7Uo8yl1zsuvxDbgrqFJXG_93-MMYlacjoEGh6G4n2JtTQ/w130-h200/Chew1-1stPrinting.jpg" width="130" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizPijYDBuRzieaOCGgufxa79om-xTRrcNz8gH3zPa5Sua0xFZTn3nTapRH9ZtbBSudjDBiNoGDMrwgkUK-HcgHSQlUGna9mW8O5X40UmByE5peAGmROfwhp3eSiGqHd1NLKMNeF9tfkX2nB7I5CjXyxcKJEt_c1oL0y9slPMMjtX_HLVB56zw/s887/black-science-1.jpg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizPijYDBuRzieaOCGgufxa79om-xTRrcNz8gH3zPa5Sua0xFZTn3nTapRH9ZtbBSudjDBiNoGDMrwgkUK-HcgHSQlUGna9mW8O5X40UmByE5peAGmROfwhp3eSiGqHd1NLKMNeF9tfkX2nB7I5CjXyxcKJEt_c1oL0y9slPMMjtX_HLVB56zw/w132-h200/black-science-1.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Wrapping Up<br /></span><br />I certainly read more than just comic books; it was <b>Criminal</b> and Darwyn Cooke's Parker adaptations that led to the hard-boiled crime fiction of Hard Case Crime and Richard Stark's Parker series.</div></div><div><br />I also thoroughly enjoy the original Conan stories by Robert E. Howard, and I have fallen hard for Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels. And, on a most serious note, my faith has been strengthened by being mentored, in a sense, through the works of C.S. Lewis and John Stott.<br /><br />But I can hardly overstate how much I love the crime comics of Brubaker and Phillips, and I hope that -- just maybe -- the <b>Neo Noir</b> comic and this little blog post will open the door to your discovering their books for yourself.<br /><br />If not, at least you've had a glimpse into my little world.</div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMYnqNJX1AzSmZYW7cjAEqQggFFE2UiMLTE4zTNx42cB2X-Qs4Z0DipBf4sgh6A48WGB9lump76PyGdF91YKcC7D2oJnN8SLFuzJaedBzEYHXbq2IKYY1E3Ed95YB-xh6waiQ3q95oQgU3C9Bf5U8HnSuiqjwO5H25NDRbOfjCJPpPuda4tMk/s735/dinosaur-comic2-1564.png"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMYnqNJX1AzSmZYW7cjAEqQggFFE2UiMLTE4zTNx42cB2X-Qs4Z0DipBf4sgh6A48WGB9lump76PyGdF91YKcC7D2oJnN8SLFuzJaedBzEYHXbq2IKYY1E3Ed95YB-xh6waiQ3q95oQgU3C9Bf5U8HnSuiqjwO5H25NDRbOfjCJPpPuda4tMk/w400-h272/dinosaur-comic2-1564.png" width="400" /></a></div>Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-19922507227872781392022-10-16T20:45:00.003-04:002022-10-17T18:11:11.575-04:00Follow Me Down, Undertow Podcast & More, Out Now!We would be remiss if we didn't briefly mention the output of a very busy week and change.<div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhjRFTpKUZNheJjLblPwUHffWxap84j_y5Lj8DxyUck0bwV-0OfOjI38i92WJNzbYRPN2h3wJ57Inlbv877F6BeLid8Rwwwp1ejKLaPhYqCuU_zPYe37bER2aWyhw6TaMmW_BNuX6YVviYuqh6PWmitvbQasprPPk8gaGCKnwPaaW6HtBiCOA/s1204/Follow-Me-Down.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhjRFTpKUZNheJjLblPwUHffWxap84j_y5Lj8DxyUck0bwV-0OfOjI38i92WJNzbYRPN2h3wJ57Inlbv877F6BeLid8Rwwwp1ejKLaPhYqCuU_zPYe37bER2aWyhw6TaMmW_BNuX6YVviYuqh6PWmitvbQasprPPk8gaGCKnwPaaW6HtBiCOA/s320/Follow-Me-Down.jpg" /></a></div><br /><b>Follow Me Down</b>, the fifth <b>Reckless</b> original graphic novel, reached retailers this past Wednesday, revealing what Ethan was up to during the events of <b>The Ghost In You</b>. In the afterward, Ed Brubaker tells readers that they're taking a break from the series for another project -- as yet unannounced, "a new hardback graphic novel" due in the spring and already in production -- but he promises that Ethan and Anna will return in a story set in the 1990s.<br /><br />The previous week saw the arrival of a quite unique <b>Image Firsts</b> $1 comic: <b>Neo Noir: The World of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips</b>. Instead of reprinting a single first issue, the comic reprints the short "trailers" the team has produced to advertise their books, all with essays by David Harper providing an overview of the team's work. The 64-page comic book serves as an excellent introduction to the team, prompting me to give away copies to close friends.</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdlcmPUcWKlJR545HBihKAYZP6wiwhSUtZHS2GBAuL6FDBcRYg6An-L1gqgKu9Ta50Y-0UKyNnIhoAMsHvh1Pq_XmWFxXlCOATwjfgy3JQIvkFGvW_cKsjKfdXlB6Xi7FwJl6BDUvV9oHdFK4tg3OiyOLvbOHZfGhz0RatW7YLAOzouatLj4/s1834/Neo-Noir.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdlcmPUcWKlJR545HBihKAYZP6wiwhSUtZHS2GBAuL6FDBcRYg6An-L1gqgKu9Ta50Y-0UKyNnIhoAMsHvh1Pq_XmWFxXlCOATwjfgy3JQIvkFGvW_cKsjKfdXlB6Xi7FwJl6BDUvV9oHdFK4tg3OiyOLvbOHZfGhz0RatW7YLAOzouatLj4/s320/Neo-Noir.jpg" /></a></div><br />(We note in passing that things have come full circle: the "trailers" were produced to mimic movie trailers and offer an alternative to traditional previews consisting of a comic book's first few pages, but the last preview in <b>Neo Noir</b>, for the first <b>Reckless</b> OGN actually is the book's first four pages. The introductory chapter in each <b>Reckless</b> book is almost like a cold open to a TV series, and this particular chapter serves to introduce the main character, his job and personality, and the overall series. It's kinda like a trailer after all.)<br /><br />With new books in stores, Brubaker published his first <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=379a272af1">email newsletter</a> in more than two months. In addition to these new releases, the writer mentions Friday and <b>Pulp</b>, addresses the recent news regarding Batman: Caped Crusader, and highlights a new video-podcast interview. He closes with an enigmatic image from the mysterious new project.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-j2WU19qtPG10BAMQ_3_BPBDysfzcos8CB0Qir6c6pduCtRXxPqgLx__wWub3jx0obTUJ_0ZFbD_1jNkkgU4f6HQqOynbHxwTdupXPWCNCH7dx3Sueg3cVXp--SuWm9FZ5bhNrTUIFddR6146SlUM6PKVOX4-sH_MA6FgAA06U8alkhOXvA/s258/Mystery-Project.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-j2WU19qtPG10BAMQ_3_BPBDysfzcos8CB0Qir6c6pduCtRXxPqgLx__wWub3jx0obTUJ_0ZFbD_1jNkkgU4f6HQqOynbHxwTdupXPWCNCH7dx3Sueg3cVXp--SuWm9FZ5bhNrTUIFddR6146SlUM6PKVOX4-sH_MA6FgAA06U8alkhOXvA/s1600/Mystery-Project.jpg" /></a></div><br />That same Tuesday, Robert Watson released the latest episode of the <a href="https://anchor.fm/undertowpodcast/episodes/Episode-43---The-Ghost-In-You-e1p3ss3">Undertow Podcast</a>. With our current production schedule, we tend to release an episode as Ed sends out his newsletter, both in anticipation of the next book hitting store shelves. <br /><br />This time, we looked forward to <b>Follow Me Down</b> by taking an extended look back at the previous <b>Reckless</b> book, <b>The Ghost In You</b>.<br /><br />We also took a time to talk about that other recent release from Brubaker and Phillips -- effectively, the latest "Deluxe Edition" oversized hardcover, <b>Pulp: The Process Edition</b>. I recommend it heartily for completists and especially those who are interested in the team's creative process, and our discussion might complement what Brubaker recommended in his newsletter, <a href="https://aiptcomics.com/2022/08/17/pulp-the-process-edition-review/">an extensive review at AIPT Comics</a>.</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy9tUlEiQq2IcpXig8AAPXcf8nMJIpol5e2_Hv3T6G43gEt4dl-zYMLNKU54ff2X7zJ9kNqfLGS7sbhO1eF_Y50rYOhrK94VmKmOSPI_69CCWjBy9sxLN9NGyxIY7QigbmeNYYSHL1XSnHI1HNI1_oXSQwmc6cIxdX8g3fwe-EiTIgHIcrgvI/s1195/Pulp-Process-Edition.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy9tUlEiQq2IcpXig8AAPXcf8nMJIpol5e2_Hv3T6G43gEt4dl-zYMLNKU54ff2X7zJ9kNqfLGS7sbhO1eF_Y50rYOhrK94VmKmOSPI_69CCWjBy9sxLN9NGyxIY7QigbmeNYYSHL1XSnHI1HNI1_oXSQwmc6cIxdX8g3fwe-EiTIgHIcrgvI/s320/Pulp-Process-Edition.jpg" /></a></div><br />Robert gave us a good overview of Richard Stark's Parker: The Martini Edition Last Call, the second and final oversized hardcover collection of Darwyn Cooke's phenomenal adaptations of the classic crime novels. As I said in the podcast, the Parker books comprise -- alongside DC: The New Frontier -- Darwyn's magnum opus. <br /><br />The much-missed artist is honored in this edition, designed and overseen by Brubaker and Phillips, who contribute a new <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2022/04/podcast-addenda-as-reckless-vol-4-hits.html">short story</a> to the collection. As with <b>Pulp</b>, we would direct readers to AIPT for more info, this time a <a href="https://aiptcomics.com/2022/05/10/richard-starks-parker-the-martini-edition-last-call-review/">May 10th review</a> of this concluding Martini Edition.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf7K89RbctjaB2Z0lzzcYy7OHVhm8ntw7Ckdchga__r1Hn1Q5HFNer3W7HTWdA-CSsOq-745a8E1GO3xVuFkrUcj_GsKQxwgHBusk6YaALGGiRd6vmZ7n1eI4J8IlOz3gVqCvMOX3pkWqemq0tY8QMapsKIkhgUGos73JXpD1DudYT_61eDGc/s1947/Parker-Last-Call.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf7K89RbctjaB2Z0lzzcYy7OHVhm8ntw7Ckdchga__r1Hn1Q5HFNer3W7HTWdA-CSsOq-745a8E1GO3xVuFkrUcj_GsKQxwgHBusk6YaALGGiRd6vmZ7n1eI4J8IlOz3gVqCvMOX3pkWqemq0tY8QMapsKIkhgUGos73JXpD1DudYT_61eDGc/s320/Parker-Last-Call.jpg" /></a></div><br />Robert and I concluded the podcast with a rare joint recommendation -- Heat 2, an unexpected sequel to the classic neo-noir epic, a novel co-written by writer and director Michael Mann and award-winning mystery writer Meg Gardiner.<br /><br />(I thoroughly enjoyed the book despite some nits to pick, and I plan to outline my criticisms in the comments below -- briefly and maybe tomorrow, but with heavy spoilers for the original film and some high-level spoilers for the new novel. Readers have been warned.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJ6ogYlKLQdcyCs9QBAllg4kjfoMyH86tA2ZwIycCkGG24lTAgdeJvsLG55FONrAsBkXSwIcgDb0-iU4cMw6Yj23sangIva-0YvbafQQcSF9h1iWT4NCEqzYSIylR00AoVAr8wImge6qEgCvsTbjrfUxrLaJTLWMIoj9ELagFOZ26ISJJonc/s500/Heat-2.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJ6ogYlKLQdcyCs9QBAllg4kjfoMyH86tA2ZwIycCkGG24lTAgdeJvsLG55FONrAsBkXSwIcgDb0-iU4cMw6Yj23sangIva-0YvbafQQcSF9h1iWT4NCEqzYSIylR00AoVAr8wImge6qEgCvsTbjrfUxrLaJTLWMIoj9ELagFOZ26ISJJonc/s320/Heat-2.jpg" /></a></div><br />Finally, we simply must mention Image Comics' <a href="https://imagecomics.com/solicitations/solicitations-for-november-2022">December solicitations</a> (ignore the erroneous URL). The publisher has been releasing an anthology series in celebration of its 30th anniversary, and <b>Image! #9</b> features a contribution from Brubaker and Phillips -- more specifically, a <b>Crimina</b>l short story, perhaps a Criminal "emission" in the vein of <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2009/04/bullets-criminal-emission-for-dark.html">previous</a> short stories listed in our <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-complete-collaborative-works-of.html">bibliography</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkSMdp2lw3UUc1g3bn6WNSgbxnU-mwe509T3cm26kYcRjoL62M2LNnOKIrKb5lQFILyejGeds1AU4q775l8NEnTQJZMeVZ-_MEMfhbaYgaU0qQrGUJ0zkNKXdYYU-wUvrJZD49SmzUd8rUTf9bGqnApKLyuvLSjNvxr2Q2WoqUX8s5oRLN90M/s1500/Image-9.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkSMdp2lw3UUc1g3bn6WNSgbxnU-mwe509T3cm26kYcRjoL62M2LNnOKIrKb5lQFILyejGeds1AU4q775l8NEnTQJZMeVZ-_MEMfhbaYgaU0qQrGUJ0zkNKXdYYU-wUvrJZD49SmzUd8rUTf9bGqnApKLyuvLSjNvxr2Q2WoqUX8s5oRLN90M/s320/Image-9.jpg" /></a></div><br />Previous cover art for the anthology has presented homages to other Image books, and issue #9 puts <b>Criminal</b> front and center with our good friend Teeg Lawless, wired and tired and ready for Christmas. The book is expected to be a late Christmas present, due out on December 28th.<br /><br />We're already looking forward to it!</div></div>Bubbanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-91539817972662809212022-04-12T19:39:00.004-04:002022-10-17T18:20:14.281-04:00Podcast Addenda as Reckless Vol 4 Hits Shelves This Week.<b>The Ghost In You</b>, the 4th <b>Reckless</b> OGN from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, arrives this week, and so Robert Watson has released another episode of The Undertow Podcast: this time, <a href="https://anchor.fm/undertowpodcast/episodes/Episode-42---Destroy-All-Monsters-e1h1qd0">Robert and I review the previous volume</a>, <b>Destroy All Monsters</b>.<br /><br />There were a few more items that didn't make the recording, all worth mentioning briefly.<br /><br />We recorded Sunday night, and Ed Brubaker sent out another <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=8eefd33e81">email newsletter</a> Monday with a few of those items.<div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBi5RSwZDoh4QosJw2U_LYF5IVaVZub-C9spgDHrT3tH_qvCCIqQdQLppA180SLYxNyPgjpltsYnh6hE8tniut3xDwLxU9N9ommQWcRizllVjC7VHQcdt0iuJLiaslWUFwvwThz4fpRnYHxbESqrEZb3xSr1RQ7xnmZpvAxMZ_sIkB2SzNh-E/s750/Anna-bookplate%20cropped.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBi5RSwZDoh4QosJw2U_LYF5IVaVZub-C9spgDHrT3tH_qvCCIqQdQLppA180SLYxNyPgjpltsYnh6hE8tniut3xDwLxU9N9ommQWcRizllVjC7VHQcdt0iuJLiaslWUFwvwThz4fpRnYHxbESqrEZb3xSr1RQ7xnmZpvAxMZ_sIkB2SzNh-E/s320/Anna-bookplate%20cropped.jpg" /></a></div><br />• <b>Reckless Bookplate.</b> Stores with large enough orders will include an autographed bookplate with <b>The Ghost In You</b>. <br /><br />For this release, the bookplate features a young Anna with her Black Flag tee-shirt and the "Anna-archy" grafitti she uses to tag the front doors of the El Ricardo theater.</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjwmqQasbwMyd7_lWBpYDY5ddRoXFXPj2BhZzXhUYxb4Bf0-RORox0yY949EHmhIrlOk6ReyTJztHWEtYuzF1mnrspaxgZekWjQUnrK-PDqiTMXPDPrj7LbOPjE8pckRwq3NLIzVtffWjB7twym5dfIkYjyUgbeu-oVpq6-n0ND-4D6VjfYeU/s1067/Martini-Last%20Call.jpeg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjwmqQasbwMyd7_lWBpYDY5ddRoXFXPj2BhZzXhUYxb4Bf0-RORox0yY949EHmhIrlOk6ReyTJztHWEtYuzF1mnrspaxgZekWjQUnrK-PDqiTMXPDPrj7LbOPjE8pckRwq3NLIzVtffWjB7twym5dfIkYjyUgbeu-oVpq6-n0ND-4D6VjfYeU/s320/Martini-Last%20Call.jpeg" /></a></div><br />• <b>Parker's Last Call, Long Overdue.</b> Brubaker shares the good news that <b>Parker: The Martini Edition Last Call</b> will finally reach stores in just a few weeks. The <a href="https://blog.gocollect.com/idw-publishing-extended-forecast-for-04-13-2022/">ComicList blog</a> has a May 4th release date for the super-deluxe collection of Darwyn Cooke's second set of Donald Westlake / Richard Stark's Parker stories, originally expected September 30th, 2020. (!!!)<br /><br />Ed Brubaker evidently has his "comp copies," and we're treated with a few interior photos, including one of a group interview with Brubaker, Bruce Timm, and Scott Dunbier. <br /><br />To our own greatest delight, we get a glimpse of the team's <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/08/criminal-7-out-today-undertow-review-of.html">long-awaited contribution</a> to this collection -- "TOMORROW and TOMORROW and TOMORROW, A Grofield Story by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, For Donald Westlake and Darwyn Cooke."</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgthrVJs0s258ijqhflMFmVs9uZiyElqy3QSkqBTzUWxXknHF1cEePj63eeNxP5nFJJ5JO0qbRR4RO_qWJLRxOxpCwuZcM2vF2zH_cTGGD1IHFZL1WE0tgI7DqnroJQ1yjZkIi_dAifT4DZSoYpp0qOgfnwUf1K370v8hxOS5rwk1wRW-02qcQ/s1067/BP-Grofield.jpeg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgthrVJs0s258ijqhflMFmVs9uZiyElqy3QSkqBTzUWxXknHF1cEePj63eeNxP5nFJJ5JO0qbRR4RO_qWJLRxOxpCwuZcM2vF2zH_cTGGD1IHFZL1WE0tgI7DqnroJQ1yjZkIi_dAifT4DZSoYpp0qOgfnwUf1K370v8hxOS5rwk1wRW-02qcQ/s320/BP-Grofield.jpeg" /></a></div><br />• <b>Gotham Central Ominbus Returning to Stores.</b> In addition to keeping up with Ed Brubaker's newsletter, we have a habit of checking the ComicList blog each week, and along with <b>The Ghost In You</b>, <a href="https://blog.gocollect.com/comiclist-new-comic-book-releases-list-for-04-13-2022/">this week</a> sees the release of the 2022 edition of the Gotham Central Omnibus.<br /><br />The release dovetails nicely with a news item for the podcast, <a href="https://bleedingcool.com/comics/dc-omnibuses-and-other-big-books-for-the-end-of-2022/">announcing an end-of-year release</a> of the 2022 edition of <b>The Sleeper Omnibus</b>, Brubaker and Phillips' self-contained masterpiece for DC's WildStorm universe.<br /><br />We list Gotham Central in <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-complete-collaborative-works-of.html">our bibliography</a> for Brubaker and Phillips, but it is an oddity in that list: the latter only worked on cover art for seven of the last eight issues, and the former stopped writing for the 40-issue series with issue #36.<br /><br />Nevertheless, Gotham Central is one of the best books set in Batman's hometown. The omnibus is well worth the $100 retail price, but we're sure you can find the book for less.</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpYRZg9quzbO6Ge9d5kQHe4lLyc_VgjzjcGOz9WKO68RuP2fGrOOHwMOeeI8HQNJAcaVAAL3oddIA57jUXrzOtCg_0dbqR1-ziYeLknZlZ0LMZS3XyLpHGAMYVw7z2PgvMoNb3XJBYucGJTuRR30JsTtMGnN5-0fgdC0comC3ZJiNZkZ1M2lw/s1000/Gotham-Central-2022-fixed.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpYRZg9quzbO6Ge9d5kQHe4lLyc_VgjzjcGOz9WKO68RuP2fGrOOHwMOeeI8HQNJAcaVAAL3oddIA57jUXrzOtCg_0dbqR1-ziYeLknZlZ0LMZS3XyLpHGAMYVw7z2PgvMoNb3XJBYucGJTuRR30JsTtMGnN5-0fgdC0comC3ZJiNZkZ1M2lw/s320/Gotham-Central-2022-fixed.jpg" /></a></div><br />• <b>Brubaker Working on Hollywood Adaptations.</b> Finally, returning to the newsletter, we find a bit more about one item Robert mentioned in the podcast.<br /><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">The last few months has been a hectic balancing act for me. Scripts and rewrites on the Batman show, working on Reckless and Friday script pages, and <b>the early stages of adapting a few of our books into films</b> (I never believe anything in TV or film is really happening until things are officially greenlit to production).</div></blockquote><div><br />We wonder which books might be adapted -- <b>Reckless? Kill Or Be Killed? Criminal??</b> -- and we've been waiting for years for any such project to see more than an industry-mag announcement. When an adaptation finally is produced and released, all we will say is, it's about damn time -- and we'll have our fingers crossed that the work honors the excellent source material. <p></p></div>Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-76461530690371945482021-10-19T19:45:00.009-04:002021-10-19T20:22:26.106-04:00Out This Week, New Reckless and a New Undertow Podcast!<p>I know, it's been forever. I even have an unfinished draft from when <b>Friend of the Devil</b> was due to be released, announcing that my life in the real world has just been keeping me entirely too busy to blog -- but further noting this isn't the worst possible time to post intermittently, with Brubaker & Phillips having made the move from releasing monthly issues to publishing original graphic novels.</p><p>For the time being, <b>A Criminal Blog</b> is unofficially going into a partial and indefinite hibernation:</p><p></p><ul><li><i><span style="color: red;">Partial,</span></i> because I'll still post as time permits and circumstances require it.</li><li><i><span style="color: red;">Indefinite,</span></i> because I'm not sure when I'll resume a more regular schedule with blogging.</li></ul><div>But this week, we do have news!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHo7p4d95rWqRGzVy_CASIDbFCrfBDyRpZ-MxmiZqACptjqjVSZkdYEkaTdPv5L9Vvm0hTEUtiBhz4j_1xPFL9CIT8W99FOcf_fu_pLp-EyX78QIcnjWWkFmtFSs7pvqlqCbSx6g/s900/Reckless-3_Destroy-All-Monsters_Comics-Beat.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="595" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHo7p4d95rWqRGzVy_CASIDbFCrfBDyRpZ-MxmiZqACptjqjVSZkdYEkaTdPv5L9Vvm0hTEUtiBhz4j_1xPFL9CIT8W99FOcf_fu_pLp-EyX78QIcnjWWkFmtFSs7pvqlqCbSx6g/s320/Reckless-3_Destroy-All-Monsters_Comics-Beat.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>The third original graphic novel in the <b>Reckless</b> series, <b>Destroy All Monsters</b>, is <span style="color: red;">due to hit stores this week</span>, and just in time for its release, Robert and I recorded a <span style="color: red;">brand new episode</span> of the <a href="https://anchor.fm/undertowpodcast">Undertow Podcast</a>, focusing on the previous volume, <b>Friend of the Devil</b>.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the podcast we mention other upcoming books...</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirDugxhQQo1JsmJzj31ZP9Dql9qZLy7XPqVXWWcjUEb8uX6XFzbK9R6Bkq9snFN8r_vtEeBYKB7gMQ36LZRhiLateH3hHAdU32lv6e1eQGeYDS11ajn-EVuCOKQ3nCnXd3IGHeig/s898/friday-book-one-the-first-day-of-christmas-tp_eac8ebe310.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="585" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirDugxhQQo1JsmJzj31ZP9Dql9qZLy7XPqVXWWcjUEb8uX6XFzbK9R6Bkq9snFN8r_vtEeBYKB7gMQ36LZRhiLateH3hHAdU32lv6e1eQGeYDS11ajn-EVuCOKQ3nCnXd3IGHeig/s320/friday-book-one-the-first-day-of-christmas-tp_eac8ebe310.jpg" width="208" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCzziKdiyELKIl4bw6NyblRNIVTuHGPKjrUinb_avKbHD5KQo3j8lDgrR-OdfqHyb6pkNgsOz4fhg0Ps_eBqChOrCRhMmGqItkgkgbznR7IrD36aa8em8L4taVQAd7tTkUuPTKJA/s898/newburn-1_bd4c976a88.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="585" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCzziKdiyELKIl4bw6NyblRNIVTuHGPKjrUinb_avKbHD5KQo3j8lDgrR-OdfqHyb6pkNgsOz4fhg0Ps_eBqChOrCRhMmGqItkgkgbznR7IrD36aa8em8L4taVQAd7tTkUuPTKJA/s320/newburn-1_bd4c976a88.jpg" width="208" /></a><br /><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/friday-book-one-the-first-day-of-christmas-tp">first print collection</a> of Ed Brubaker's <b>Friday</b>, collecting the first three <a href="http://panelsyndicate.com/comics/friday">digital-only</a> issues and due on November 3rd. </li><li>The second ongoing comic book for artist Jacob Phillips, <b>Newburn</b>, featuring a private detective in New York City (to compliment the rural sheriff of <b>That Texas Blood</b>) and also <a href="https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/new-york-crime-has-a-new-friend-in-chip-zdarsky-jacob-phillips-hardboiled-series-newburn-launching-in-november">due to debut</a> on November 3rd.</li></ul></div><div>...and the latter has something I haven't seen for an Image Comics release, a video trailer:</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wUfeksdbBnA" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div></div><div><br /></div><div>We're always looking forward to more from Brubaker and Phillips -- and now the 2nd Phillips as well -- and we're glad to still be here to comment when we can.</div>Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-38518660896606434272020-07-29T09:55:00.000-04:002020-07-30T18:44:53.414-04:00Out This Week: PULP, That Texas Blood #2, a Brubaker Newsletter, and an Undertow Podcast!<div dir="auto">
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It's been a while, but we're back, and I'll be brief. (Yeah, right.)
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<span style="color: red;"><b>Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips return today</b></span> with their first new comics work in <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2020/01/new-undertow-podcast-and-brubaker-email.html">literally six months</a>, the hardcover, original graphic novel, <b>Pulp</b>!
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Announced <a href="https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/multiple-award-winning-creators-ed-brubaker-sean-phillips-spin-tale-of-30s-era-crime-in-original-graphic-novel-hardcover-pulp-this-may">last December</a> and originally planned for a May 20th release, <b>Pulp</b> is the third slightly oversized "graphic novella" for the team, following 2018's <b>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</b> the expanded edition of <b>Bad Weekend</b> released last July.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfn2TVxZ_tb2ZhC0SUm5S0Gw5kmqRXlB3xSPqKmuLcGivEeM7yuVZ-r72CEqlnaXQFqRAFJ6YUbBqyxnukUXI6F5i-ngshKnAM5IESKTTG63NQehembYoXVXjWUV6Fuqoctn2A6g/s1600/Image-Website.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfn2TVxZ_tb2ZhC0SUm5S0Gw5kmqRXlB3xSPqKmuLcGivEeM7yuVZ-r72CEqlnaXQFqRAFJ6YUbBqyxnukUXI6F5i-ngshKnAM5IESKTTG63NQehembYoXVXjWUV6Fuqoctn2A6g/s400/Image-Website.jpg" width="400" /></a>
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Image Comics prominently features the book on its website, and there are a number of signed bookplates for the book. Shown below (L-R), there's one for the <a href="https://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/JAN209140">North American market</a> and exclusive bookplates for two different British retailers, <a href="https://www.page45.com/store/Pulp-hc-Page-45-Bookplate-Edition-.html">Page 45</a> and <a href="https://okcomics.co.uk/blogs/news/pulp-by-ed-brubaker-and-sean-phillips">OK Comics</a>.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh01rOZu11rzZQwH5y3l9goeBgWR1B3HKdFsdk5qpyblRwJb7X-f9s2Vxlz37Z9slrwPxr4tLEy5_W7b_LrbOiyjsQMeJkSoBvq1L_uGJwzuhtgoHcIRVWMyP5uc-rJyfa4vjhp-w/s1600/Pulp-bookplates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh01rOZu11rzZQwH5y3l9goeBgWR1B3HKdFsdk5qpyblRwJb7X-f9s2Vxlz37Z9slrwPxr4tLEy5_W7b_LrbOiyjsQMeJkSoBvq1L_uGJwzuhtgoHcIRVWMyP5uc-rJyfa4vjhp-w/s400/Pulp-bookplates.jpg" width="400" /></a>
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<b>Pulp</b> is coming out <span style="color: red;"><b>the same day as That Texas Blood #2</b></span>, by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips, the <b>Criminal</b> colorist who is proving to be an artistic force in his own right.
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The first issue was released on June 24th and went into an <a href="https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/that-texas-blood-raises-the-stakes-with-fast-tracked-reprint">immediate second printing</a>, which hit stores last week. Shown below, we have Sean Phillips' first-printing variant cover and the second-printing cover for issue #1, followed by the two first-printing covers for issue #2.
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On <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/that-texas-blood-2">the listing for the second issue</a>, we find that the variant cover is by Hellboy artist Duncan Fegredo, the issue is the first chapter of a five-part story entitled "A Brother's Conscience," and a three-page preview is available to whet our appetite.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL2ma5ZYBwBuE0is5jHSh-rYVW2ix7Gkd1_2o1ZG_w1UlkBQQPtXmPnU9ZtyQyiMV3CpEkXQrdCEvE6_DV9rppNX694t-RVereb7h2xhx2AxW-6VkfCdvHu3GrQBgswaJNtXOpyg/s1600/TTB-Issues-1-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1040" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL2ma5ZYBwBuE0is5jHSh-rYVW2ix7Gkd1_2o1ZG_w1UlkBQQPtXmPnU9ZtyQyiMV3CpEkXQrdCEvE6_DV9rppNX694t-RVereb7h2xhx2AxW-6VkfCdvHu3GrQBgswaJNtXOpyg/s400/TTB-Issues-1-2.jpg" width="260" /></a>
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With so much arriving this week, Robert and I made an extra effort to meet online and record an episode of our podcast: Brubaker hadn't released an email newsletter since <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=f836426050">mid-May</a>, and I believe I half-jokingly predicted that would change between the episode's recording and release.
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I was right. The <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=9dab67e67c">latest newsletter</a> "From the desk of Ed Brubaker" hit my inbox yesterday afternoon, a little more than three hours before Robert texted me that the podcast was up!
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<span style="color: red;"><b>Brubaker's new email newsletter is a must-read,</b></span> giving readers a little more insight into Pulp (including some preview pages) and some <i>very</i> exciting details about what comes next.
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We got a few preview images indicating a setting of LA in 1981; it's only <b>a</b> setting, one of potentially many. The title, the release date -- "sooner than you think" (!!!) -- and some more preview pages are promised for the next newsletter, but what Brubaker just revealed is thrilling enough:</div>
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<li><span style="color: red;">The next project is a series of original graphic novels.</span></li>
<li>Each OGN will feature the same protagonist but tell its own complete story.</li>
<li>The books will be longer than the 72-page "novellas" that preceded them -- <b>Junkies</b>, <b>Bad Weekend</b>, and <b>Pulp</b> -- and the first book is about 125 pages.</li>
<li>The team plans to release <span style="color: red;">three volumes over the course of a year</span>.</li>
</ul>
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<div>
Brubaker believes this is a first -- "three full-length OGNs in one year by the same team." </div>
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<i>So if you're a longtime reader of ours, you'll actually be getting more "content" than usual soon.</i></blockquote>
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We've been going through withdrawal, so we're positively giddy!
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Brubaker also writes about a classic TV shows -- his dad's favorite, <i>and</i> one of mine, alongside Perry Mason and Magnum, P.I. The show is The Rockford Files, previously aired on the delightful <a href="https://www.metv.com/">MeTV</a> and now streaming on NBCUniversal's new streaming service, Peacock. It's been (more than) a few years since the writer dropped the often toxic environment of Twitter, but we remember that his account's profile photo used to be of the man himself, Jim Rockford, in an iconic shot from the opening sequence.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnk4pM5TE45K1o3PzycZw9Dx7ZEhSi3hHueQmhysXKd0jsfTqcRpeMAv0bbmIaGPawcQpTW69qXV2M3Oefoe1prrtxAmgCDhvomIbHh2HvfmdRyGbUXYrTgQskUoc9TQZwzaeFw/s1600/Rockford-reflection.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="400" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnk4pM5TE45K1o3PzycZw9Dx7ZEhSi3hHueQmhysXKd0jsfTqcRpeMAv0bbmIaGPawcQpTW69qXV2M3Oefoe1prrtxAmgCDhvomIbHh2HvfmdRyGbUXYrTgQskUoc9TQZwzaeFw/s400/Rockford-reflection.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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(We wonder if Jim Rockford is anything like the protagonist for this upcoming series of OGNs...)
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But before you check out Rockford, we heartily recommend <a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-38-comics-from-a-cruel-summer-friday-brutal-dark-and-that-texas-blood/">Episode 38</a> of <b>The Undertow Podcast</b>. <b><span style="color: red;">This new episode was recorded Monday night and released just yesterday, and it features reviews of four recent releases!</span></b>
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During what our inestimable host Robert Watson has accurately described as a "cruel summer," we have still had a few books to read outside of the usual Brubaker-Phillips collaborations -- short stories and full-length comic books, in print and online, in separate projects from Ed Brubaker and Jacob Phillips -- and we briefly covered each one.</div>
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<li><span style="color: red;">Friday #1</span>, from Brubaker and artist Marcos Martin, 24 pages released digitally on 4/15 through Martin's <a href="http://panelsyndicate.com/comics/friday">Panel Syndicate</a></li>
<li><span style="color: red;">"The Art of Picking a Lock,"</span> a 12-page story from Brubaker and artist Cameron Stewart, released on 6/2 in the <a href="https://www.dccomics.com/comics/catwoman-80th-anniversary-100-page-super-spectacular-2020/catwoman-80th-anniversary-100-page">prestige-format Catwoman anthology</a>, the 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular</li>
<li><span style="color: red;">That Texas Blood #1</span>, from writer Chris Condon and artist Jacob Phillips, a 22-page comic released on 6/24 through <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/that-texas-blood-1">Image Comics</a></li>
<li><span style="color: red;">Brutal Dark #1 & #2</span>, from Condon & J. Phillips, two 8-page issues released digitally on 5/6 and 6/18 respectively, for fans who support the team through their <a href="https://www.patreon.com/condonphillips">Patreon page</a></li>
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Each book was a helluva read, and Robert and I also had a few recommendations for our listeners, including a pair of <i>very</i> different movies from the 1990's -- the stylish adaptation of the comics detective <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4rzqSsqaqA">Dick Tracy</a> and the cult sci-fi/horror film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVlnER8SxfQ">Event Horizon</a>.
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I also gave a brief, unplanned recommendation for <a href="https://www.comixology.com/Scooby-Doo-Team-Up-2013/comics-series/11959">Scooby-Doo! Team-Up</a>. The 50-issue series ran from 2013 to 2019, and I think it was the best kids comic on the stands: our kids love it, and it's a great introduction to crime comics, somewhat spooky but very funny!
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(Like all great works for kids, there's plenty for parents to appreciate, too.)
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYDEqsifcvbmZzTi1XXAn-KNJZU69KPdVdbfAqbhXGYowYzYsM_9zcUNNQ7vSXhcU0HmkNX5O5g43f9Zp2xovVirgvsOf8uswH8zn02xPscILJlhg2-pY7NnzdFT_rqNB73RQ55Q/s1600/Team-Up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1220" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYDEqsifcvbmZzTi1XXAn-KNJZU69KPdVdbfAqbhXGYowYzYsM_9zcUNNQ7vSXhcU0HmkNX5O5g43f9Zp2xovVirgvsOf8uswH8zn02xPscILJlhg2-pY7NnzdFT_rqNB73RQ55Q/s400/Team-Up.jpg" width="392" /></a>
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To promote the new animated movie, Scoob!, more than <span style="color: red;">250 issues</span> of Scooby-Doo comics have been made available through Comixology and other digital retailers, <a href="https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2020/05/14/zoinks-dc-offers-more-than-250-scooby-doo-comics-for-free">completely free</a> if purchased now through September 7th.
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Featuring famous and obscure characters from DC Comics <i>and</i> Hanna-Barbara, the Team-Up book is the best of the bunch, and <span style="color: red;">the entire series is being given away in eight volumes of digital trade paperbacks</span> -- and if you have an Amazon account, you already have a Comixology account whether you realize it or not.
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Summing up, there's lots to enjoy for Brubaker and Phillips fans -- a new podcast, a new newsletter, a couple old movies and quite a few books to read -- but the highest priority is visiting your local comic shop for <b>Pulp</b> and the sophomore issue of That Texas Blood.</div>
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Giddy-up!</div>
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Bubbanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-86597247517265790152020-04-20T19:00:00.000-04:002020-04-23T16:00:48.228-04:00FRIDAY and the Rest of 2020: New Podcast, Newsletter, Deluxe Editions, AND a Digital Book from Brubaker!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqcf-GR21g5WqFRD063jhCICanw5hD4kup4vo9Xuzn8Kn5hd-RqOhrEhSXEamqWjL3h6aDWhccTEg8xWxfa8MZrXJrc5XC3UU_pIyrW8NzC81ePJZV2eyXXNUiSn4I2MpOyoWavA/s1600/Preview-pg-5_cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="722" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqcf-GR21g5WqFRD063jhCICanw5hD4kup4vo9Xuzn8Kn5hd-RqOhrEhSXEamqWjL3h6aDWhccTEg8xWxfa8MZrXJrc5XC3UU_pIyrW8NzC81ePJZV2eyXXNUiSn4I2MpOyoWavA/s400/Preview-pg-5_cropped.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Early April saw the release of the latest <b><a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-37-criminal-12/">Undertow Podcast</a></b>, featuring our review of <b>Criminal</b> #12, the explosive finale of the sprawling "Cruel Summer" arc. We hope our listeners enjoy the discussion even half as much as Robert and I did.<br />
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During the podcast, we raised some questions we had about Amazon listings for upcoming releases, and we happened to get some answers last week from an <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=1c417ba2ae">email newsletter</a> sent out by Ed Brubaker.<br />
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That newsletter opened with bigger, <b>MUCH</b> more immediately pressing news, and we'll follow suit here, with the <b>Criminal</b> news at the end of the post.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Ed Brubaker's Brand New Comic FRIDAY</span></b><br />
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In the last few years, a handful of high-profile creators have released works suddenly, without any prior press or announcement. Beyonce famously did this in December, 2013, with her self-titled "visual album," and U2 infamously did something similar the following September, "gifting" their album Songs of Innocence to a half billion iTunes customers.<br />
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With hardcopy comic books generally requiring solicitations and retailer pre-orders, such surprise releases are quite rare: the only example that comes to mind is Robert Kirkman's July, 2018, release of <a href="https://bleedingcool.com/comics/letter-robert-kirkman-retailers-diediedie/">Die! Die! Die!</a><br />
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(Kirkman avoided the usual process by giving copies of the debut issue to retailers, matching the number of copies ordered for March's Oblivion Song #1. The writer followed up the surprise debut the very next July with the sudden end of The Walking Dead at issue #193).<br />
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Digital comics are an entirely different animal, and on April 15th, Ed Brubaker announced the immediate release of the first "chapter" (or issue) of FRIDAY, a new series with Spanish artist Marcos Martin.<br />
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Marcos Martin has spent more than twenty years in the industry, primarily for the Big Two publishers. Martin and writer Brian K. Vaughan created <a href="http://panelsyndicate.com/help">Panel Syndicate</a> to distribute "digital comics directly from creators to readers." In 2013, the pair debuted the first title for the site,<a href="http://panelsyndicate.com/comics/tpeye">The Private Eye</a>, with coloring by Muntsa Vicente. The series won both an Eisner and a Harvey, and the site has since expanded to feature other series, other creators, and a one-shot for The Walking Dead.<br />
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Now, Martin and Vincente are joining writer Ed Brubaker to create FRIDAY.<br />
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In his newsletter, Brubaker relays that he's been working on this project for nearly a year: "Close readers will have noticed me mentioning a secret project with one of my favorite artists here and there, and this is it."<br />
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(We're not sure what's become of the "top secret" project with Steve Epting, post-Velvet, mentioned almost <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2017/10/bullets-new-undertow-podcast-new-kill.html">five years ago</a> this month.)<br />
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Along with Ed's email newsletter, a few news sites announced the book Wednesday morning. <a href="https://aux.avclub.com/brubaker-and-martin-surprise-launch-a-new-series-in-thi-1842877917">The AV Club</a> includes the same four-page preview found in the newsletter and at <a href="http://panelsyndicate.com/previews/friday001">Panel Syndicate</a>. Meanwhile <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/comic-writer-ed-brubaker-launches-surprise-title-friday-1290282">The Hollywood Reporter</a> quotes Brubaker on how the series originated in a request from Martin to work on "his next big thing for Panel Syndicate," followed by Brubaker's immediate and enthusiastic response.<br />
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That same Wednesday, CBR published the <a href="https://www.cbr.com/friday-brubaker-martin-panel-syndicate-pay-what-you-want/">official press release</a>, the source of those quotes from the creators. Martin elaborates that the pair previously collaborated for a Captain America annual (evidently the <a href="http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/Issue.aspx?id=4c0e5ea9-f090-43b3-93f6-09805a6425de">65th Anniversary Special</a>), a brief but satisfying experience.<br />
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The press release also gives us the title of this first chapter: "The Girl in the Trees."<br />
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CBR has since posted a few more articles on the new series.<br />
<ul>
<li>Thursday, Aaron Fentress provides a spoilery look at the first chapter, suggesting that the series aims to <a href="https://www.cbr.com/friday-brubaker-martin-series-ya-watchmen/">deconstruct YA fiction</a> much the way Watchmen deconstructed costumed superheroes, causing the characters to age and leave their comfort zone in a manner similar to the humorous Adult Swim cartoon The Venture Bros.</li>
<li>Friday, Sam Stone previewed an "upcoming exclusive interview" with Marcos Martin, explaining that the recent health crisis briefly delayed the series' release and simultaneously motivated its <a href="https://www.cbr.com/friday-covid-19-pandemic-affected-release/">immediate publication</a>: the quarantine "was a determining factor to put it out now instead of waiting around until later because we felt it would be good for the industry and most definitely, our mental health."</li>
<li>Saturday, Collier Jennings previewed an upcoming interview with Ed Brubaker, discussing the <a href="https://www.cbr.com/friday-ed-brubaker-post-ya-webcomic/">Young Adult genre</a> and its strange but comforting trope of "kids just living this endless youth as the decades around them change." In what the writer has coined "post-YA," Brubaker is "just taking those same types of teen heroes, and allowing them to grow up and exist in the real world around them, to allow the strange occult mysteries they investigate to become actual horror stories."</li>
<li>Sunday, Fentress drops even more spoilers to <a href="https://www.cbr.com/friday-white-lady-yellow-king-true-detective/">compare the series to True Detective</a>, with both evidently having roots in the same kind of horror stories.</li>
</ul>
(Also, on Friday, CBR published Ed Brubaker's <a href="https://www.cbr.com/shang-chi-ed-brubaker-reacts-rumors-mandarin-heros-father/">response</a> to the rumor that Shang-Chi's parentage has been changed for the upcoming MCU release.)<br />
<br />
Just today, CBR published the complete interview they previously teased, <a href="https://www.cbr.com/friday-ed-brubaker-marcos-martin-webcomic-interview/">an exclusive, joint interview</a> with Brubaker and Martin. Brubaker traces the lineage of horror and occult stories in YA fiction and children's stories, and he elaborates that the pair's earlier collaboration was very brief indeed: "He and Javier [Pulido? Rodriguez?] jumped in at the last minute when an artist blew a deadline on a Cap annual, and they saved us by alternating chapters."<br />
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The process for the new book has been much more deliberately paced, and Martin says that he especially enjoyed "the mixture of the Lovecraftian New Englandish town and the early 70s," the latter caused Muntsa Vicente to change her approach to coloring "with no use of gradients at all and limiting her palette to just 128 colors like the old comics of the late 70s."<br />
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The interview closes with Martin's hopes for Panel Syndicate, and we can't help but think Friday will help the site expand its readership. Yesterday, Brubaker sent out a <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=ccad16e2d5">"quick note of thanks"</a> for the overwhelming response to the book -- and he linked to two additional stories.<br />
<ul>
<li>Calling the book a "gripping read" with special praise for the artwork, <a href="http://vol1brooklyn.com/2020/04/17/small-towns-strange-mysteries-ed-brubaker-and-marcos-martin-on-their-new-comic-friday/">Volume 1 Brooklyn</a> apparently conducted their own interview with the creators: Brubaker notes the freedom in page length which the digital format affords him, and Martin relayed the positive response to Panel Syndicate, even from retailers and publishers who can "make more sensible and informed decisions in regards to the product they wanted to print and put out physically.</li>
<li>Giving a rating of 10 out of 10, <a href="https://www.comicsbookcase.com/updates/friday-brubaker-martin-review">Comics Bookcase</a> calls Friday "damn good," and "the best debut issue of any comic I’ve read this year."</li>
</ul>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Bottom Line on FRIDAY</span></b><br />
<br />
There's a lot to read about Brubaker's new series, but it may be useful to highlight the main points.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://panelsyndicate.com/comics/friday">Panel Syndicate page</a> for the series provides an excellent summary of its premise (emphasis mine).<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Friday Fitzhugh spent her childhood solving crimes and digging up occult secrets with her best friend Lancelot Jones, the smartest boy in the world. But that was the past, now she's in college, starting a new life on her own. Except when Friday comes home for the holidays, she's immediately pulled back into Lance's orbit and finds that something very strange and dangerous is happening in their little New England town...</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: red;">This is literally the Christmas vacation from Hell and neither of them may survive to see the New Year.</span></blockquote>
What do we know about the comic's format and availability?<br />
<ul>
<li>Chapter One, "The Girl in the Trees," is <span style="color: red;">out now, in multiple formats</span> -- "No DRM, no encryption, just plain files optimised for on-screen viewing" -- and is available in English and in Spanish.</li>
<li>In line with Panel Syndicate's publishing model, you <b><span style="color: red;">PAY WHAT YOU WANT</span></b> for the book, <span style="color: red;">including the option of not paying at all</span>: PayPal used for payment, and <span style="color: red;">you do <b>NOT</b> need a PayPal account</span> to complete the purchase.</li>
<li>This first issue is listed at <span style="color: red;">30 pages</span>, with 26 pages of story and concluding with a two-page note from the writer.</li>
<li>Per Ed Brubaker, "The plan is to <span style="color: red;">release the chapters digitally as we finish them</span>, and then put out <span style="color: red;">the whole graphic novel from IMAGE in a beautiful hardback edition (with lots of extras)</span> for comic shops and bookstores."</li>
</ul>
We suspect that the title alludes to <strike>the 1995 comedy starring Ice Cube and Chris Tucker</strike> the 1940 screwball comedy His Girl Friday. Citing a book of essays on the director Howard Hawks, Wikipedia helpfully explains that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Girl_Friday#Interpretation">the title is ironic</a> "because a girl 'Friday' represents a servant of a master, but [ace reporter] Hildy [Johnson] is not a servant in the film, but rather the equal to Walter [Jones, editor and ex-husband]."<br />
<br />
And this isn't the first time that Ed Brubaker has riffed on Encyclopedia Brown -- or YA fiction for that matter, if you count Archie Comics. "The Last of the Innocent" introduced Britt Black, but since Lancelot Jones is different prodigy P.I., all grown up (or growing up), we might not be in the same world as <b>Criminal</b>, and we certainly can't be sure who might or might not make it to the story's conclusion.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwDIyH_O1Tc2rphzEe459dWZqQTZbHJvNfJT0DXrTVJO6yRopWYpICk0wDHYHCg8ZsfEWPtaLmL57lf8yHvlnHcI-U4260lPz7k8nBkIFXlPD10Gs1zJU_SsnXD-ZotA7GbEAn1g/s1600/Criminal-Deluxe-Vol-2-2nd-ed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1140" data-original-width="1600" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwDIyH_O1Tc2rphzEe459dWZqQTZbHJvNfJT0DXrTVJO6yRopWYpICk0wDHYHCg8ZsfEWPtaLmL57lf8yHvlnHcI-U4260lPz7k8nBkIFXlPD10Gs1zJU_SsnXD-ZotA7GbEAn1g/s400/Criminal-Deluxe-Vol-2-2nd-ed.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">CRIMINAL Collections, Coming Soonish</span></b><br />
<br />
In that <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=1c417ba2ae">newsletter from last week</a>, Ed Brubaker relays that the upcoming hardcopy books are "sitting in limbo" at the printer, both <b>Pulp</b> and the "oversized hardback of CRUEL SUMMER."<br />
<br />
While we're waiting for <b>Pulp</b>, Brubaker has treated newsletter readers with a new but brief, three-panel preview of the story, but it's the "Cruel Summer" collection that intrigues us most.<br />
<br />
So far as we know, that book has not yet been officially announced.<br />
<br />
As we mentioned in the <b>Undertow Podcast</b>, <a href="https://twitter.com/j00gle">James Joshua Hall</a> reached out to us through Twitter to direct our attention to a few new listings on Amazon.<br />
<br />
For posterity's sake, and in case the listings change, here's what we currently have:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4aDen3FkoQfeaLhuUi-S87-qKxBR4Pvkg5qE4HlCPxtBTFd-9JdiyPSnB7qcnfeotwBtkIfwmZp-xsT9wZDDf19314aRvWLYHR_yoaUn2zK9doT_2bMrppyqAzVxZwWJ4XQ8J6Q/s1600/Cruel-Summer-HC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="988" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4aDen3FkoQfeaLhuUi-S87-qKxBR4Pvkg5qE4HlCPxtBTFd-9JdiyPSnB7qcnfeotwBtkIfwmZp-xsT9wZDDf19314aRvWLYHR_yoaUn2zK9doT_2bMrppyqAzVxZwWJ4XQ8J6Q/s400/Cruel-Summer-HC.jpg" width="262" /></a></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cruel-Summer-Ed-Brubaker/dp/1534316434/">Cruel Summer hardcover</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
expected July 21, 2020<br />
list price $34.99<br />
<b></b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>BRUBAKER</b> and <b>PHILLIPS' CRIMINAL</b> epic, collected in a gorgeous hardback edition.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the summer of '88, Teeg Lawless comes home to plan the biggest heist of his career. But Teeg's son Ricky and his friends are starting down the same dark path their fathers are on, and this is about to become the worst summer of their lives.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
An epic tale of tragedy handed down from generation-to-generation, <b>CRUEL SUMMER</b> is a crime comic masterpiece from the most-celebrated noir masters in the industry, creators of <b>CRIMINAL, FATALE, KILL OR BE KILLED</b> and <b>THE FADE OUT</b>.<br />
<b></b></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Collects CRIMINAL issues 1 and 5 - 12 in a beautiful new hardback edition, with additional behind the scenes material.</b></blockquote>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicxRlASJOpE6g-jyO7eX49LPFTanchcAO50cSVF6kaLVdH1vFu5_y-7_yWqMRsosSY8tx1dcOzAtt-nn1XoR7EXl3clUen-QE-ytrSguSvmg9rMCIjYqIixw9Uryf-uzYvRo1aCA/s1600/Criminal-Vol-8-placeholder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicxRlASJOpE6g-jyO7eX49LPFTanchcAO50cSVF6kaLVdH1vFu5_y-7_yWqMRsosSY8tx1dcOzAtt-nn1XoR7EXl3clUen-QE-ytrSguSvmg9rMCIjYqIixw9Uryf-uzYvRo1aCA/s200/Criminal-Vol-8-placeholder.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Criminal-8-Three-Sharp-Knocks/dp/1534312455/">Criminal Volume 8: Three Sharp Knocks paperback</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
expected December 29, 2020<br />
list price $16.99</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The debut appearance of one of the most important characters in CRIMINAL history, RICKY LAWLESS, in three heartbreaking tales of crime and family.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Collects CRIMINAL (Image Comics) #1-4.</blockquote>
The <a href="https://imagecomics.com/solicitations/solicitations-for-june-2019">June solicitations</a> were (and still are) the most recent solicits for Image Comics, and the list of upcoming books did not include any advance solicitations for <b>Criminal</b> books, for July or later.<br />
<br />
We found these two Amazon listings quite odd.<br />
<br />
We're not sure why the "Cruel Summer" collection would include the untitled issue #1 but not "Orphans" from issue #4: both served as a kind of prologue to the "Cruel Summer" arc, explicitly looking forward (or backwards) to the violent death of Teeg Lawless.<br />
<br />
We also can't quite understand why the next numbered TPB for <b>Criminal</b> would overlap with this "Cruel Summer" collection (with issue #1) <i><b>and</b></i> the "Bad Weekend" expanded hardcover (issues #2-3).<br />
<br />
While we pondered those questions, JJH reached out again last Monday, pointing us to yet another new listing on Amazon, albeit one with "no image available":<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Criminal-Deluxe-3-Ed-Brubaker/dp/1534317066">Criminal Deluxe Edition, Volume 3 Hardcover</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
expected October 27, 2020<br />
list price $49.99</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>BRUBAKER</b> and <b>PHILLIPS</b>' hard-to-find <b>CRIMINAL</b> hardbacks are finally back in print, and joining them is the long-awaited <b>CRIMINAL: DELUXE EDITION, VOL. 3</b>.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This oversized deluxe hardback collects several short stories and novellas from the most award-winning team in the history of comics in a fantastically-designed book full of extras -- illustrations, selected articles, interviews, behind the scenes looks, painted covers... and much much more! Collects the <b>SAVAGE SWORD OF CRIMINAL</b> and <b>DEADLY HANDS OF CRIMINAL</b> magazines, the novellas <b>MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JUNKIES</b> and <b>BAD WEEKEND</b>, and issues 1 and 4 of the newest run of the <b>CRIMINAL</b> monthly series, two full length short stories about the LAWLESS family.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A true collector's edition must-have for any fan of the best in crime comics.</blockquote>
Effectively, the book would appear to collect <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/criminal-vol-7-wrong-time-wrong-place-tp">Volume 7</a> ("Wrong Time, Wrong Place"), <b>Junkies</b>, the forthcoming Volume 8, and presumably the <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/07/criminal-6-and-expanded-bad-weekend.html">ten new pages</a> in the <b>Bad Weekend</b> hardcover.<br />
<br />
(Would the book also include the extra material from the two magazine-sized variants for the "Savage Sword" and "Deadly Hands" one-shots?)<br />
<br />
If we were compiling the next deluxe edition, we're not sure we would separate the stories in issues #1 and #4 from the "Cruel Summer" arc since, again, we find that they serve as excellent prologues to the sprawling death-of-Teeg story.<br />
<br />
Presumably the "Cruel Summer" arc is too long for inclusion in the third deluxe volume, and since a return to the world of <b>Criminal</b> has already been <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2020/01/new-undertow-podcast-and-brubaker-email.html">promised</a>, perhaps the story would kick off an eventual fourth deluxe edition.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, Brubaker's newsletter has shed more light on the upcoming releases, even if there's still some uncertainty.<br />
<br />
Ed writes about (quote) "our oversized hardback of <b>CRUEL SUMMER</b>" and we wonder if this larger size matches the deluxe editions rather than the slightly smaller hardcovers for <b>Junkies</b> and <b>Bad Weekend</b>. If so, and if the Amazon listing is right that the book includes "additional behind the scenes material," this hardcover is <i>EFFECTIVELY</i> a thinner Deluxe Edition, Volume 4 -- or perhaps a Volume 3 1/2, a placeholder for the next few years.<br />
<br />
(It may be a while. The oldest story expected in Volume 3, the Special Edition "Savage Sword" one-shot, was originally released in early 2015. It's taking more than five years for the story to find its way into a deluxe edition.)<br />
<br />
And, Ed treats fans to Sean Phillps' brand-new wraparound cover art for <b>Criminal: The Deluxe Edition Volume 2</b>, shown above. It's gorgeous, a montage combining elements from the volume's three story arcs.<br />
<br />
He confirms that these new editions are scheduled for the fall, and he confirms Volume 3: "We've got <span style="color: red;">new designs</span> [emphasis mine] and covers for the first two books (out of print for nearly a decade now) and a new third volume to join them, finally."<br />
<br />
So, two out of the three Amazon listings have been partially confirmed by Ed Brubaker to one degree or another, with the 8th TPB "Three Sharp Knocks" not yet addressed.<br />
<br />
We can't wait to open up the new deluxe editions and see what's changed.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, we'll keep an eye out for any new information on these collected editions, and we'll pass them along as quickly as our hectic lives allow.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<b><span style="color: red;">UPDATE, 4/23:</span></b> On Twitter, Sean Phillips kindly answered the lingering questions we raised here.<br />
<br />
First, he tackled the <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1252612632890224642">mysterious Amazon listings</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>That paperback listing is incorrect, we don’t have another Criminal trade planned. Cruel Summer is out first followed by the three Deluxe Editions, all over-sized hardcovers.</b></blockquote>
Then, he answered my follow-up question about the <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1253039845301202944">relative sizes</a> of the upcoming hardcovers:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Cruel Summer is the same size as the Deluxe Editions</b></blockquote>
That <i>does</i> make the "Cruel Summer" hardcover a kind of Volume 3 1/2.<br />
<br />
So, in summary, Brubaker and Phillips will release <span style="color: red;">four oversized hardcovers</span> in the remainder of 2020.<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: red;"><b>Criminal: The Deluxe Edition Volume 1, 2nd edition</b></span></li>
<ul>
<li>Includes <span style="color: red;">a new design AND a new cover</span></li>
<li>Collects Criminal (2006) #1-10 & Criminal (2008) #1-3</li>
<ul>
<li>"Coward" </li>
<li>"Lawless" </li>
<li>"The Dead and the Dying"</li>
</ul>
<li>Likely still includes the short story "No One Rides for Free"</li>
</ul>
<li><b><span style="color: red;">Criminal: The Deluxe Edition Volume 2, 2nd edition</span></b></li>
<ul>
<li>Includes a <span style="color: red;">new design AND a new cover</span></li>
<li>Collects Criminal (2008) #4-7 and two mini-series </li>
<ul>
<li>"Bad Night" </li>
<li>"The Sinners" </li>
<li>"The Last of the Innocent"</li>
</ul>
<li>Likely still includes the short story "21st Century Noir"</li>
</ul>
<li><b><span style="color: red;">Criminal: The Deluxe Edition Volume 3</span></b></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: red;">Brand new collection</span> </li>
<li>Likely collects two one-shot issues, one OGN, and Criminal (2018) #1-4</li>
<ul>
<li>"Wrong Time, Wrong Place" (Special Edition & 10th Anniversary Special)</li>
<li>"My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies"</li>
<li>Untitled Teeg & Ricky story, set in 1987</li>
<li>"Bad Weekend"</li>
<li>"Orphans"</li>
</ul>
<li>Not clear how much will be included from the one-shot magazine variants and the expanded OGN HC edition of "Bad Weekend," which included ten extra pages</li>
</ul>
<li><b><span style="color: red;">Criminal: Cruel Summer</span></b></li>
<ul>
<li>Brand new collection</li>
<li>Collects Criminal (2018) #5-12</li>
<li>Might also collect at least one of the related prologue issues, #1 & #4</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
All four hardcovers will be the same size, comprising a complete library of the first 18+ years of the <b>Criminal</b> comic book. The "Cruel Summer" hardcover will come first (possibly late July), followed by the three deluxe collections perhaps around October.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And all this is in addition to the <span style="color: red;">brand-new collaboration <b>Pulp</b></span>, a hardcover, original graphic novel originally scheduled for May 20th.</div>
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Bubbanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-52173094929727361962020-01-28T19:15:00.000-05:002020-01-28T19:15:52.718-05:00New Undertow Podcast and Brubaker Email, in Advance of Criminal #12, Out Tomorrow!...and, we're back!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgy3bL4ZDV3FAxNo08y9OoM8M6Sx-eQwHkELSS4TXp2FOFQ8XNULRKQzo0Ef-3q6rGuemiSXgxUsdXnrrRZHDi-jl2NJ4qR7iHkLacLix1Zy3_SmckuaBe1D3lAIuz9kC5bn9buQ/s1600/tonight-show-more-to-come-cowboy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="353" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgy3bL4ZDV3FAxNo08y9OoM8M6Sx-eQwHkELSS4TXp2FOFQ8XNULRKQzo0Ef-3q6rGuemiSXgxUsdXnrrRZHDi-jl2NJ4qR7iHkLacLix1Zy3_SmckuaBe1D3lAIuz9kC5bn9buQ/s400/tonight-show-more-to-come-cowboy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
We have more to cover, hopefully later this week, but we would be remiss if we didn't post today.<br />
<br />
We're greatly anticipating tomorrow's arrival of <b>Criminal</b> #12 -- the grand finale to the ambitious "Cruel Summer" arc, which also serves as the final issue of this particular volume of the long-running series <i>and</i> covers the momentous death of that infamous, fan-favorite anti-hero Teeg Lawless.<br />
<br />
First, before fans pick up their copy of the book, they could do worse with their time than checking out the <a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-36-cruel-summer-and-winter-break/">latest episode</a> of <b>The Undertow Podcast</b>. Back after a brief, unanticipated hiatus, Robert and I take a broad look at the entire "Cruel Summer" arc, where we are at the cliffhanger ending to the penultimate chapter, and where we <i>think</i> we need to end up to fit with the previous story arcs.<br />
<br />
We also have a couple recommendations, with Robert pointing listeners to the 2011 film <i>Take Shelter</i>...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hUraDx3oFVg" width="560"></iframe><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
...and I've been obsessing over a recent dance album by the producer Rollo Armstrong and his friends, including his more famous sister Dido. Appropriately enough for what we've been reading, the album is titled <i>The Last Summer</i>, released under the enigmatic name of R+ as the first in a series of projects.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Even the vaguely curious can quickly determine whether the nostalgia-heavy album is up their alley: they should check out the videos for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUn4QvMQ6yA">My Boy</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRX7_WLCrzE">Summer Dress.</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Second, we noticed that, about the same time Robert was releasing the new podcast episode, Ed Brubaker was sending out a new <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=70e8c8c432">email newsletter</a>, the first of the new year. He shares more info about the <a href="https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/multiple-award-winning-creators-ed-brubaker-sean-phillips-spin-tale-of-30s-era-crime-in-original-graphic-novel-hardcover-pulp-this-may">upcoming original graphic novel</a> <b>Pulp</b>, due in late May -- relaying that the story is <i>not</i> set in the <b>Criminal</b> universe, and it involves two narratives apparently running in parallel -- and Brubaker reassures readers who may have had questions when this new project being announced.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<ul>
<li>As I had previously hoped and assumed, and as Sean Phillips <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1221403211438940162">recently confirmed</a> on Twitter, this is hardly the end for <b>Criminal</b>. <span style="color: red;">"we'll always come back to that series."</span></li>
<li>In recording the podcast, we wondered aloud about a transition to focus entirely on hardcover OGN's, but <b>Pulp</b> isn't the end for monthly comics, either: <span style="color: red;">"I still love single issues comics, and even though our next book is an OGN, the thing we'll be launching in the summer is another monthly (a new thing that I can't talk about yet)."</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
We can't wait to hear more about the next monthly book, but in the meantime Ed Brubaker shared two preview pages of tomorrow's new issue -- from the middle of the story to avoid the biggest spoilers, a preview that has also made its way to <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/criminal-12">Image Comics' webpage</a> for the issue, albeit in lower resolution.</div>
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<div>
It's probably unintended, but the narration about Farraday reminds of one of the most famous lines from C.S. Lewis.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.</blockquote>
<div>
We know we can't be alone, eagerly waiting to see exactly how things go to hell in <b>Criminal</b> (Vol 3) #12.</div>
Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-91802847597439564442019-11-22T23:15:00.001-05:002019-11-22T23:16:08.612-05:00KOBK Deluxe and Criminal Reprints.I've been AWOL for far too long, having missed both the recording<i> and</i> the release of the <a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-35-criminal-7/">latest episode</a> of <b>The Undertow Podcast</b>, reviewing<b> Criminal</b> #7 back in September. Life is hectic even at its best, but we're hopeful that we're getting back in the swing of things.<br />
<br />
Dipping our toes in the water, we find that the big news this week is the release of the oversized, deluxe hardcover of Brubaker and Phillips' vigilante thriller,<b> Kill Or Be Killed</b>. The book arrives a week past its <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/08/criminal-7-out-today-undertow-review-of.html">original solicitation date</a>, and it's the largest deluxe edition released by the team, with more than 600 pages collecting all twenty issues along with Sean Phillips' artwork for the covers, the bonus essays, and more. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uLjEiCka9PV2P5X2p7RhMX6rCtSI7fnXzseLmsbXzDr-wFDG1eN0dTtit1VeKPb_i0jdiuO_5Ku91b9TbXUc72CuJRv-ycaAgeVN41_nyUcPuOjKgAaPXMJD38PIbpViqw8E9Q/s1600/KOBK-deluxe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uLjEiCka9PV2P5X2p7RhMX6rCtSI7fnXzseLmsbXzDr-wFDG1eN0dTtit1VeKPb_i0jdiuO_5Ku91b9TbXUc72CuJRv-ycaAgeVN41_nyUcPuOjKgAaPXMJD38PIbpViqw8E9Q/s400/KOBK-deluxe.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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In a newsletter sent out this week, Ed Brubaker writes that the book has a <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=ad1c19caf1">sewn spine</a> and doesn't feel too big despite its page length -- and he has nothing but praise for the final product.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Honestly, I can't express how well this book came together. From cover-to-cover, just a gorgeous package. Sean really outdid himself on the design.</i></blockquote>
<br />
As my wife has already been gently reminded, the book will make a great Christmas gift for the hardcore fan of Brubaker and Phillips, but we also have a few other <b>Criminal</b>-related reprints on our radar.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj90j4-QYDhewMq0_X31Yn8jJj73HdFnlBCfpDhRVChVXBXSCTKYEiYmF2FCsJ5TQURjDIgLhpBb6sBWghOXiKwBPPtu85GgexJmreHafxSv86dnIJQIDojmTPlNeIsoM8qyoJjOg/s1600/Criminal-reprints.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="818" data-original-width="1600" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj90j4-QYDhewMq0_X31Yn8jJj73HdFnlBCfpDhRVChVXBXSCTKYEiYmF2FCsJ5TQURjDIgLhpBb6sBWghOXiKwBPPtu85GgexJmreHafxSv86dnIJQIDojmTPlNeIsoM8qyoJjOg/s400/Criminal-reprints.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Earlier this month, Image Comics released its third <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/image-firsts-compendium-vol-3-tp">Image Firsts Compendium</a>, a trade paperback collecting a handful of its $1 reprints -- evidently as just a bundle of the individual dollar printings. As with the <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2015/02/bullets-criminal-one-shot-fade-out.html">first volume</a> and its inclusion of <b>The Fade Out</b>, this collection features Brubaker and Phillips, this time with <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/07/criminal-6-and-expanded-bad-weekend.html">August's reprint</a> of the debut issue of <b>Criminal</b> from 2006, whose now iconic cover art graces the top half of the trade collection's cover. Collecting eight first issues and retailing for only $5.99, the collection is an even better bargain than the individual Image Firsts reprints, and so it makes a great introduction to some of the publisher's high-profile creator-owned comics.<br />
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In his newsletter, Brubaker relays that the original hardcover release is now out of print(!), so the <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/my-heroes-have-always-been-junkies-tp">softcover edition</a> of<b> My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</b> is on its way. This<b> Criminal</b> novella is currently scheduled for a December 4th release, moved from the <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/08/criminal-7-out-today-undertow-review-of.html">original solicited date</a> of November 13th. Brubaker says this new printing is still special despite its soft cover, with the same "raw paper stock" and <a href="https://www.powells.com/post/guests/the-french-flap">French flaps</a> on the covers -- and the newsletter's small image of the cover suggests that branding will emphasize the book's Eisner Award for Best New Graphic Album.<br />
<br />
And, one thing I haven't seen Brubaker mention is a very interesting, exclusive news item from The Beat: on October 22nd, the site posted a press release from Dark Horse Books, announcing a <a href="https://www.comicsbeat.com/exclusive-dark-horse-noir-hardcover/">new hardcover printing</a> of its Noir anthology. Originally <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2009/10/bullets-criminal-in-dark-horse-noir.html">published as a trade paperback in 2009</a>, <i>Noir: A Collection of Crime Comics</i> featured 120 pages of original black-and-white crime stories, including a six-page <b>Criminal</b> "emission," the first and (so far) only such story without a colorist. "21st Century Noir" was included in the <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2017/09/brubakerphillips-partial-reprint-of.html">second deluxe hardcover collection</a> for Criminal, but it has otherwise been hard to track down, and this printing -- in hardcover, and scheduled for a July 22nd release -- will introduce new readers to this rather brutal story, along with quite a few gems from other great creators.<br />
<i></i><br />
And those looking for new material from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips won't have long to wait. <b>Criminal</b> #10 is scheduled to reach stores this Wednesday, and Brubaker has already shared four preview pages; after that, issue #11 is scheduled for a <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/criminal-11">Christmas release</a>, and the almost certainly <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/criminal-12">bloody conclusion</a> to "Cruel Summer" is scheduled for the middle of winter, specifically the last week of January.<br />
<br />
We're quite looking forward to it.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-18156786779268787382019-08-21T16:40:00.000-04:002019-08-21T16:53:24.743-04:00Criminal #7 Out Today, An Undertow Review of Criminal #1-6, and More!We've been expecting another email newsletter from Ed Brubaker -- so far, <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=ffaede124d">nothing yet</a> -- but we have plenty to cover as the latest issue of <b>Criminal</b> reaches stores today.<br />
<br />
Yesterday, <span style="color: red;">Newsarama posted an extensive preview of <b>Criminal #7</b></span>, a <a href="https://www.newsarama.com/46591-young-ricky-lawless-plays-dungeons-dragons-in-criminal-7-preview.html">six-page preview</a> supplementing the three pages already seen at <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/criminal-7">Image's website</a>. The preview focuses on four very familiar faces, and we believe this is the first time we've seen the entire group of friends together -- Leo Patterson, Ricky Lawless, Jacob Kurtz, and Jenny (Jen) Waters.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQTL79YOd4hz8o2BOExSGqAGoz2l5RFNutewWih-Q_0mZfZHAn_c2U2miWJ7Q6H4EGial0zvLRxvD29YUv_RibWkPtrlJoLRUy8Bi5A9BPGahMXOsuUvRULxEYpyQl6SgO_JUrw/s1600/Crim-7-preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="714" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQTL79YOd4hz8o2BOExSGqAGoz2l5RFNutewWih-Q_0mZfZHAn_c2U2miWJ7Q6H4EGial0zvLRxvD29YUv_RibWkPtrlJoLRUy8Bi5A9BPGahMXOsuUvRULxEYpyQl6SgO_JUrw/s400/Crim-7-preview.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>(L-R) Jenny, Leo, Jacob, Ricky</em></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
(Tracy continues to be MIA; he's been mentioned in narration, but I don't believe we've seen him at all in this new ongoing series. I wonder what the surly but capable older brother has been up to. Since it seems their father's murder led directly to Tracy's less-than-voluntary military enlistment -- and another stay in juvie for Ricky -- we strongly suspect that we see Tracy's return before Teeg's tragic end.)<br />
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Much like characters in Stranger Things, also set in the mid-1980's, our quartet has a now-strained Sunday routine playing Dungeons & Dragons; naturally, Jacob is the DM. The title for this chapter of "Cruel Summer" -- "Must Be This Tall to Ride" -- may hint at the transition from childhood to adulthood, from relative innocence to a life of crime.<br />
<br />
(It's the same transition Jacob noticed in "Bad Weekend," in a long narration that was entirely reworked for the expanded hardcover release. In both versions, Jacob took two very different paths to note how Ricky had changed over the years, following in his father's violent footsteps.)<br />
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The title also reminds us of the amusement-park sign which was prominently featured in The John Larroquette Show, in the office of the sardonic main character, a recovering alcoholic:<br />
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<strong>"This is a Dark Ride."</strong><br />
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That pretty much sums up <strong>Criminal</strong>, for that matter, and <span style="color: red;">Robert and I recently reviewed the entire first half of 2019 in an extensive, two-part episode of <strong>The Undertow Podcast</strong>. </span><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-33-six-months-of-criminal-part-1-issue-5/">Episode 33</a> came out at the beginning of the month, covering the latest news, looking back at the first four issues -- two of which serve as a kind of prologue to "Cruel Summer"; the other two having been collected and expanded in the "Bad Weekend" -- and looking closely at <strong>Criminal #5</strong>, "Night of the Hunter."</li>
<li>Out just last week, <a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-34-six-months-of-criminal-part-2-issue-6/">Episode 34</a> provides a similarly in-depth review of <strong>Criminal</strong> #6, "Song to the Siren," and concludes with recommendations for a couple recent films, both featuring Liam Neeson.</li>
</ul>
In the news, we covered <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/07/ed-brubaker-overall-deal-legendary-tv-studios-1202648128/">Deadline's July 17th article</a> announcing <span style="color: red;">Ed Brubaker's deal with Legendary TV Studios</span> adapting his creator-owned comics, and we mentioned the most recent award for those comics, the <span style="color: red;">Best (New) Graphic Album Eisner</span> for <strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong>, announced at the <a href="https://www.comic-con.org/awards/eisner-awards-current-info">San Diego Comic-Con</a>.<br />
<br />
We also took a look ahead, first at <a href="https://imagecomics.com/solicitations/solicitations-for-october-2019">Image's October solicitations</a> and then at some very exciting news for 2020. The former includes a 10/23 release for <strong>Criminal</strong> #9 as well as <span style="color: red;">advance solicitations for TWO collections, both due on November 13th:</span> the softcover for <strong>Junkies</strong>, retailing at $13, and the deluxe single-volume hardcover for <strong>Kill Or Be Killed</strong>, retailing at $50. <br />
<br />
Separately, Bleeding Cool's San Diego Comic-Con coverage made note of <a href="https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/07/23/john-byrne-captain-america-ed-brubaker-sean-philips-darwyn-cooke-last-call-idw-san-diego-comic-con-panel/">a few special projects from IDW</a>, and the most eye-catching announcement was for the four Parker adaptations from the late, great <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2016/05/improving-upon-perfection-darwyn-cooke.html">Darwyn Cooke</a>: the first two books had already been collected in the deluxe Martini Edition, and it's going back to print next year alongside <span style="color: red;">a new "Last Call" Martini Edition for the final two books, with design and additional writing coming from Sean Phillips and Ed Brubaker!</span><br />
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We couldn't conceive of a better way to conclude the "Martini" editions of these instant-classic comics, brilliantly adapting the best novels from the late Donald Westlake, aka Richard Stark.<br />
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Since then, we have seen that <span style="color: red;"><strong>Junkies</strong> has been nominated for a 2019 Harvey Award,</span> announced just <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1161909011421237251">last week</a>. Comprising just <a href="https://www.comicsbeat.com/2019-harvey-awards-nominations-announced/">six categories</a>, the awards will be announced on October 4th during the New York Comic Con, and <strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong> is one of ten nominees for "Book of the Year."<br />
<br />
We also saw the <span style="color: red;">August 7th release of the "Image Firsts" edition of <strong>Criminal</strong> #1,</span> and we confirmed that the issue -- explicitly designed by Sean Phillips -- is a bare-bones reproduction of the very first issue of the creator owned series, <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/07/criminal-6-and-expanded-bad-weekend.html">chapter one of "Coward" from late 2006</a>. The issue omits the bonus essay, a marvelous journal entry written from Gnarly's point of view, and instead the issue includes ad pages for the entire, sprawling <strong>Criminal</strong> saga.<br />
<br />
(We wonder if "Coward" ties into "Cruel Summer" more than we expect: the current story is leading up quite explicitly to Teeg's murder, and we wonder if we'll see a few more familiar faces on the way.)<br />
<br />
Finally, we've also seen <span style="color: red;">a few recent interviews from Ed Brubaker,</span> resulting from his San Diego appearance. On July 30th, <a href="https://www.newsarama.com/46308-ed-brubaker-criminal.html">Newsarama posted a text interview,</a> discussing screenwriting and his exclusive deal with Image, how the Lawless family is an effed-up "funhouse mirror reflection" of his own family(!) and how <strong>Criminal</strong> #8, still due on <a href="http://www.comiclist.com/index.php/lists/image-comics-extended-forecast-for-08-21-2019">September 25th</a>, is the approximate midpoint for "Cruel Summer." <br />
<br />
On August 7th, SyFyWire published a <a href="https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/sdcc-2019-ed-brubaker-tells-us-the-origin-of-bad-weekend">three-minute video interview</a> with Brubaker at Comic-Con, about the origins behind "Bad Weekend," namely the great comic-book artists and their tragic histories, including the fatal car accident that is fictionalized in his recent <strong>Criminal</strong> tale -- a 1956 accident, in which 46-year-old Alex Raymond died while driving Stan Drake's Corvette. <br />
<br />
We see that Cerebus creator Dave Sim began telling the story of "The Strange Death of Alex Raymond" in his self-published book Glamourpuss, from 2008 to 2012. By 2014, Sim was seeking support through Patreon for the <a href="http://momentofcerebus.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-strange-death-of-alex-raymond.html">work-in-progress</a>, with plans to publish through IDW, but the latest update I could find is from 2014: with about 90 pages complete, enough for two volumes, the book may be legally unpublishable because of copyright concerns, but Sim continues working on it, "a strictly creative, non-commercial thing to noodle away at for the rest of my life."<br />
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Apparently Sim isn't the only person fascinated by the tragic tale, an extreme example of what Brubaker calls the "tragic limbo" in which great artists have hardly prospered from their much beloved work.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-69321238371920831742019-07-17T21:20:00.000-04:002019-07-17T21:21:16.093-04:00Bad Weekend Exclusives at England's OK Comics and San Diego's Comic Con!Last week we mentioned how had <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/07/criminal-6-and-expanded-bad-weekend.html">real trouble</a> tracking down the <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/05/american-appearances-and-bad-weekend.html">signed bookplate</a> included with <strong>Bad Weekend</strong> for retailers ordering a particular number of copies. There are four stores on our own internal "radar" for the Atlanta metro area, and none had ordered enough.<br />
<br />
(I have no doubt that more than enough had been ordered between them, and this would have been a perfect opportunity for the stores to have pooled their resources.)<br />
<br />
But we noticed that a few exclusives have been offered through <a href="https://twitter.com/OKComics/status/1148627429977657347">OK Comics</a> out of Leeds, England: their copies of <strong>Bad Weekend</strong> have included the bookplate we've already noted, a second bookplate -- <span style="color: red;">a store-exclusive, also signed by the three creators</span> -- and a store-exclusive postcard advertising Jacob Phillips' Past is Prologue, expected from Image Comics next year.<br />
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As of last week, they also still had <a href="https://twitter.com/OKComics/status/1148865371690209281">signed copies</a> of <strong>Criminal</strong> #1.<br />
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That second bookplate is apparently limited to 100 prints, and it bears a close resemblance to the <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/04/bullets-catching-up-on-last-two-months.html">candidate cover</a> which Sean Phillips preferred but was rejected for a color scheme too closely matching the previous hardcover novella, <strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong>.<br />
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OK Comics has been advertising the book on its <a href="https://twitter.com/OKComics/status/1144920274288152581">A-frame sidewalk sign</a>, shown below. Apparently they originally ordered sixty(!) copies, and more than <a href="https://twitter.com/OKComics/status/1148970253864591361">three-fourths</a> of the store's initial stock sold that Wednesday. Even with putting a <a href="https://twitter.com/OKComics/status/1149604811991470081">hold on mail orders</a> that Friday, the store quickly sold out of its initial stock by Sunday.<br />
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The store now has <a href="https://twitter.com/OKComics/status/1150749459644592129">more copies in stock</a> and they're once again taking new orders by mail. We can confirm that they accept PayPal and they <strong>DO</strong> ship internationally.<br />
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<span style="color: red;">If you're interested in ordering <strong>Bad Weekend</strong> from Leeds' OK Comics, email Jared at</span> <a href="mailto:shop@okcomics.co.uk">shop@okcomics.co.uk</a>.<br />
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On the other side of the pond -- and a couple mountain ranges past that -- there's another <strong>Bad Weekend</strong> exclusive being offered at San Diego's Comic-Con International, which has a preview tonight prior to its official opening tomorrow.<br />
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Image Comics announced their con-exclusive merchandise, panels, and signing schedule just <a href="https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/sdcc2019">last Friday</a>. Among the exclusive items available at booth #1915 is a "jacketed hardcover" edition of <strong>Bad Weekend</strong>, with jacket art by Sean Phillips, for the usual retail price of $16.99.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYRECybgwO2LBT7b4gn0MKbTJi0xtZD9WzLSXneoI5Jm7MQQ2y50xu6pWkHG6Ctkm80pcSvc5jD_M8ZdlVUTYHhWGO5stN8nde4MRNIVhKAMKlrPzSJio5kH0XTmqJl-lk7i-wcQ/s1600/SDCC-dustjacket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYRECybgwO2LBT7b4gn0MKbTJi0xtZD9WzLSXneoI5Jm7MQQ2y50xu6pWkHG6Ctkm80pcSvc5jD_M8ZdlVUTYHhWGO5stN8nde4MRNIVhKAMKlrPzSJio5kH0XTmqJl-lk7i-wcQ/s400/SDCC-dustjacket.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Shown above, the jacket art simulates a "special collector's edition" collection of Danny Dagger stories from Hal Crane, the subject of <strong>Bad Weekend</strong>. The jacket wraps around the covers, with the fake book's description and its author's bio folded inside, and the jacket features the same worn look -- and, we suspect, the exact same digital weathering effect -- found on previous magazine-sized variants for <strong><a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2016/04/bullets-criminal-tomorrow-eisner-nods.html">Criminal</a></strong> and <strong><a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2014/05/bullets-fade-out-trailer-final-fatale.html">The Fade Out</a></strong>.<br />
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Ed Brubaker is attending the convention this year, on its 50th anniversary, and he sent out a newsletter <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=d1e2093842">late yesterday</a> with the schedule for his appearances at the Image booth.<br />
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It's mostly the same schedule as last week's press release -- <span style="color: red;">with one additional 10:00 am signing on Saturday, July 20th</span> -- and the Image story notes that the signings are 45-60 minutes, and are "ticketed" events requiring wristbands given out on a first-come, first-served basis.<br />
<br />
Brubaker also notes that the jacketed copies of <strong>Bad Weekend</strong> will be available to people who buy the book "while they last."<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Please note: there are <strong>only a few hundred</strong> of these printed for the convention, I believe, so they will go fast - I don't even have one yet. I hope to escape with a copy or two when no one at the booth is looking. </blockquote>
By our watch, the first signing is just about to begin.<br />
<br />
It's worth mentioning that Friday night, July 19th, is <a href="https://www.comic-con.org/awards/eisner-awards-current-info">awards night</a> at Comic-Con, with the 31st annual Eisner Awards. Image Comics made history <a href="https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/image-makes-history-as-first-publisher-to-sweep-best-new-series-eisner-noms">sweeping the "Best New Series" category</a>, and a couple other nominations caught our particular attention.<br />
<ul>
<li><strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong> was nominated for Best New Graphic Album.</li>
<li>Sean Phillips was nominated for Best Penciller/Inker for his work on <strong>Kill Or Be Killed</strong> as well as <strong>Junkies</strong>.</li>
</ul>
We're sure we'll have more later about the Eisners and a few other items from Brubaker's newsletter, which includes a <span style="color: red;">three-page in-progress preview</span> of <strong>Criminal</strong> #7, details on a couple August appearances, and a link to a his recent <a href="https://foreverdogproductions.com/fdpn/podcasts/comic-book-commentary/">commentary-track podcast</a> for <strong>Bad Weekend</strong>.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-38248663524241865472019-07-10T23:30:00.000-04:002019-07-11T07:36:05.874-04:00Criminal #6 and Expanded Bad Weekend Hardcover, In Stores Now!Following <strong>Criminal</strong>'s planned skip month in May, we had our own <em>unplanned</em> skip month in June, but we think we're back in the swing of things.<br />
<br />
--and just in time, too, because it's an exceptionally noteworthy day, as <span style="color: red;">today sees the release of both <strong>Criminal</strong> #6 AND the expanded hardcover for Bad Weekend</span>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQIlPCv7J6jxR3EprERQcAZFO8zbKD0EJbqjh3aOSWW84_ZT6jED_VeEZPUkrxTUiIBDchKEo49ZXgbj4EgIBNA77iZgOPZGrZXRYCQiTbpJK5yHN7ndGvPEMrzkdrh1Z8Bq1QSw/s1600/Criminal-Weekend.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1166" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQIlPCv7J6jxR3EprERQcAZFO8zbKD0EJbqjh3aOSWW84_ZT6jED_VeEZPUkrxTUiIBDchKEo49ZXgbj4EgIBNA77iZgOPZGrZXRYCQiTbpJK5yHN7ndGvPEMrzkdrh1Z8Bq1QSw/s400/Criminal-Weekend.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Ed Brubaker has just sent out an <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=db499637e2">email newsletter</a>, featuring <span style="color: red;">a preview of the first five pages of issue #6</span>. There are a few panels of appropriately neon coloring, and it perfectly fits the setting of what Jacob Phillips probably considers ancient history, the Eighties.<br />
<br />
(Brubaker also announced <span style="color: red;">a few upcoming appearances</span> -- first in the front half of <strong>next week's</strong> San Diego Comic-Con and then at LA's Skylight Books on the evening of August 1st.)<br />
<br />
It sounds like we'll switch perspectives for each chapter of this sprawling arc "Cruel Summer," and the preview reveals that this second chapter is titled "Song to the Siren." That's the name of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_to_the_Siren_(Tim_Buckley_song)">1970 Tim Buckley song</a> that became a UK indie hit in 1983, when it was covered by music collective This Mortal Coil and released through 4AD, the British label that would become the home for <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2018/03/undertow-podcast-21-on-kill-or-be.html">The Breeders</a>, the lo-fi rockers hailing from Dayton, Ohio.<br />
<br />
Funny enough, our favorite songwriter <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/01/criminal-1-ten-page-preview-undertow.html">David Gray</a> opens his live covers album with his own haunting version of the song.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ioT9aKFB6NQ" width="560"></iframe><br /></div>
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Turning to the other release, we find Brubaker confirming that Bad Weekend -- originally serialized in issues #3 and #4 -- now includes ten pages of new material, essentially "deleted scenes" that wouldn't fit in the monthly issues.<br />
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We're finding it a little tough to track down, but some copies of the book include a <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/05/american-appearances-and-bad-weekend.html">signed bookplate</a>. More specifically, the bookplate is found with retailers who had big enough orders for the book, and we believe this is the first bookplate signed by Brubaker, Phillips the Elder, <strong>and</strong> Phillips the Younger. <br />
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<br />
Looking back over the last few weeks, we see a few other items we don't want to overlook entirely.<br />
<br />
First, <span style="color: red;"><strong>The Undertow Podcast</strong> continues to release new episodes</span> even when I been out of pocket. <br />
<ul>
<li>In May, Robert released <a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-32-robert-talks-with-comic-book-creator-and-illustrator-pete-taylor/">a bonus episode with Pete Taylor from the Lakes Comic Art Fest Podcast</a>, discussing his history with Brubaker and Phillips and the real-world allusions in Bad Weekend's original, serialized version. </li>
<li>In June, <a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-32-criminal-4/">Episode 32 was released</a>, in which Robert reviewed <strong>Criminal</strong> #4 and highlighted the digital magazine <a href="http://panelxpanel.com/">PanelxPanel</a>. </li>
</ul>
(More episodes are on their way, with our review of <strong>Criminal</strong> #5 already in pre-production.)<br />
<br />
In that magazine's <a href="https://gumroad.com/l/PXPNO23">May edition</a> (#23), fully half of the issue -- consisting of more than 100 ad-free pages -- focuses on <strong>Criminal</strong>, including "a big, in-depth interview."<br />
<br />
A few other interesting reads have been released lately, many of which have been highlighted in Brubaker's latest newsletter, but one that already caught our attention is <a href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2019/06/hardboiled-superstars-ed-brubaker-megan-abbott-dis.html">Paste Magazine's June 27th interview</a> with both Ed Brubaker and crime writer Megan Abbott. The most noteworthy revelation is that <span style="color: red;">Brubaker is "about to start adapting one of [his] books for TV,"</span> an adaptation that hasn't yet been officially announced. <br />
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For collectors -- and fans looking to buy copies of <strong>Criminal</strong> for friends -- the last few months have seen a few second printings for the new ongoing series. We previously noted a second printing for this year's <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/02/criminal-2-out-today-new-undertow_13.html">debut issue</a>, and we've seen similar reprints for issues #2 and #3, with a somewhat pink logos for the two parts of the original "Bad Weekend" arc.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiroOIfAPvg-V_3oDdlbc8_07D_9jHQIxfI19jChCiKCOR_mbNvDgzfdJjo1t0dmvsONc2SgKHxg-E5IPPy5dE-ITGnZhon-NBvs9UrfNnABxSuCVkp12U_ZOThyphenhyphenyGOcDEaeVyMoQ/s1600/Criminal-2-and-3_2nd-printings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="911" data-original-width="1186" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiroOIfAPvg-V_3oDdlbc8_07D_9jHQIxfI19jChCiKCOR_mbNvDgzfdJjo1t0dmvsONc2SgKHxg-E5IPPy5dE-ITGnZhon-NBvs9UrfNnABxSuCVkp12U_ZOThyphenhyphenyGOcDEaeVyMoQ/s400/Criminal-2-and-3_2nd-printings.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Much more interesting is what we've found alongside the new issues which have already been solicited; the "Cruel Summer" arc continues with <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/criminal-7">issue #7 in August</a>, focusing on young Ricky Lawless and Leo Patterson, and then with <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/criminal-8">issue #8 in September</a>. But over the last few weeks, including today's <a href="http://www.comiclist.com/index.php/lists/image-comics-extended-forecast-for-07-10-2019">extended forecast</a> for Image Comics, ComicList notes that <span style="color: red;">a <strong>one-dollar</strong> "Image Firsts" edition of <strong>Criminal</strong> #1 is due on August 8th</span>, alongside seven other first-issue reprints due on the same day.<br />
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According to the linked <a href="https://www.tfaw.com/Comics/Profile/Image-Firsts-Criminal-1___605007">product description</a> at Things From Another World, the issue reprints the January debut of <strong>Criminal</strong> (2019), the third ongoing volume of the creator-owned crime series -- and this is exactly what we would expect among a series of other recent reprints. But in that same description, we see cover art based on the #1 issue to the original volume, <strong>Criminal</strong> (2006).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyMAf2lhwqIUWP7Mu1A1NiHL8LpU_guO976mhA9Y8zna_f258fZOuKFrBgRKJW_hoHuEnOlSF_mMB5a3Ss3m5uHu6pkEfWx0u2-GPzRodEij2sKGLHY3TTKb8Wl_zXhhfX_eOL1Q/s1600/JUN190247.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="615" data-original-width="400" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyMAf2lhwqIUWP7Mu1A1NiHL8LpU_guO976mhA9Y8zna_f258fZOuKFrBgRKJW_hoHuEnOlSF_mMB5a3Ss3m5uHu6pkEfWx0u2-GPzRodEij2sKGLHY3TTKb8Wl_zXhhfX_eOL1Q/s400/JUN190247.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>
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We've already requested ten copies from our local retailer, to hand out to friends and relations, and we're very interested to see what we actually get next month.<br />
<br />
[<strong>UPDATE, JULY 11:</strong> We reached out to Sean on Twitter, and he quickly provided a <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1149203890845491200">somewhat surprising confirmation</a> that the cover is correct while the text description is wrong: <span style="color: red;">the $1 comic book contains the very first issue of <strong>Criminal</strong>, from October, 2006</span>. It's a helluva book, immediately making me a quite devoted fan, and it should serve as a great introduction for new readers -- and I believe this is the first time <strong>Criminal</strong> Volume 1, Issue 1 has <strong>ever</strong> been reprinted in single-issue format.]<br />
<br />
And we're even more interested to see what arrives next year, since two weeks back <a href="https://twitter.com/jacobr_phillips/status/1144145423948558336">Jacob Phillips finally shed a little light on another project</a> which he's been teasing on social media.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXE8127v4w1JSsjwGduuxbHUWa1ab5U6drMAQY8XHe07b8dkcDhtgCSOCYSpqK0YiYD-OaptkEpztWAfLxcRBMIKbV2tIumgaiKM06BLd_v1U-1Xu292MmPa2E57WBNnZTIIwbVg/s1600/Past-Prologue-preview.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="1050" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXE8127v4w1JSsjwGduuxbHUWa1ab5U6drMAQY8XHe07b8dkcDhtgCSOCYSpqK0YiYD-OaptkEpztWAfLxcRBMIKbV2tIumgaiKM06BLd_v1U-1Xu292MmPa2E57WBNnZTIIwbVg/s320/Past-Prologue-preview.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: red;">Past is Prologue is scheduled to arrive sometime in 2020, published by Image Comics and credited to New Jersey filmmaker <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5577446/">Christopher Condon</a> and English artist Jacob Phillips. </span>It appears that the book will adapt Condon's script for <a href="https://christophcondon.wordpress.com/the-works/">"an unproduced short film"</a> by the same name; Condon's site features the first six pages of that script and the concept art Jacob has already created for the project.<br />
<br />
I'm sure we'll have more on the project in the coming months.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-18824894632515960102019-05-21T17:25:00.000-04:002019-05-22T08:03:02.165-04:00American Appearances and Bad Weekend Bookplates!It's been quite an eventful last few weeks, despite the fact that May is a planned "skip month" for <strong>Criminal</strong>. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-NaSfnwWlh5AgzwXKK9ax8cId2pEr9eT-0EGHx5KBRpw5rjkB8nW76es0trkW_2U1PkhpdmdE6BQS2PLTmmBlscZ3yRgIkqJUxXtLNBdd94lQ0xQ3i2asst6IDJVvXWD0fBjBxw/s1600/May-signings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1350" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-NaSfnwWlh5AgzwXKK9ax8cId2pEr9eT-0EGHx5KBRpw5rjkB8nW76es0trkW_2U1PkhpdmdE6BQS2PLTmmBlscZ3yRgIkqJUxXtLNBdd94lQ0xQ3i2asst6IDJVvXWD0fBjBxw/s400/May-signings.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We have more to say on other subjects, <em>hopefully later this week,</em> but the biggest news is that the team -- writer Ed Brubaker, artist Sean Phillips, and colorist Jacob Phillips -- have just spent this past weekend in Huntington Beach, California, at the <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/02/criminal-2-out-today-new-undertow_13.html">inaugural NCSFest</a>, promoted as <a href="https://ncsfest.com/">"America's Biggest Comic Arts Festival."</a><br />
<br />
We believe this is Ed and Sean's first joint appearance in North America since Toronto in 2014, and <span style="color: red;">Sean Phillips has announced a few more appearances</span>. He'll be signing books <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1130278335924375555">tonight at 6 pm </a>(presumably local time), at Huntington Beach's <a href="http://strangecereal.com/">Strange Cereal</a> -- both <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxsJWWuBgeM/">père et fil</a>, Sean and Jacob -- and Brubaker will join the Phillips boys <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1129130128150269955">tomorrow night at 5:30 pm</a>, at Burbank's <a href="http://www.artoffiction.com/HouseOfSecrets/">House of Secrets</a>.<br />
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We haven't seen any news items on the team's appearance, but we'll be sure to update readers if that changes.<br />
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In the meantime, the most interesting item for those of us who couldn't attend is the work which the team did signing <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1130555618945900545">"thousands"</a> of bookplates, shown above. <br />
<br />
It's quite a rare bookplate, signed by all three creators, and Sean Phillips relays that the bookplate editions of <strong>Bad Weekend</strong> will be <span style="color: red;">available to stores that order at least 20 copies</span>.<br />
<br />
It should go without saying that fans should reserve a copy with their local retailer...<br />
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<strong>UPDATE, 5/22:</strong> ...and on Twitter, we got <a href="https://twitter.com/timewarpboulder/status/1130989651588595712">confirmation</a> that the Final Cutoff (FOC) date for <strong>Bad Weekend</strong> is <span style="color: red;">June 3rd</span><span style="color: black;">. We greatly appreciate the feedback from Boulder, Colorado's <a href="http://www.time-warp.com/">Time Warp Comics & Games</a>, and we'd remind readers that time is running out to have your shop reserve your copy.</span>Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-58201432237484178602019-04-24T11:30:00.000-04:002019-04-24T13:05:06.289-04:00Criminal #4 Out Now: A Podcast, A Preview, and A Close Look at Coloring.The next issue of Brubaker and Phillips' new ongoing <strong>Criminal</strong> comic is out today, and we have a few interesting links for the occasion.<br />
<br />
It feels like we can't truly close the book on the previous issue without <strong>The Undertow Podcast</strong>, and, over the weekend, <a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-31-criminal-3/">Episode 31</a> was released, featuring a review *Criminal* #3, the conclusion to "Bad Weekend" in its original "theatrical cut."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisu7L7gCehgnOyVEDEWh7aIBg0_L9mcR2nSDhrLZUBQz9XeMIWVlWEFPywxHXWxqPFOKX7Zv7uZx_iMBEtxGUvjihDpkWt5xi2EYHEzQ6tA2QYKuX0JZXVy3rPNU0TEITgx8FIwQ/s1600/Kwik-Krimes_Angola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="705" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisu7L7gCehgnOyVEDEWh7aIBg0_L9mcR2nSDhrLZUBQz9XeMIWVlWEFPywxHXWxqPFOKX7Zv7uZx_iMBEtxGUvjihDpkWt5xi2EYHEzQ6tA2QYKuX0JZXVy3rPNU0TEITgx8FIwQ/s400/Kwik-Krimes_Angola.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We also had a few recommendations. Mine were short stories, starting with Lawrence Block's <a href="http://amzn.com/B00GEFYB5U">"One Thousand Dollars a Word,"</a> about a crime writer weary of being paid the scant rate of five cents a word, incidentally the same rate that Block was paid when the story first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in 1978. More substantially, I also recommended <a href="http://amzn.com/B00AR04IHO">Kwik Krimes</a> (note the spelling), a 2013 anthology edited by Otto Penzler, featuring 81 crime stories, each in a bite-size length of no more than 1,000 words. Both recommendations are currently available in Kindle format; Block's story sells for $2.99, and the Kwik Krimes anthology is on sale for the astounding price of $1.49.<br />
<br />
Robert recommended a brand new crime comic from Titan Comics, <a href="https://titan-comics.com/c/1331-tyler-cross-angola/">Tyler Cross Volume 2: Angola</a>, a self-contained sequel to another "Tyler Cross" comic, Black Rock. Both comics are from Fabien Nury, the French writer of <a href="https://titan-comics.com/c/1180-the-death-of-stalin-movie-edition/">The Death of Stalin</a>, a graphic novel adapted in a 2017. Titan Comics has published the English-language translations of these comics, and the two Tyler Cross books have been released under the label of <a href="http://hardcasecrime.com/">Hard Case Crime</a>, the must-read imprint specializing in classic <em>and</em> new hardboiled crime fiction.<br />
<br />
(In the podcast, I noted that HCC editor Charles Ardai contributed to Kwik Krimes, along with a couple other familiar names, such as Ken Bruen and Christa Faust -- both published by Hard Case Crime -- but I just noticed that Ardai actually contributed a second story under a familiar *cough* alias.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPUTqE1ljpqbjZsngqACliMNQZXBAkzgAbQqrnH4FBW8-ta3UTY7Vt3yqDLtOvVLquCB9oMYLHTvKg_uFk0Rg4XjrVoVPyC0RF7X2k-prgKJnOml_v4GAUeve5fQnBqN5wPDcLPw/s1600/Criminal-4-preview_cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="706" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPUTqE1ljpqbjZsngqACliMNQZXBAkzgAbQqrnH4FBW8-ta3UTY7Vt3yqDLtOvVLquCB9oMYLHTvKg_uFk0Rg4XjrVoVPyC0RF7X2k-prgKJnOml_v4GAUeve5fQnBqN5wPDcLPw/s400/Criminal-4-preview_cropped.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Next up is info straight from the source, a new <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=85d72192f8">email newsletter</a> from Ed Brubaker, sent out Monday. It begins with an extended, six-page preview, which we exercpt above.<br />
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This preview is longer than what we saw in the newsletter from <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=d525fb8fd1">last month</a> (still worth a look for in-process art from other pages), and we learn that this self-contained story is ominously titled "Orphans."<br />
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(EDIT: Also on Monday, <a href="https://twitter.com/SunsetGunShot/status/1120359317364805634">Kim Morgan</a> gave Twitter followers a look at Sean Phillips' illustration, below, for the issue's bonus essay, on "William Wellman's depression-era pre-code [film], the tough and sensitive and beautiful, 'Wild Boys of the Road'," from 1933.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCaSLosrCQog2edAeQynIjnhGv3wpmxzMIP0nzoQAjsnN5WGWX6_D7aFAQwpcGHbyPAv7NQFgkW6yDdjxDsfoA3XAJfqH-r4YwnDQRnbiTMtPbt_y6D8g0WPWibp72C-uJs0evpw/s1600/Wild-Boys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="900" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCaSLosrCQog2edAeQynIjnhGv3wpmxzMIP0nzoQAjsnN5WGWX6_D7aFAQwpcGHbyPAv7NQFgkW6yDdjxDsfoA3XAJfqH-r4YwnDQRnbiTMtPbt_y6D8g0WPWibp72C-uJs0evpw/s400/Wild-Boys.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Brubaker also relays that the following story has a new title, just as the previous story's title changed from <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/01/criminal-1-ten-page-preview-undertow.html">"The Longest Weekend"</a> to "Bad Weekend." This upcoming arc was referred to as "The Summer of '88" in the solicitations for issues #5 and #6, but it's now titled "Cruel Summer."<br />
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(That's the title of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruel_Summer_(song)">top-ten pop song by Bananarama</a>, released in 1983 and peaking in the U.S. in 1984, after its inclusion in The Karate Kid. Ace of Base covered the song in 1998, and the cover also reached the top ten in the UK and the US. But the closest tie to this long <strong>Criminal</strong> arc might be a "new jack swing" makeover by Bananarama, which charted throughout Europe. That song was released in -- you guessed it! -- 1989.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBQD53bfc7lwPxo7URrUN6pPYkhFJZDJ8Br9sK41T8GFUDrPUBYO5G8YxaS_UFcvS7CMyWdKHjAileeKSr2V-7hfEzTMNr3ktWOQ6utA7IHPpSvS5iIyQypblM5SXXv2vERL8eA/s1600/Possible-Ricky-Cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="800" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBQD53bfc7lwPxo7URrUN6pPYkhFJZDJ8Br9sK41T8GFUDrPUBYO5G8YxaS_UFcvS7CMyWdKHjAileeKSr2V-7hfEzTMNr3ktWOQ6utA7IHPpSvS5iIyQypblM5SXXv2vERL8eA/s400/Possible-Ricky-Cover.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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...now that we think about it, the newsletter didn't begin with "Orphans," it began with the artwork shown above, which we haven't seen before. It appears to be an upcoming cover, and its monochrome coloring and black background fits with what we've seen for the first two covers to "Cruel Summer," repeated below.<br />
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We wonder if the image is of Ricky Lawless from that fateful summer of 1988, and I'm sure we'll find out soon enough; the August solicitations will likely be released in the second half of May.<br />
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Brubaker continues his newsletter with some inside info on the <strong>Bad Weekend</strong> hardcover. The announcement seemed to come out of nowhere, and that's because the idea wasn't from the team, it was from Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson. It sounds like the book is already complete -- finished very quickly during the production of issues #4 and #5 -- and Brubaker includes a few panels from the new content, which includes revised dialogue and narration.<br />
<br />
Ed Brubaker is practically gushing over the upcoming hardcover, writing, "the book is gorgeous, and we're really proud of it, to the point we nearly killed ourselves getting it done in time."<br />
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He also discusses the other big project in the news, Too Old To Die Young, revealing that the Cannes screening will be of episodes 4 and 5 under the single subtitle of "North of Hollywood, West of Hell," and not as separate episode titles.<br />
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He also warns fans about the new series and has some recommended viewing in advance of the "hypnotic and surreal" Amazon series:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>"Watch VALHALLA RISING, watch DRIVE, watch NEON DEMON, and ONLY GOD FORGIVES. Refn's movies are very divisive, and he's completely fine with that. They're more like insane European midnight movies from the 60s and 70s than anything you'd normally see on TV or a streaming platform, and this show is not in any way like a typical streaming show."</em></blockquote>
And, in addition to sharing a few random links -- some, very random -- Ed Brubaker strongly recommends that fans not take any chances in hunting down <strong>Criminal</strong>...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>"[Criminal #4 is] out this week, and sadly, I've been getting a lot of emails from readers having trouble finding the issues. Lots of reports of first-day sellouts. <span style="color: red;">So you may want to call your comic shop and make sure they hold one for you or place a standing order.</span> </em></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>"I hate to be that 'pre-order your comics' guy, but the market is tightening its belt right now, and many retailers are ordering to sell out immediately. So <span style="color: red;">if you want CRIMINAL every month, make sure your shop knows.</span> Even comics' smartest retailers cannot read your mind."</em></blockquote>
...and he has a similar request regarding <strong>Bad Weekend</strong>, asking readers, "Please order it from your local comic shop or bookstore."<br />
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Finally, there's a great YouTube video from February that we had overlooked, and we can't recommend it enough: Strip Panel Naked has a <a href="https://youtu.be/IxX36XGfPy0">nine-minute video</a>, embedded below, on the history of colorists in the collaborations of Brubaker and Phillips.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IxX36XGfPy0" width="560"></iframe>
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It's not comprehensive -- Dave Stewart isn't mentioned, nor is every work analyzed, including <strong>Incognito</strong> and <strong>Fatale</strong> -- but the video is surprisingly wide-ranging, from Tony Avina and <strong>Sleeper</strong> to Val Staples and early <strong>Criminal</strong>, to Elizabeth Breitweiser with <strong>The Fade Out</strong> and <strong>Kill or Be Killed</strong>, and now Jacob Phillips with <strong>Junkies</strong> and the newest incarnation of <strong>Criminal</strong>.<br />
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Strip Panel Naked takes a very different approach from <strong>The Undertow Podcast</strong>. While we tend to focus on individual works, Hassan compares and contrasts more than fifteen years of content, and while we're limited to audio discussions, he can show as well as tell, with eight example pages.<br />
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In short, the inks and the colors have slowly become less realistic and more impressionistic, but they continue to complement each other. <br />
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(I would add that these different approaches have never been at the expense of clarity in storytelling and characterization, and the work of these talented colorists argues against any future black-and-white reprints.)<br />
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It's a helluva video, and we hope that we can get a few more eyes to this channel, which we're just beginning to explore for ourselves.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-29656869588901866252019-04-22T22:55:00.000-04:002019-04-22T22:55:02.820-04:00Bullets: Catching Up on the Last Two MonthsSomeday I'll actually have enough of a routine in my life that I'll be able to blog consistently, without these long pauses.<br />
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(<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Aug7wjbcfs"><em>Someday, yeah, I'll get it right...</em></a>)<br />
<br />
In the meantime, here's a brief look back at the last ten weeks or so, put together while we were prepping for the next episode of <a href="http://undertow.podbean.com/"><strong>The Undertow Podcast</strong></a> and gearing up for the next issue of <strong>Criminal</strong>.<br />
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• February 21st, <span style="color: red;">Image's May solicitations were released, with nothing listed for Brubaker and Phillips.</span> We were surprised to see a "skip month" this soon, as the team's five-week schedule had us expecting a new issue on May 29th, and we wonder if the timing had anything to do with the <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/02/criminal-2-out-today-new-undertow_13.html">previously announced</a> appearances at NCSFest in California, over the weekend of May 17th.<br />
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(The <a href="https://imagecomics.com/solicitations/solicitations-for-may-2019">May solicits</a> weren't a complete wash for us. As big fans of the sci-fi book Planetoid, we're thrilled to see that creator Ken Garing is back with Gogor, described as a high-fantasy series for teens and announced with its own <a href="https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/acclaimed-planetoid-creator-ken-garing-returns-with-high-fantasy-series-for-teens-in-gogor-this-may">press release</a> and, earlier, an <a href="https://imagecomics.com/features/cartoonist-ken-garing-embarks-on-an-epic-fantasy-journey-in-gogor">interview with Garing</a>.)<br />
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• March 7th, <span style="color: red;">Sean Phillips announced the single-volume deluxe hardcover for Kill Or Be Killed,</span> with a <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1103715493951782912">simple tweet</a> pointing to an Amazon listing and posting the cover art, shown below, reusing the artwork from issue #5 and the second trade collection ("Volume 2").<br />
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The <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Kill-Be-Killed-Deluxe-Edtion/dp/1534313605/">Amazon listing</a> describes the book as "'Catcher in the Rye' meets 'Death Wish' in a dark take on the vigilante genre that became a cracked reflection of the world around us."<br />
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The description confirms that the single-volume hardcover "contains the entire KILL OR BE KILLED story, as well as the behind the scenes extras and artwork." The page notes a total of 584 pages, a retail price of $59.99, and a scheduled release date of November 19th.<br />
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The 24 issues of <strong>Fatale</strong> were ultimately collected in two deluxe-edition hardcovers, and the 12 issues of <strong>The Fade Out</strong> are found in a single hardcover, so we were wondering how many deluxe editions would comprise the single story of <strong>Kill Or Be Killed</strong>, originally told in 20 monthly issues.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS3aGuSgQnISjk6B8Se9LNhNAPboaEQHDr-pKw2rojRtyvbAN7M65G1gDmOaMlhor83nh9_W-GxuL-1jJI_BB5RUhj2jwsUuzFN7rIa2jpo46lxp3t34yU-I3u3gIi9QpsgN3_FQ/s1600/KOBK-Deluxe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS3aGuSgQnISjk6B8Se9LNhNAPboaEQHDr-pKw2rojRtyvbAN7M65G1gDmOaMlhor83nh9_W-GxuL-1jJI_BB5RUhj2jwsUuzFN7rIa2jpo46lxp3t34yU-I3u3gIi9QpsgN3_FQ/s400/KOBK-Deluxe.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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<br />
• Also on March 7th, <span style="color: red;">the Word Ballon Podcast posted a wide-ranging two-hour conversation with Ed Brubaker.</span> The <a href="http://wordballoon.blogspot.com/2019/03/comic-books-ed-brubaker-criminal-and-tv.html">interview</a> is the writer's first appearance on the podcast in about six years -- the last appearance we noted was in <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2012/10/an-outstanding-october.html">October, 2012</a>, and host John Siuntres mentioned Velvet, which was announced in <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2013/07/velvet-by-brubaker-and-epting-debuting.html">July, 2013</a>, the same year in which the podcast ceased being published at <a href="https://ifanboy.com/podcasts/audio/wordballoon/">iFanboy</a>.<br />
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Brubaker discusses his work both in comics and in television. Comic fans will be interested in the history behind <strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong>; Sean and Jacob Phillips were supposed to be co-colorists, but an unexpected time crunch arose for printing the original graphic novel, so Jacob Phillips became the sole colorist after just a few pages. And, Brubaker reveals upcoming plans for <strong>Criminal</strong>, which we've already begun to see in recent announcements.<br />
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He also reveals an incredible bit of personal history, which a <a href="https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/03/08/ed-brubaker-benificiary-alan-moore-blessing-curse/">Bleeding Cool article</a> recounts from the podcast. DC asked Brubaker to follow-up on Alan Moore's famous comic The Killing Joke, he directly quoted a couple pages in flashback, and he tried to have Moore credited for his writing. Failing that, he sent Moore a check for his page-rate, Moore then called Wildstorm editor Scott Dunbier and recommended Brubaker for work, and that led quite directly to *Sleeper*.<br />
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And the rest is history.<br />
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(That follow-up story was part of the mini-series <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Turning_Points">Batman:Turning Points</a>, which I personally remember reading back in 2001. It served as a kind of prologue to Officer Down, which established what would be an interesting status quo for Gotham Central, with Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock both absent from the GCPD's Major Crimes Unit. Ed Brubaker and Gotham Central co-creator Greg Rucka were writers for the entire span of stories -- including the Turning Points mini-series and the Officer Down crossover, and for the "big two" main titles of Batman and Detective Comics generally -- and it was Gotham Central that first made me pay serious attention to Brubaker.)<br />
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("Turning points," indeed.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU2GxPynyZ93no5FM-zjELdXeecoiwcOCHHXCz-6PCaTpzOitt5iO4T3SO40sap2cDIp_2YL92upZMUgAg73o81LOydZrxl3sp86N27qnXKL_tbUETIYjQ_qOUp1vXX2zwGXAjYg/s1600/Turning-Points_collage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="979" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU2GxPynyZ93no5FM-zjELdXeecoiwcOCHHXCz-6PCaTpzOitt5iO4T3SO40sap2cDIp_2YL92upZMUgAg73o81LOydZrxl3sp86N27qnXKL_tbUETIYjQ_qOUp1vXX2zwGXAjYg/s400/Turning-Points_collage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The writer also hints at another upcoming comic-book project, "an R-rated version of a young adult book," a first-time large-scale collaboration with a favorite artist of his.<br />
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Brubaker compares writing for comics and for film -- the script for the latter remains a "living, breathing thing" that is always only "good enough" -- and he observes that all writing is calling B.S., where you have to keep moving forward, "sitting down and facing yourself."<br />
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In addition to talking about his work on Westworld and Too Old to Die Young, Brubaker mentions progress on the <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2018/01/new-undertow-podcast-new-kill-or-be.html">film adaptation</a> for <strong>Kill Or Be Killed</strong>; he thinks the film might go into production later this year, and it's the first such project that closely hews to the source material.<br />
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• March 11th, <span style="color: red;">Sean Phillips and Jacob Phillips both attended an Image Comics panel in London,</span> at a Waterstones bookshop on Tottenham Court Road. The panel also featured Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Jock, Alison Sampson, and Lee Garbett, and a few days afterwards Tripwire Magazine posted <a href="http://www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/image-comics-creators-come-to-waterstones-tottenham-court-road/">80 minutes of audio and a half dozen photos</a>.<br />
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On Twitter, Jacob Phillips <a href="https://twitter.com/jacobr_phillips/status/1105274235801473024">shared</a> his own "family photo," shown below.<br />
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We plan to listen in to the conversation, so as to report on anything of interest to our readers, but unfortunately that remains on our to-do list.<br />
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(Hat tip to <a href="https://twitter.com/joelmeadows1/status/1106465297429643265">Joel Meadows</a>, retweeted by Sean Phillips.)<br />
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• March 15th, our good friend Robert posted <span style="color: red;">episode 30 of <strong>The Undertow Podcast</strong>,</span> focusing on a <a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-30-criminal-2/">brief review</a> of <strong>Criminal</strong> #2, the start of the two-part story centered on the comics industry, "Bad Weekend."<br />
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• March 20th, <span style="color: red;"><strong>Criminal</strong> #3 was released,</span> completing the two-part story "Bad Weekend" (or so we thought; see below). <br />
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The story had a low-key ending -- but quite tragic despite that -- and the back matter includes letters from readers and Kim Morgan's essay on The Color of Money. That film is quite unique, a 1986 sequel to The Hustler from 1961, and the essay features two illustrations from Sean Phillips.<br />
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• Also on March 20th, <span style="color: red;">Ed Brubaker sent out a pair of email newsletters,</span> the <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=d525fb8fd1">first of which</a> featured process work on a single page of issue #3 -- from script to inks to colors -- and preview pages and unfinished panels for issue #4, a story set in 1993, starring Ricky Lawless, and evidently featuring old friends such as "Genuine Jen" Waters and the "coward" Leo Patterson.<br />
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We're particularly intrigued by this upcoming issue, as this would be the first "period piece" set after the consequential death of Teeg Lawless.<br />
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(Brubaker also mentioned <strong>The Undertow Podcast</strong>, and we appreciate the shout-out!)<br />
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In the <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=d502852c58">second newsletter</a>, Brubaker elaborated on a comment he had just made that had prompted quite a few questions: in short, for two of these first four issues of the new ongoing <strong>Criminal</strong> arc, it may be a while before we see the stories republished in a trade collection.<br />
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He also says they have a <strong>Criminal</strong> book coming out in July, but he didn't reveal the details. From what we now know, it seems that issues #1 and #4 -- the Teeg and Ricky stories -- might be the ones that won't soon be collected for those who "wait for the trades."<br />
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• March 21st, <span style="color: red;">Image released its June solicitations, including the next issue of <strong>Criminal</strong>.</span> What Brubaker seemed to describe as a connected series of one-shot stories, the <a href="https://imagecomics.com/solicitations/june-2019-solicitations">June solicits</a> describe as "the long and winding tale of THE SUMMER OF '88... the story of the last days of Teek Lawless."<br />
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The cover to issue #5, shown below, apparently features a new character, Dan Farraday, a PI and bounty hunter on the trail of a "dangerous woman" who is evidently central to issue #6.<br />
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The usual five-week schedule was evidently extended by only a single week, as this next issue is scheduled for a June 5th release.<br />
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• April 3rd, <span style="color: red;">the trailer for Too Old to Die Young dropped along with a release date,</span> both sent out through social media, including the Twitter accounts for the television series, director Nicolas Winding Refn, and star Miles Teller. /Film was one of the first sites to <a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/too-old-to-die-young-trailer-new/">report on the trailer</a>, citing an <a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/too-old-to-die-young-episodes/">earlier article</a> quoting writer and co-creator Ed Brubaker, as "the most Nicolas Winding Refn thing that ever existed, honestly."<br />
<br />
Going by the trailer, it seems the newer /Film article describes the series well -- as "a pulpy, stylish nightmare featuring amoral weirdos inhabiting a dreamy, deadly Los Angeles landscape" -- and the article notes the release date for the Amazon Prime series, to air on June 14th.<br />
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• April 15th, Deadline released an <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/04/cannes-amazon-series-nicolas-winding-refn-series-too-old-die-young-1202595621/">exclusive story</a>, announcing that <span style="color: red;">Too Old to Die Young would screen at the Cannes Film Festival in mid-May,</span> ahead of its June 14th premiere on Amazon Prime. <br />
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This is evidently only the third episodic television series to screen at the famous festival, at the time it wasn't clear how many episodes would be featured, and the writer thought that a "special screening slot" was most likely.<br />
<br />
In the <a href="https://deadline.com/2019/04/cannes-film-festival-2019-lineup-full-list-movies-official-selection-competition-1202598140/">subsequent lineup</a>, announced on April 18th, two episodes were listed for the series: "North of Hollywood" and "West of Hell."<br />
<br />
• April 16th, <span style="color: red;">The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of an expanded <strong>Bad Weekend</strong> hardcover, due in July.</span> The book is described as <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ed-brubakers-criminal-spawns-bad-weekend-graphic-novel-1201981">an "expanded and remastered" version</a> of the "comic convention crime thriller" that appeared in <strong>Criminal</strong> #2 and #3, evidently in the same format as last year's original graphic novel, <strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong>.<br />
<br />
The cover art, shown below alongside the <strong>Junkies</strong> cover, is certainly in the same vein, with a pastel color scheme and a portrait of the protagonist, complete with a dangling cigarette. <br />
<br />
The font is different, but -- as before -- the book's cover omits the <strong>Criminal</strong> branding. That is perhaps because, despite the criminal element at the center of each story, the premise (romance and addiction, comic conventions and mentors) has a wider appeal beyond the duo's usual readership.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0bY6raUjkPcqYw754nxeyOhlUCvQYvI_zymPQXYC1DdBdiM2xciRtiDXDtlobPmej0jDIozhHevFvmzjQTSoJDT2H1bI7JYDBgp8JcZC4rNNgYTLHOnTlhXIetVZC7d1GwDY2KQ/s1600/Junkies-and-Weekend.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1170" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0bY6raUjkPcqYw754nxeyOhlUCvQYvI_zymPQXYC1DdBdiM2xciRtiDXDtlobPmej0jDIozhHevFvmzjQTSoJDT2H1bI7JYDBgp8JcZC4rNNgYTLHOnTlhXIetVZC7d1GwDY2KQ/s400/Junkies-and-Weekend.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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On Twitter, Sean Phillips explains that it <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1118499291918688258">"took a while"</a> to decide on the cover's color scheme, and he treated fans to a photo of several candidate covers, very reminiscent of Andy Warhol's pop art. He relays that he preferred the third cover on the top row, but it too closely resembled the last hardcover.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYko5g5x2NnpLKOaed91E6111Z-o-5mO3-SXZ6HmRXyNtA8piy4GpUDEDMIz0vsQ7UNMYE-JQfmtHXcG1dYQ5MSGfrPdmwCSVGW0MLNvII9PCu3SGRmiupeDZWGHgfX4WiBXKknw/s1600/Weekend-Warhol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="640" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYko5g5x2NnpLKOaed91E6111Z-o-5mO3-SXZ6HmRXyNtA8piy4GpUDEDMIz0vsQ7UNMYE-JQfmtHXcG1dYQ5MSGfrPdmwCSVGW0MLNvII9PCu3SGRmiupeDZWGHgfX4WiBXKknw/s400/Weekend-Warhol.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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• On April 18th, <span style="color: red;">Image Comics released its July solicitations,</span> including the expanded hardcover edition of <strong>Bad Weekend</strong> and the next issue of the monthly series, <strong>Criminal</strong> #6.<br />
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The solicits on the <a href="https://imagecomics.com/solicitations/solicitations-for-july-2019">official site</a> list a page count of 72 pages for <strong>Bad Weekend</strong>, which may imply as many as 18 new pages, enough for a short third issue. Since the span between issues exceeds the usual five-week gap only once, and for a single week -- six weeks between the scheduled release dates for issue #4 and issue #5 -- that's not a lot of extra time to create this additional content. <br />
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(We've noticed that Jacob Phillips' Twitter feed has included ink work, evidently of his own projects. Perhaps he could help ink Sean's pencils.)<br />
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On the <a href="https://www.newsarama.com/44821-image-comics-july-2019-solicitations.html">Newsarama page</a> listing Image's July solicitations, the description for the <strong>Bad Weekend</strong> hardcover mentions a special trim size of 6.625 by 10.1875 inches, but that's practically the size of a standard U.S. comic book. On Twitter, Sean Phillips relays that the book will be a "standard" size, <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1118204383236362241">"same as the Junkies book,"</a> and with the same type of paper.<br />
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The next issue of <strong>Criminal</strong> will be continue Teeg Lawless' last story, "The Summer of '88," and the story's description repeats what we learned from issue #1, that Teeg "falls in love for the first time." That's a very intriguing development for the widower, implying that he didn't really love his wife, Tracy and Ricky's mother.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmmS2V6Ps5VPpe-0IL_Q4lROJP-z0EFyEDhaJxYOUDj_CiH8Xw3F9TF0YLLl_2z3RZ9DjYLgX_eBPv2j2kzDKOvmsa_0JyBNk2ptCROufYck9UEaYZ_jFsGNvN1VoLTSy3iZ8TuQ/s1600/Criminal-2018-06_cvr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="582" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmmS2V6Ps5VPpe-0IL_Q4lROJP-z0EFyEDhaJxYOUDj_CiH8Xw3F9TF0YLLl_2z3RZ9DjYLgX_eBPv2j2kzDKOvmsa_0JyBNk2ptCROufYck9UEaYZ_jFsGNvN1VoLTSy3iZ8TuQ/s320/Criminal-2018-06_cvr.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
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Both books are scheduled for the same day, July 10th.<br />
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• And just today, April 22nd, <span style="color: red;">Image Comics issued a press release for the <strong>Bad Weekend</strong> hardcover.</span> The <a href="https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/crime-comic-legends-ed-brubaker-sean-phillips-expose-the-seedy-underbelly-of-the-comics-industry-in-bad-weekend">news item</a> quotes Ed Brubaker that the story is both an "exposé of the industry" and a "love letter to the medium," and along with praise for the comic, the press release summarizes the book's contents:<br />
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>Bad Weekend features an expanded and remastered version of the story recently serialized in issues #2 and 3 of Criminal, with several completely new scenes, and presented in the same gorgeous hardcover format as Brubaker and Phillip's bestselling graphic novel My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies. And like every Criminal graphic novel, Bad Weekend is a stand-alone story that works as a singular reading experience.</em></blockquote>
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<br />
As before, the book is being described as released ahead of the San Diego Comic-Con, but Sean Phillips has already confirmed that the hardcover will be <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1118838804427751426">"available everywhere"</a> and not exclusive to the SDCC or any other convention.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-2094702371047096872019-02-13T17:15:00.000-05:002019-02-13T17:17:14.670-05:00Criminal #2 Out Today: New Undertow Podcast and Podcaster Interview, Newsletters and Original Art, and a Rare Stateside Appearance!Just in time for Valentine's Day, the next issue of the new monthly version of <strong>Criminal</strong> hits stores today, along with the second printing of the first issue, covers of which are shown below. We have a few quite noteworthy items to accompany issue #2.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK2l3XpwOZqsKc4qJFcOWjZmnghwJpw-ii2wlGlkHUKwmpJNgQwKNGpIvKqXvhAYS0TFOuYlpZPyAfju4qmQ0Qa-dIlJoM0YyriN7iQGAuZHUdHKxpY-6a89XXF8IWNSUOQn8byA/s1600/Criminal-1-and-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1170" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK2l3XpwOZqsKc4qJFcOWjZmnghwJpw-ii2wlGlkHUKwmpJNgQwKNGpIvKqXvhAYS0TFOuYlpZPyAfju4qmQ0Qa-dIlJoM0YyriN7iQGAuZHUdHKxpY-6a89XXF8IWNSUOQn8byA/s400/Criminal-1-and-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Just last week, <a href="http://wmqcomics.com/interviews/pod-people/pod-people-gets-pulled-into-the-undertow-a-brubaker-phillips-podcast/">WMQ Comics</a> published a <span style="color: red;">print interview with our good friend Robert Watson, host and creator of the Undertow Podcast</span>. The interview is part of a running feature called Pod People, "where WMQ’s Matthew Lazorwitz talks to fellow comics podcasters about their shows and the comics they love."<br />
<br />
Robert discusses the show's origins, and, perhaps for the first time, he articulates the unique appeal of our show's subject matter -- namely, the high-quality output of a long-term partnership between writer and artist, a real rarity in the comic-book medium. <br />
<br />
That output can hardly be overstated: in a typical year, readers get some 200 to 300 pages of noir comics from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, ranging from period pieces and borderline romance comics to vigilante stories and even Lovecraftian horror. We're in the thirteenth year of the team's nearly non-stop work on creator-owned titles, there seems to be no signs of slowing, and -- most incredibly -- each new story still thrills and amazes a readership that continues to grow.<br />
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The whole thing is worth a read, as Robert discusses the genre of crime stories, the "ideal Brubaker/Phillips playlist," and other great books he's reading.<br />
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Robert is also very kind in putting the best possible spin on my neuroses and idiosyncrasies, saying I'm "just an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to this comics team," and I greatly appreciate the kind words!<br />
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<br />
Shortly after WMQ Comics posted their interview, Robert published the <a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-29-criminal-1/">latest episode</a> of <strong>The Undertow Podcast</strong> -- <span style="color: red;">podcast episode #29, discussing the brand-new <strong>Criminal</strong> #1</span>. <br />
<br />
Robert and I closed the episode with some recommended reading.<br />
<ul>
<li>We mention that, in his <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=46d9305cb3">January newsletter</a>, Ed Brubaker recommended <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/die">Die</a> by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans and <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/cemetery-beach">Cemetery Beach</a> by Warren Ellis and Jason Howard. Both books are published by Image, and the latest issues came out on the same day as <strong>Criminal</strong> #1.</li>
<li>That same day, January 9th, saw the debut of the series I eagerly recommend on the strength of a single issue: <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/gunning-for-hits">Gunning For Hits</a>, a "music business crime thriller" written by music producer and first-time comics writer Jeff Rougvie and drawn by Moritat. </li>
<li>And, Robert recommends the 2011 hardcover <a href="https://titanbooks.com/5065-the-simon-and-kirby-library-crime/">Crime</a>, from the <a href="https://titanbooks.com/catalog/?series=simon-kirby-library&page=1">"Simon and Kirby Library,"</a> collecting "fully restored" crime comics by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. These stories evidently date from the pre-code, EC era of the 1950's, and the 320-page hardcover includes an introduction by Max Allan Collins.</li>
</ul>
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<br />
Another book published by Image, Gunning For Hits appears to be produced by Rougvie's label <a href="https://www.supermegabot.com/">Supermegabot</a>, and the book is accompanied by a <a href="https://www.gunningforhits.com/playlist">Spotify playlist</a> and a <a href="https://twitter.com/MartinMillsHits">Twitter feed</a> of excerpts from the protagonist Martin Mills' fictional journal (and coordinates to a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thacher_Island">small island</a> on the Massachusetts coast). <br />
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As with <strong>Criminal</strong>, the second issue is out today; the cover art for the first two issues are shown above -- the first with a very Bowie-like rocker while the second is an homage to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Station_to_Station">Station to Station</a>, the 1976 Bowie album which the CD(!) enthusiast Rougvie <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffRougvie/status/1083907851045740544">recommended to me</a>, since I only have 2002's Heathen in my collection.<br />
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As our most recent podcast went online, Ed Brubaker was sending out his <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=42da484bb7">February newsletter</a>, which features <span style="color: red;">a five-page preview for issue #2</span>. He also gives us a preview of a single panel of issue #3, with Ricky Lawless, all grown up.<br />
<br />
Brubaker explains:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>"Ricky is one of the main recurring characters in this new monthly version of <strong>CRIMINAL</strong>, and actually stars in issue 4, which is a standalone issue, much like #1 was. Issue 5 begins the first longer arc."</em></blockquote>
We wonder, then, is Ricky the connective tissue between these first four issues? And since issue #1 was longer than normal and a longer arc begins after this, will these four issues comprise the next trade paperback collection?<br />
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The writer mentioned another big project -- the Amazon series Too Old to Die Young -- with recent news that I had missed, which Robert had caught during the podcast. While at the Rotterdam Film Festival, composer Cliff Martinez spoke about the series and his work with Nicolas Winding Refn, and Brubaker linked to a few stories on his "Masterclass" conversation -- <a href="https://iffr.com/en/blog/masterclass-cliff-martinez">and video</a>, concluding with a clip from the series "not for the faint of heart." <br />
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Robert pointed us to Birth.Movies.Death and a <a href="https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2019/02/04/each-episode-of-nicolas-winding-refns-amazon-series-is-apparently-90-minute">different summary</a> of a <a href="https://www.screendaily.com/news/cliff-martinez-on-his-30-year-career-sex-lies-and-videotape-and-writing-ringtones-for-apple/5136334.article">Screen Daily interview</a> with Martinez, revealing the series' runtime of about 16 hours. The composer relays, "It’s ten episodes that are around 90 minutes a piece," and we wonder if this length -- equivalent to a short feature -- suggests that each episode tells a complete story within a larger, serialized framework.<br />
<br />
(I would think an extra-long premiere and finale might skew the average, but even with bookends of 2 hours or more, the middle episodes would still be 80 minutes or so, almost twice the length of an episode of Stranger Things and toward the extreme end of True Detective episodes.)<br />
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In addition to some other crime-related recommendations, Brubaker also recommends the new hardcover collection, <a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/collection/71710/conan_the_barbarian_the_original_marvel_years_omnibus_vol_1_hardcover">Conan the Barbarian: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus, Volume 1</a>. The newsletter includes the standard cover art by John Cassaday -- striking, and obviously Cassaday at a single glance, but hardly true to the era -- but there is also evidently a <a href="https://www.tfaw.com/Graphic-Novels/Profile/Conan-the-Barbarian-Omnibus-HC-Vol-01-Dm-Var___577633">direct-market edition</a> with a cover based on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_the_Barbarian_(comics)">original cover art</a> for Conan the Barbarian #1, from 1970.<br />
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Brubaker says that this collection is particularly worthwhile for the bonus features -- a rarity in omnibus editions from Marvel -- but if the $125 retail price is a bit out of one's budget, Marvel also released <a href="https://piercingmetal.com/marvel-comics-true-believers-deliver-conan-the-barbarian-classics-in-january-2019/">ten one-dollar "True Believer" reprints</a> in January, including that first issue to Conan the Barbarian. <br />
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Just as Brubaker recommended the omnibus, I mentioned these inexpensive reprints in the podcast, along with a minor recommendation for Marvel's new ongoing series, Conan the Barbarian. The colors in these reprints aren't bad at all -- "The Secret of Skull River" is left in black and white, in all its glory -- and most of these issues have dense, self-contained stories.<br />
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<br />
Finally, since Sean Phillips <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2018/06/bullets-virgin-variant-eisner-nod-and.html">returned to using paper</a> for <strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong> and has evidently kept up the practice for <strong>Criminal</strong> -- albeit with apparent <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=46d9305cb3">digital pencils</a>, in traditional blue -- the resulting artwork is being made available to collectors, through Phillips' longtime associates at <a href="http://www.splashpageart.com/ArtistGalleryTitles.asp?ArtistId=120&Ti=Sean_Phillips">Splash Page Comic Art</a>.<br />
<br />
On that quite eventful February 7th, Splash Page Art announced <a href="http://www.splashpageart.com/newsdetail.asp?n=108">new artwork for sale</a> -- <span style="color: red;">artwork from <strong>Junkies</strong>, <strong>Criminal</strong>, and Hellblazer,</span> more specifically Phillips' <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2018/01/sean-phillips-variant-covers-for.html">six variant covers</a> from 2018. On Twitter, owner Mark Hay announced that artwork from issue 2 will be on sale <a href="https://twitter.com/splashpageart/status/1093650461893296128">this week</a>, as the issue reaches stores.<br />
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Back in the press release, Hay also encourages haste: while recording the podcast, I noticed that the first issue's striking last page was on sale -- a single splash page, of Teeg Lawless in portraiture, smoking in his car, bloodied and scheming. The image is somehow beautiful and ugly all at once. Despite a price of $575, the page's listing is already missing, indicating that the work has already been sold, but not before we (thankfully) saved a local copy of the artwork, shown below.<br />
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The press release also notes Phillips' attendance at <a href="http://ncsfest.com/about/">the inaugural NCSFest</a>, hosted by the National Cartoonists Society in Huntington Beach, California, over the weekend of May 17-19. Mark Hay will also be there, and we were right to guess that <a href="http://ncsfest.com/guests/ed-brubaker/">a certain writer in California</a> would be there alongside <a href="http://ncsfest.com/guests/sean-phillips/">Phillips</a>.<br />
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The event is described as Phillips' first US appearance since 2010, and it's apparently the pair's first North American appearance together since <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2014/04/bullets-fatale-in-may-criminal-in.html">Toronto in 2014</a>.<br />
<br />
It bears repeating: <span style="color: red;">Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are scheduled to attend California's NCSFest in May.</span> This should be just a few weeks after the release of <strong>Criminal</strong> #4, <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/01/april-solicitations-ricky-lawless-one.html">due on April 24th</a>.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-68895610053930635212019-01-31T12:55:00.000-05:002019-02-02T11:57:51.100-05:00The Upside of Social Media: Sean Phillips Cover for Thunderbolt #1 and More.Social media is, at best, a very mixed bag indeed -- Brubaker closed his Twitter feed a while back, and I've heard the whole thing is more accurately described as "anti-social" media -- but we do strongly recommend that fans of Brubaker and Phillips' crime comics "follow" the latter either on Instagram or especially on Twitter.<br />
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Again: <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips">follow Sean Phillips on Twitter</a>.<br />
<br />
We say that because, between retweets and original posts, some of the more obscure or time-sensitive bits of news end up in his feed -- and that's to say nothing of the excellent preview art, the nature photography, and the vintage soundtrack selections. We have a few examples of news items just from this past week.<br />
<ul>
<li>We saw and retweeted the announcement, but we didn't have the bandwidth to blog about a <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1089221395173859330">one-day sale</a> at Phillip's <a href="https://seanphillips.bigcartel.com/">Big Cartel online store</a>; the sale took place on Sunday commemorating the artist's birthday.</li>
<li>On his <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1084740824448098304">currently pinned tweet</a>, Phillips notes that his online store includes books in which he has included a signature and a sketch, specifically <strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong> and the recent omnibus trade paperback for <strong>The Fade Out</strong>. Just yesterday he announced that his store now includes signature-and-sketch copies of the <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1090641057568747520">first trade collection</a> for <strong>Fatale</strong>, as this volume "has gone back to print."</li>
<li>Sean's Big Cartel store isn't the only place to find signed items online, as England's <a href="https://twitter.com/OKComics/status/1088821135674933249">OK Comics</a> is now using their <a href="https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/okcomics">eBay store</a> to sell books signed by Sean Phillips and Jacob Phillips; the easiest way to find all the books is to sort by "newly listed."</li>
<li>Finally, Dynamite's Peter Cannon Thunderbolt #1 reaches stores this week, and one of its <a href="https://twitter.com/DynamiteComics/status/1089906192091099136">multiple variant covers</a> -- one listed as <a href="https://twitter.com/TheBigBang_/status/1089516388501340167">Cover A</a>, the apparent standard cover -- is by Sean Phillips. I believe it's his first non-Brubaker comic cover since the series of <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2018/01/sean-phillips-variant-covers-for.html">six Hellblazer variants</a> released in the early months of 2018.</li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnTujPK5bAgVhCvZ8BfzL2kLl93X2MG5_Qm9427ZWR02Grv9NORtUCnYYybGvfaICFM8mkIu42labjmeRUeSd93kjOK_60RaV-f_InpS0b8BS7RV_ZiZTqY2IEiqj8hXMNzt-6Wg/s1600/Thunderbolt-1-Phillips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnTujPK5bAgVhCvZ8BfzL2kLl93X2MG5_Qm9427ZWR02Grv9NORtUCnYYybGvfaICFM8mkIu42labjmeRUeSd93kjOK_60RaV-f_InpS0b8BS7RV_ZiZTqY2IEiqj8hXMNzt-6Wg/s400/Thunderbolt-1-Phillips.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Phillips' distinctive cover art, shown at the left above, heralds the <a href="https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?PRO=C72513027686501011">second volume</a> of this title, the first volume being a <a href="https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/viewProduct.html?CAT=DF-Thunderbolt">ten-issue mini-series</a> from 2012 and 2013. This new issue is written by Kieron Gillen and drawn by Caspar Wijingaard; described as a "dark, humorous and relentless love song" to superhero comics, the issue marks Gillen's return to the genre.<br />
<br />
Looking at the issue's webpage on the official site, we find a virgin variant of the cover, shown above on the right. From the image's filename, we think it might be offered as a retailer incentive, and we see that <a href="http://www.comiclist.com/index.php/lists/comiclist-dynamite-entertainment-new-releases-for-01-30-2019">ComicList</a> identifies this "Sean Phillips Virgin Variant" as "Cover G" with no set price -- the price is marked "AR" for "Ask Retailer."<br />
<br />
Bleeding Cool has a <a href="https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/01/29/12-page-preview-to-tomorrows-20-page-peter-cannon-thunderbolt-1-by-kieron-gillen-and-caspar-wijngaard/">12-page preview</a> of the comic, composited from multiple previews for an story described as being 20 pages in length. In a blurb that Phillips has retweeted, Dynamic Comics hints that <a href="https://twitter.com/DynamiteComics/status/1090993760681582592">Watchmen fans</a> might be particularly interested in this comic book.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-76975362091061794012019-01-26T20:45:00.000-05:002019-02-13T16:08:13.353-05:00April Solicitations: A Ricky Lawless One-Shot for Criminal #4 and More.Image Comics released their <a href="https://imagecomics.com/solicitations/solicitations-for-april-2019">April solicitations</a> this week, and we find that Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips plan to keep up the monthly pace with <strong>Criminal</strong> #4.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGEacWl5seMdDs3WHSEdiYIAUIXCc9n7qQrwVqvmk2JXD1r9WEGX5AZQADohJ5mUvIlFIShr4g9oga3Zk10KTZBsNBlkagM0_VsMLW04HRCU2QpFjGh4szat4ZMXmFGdD2f5KWw/s1600/Criminal-4_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="585" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGEacWl5seMdDs3WHSEdiYIAUIXCc9n7qQrwVqvmk2JXD1r9WEGX5AZQADohJ5mUvIlFIShr4g9oga3Zk10KTZBsNBlkagM0_VsMLW04HRCU2QpFjGh4szat4ZMXmFGdD2f5KWw/s400/Criminal-4_cover.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>
<br />
A couple years back, Phillips discussed the <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2017/04/bullets-undertow-podcast-episode-11.html">team's work schedule</a> for the official podcast for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. The plan entails a five-week schedule to produce about ten issues each year; as a result, quite a few months pass before readers encounter a "skip month."<br />
<br />
So far, the solicited release dates fit this five-week schedule, which points to a May 29th release date for issue #5, a skip month for June, and a July 3rd release for issue #6.<br />
<br />
But we're getting ahead of ourselves.<br />
<br />
Due April 24th, issue #4 is described as the second done-in-one, stand-alone story and a return to the Lawless family.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>A breathtaking single-issue story finds Ricky Lawless caught in the grip of violence and double cross after a robbery. As always, CRIMINAL contains back page art and articles only found in the single issues.</em></blockquote>
We're curious about the time frame of this story -- it presumably occurs after <strong>Criminal</strong> #1 and obviously occurs before the "Lawless" story arc, but we wonder how this relates to a key event mentioned at the end of issue #1.<br />
<br />
(We also wonder how we should refer to these stories going forward. I wonder how these seemingly unrelated one- and two-issue stories will be grouped and titled for the eventual trade collection, and <em>that</em> question makes me wonder if they're as unrelated as the solicitations suggest.)<br />
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<hr />
<br />
It was an oversight on our part, but we haven't yet mentioned Ed Brubaker's <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=46d9305cb3">January 9th email newsletter</a>, released the same day as <strong>Criminal</strong> #1. It includes a two-page preview of <strong>Criminal</strong> #2...<br />
<br />
(We get a specific date for what appears to be the main story -- July, 1997 -- and a flashback indicating that he graduated from high school in the mid-Eighties. And, it appears that one of the central characters, the infamously difficult artist and "old mentor," has been renamed from <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/01/criminal-1-ten-page-preview-undertow.html">Archie Lewis</a> to Hal Crane.)<br />
<br />
...and we see some process work for this first issue, comparing Sean Phillips' digital inks and the final result with Jacob Phillips' colors. Brubaker also shares some preliminary designs for the first issue's cover art, with his early idea of having two images share the cover, "connecting the various story threads."<br />
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The third and final image from the newsletter, shown below, reminds us especially of the cover layout for <a href="http://www.comicbookdb.com/title_covergallery.php?ID=31623">Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword</a>, a 2010 anthology series which ran for ten issues and -- as we mentioned earlier -- included <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/01/criminal-returns-this-week-undertow.html">a story drawn by Sean Phillips</a> in issue #4. Between two large panels and two small bubbles, four distinct images were featured on every cover, the largest of which was generally reprinted on an interior page, "virgin" and complete.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJv2b18fT4msSUA-y9qyLM2aFa3EONvR-LbRZExiQuHDnfYaKnPOtv-KDIQv_cWdjGegJlpypRfy2MQuaUkwU3v0Dzc-h55S4SmQSRpdBcxJHSk3YFOfUnrfdzY2chFbynjw1MHw/s1600/Criminal-1-prelim_REH-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1178" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJv2b18fT4msSUA-y9qyLM2aFa3EONvR-LbRZExiQuHDnfYaKnPOtv-KDIQv_cWdjGegJlpypRfy2MQuaUkwU3v0Dzc-h55S4SmQSRpdBcxJHSk3YFOfUnrfdzY2chFbynjw1MHw/s400/Criminal-1-prelim_REH-4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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(In the cover art for REHSS #4 above, you can see Phillips' Conan, in the bubble on the upper right.)<br />
<br />
In both cases, the composite cover is striking, but I'm not sure it "pops" off the shelves as much as a single, bold image would. The best covers draw your attention away from the comic book's numerous competitors.<br />
<br />
For <strong>Criminal</strong> #1, the composite cover would have probably required a longer, more complex solicitation text, which would have made the story inside less disorienting in its first few pages. Personally, I really enjoyed the story and I think I prefer the final cover, where the single image of Teeg Lawless -- old, bloodied, and manic -- made me wonder how the first few pages fit into the larger story. The single-image cover also fits with what we've seen for the next few covers.<br />
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<hr />
<br />
Also in the newsletter, Ed Brubaker recommended a few comic books along with a single prose collection from Black Lizard, <em>The Big Book of the Continental Op</em>.<br />
<br />
We checked the April solicits for both books, and we found Die #5, from Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans. The issue is described as the "conclusion," evidently of the first arc, "Fantasy Heartbreaker," and not the <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/die">overall series</a>.<br />
<br />
We couldn't find Brubaker's other recommendation, Cemetery Beach by Warren Ellis and Jason Howard, and a quick search through Image's website revealed why: the book is a <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/cemetery-beach">seven-issue mini-series</a>, scheduled to wrap up on March 6th.<br />
<br />
And, looking through the solicits, we found issue #4 for <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/gunning-for-hits">another series</a> that has our attention, debuting on January 9th alongside both <strong>Criminal</strong> #1 and the latest issues of Brubaker's two recommended reads. We'll have more to say about <a href="https://www.gunningforhits.com/">Gunning for Hits</a> very soon, in the upcoming episode of <strong>The Undertow Podcast</strong>.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-15108255405549294332019-01-21T18:15:00.000-05:002019-01-21T18:18:57.201-05:00Junkies Wins 2018 Gem Award!On the same day that Image Comics announced a <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/01/criminal-1-second-printing-due-with.html">second printing</a> for <strong>Criminal</strong> #1, Diamond Comic Distributors announced the <a href="http://www.comicsbeat.com/2018-diamond-gem-award-winners/">2018 winners</a> of their Gem Awards, and winners include Brubaker and Phillips' <strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1Pjw7vYBUKwwGOTzvUlDOKIPUqFICJfcOqkP_THoJuy0q_87wXNJ14ylGmDGBfWYsBLRJ5fWsgPD5AmREP50I8AZhnRz635PFN1jp0ZUakHclmR-7EkeurQz4iu92SgYfj7a9g/s1600/Heroes-Award.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="790" data-original-width="1212" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1Pjw7vYBUKwwGOTzvUlDOKIPUqFICJfcOqkP_THoJuy0q_87wXNJ14ylGmDGBfWYsBLRJ5fWsgPD5AmREP50I8AZhnRz635PFN1jp0ZUakHclmR-7EkeurQz4iu92SgYfj7a9g/s400/Heroes-Award.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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(The dateline appears to be missing from the <a href="https://www.diamondcomics.com/Home/1/1/3/597?articleID=225212">official press release</a>, but -- at the moment -- the main page for <a href="https://www.diamondcomics.com/Home/1/1/3/302?articleID=205711">Press & Media</a> confirms a January 17th publication.)<br />
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Given out for <a href="https://www.diamondcomics.com/Home/1/1/3/302?articleID=35925">more than a decade</a>, the Diamond Gem Awards are described as "the pinnacle of sales achievement." Nominations are made by the distribution company "based on their sales performance and quality, and their overall impact on the industry during any given year," and winners are selected by comic book retailers -- "members of" that segment of the retail industry, so evidently not all retailers domestically or internationally.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>“The Diamond Gem Awards give comic shop retailers an opportunity to recognize the vendors, titles, and products that have been critical to their success over the past year,” said Diamond President & CEO Steve Geppi.</em></blockquote>
<strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong> won the 2018 Diamond Gem Award for "Original Graphic Novel of the Year."<br />
<br />
Previous winners include Fables: 1,001 Nights of Snowfall (2006), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier (2007), and Darwyn Cooke's adaptation of Richard Stark's Parker in The Hunter (2009). Recently, this particular category has been dominated by DC's Earth One volumes, featuring Superman (2010), Batman (HC 2012, TP 2014, Vol. 2 HC 2015), and Wonder Woman (2017).<br />
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(The list of winners is duplicated for 2008 and 2009, but apparently it's the former that was garbled: the actual <a href="https://www.diamondcomics.com/Home/1/1/3/5?articleID=79714">2008 winner</a> for Original Graphic Novel appears to be DC's Joker book.)<br />
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Just as the second printing for <strong>Criminal</strong> suggests that -- after all these years -- demand for Brubaker and Phillips' crime comics continues to exceed expectations, this sales award for <strong>Junkies</strong> indicates the prominence of their work, without qualifications about creator-owned comics that (thus far) lack any film or TV adaptations.<br />
Comichron's <a href="http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2018.html">sales data for 2018</a> appears to confirm <strong>Junkies</strong>' place as the best-selling original work, in a category dominated by reprints of monthly issues. Comic shops purchased just over 40,000 copies of The Infinity Gauntlet collection last year, as theaters were packed with the MCU blockbuster, and they purchased just over 10,000 copies of Brubaker and Phillips' crime-tinged romance comic.<br />
<br /><strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong> has apparently been quite the successful book, and the industry has taken notice. Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-43498356673391829382019-01-17T20:15:00.000-05:002019-01-17T20:15:25.685-05:00CRIMINAL #1 Second Printing, Due with Issue #2!Just today, Image Comics issued a <a href="https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/monthly-return-of-multiple-eisner-award-winning-series-criminal-hits-big-rushed-back-to-print">press release</a> announcing a second printing for <b>Criminal</b> #1.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Y8_Sw9IH7yExeopTFcDVH62jBYfzbhenHziGYfaV_krWllFgsBbP2a_ek65MpW5xYaSaRvIJ0z5NPO_1Of6Se7MSIv5YDDIc-p3iCwIhAsyXda1Kmt1ZFJ1UJtlwNJTt8wAP7A/s1600/Criminal-1-2nd-printing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="780" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4Y8_Sw9IH7yExeopTFcDVH62jBYfzbhenHziGYfaV_krWllFgsBbP2a_ek65MpW5xYaSaRvIJ0z5NPO_1Of6Se7MSIv5YDDIc-p3iCwIhAsyXda1Kmt1ZFJ1UJtlwNJTt8wAP7A/s400/Criminal-1-2nd-printing.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>
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This is quite astounding news, not only because Brubaker and Phillips have been producing noir comics for so long, but because last week's debut issue was for the third ongoing series with the <b>Criminal</b> name.<br />
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Yesterday, <b>@NOIRonMewe</b> <a href="https://twitter.com/NOIRonMewe/status/1085621389652967424">broke the news</a> with the image shown above, and Sean Phillips has just confirmed that this recolored artwork is the <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1085998141101522944">cover for the second printing</a>.<br />
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The press release sets a date for this second printing -- February 13th, simultaneous with the release <b>Criminal</b> #2.<br />
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They also state that retailers' "final order cutoff" deadline is <b><span style="color: red;">THIS MONDAY, JANUARY 21ST</span></b>, so fans and other interested readers should contact their local shop to ensure they get a copy.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-7300487765741883202019-01-07T22:30:00.000-05:002019-01-07T22:35:58.850-05:00CRIMINAL returns this week! Undertow Podcast on the Criminal Chronology, OK Comics Appearance, and More Sean Phillips in The Criterion Collection!<strong>Criminal</strong> #1 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is in stores THIS WEDNESDAY, with Image Comics using the <a href="https://imagecomics.com/">front page</a> of their website to promote the issue, recommend earlier volumes, and treat comic-book fans to two views of Teeg Lawless, who has seen better days.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnF060u9bTUD4CHBLQDAgfxyn7uqM6oykAh9-c-SWUzIviU4DoXIHgUwD1ROv2buKeFLJcwgxHF8-iMxsvy1bqXq4j5LrQ7ZvGwcHRiOo6FaeNCsXobrA4nti00VPVESlAVia7jQ/s1600/Image-front-page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1600" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnF060u9bTUD4CHBLQDAgfxyn7uqM6oykAh9-c-SWUzIviU4DoXIHgUwD1ROv2buKeFLJcwgxHF8-iMxsvy1bqXq4j5LrQ7ZvGwcHRiOo6FaeNCsXobrA4nti00VPVESlAVia7jQ/s400/Image-front-page.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
We have a few things of our own to cover in the run-up to our favorite series' long-awaited return.<br />
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Overnight, our friend Robert Watson released the <a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-28-a-criminal-family-tree/">latest episode</a> of <strong>The Undertow Podcast</strong>. Robert and I wanted to get ourselves and our listeners ready for the return of <strong>Criminal</strong> as a monthly series, so we took a look at all the previous story arcs. <br />
<br />
Titled "A Criminal Family Tree," Episode 28 recounts the multiple generations of the series' flawed but often sympathetic criminals -- four generations by our count -- and we tackled the stories by their rough chronological setting than by their publication date.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_VzDtIw0uFZDBXzrATlE4_uQAFjSMaTB6EXSLXUwm82jhyptRBkItYbLj-wbtJfvnWYNQYHXXBa8GvPFHlQbhqPZLu-4lxTn1JqZOOpAogjv68a6xwfHNVlyDimBdyL8n2CU2Rg/s1600/Criminal-Chronology_2019-double-row.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="985" data-original-width="1600" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_VzDtIw0uFZDBXzrATlE4_uQAFjSMaTB6EXSLXUwm82jhyptRBkItYbLj-wbtJfvnWYNQYHXXBa8GvPFHlQbhqPZLu-4lxTn1JqZOOpAogjv68a6xwfHNVlyDimBdyL8n2CU2Rg/s400/Criminal-Chronology_2019-double-row.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Looking at that <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-complete-collaborative-works-of.html">publication history</a>, we find that we can group the arcs into several distinct eras:<br />
<ul>
<li>2006-2008, ongoing titles at Icon: <strong>Criminal</strong> Volumes 1 & 2</li>
<li>2009-2011, named mini-series at Icon: "The Sinners" & "Last of the Innocent"</li>
<li>2015-2018, self-contained books at Image: one-shots & the <strong>Junkies</strong> novella </li>
</ul>
We're now back to an ongoing title, <strong>Criminal</strong> Volume 3, being published by Image Comics. Since the emphasis is on the individual, monthly issue, we're curious about how these issues will be subsequently collected.<br />
<br />
But looking at the internal chronology, we see that story arcs fall into one of two categories: <br />
<ul>
<li>Flashback period pieces, where the year in which the story is set is typically stated explicitly</li>
<li>Contemporary stories, where the year is, at best, implied </li>
</ul>
(For the latter, I have always presumed that these stories roughly correspond to the original year of publication.)<br />
<br />
Ed Brubaker has always said that each story stands alone and can serve as its own entry point into the <strong>Criminal</strong> universe. That's true -- with the possible exception of "The Sinners" -- and yet Robert and I believe that the best "first read" is in publication order.<br />
<br />
(The same is true for other works, including the Star Wars movies and the Narnia books, notwithstanding publishers' strained explanations for packaging the works according to their internal chronology and thus placing the iconic first work published -- 1977's Star Wars, now marketed as a "A New Hope;" and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe -- in the middle of a larger box set that might encourage the purchase of the omnibus set. I carefully chose which Star Wars movie I showed my kids first, and I know how I'm introducing them to <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/why-you-should-narnia-in-publication-order/">The Chronicles of Narnia</a>.)<br />
<br />
But if you've already enjoyed all the <strong>Criminal</strong> books, reading them in the order of their internal chronology may shed some new light on the stories.<br />
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In the image above, we place Image's trade paperbacks in the order of that narrative timeline -- period pieces on the first row, contemporary pieces on the second row -- and going by the "March, 1988" date in Brubaker's <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2019/01/criminal-1-ten-page-preview-undertow.html">ten-page preview</a>, the new issue fits right in between the earlier flashback chapters and the contemporary chapters about Tracy, Leo, and the gang.<br />
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We <strong>CERTAINLY</strong> do not recommend this podcast episode as any kind of substitute for reading the actual comics, but we hope current fans find the episode as interesting as we did.<br />
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<br />
For this episode, I made a somewhat unusual recommendation of the massive, <a href="https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/28-579/He-Man-and-the-Masters-of-the-Universe-Minicomic-Collection-HC">1000-page-plus hardcover collection</a> of the minicomics published with the toys for Masters of the Universe. It's a helluva nostalgia hit for a very particular generation of kids, but it also has a <strong>Criminal</strong> connection in its contributions from Val Staples, who colored the earliest Icon issues for Brubaker and Phillips.<br />
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There's also a more indirect connection. Thirty-odd issues of this series comprised my first comic-book reading, and it probably influenced my later enjoyment of Robert E. Howard's Conan, both the original pulp stories and the comic books, especially those written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith, published by Marvel in the 1970's. Those barbarian stories from comics' Bronze Age had an apparent effect on a young Ed Brubaker -- about ten years my senior -- and we see that influence in the "Savage Sword" one-shot from 2015.<br />
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We can see the obvious influences below:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMHwbuvLRBVEs3m8kpZLyb4u0XRyq9tXWTqKS25mFcKahF3EFyoulEkqdhfPMcPAXsZDqJcbGE1ZN4XKKu3JdCGeZ_Hh6jdmcmP2PDhAf_85eBcf0Of4WIs7DmVQGguBmAf7XWmw/s1600/Savage-Swords.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="662" data-original-width="1511" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMHwbuvLRBVEs3m8kpZLyb4u0XRyq9tXWTqKS25mFcKahF3EFyoulEkqdhfPMcPAXsZDqJcbGE1ZN4XKKu3JdCGeZ_Hh6jdmcmP2PDhAf_85eBcf0Of4WIs7DmVQGguBmAf7XWmw/s400/Savage-Swords.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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On the left is the cover to The Savage Sword of Conan #16, which features part one of a two-part Thomas & Windsor-Smith adaptation of a Bran Mak Morn story from Howard, "Worms of the Earth." The entire story was reprinted, with new coloring that was quite well done, in issue #1 of the 2010 Dark Horse book called Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword. Sean Phillips contributed to issue #4 of the same anthology series in 2012, in a monochromatic story <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2012/03/sean-barbarian.html">"White Death"</a> written by Pete Doree.<br />
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In the middle is a page from the very first mini-comic, He-Man and the Power Sword, the same artwork that dominates the collection's front cover. Just a few years ago, the artist known as SiMo Sol created a <a href="https://www.hemanworld.com/2016/10/battle-castle-grayskull-simo-sol/">gorgeous, detailed homage</a> to the iconic page.<br />
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On the right is the cover to the magazine-sized variant to the <strong>Criminal</strong> Special Edition one-shot, featuring Zangar the Barbarian. This larger edition was made to look like a replica of the fictional comic book from the 1970's, and the credits page attributes the character of Zangar to the pulp writer in <strong>Fatale</strong>, <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2015/04/bullets-fade-out-5-out-today-and-more.html">Alfred Ravenscroft</a> -- a kind of hybrid between Robert E. Howard and his friend H.P. Lovecraft.<br />
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The similarities aren't just what's obvious -- the strong-man hero (or anti-hero), the beautiful woman, the villainous sorcerer and strange beasts. In making this montage, I noticed that all the pages have essentially the same dimensions: the original pulp comic from 1976, the shrunk-down and more kid-friendly minicomic from the early 80's, and the homage from the 21st century.<br />
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The new issue of <strong>Criminal</strong> isn't the only work by Sean Phillips to be released this month. On Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/gonzomike/status/1080663243381706752">@gonzomike</a> highlighted an upcoming release from The Criterion Collection, of the 1967 Oscar winner, In The Heat of the Night. The <a href="https://www.criterion.com/films/29459-in-the-heat-of-the-night">home release</a> is scheduled for January 9th, and it features a "New Cover by Sean Phillips," shown below.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAEWW61C26rDgeuotjjBXSuIjSjG7_0p9WAX8BdloroDeFVaLkcag_yeSykyVpvgGVf4AbLMtl4qQjicxnZgXJ9xq_XA5YVNnZAdHsdj9AQqUf-fiKEffiCI2pceVrWq9U1WcXkQ/s1600/Heat-of-the-Night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1288" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAEWW61C26rDgeuotjjBXSuIjSjG7_0p9WAX8BdloroDeFVaLkcag_yeSykyVpvgGVf4AbLMtl4qQjicxnZgXJ9xq_XA5YVNnZAdHsdj9AQqUf-fiKEffiCI2pceVrWq9U1WcXkQ/s400/Heat-of-the-Night.jpg" width="321" /></a></div>
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Finally, Brits who want to ask Sean Phillips about <strong>Criminal</strong> or The Criterion Collection will soon have a chance to do so, as <a href="https://twitter.com/OKComics/status/1082284953885396992">Leeds' OK Comics</a> has announced an event for this Saturday, January 12th, celebrating the launch of the new series with signings by artist Sean Phillips and new colorist Jacob Phillips.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsR6xzR5CzdcAZsvP6E5xPvcplw10Oqb7s4m5b_SZQdK5Kb6WvN_5H8EG2Md3S3BNBa2PeRF7wX69TI6LdjqQpmT7PaVd_n_RcJ10KL4w9QeUBTqXeVqKmhksAWVQQrXY3S4L7cg/s1600/OK-Comics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1132" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsR6xzR5CzdcAZsvP6E5xPvcplw10Oqb7s4m5b_SZQdK5Kb6WvN_5H8EG2Md3S3BNBa2PeRF7wX69TI6LdjqQpmT7PaVd_n_RcJ10KL4w9QeUBTqXeVqKmhksAWVQQrXY3S4L7cg/s400/OK-Comics.jpg" width="282" /></a></div>
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I'm sure we'll have more to cover later this month, as the comics world reacts to this high-profile first issue.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-41438724230240680142019-01-04T17:45:00.000-05:002019-01-07T22:13:14.755-05:00Criminal #1 Ten-Page Preview, an Undertow Podcast, and More for the New Year!We anticipate being much more active in the new year -- more blogging, meaning more frequent posts with more prompt news updates -- as Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips return to monthly comics with a new volume of our favorite series, <strong>Criminal</strong>. The first issue is less than a week away, and we begin 2019 with a quick look back at the end of 2018.<br />
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• <strong>October Interviews for Junkies.</strong> Three print interviews with writer Ed Brubaker were published in a single month. Released to coincide with the October 10th release of <strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong>, the online articles also provide a substantial "fix" for those more obsessive fans of the writer and his work.<br />
<ul>
<li>Oct 9th, from <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/my-heroes-have-been-junkies-ed-brubaker-interview-1150762">The Hollywood Reporter</a>, with an exclusive four-page preview of <strong>Junkies</strong></li>
<li>Oct 21st, from <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/10/21/comics-writer-ed-brubaker-on-how-his-art-form-conquered-the-entertainment-industry/">Salon</a> </li>
<li>Oct 25th, from <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/ed-brubaker-my-heroes-have-always-been-junkies">GQ</a>, published exactly two years after an <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/ed-brubaker-the-fade-out">interview</a> about <strong>The Fade Out</strong> and subsequently summarized by <a href="http://www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/10-things-we-learnt-from-ed-brubaker-about-writing-for-tv-and-comics/">Tripwire Magazine</a></li>
</ul>
There's much more from these interviews than we'll summarize here -- some of which Robert and I discussed in the podcast (see below) -- but we found the biographical insights especially interesting. <br />
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Brubaker's father was a commander in naval intelligence, and his mother and stepfather were therapists. From age 4 to age 7, Brubaker lived at Guantanamo, where his father got his sons reading with a large box of used comics. His parents got divorced, and from age 8 to age 12, he accompanied his mother to her Sunday-morning AA meetings. He subsequently became a trouble-maker -- "scraping by" in his early 20's, socializing with "really bad crowds" and committing "small-time crime" -- until his life got out of hand and the young artist almost ended up in prison.<br />
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We can see the effect on Brubaker's writing, not just in the generally sympathetic approach to desperate and reckless criminals, but also in the details of stories -- from the setting for "An Accidental Death," one of his earliest works; through the protagonist of "Lawless;" to the focus of this most recent work, the <strong>Criminal</strong> novella <strong>Junkies</strong>.<br />
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<strong>• Phillips Sketchbook of Movie Stars.</strong> On November 8th, Sean Phillips <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1060535731666460673">announced</a> a <a href="https://seanphillips.bigcartel.com/product/my-heroes-have-always-been-movie-stars-sketchbook">new item </a>exclusive to his Big Cartel store. <strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Movie Stars</strong> is a 32-page, US comics-size collection of some of the illustrations he has created to accompany the film essays featured in the back of Brubaker and Phillips' monthly issues. <br />
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The artist explicitly writes that these works originally appeared "in the Criminal comics [made] with Ed Brubaker," but we wonder if some of the art was for <strong>Incognito</strong>, <strong>Fatale</strong>, or other titles. It's a question that might only be answered with a copy of this sketchbook and a complete list of these bonus-feature essays.<br />
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The book is priced at £20, in a signed and numbered limited edition of 300 copies. It appears that copies are still available, but there's no telling how long that will last.<br />
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• <strong>The Fade Out Single-Volume TPB Released.</strong> On November 14th, the anticipated single-volume trade paperback edition of <strong>The Fade Out</strong> was released. This will probably serve as the definitive wide release of the 2014-2016 mini-series, as the story is better told as a single work than in three four-issue "acts." <br />
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We examined a copy at a local shop, confirming that the book is a bare-bones release without the bonus content found in the hardcover. The book includes the "Screen Views and News" clipping which serves as a kind of <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-fade-out-act-three-in-stores-now.html">epilogue</a> to "Maya's story and Valeria's story," but it omits the <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2015/12/30-days-of-fade-out-fake-movies-with.html">fictional promotional images</a> featured on the back-cover art of the monthly issues. <br />
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And, we're disappointed to report that the cover lacks an amusing detail found in a print that Phillips has made available at his <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2018/06/bullets-virgin-variant-eisner-nod-and.html">online store</a> and which is shown above, describing the book as "An Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips production."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-L12siZguo8pco2AWRfzA8WQtvq-eRqeKggL_bPgAyLyT66gZ8GSntG8NvGRSIKKu8rR3rfvP3hrhZX0VssqJelGRQdOoDxrtwdVhRk3vEJ0crgsW1I9XdrQjiPV79vvF01y-Q/s1600/Criminal-Longest-Weekend.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1168" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-L12siZguo8pco2AWRfzA8WQtvq-eRqeKggL_bPgAyLyT66gZ8GSntG8NvGRSIKKu8rR3rfvP3hrhZX0VssqJelGRQdOoDxrtwdVhRk3vEJ0crgsW1I9XdrQjiPV79vvF01y-Q/s400/Criminal-Longest-Weekend.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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• <strong>Image Solicitations for the Next Criminal Arc.</strong> On November 20th, Image Comics released its <a href="https://imagecomics.com/solicitations/solicitations-for-february-2019">February solicitations</a>, including the second issue of the new volume of <strong>Criminal</strong> -- all just in time for us to discuss as late-breaking news on the podcast. Issue #1 is evidently a self-contained done-in-one tale, and this new story features an artist named Archie Lewis, and we recall that this fictional character was <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-criminal-revelation-preview-of-fatale.html">briefly mentioned</a> in the narration of the 2008 arc "Bad Night."<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>Archie Lewis was the artist’s artist in his heyday, although that’s not what he’s famous for. He’s famous for being a nightmare to work with—and dangerous. So when an old assistant is forced to chaperone his one-time mentor to receive his lifetime achievement award, well... let’s just say things don’t go well. </em></blockquote>
We wondered if the story will touch on Jacob Kurtz, the main character and narrator from "Bad Night," as perhaps this "old assistant" to the evidently infamously difficult Lewis is Jacob himself. That suspicion was confirmed on December 21st, with the release of Image's <a href="https://imagecomics.com/solicitations/solicitations-for-march-2019">March solicitations</a> and a very brief description of the next issue.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<em>Jacob’s weekend taking care of his old mentor takes a turn for the worse.</em></blockquote>
That original narration made it seem that Jacob knew Archie Lewis only from a distance -- it mentioned a productivity trick as "an old Archie Lewis method, according to his biographer" -- but it may just be that he knew that reality didn't live up to the myth. We're also curious how Jacob's aspiration to be an artist (this assistantship, for instance) collided with his criminal background, hanging out with Leo and Tracy and becoming an expert counterfeiter. <br />
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It's not clear when this story takes place chronologically, but it does appear that "The Longest Weekend" is a companion to "Bad Night." In his recent newsletter (see below), Brubaker even referenced this new story as "Bad Weekend."<br />
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• <strong>Undertow Podcast on Junkies.</strong> November 26th saw the release of the most recent episode of <strong>The Undertow Podcast</strong>, <a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-27-my-heroes-have-always-been-junkies/">Episode 27</a> reviewing the <strong>Criminal</strong> novella <strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong>. Robert and I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion, and we soon plan to release a new episode taking a broader look at the <strong>Criminal</strong> chronology.<br />
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The novella features a mixtape Ellie's mother made for her then-incarcerated father, and so I ended the episode recommending a kind of mixtape of my own: The Best of David Gray Disc 2, from the two-disc deluxe edition. <br />
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In the liner notes, the British singer-songwriter tells readers that he selected the tracks for this bonus disc "for no other reason than that they occupy a special place in my heart and have meant a lot to me down the years." They serve as a kind of mixtape for his fans, I find these songs particularly compelling, and I've just made a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4e1_4X7FyYZG0jW6Dx_ijvAnRFI6sU6W">five-song playlist</a> from that disc, to share with our readers.<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL4e1_4X7FyYZG0jW6Dx_ijvAnRFI6sU6W" width="560"></iframe><br /></div>
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Gray's repertoire spans from traditional love songs to more abstract, ethereal music, and his lyrics capture the tragic beauty of both the mundane and the transcendent: "From Here You Can Almost See the See" contains a great example of both with its prosaic verses and its unexpected coda. He will soon be touring in support of a new album out on March 8th, <em>Gold in a Brass Age</em>, and he's just followed up "<a href="https://youtu.be/dmFigR0d3uo">The Sapling</a>" with the release of the second song from the album, "<a href="https://youtu.be/GdLK9QQlJpg">A Tight Ship</a>."<br />
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• <strong>Exclusive Image Deal Extended for Another Five Years.</strong> I believe we've discussed Brubaker and Phillips' <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2014/01/official-press-releases-on-big-news.html">five-year deal</a> on the podcast, making the assumption that the agreement would be extended. On December 6th, Image Comics posted a <a href="https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/breaking-ed-brubaker-sean-phillips-renew-exclusive-deal-with-image-comics">press release</a> making it official: the exclusive deal has been renewed for another five years, effective immediately.<br />
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Described as "previously unprecedented," the original deal was announced in January, 2014, and it allowed the pair "to do anything they want with total freedom, total control, and total ownership over their projects." As a result, Brubaker says that the previous five years have been "the most successful time of our long career together," and publisher Eric Stephenson adds that, over that period, "Ed and Sean have done some of the best work of their careers."<br />
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This extension coincides with the return of <strong>Criminal</strong> as a new monthly series, and the article mentions a renewed emphasis on monthly storytelling, with Ed Brubaker saying that he wants the new series to be "a monthly comic that would stand apart by really embracing the format, and trying to be something surprising every issue." Publisher Eric Stephenson chimes in, saying that the series "serves as a welcome reminder of just how potent monthly comics can be."<br />
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The press release mentions some of the praise the team's most recent work has received, from Library Journal and Vulture/NY Magazine. This is in addition to the accolades Image Comics compiled in a December 18th release, where <strong>Junkies</strong> made the <a href="https://imagecomics.com/press-releases/image-comics-dominates-best-of-2018-lists">year-end best-of lists</a> for Newsweek, Thrillist, and Multiversity Comics.<br />
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• <strong>Ten-page Criminal preview in Brubaker newsletter.</strong> Finally, Christmas came early for <strong>Criminal </strong>fans, when Ed Brubaker sent out an <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=d91d302851">email newsletter</a> on December 24th, featuring a ten-page preview of the first issue -- a substantial excerpt of the double-length issue, a few panels of which we're highlighting below.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv_0x66SdcQ7G8B-JK4P82C6HlV1xc0i1k5dKqtWWaca6L7LGYrx_WOoncX2XX0YJN7i9dExo7Cge67c6LPimRrSVB-BhUkxJFiQ4Qa0jkRSEn-RRRe3wJCim1lAgoDcZ9MekT4Q/s1600/Criminal-01-01-detail.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="784" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv_0x66SdcQ7G8B-JK4P82C6HlV1xc0i1k5dKqtWWaca6L7LGYrx_WOoncX2XX0YJN7i9dExo7Cge67c6LPimRrSVB-BhUkxJFiQ4Qa0jkRSEn-RRRe3wJCim1lAgoDcZ9MekT4Q/s400/Criminal-01-01-detail.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Brubaker also looked back on the previous project, <strong>Junkies</strong>, announcing that the hardcover novella has sold better than expected: "as of this writing I think [the book] is almost sold through a printing that was meant to last a few years."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhejgoC9d8_ThV94yuZOyJk6i0e3s_YhbYaxRJIlP7yqQdULzQ9CTlosxiBYa0K6hFY0EAmua1-lxLTbaWfByuhoNLfuMcqHQ55ckDgEUmQCdsC22ZAxuPkT1OuX2yq9qWkXUdScg/s1600/Criminal-01-06-detail.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="946" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhejgoC9d8_ThV94yuZOyJk6i0e3s_YhbYaxRJIlP7yqQdULzQ9CTlosxiBYa0K6hFY0EAmua1-lxLTbaWfByuhoNLfuMcqHQ55ckDgEUmQCdsC22ZAxuPkT1OuX2yq9qWkXUdScg/s400/Criminal-01-06-detail.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Looking ahead, Brubaker also provided an advance look at the next story, the two-part <strong>Criminal</strong> tale "The Longest Weekend," aka "Bad Weekend." From what we gathered in the solicits mentioned above, we take it the panel features a flashback scene of young Jacob Kurtz serving as an assistant artist to a pro named Hal.<br />
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And, along with the three October interviews we listed above, Brubaker mentioned a <a href="https://crimereads.com/tales-of-junkies-fade-outs-super-heroes-and-criminals/">CrimeReads interview</a> published on December 12. <br />
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In this most recent interview, he reveals some details about the story in <strong>Junkies</strong> (Ellie is 18 years old) and about the book's creation (a tight deadline resulted in Jacob Phillips becoming the colorist after the first few pages). He discusses his influences and his process, his early work writing <strong>Sleeper,</strong> and the very recent decision to follow up <strong>Junkies</strong> with more stories set in the <strong>Criminal</strong> universe.<br />
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Strangely enough, the interview also includes what Brubaker said about monthly comics in the prior press release on the renewed five-year deal, with some additional elaboration<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The single issue itself has started to become an afterthought. At the big two, you have tons of ads in them, and they’re on cheap paper now. It’s like this amazing little package that gave us all decades and decades of joy as comic fans is being neglected by the market that was built on them."</blockquote>
And, Ed Brubaker gives us a quick synopsis of what we can expect with the new monthly <strong>Criminal</strong> series: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The first issue is basically the ultimate Criminal story. It kind of shows you everything that the book does, all in one long and winding oversized story."</blockquote>
<strong>Criminal #1</strong> is due in stores this Wednesday, January 9th.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-81152867087078336462018-10-10T15:00:00.000-04:002018-10-10T15:10:27.132-04:00Heroes in Stores Today, More Criminal in January, a Mini Book Tour and More Podcasts!It's a big day -- big enough to eclipse the <em>very</em> busy schedule that's been keeping me offline recently. It's been more than three months since the conclusion of <strong>Kill Or Be Killed</strong>, and the killer team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is back with their first original graphic novel, the hardcover <strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong>.<br />
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Image Comics is promoting the book on its <a href="https://imagecomics.com/">front page</a>, and while the book's <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/my-heroes-have-always-been-junkies-ogn-hc">webpage</a> still has the three-page trailer, Ed Brubaker's recent <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=8a1d04664c">email newsletter</a> includes three new preview pages.<br />
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An additional, exclusive <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/my-heroes-have-been-junkies-ed-brubaker-interview-1150762">four-page preview</a> is available at The Hollywood Reporter, along with a brief interview with Brubaker, touching on how the story connects to his personal life and updating fans on Too Old To Die Young.<br /><br />(The Amazon-exclusive series is in post-production, probably to be released in the spring: "it's the most Nicolas Winding Refn thing that ever existed, honestly. It's stylish and shocking," and the cinematography is especially good considering its being made for television.)<br />
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The book hits stores today. At certain stores, readers can purchase the book with one of apparently <strong>THREE</strong> signed bookplates. The most common one, based on the cover art, is signed by Ed Brubaker. It's apparently available at stores such as London's <a href="https://twitter.com/orbitalcomics/status/1049692464431460361">Orbital Comics</a>, where we found the photo below; at Pittsburgh's <a href="https://twitter.com/phantomattic/status/1050031933164535808">Phantom of the Attic</a>, which I used to frequent in grad-school days, when it was located on Craig Street; and at the stores hosting Brubaker's upcoming book tour.<br />
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Two other bookplates are exclusively available at two stores in the British Isles. They feature the front or back of the book's main character Ellie, and they're signed by all three creators -- writer Ed Brubaker, artist Sean Phillips, and colorist Jacob Phillips. Sean posted images of the bookplates through Twitter, announcing that the former is available through <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1049222823053578245">OK Comics</a> and the latter is at <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1049222828246126592">Page 45</a>. OK Comics evidently also has the <a href="https://twitter.com/OKComics/status/1049329648713302017">original artwork</a> on which these bookplates are based, along with the Brubaker-signed bookplate, signed copies of Jack & Lucy by Rachael Smith and Jacob Phillips, and a giveaway for signed promo posters.<br />
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<br /><br />Looking at the copy we just picked up from our local shop, we can confirm that it's the standard comic-book dimensions, and its matte paper is quite nice, making the physical copy really stand out.<br />
We can also confirm that, on the title page, the book is described as "a Criminal novella."<br />
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(We think Sean ought to use his <a href="https://seanphillips.bigcartel.com/">Big Cartel store</a> to sell dust jackets for the book, to match the design for Image's new printings of the <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/collected-editions-archive/series/criminal"><strong>Criminal</strong> trade paperbacks</a>.)<br />
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Much to our delight, more <strong>Criminal</strong> is coming, much sooner than expected.<br />
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Rich Johnston <a href="https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/09/23/ed-brubaker-sean-phillips-criminal-returns-january-image-comics/">broke the news</a> on September 23rd, after talking with Sean Phillips at Thought Bubble in Leeds, and the news was confirmed by Brubaker's October 4th <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=8a1d04664c">newsletter</a> and Phillips' October 5th <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1048256472512176130">tweet</a>, with a look at the cover art for issue #1 in this third ongoing monthly series to bear the name. <br />
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As with this new hardcover, the ongoing series will be colored by Jacob Phillips, "our new regular colorist," and it sounds like the series will include long arcs, done-in-one stories, and everything in-between. <br />
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Brubaker shared some interior artwork from this first issue, confirming that the cover above features Teeg Lawless from the 1980's and setting at least part of the story in March of 1988. With one young, as-yet unidentified character breaking into a house, we wonder if we'll see Leo Patterson, Tracy Lawless, and Jacob Kurtz as teenage friends and lawbreakers.<br />
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Brubaker teases that this debut issue is "an extra-length single issue story that is different than anything we've ever done before with CRIMINAL." Especially considering the turns the series has already taken, we're more than intrigued.<br />
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(In the interview given to THR mentioned above, Brubaker adds, "We'll definitely be seeing more of Ellie in the new Criminal monthly series that launches in January.")<br />
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And, Brubaker explains that his work on the Junkies may have inspired him to return to the world of <strong>Criminal</strong> more quickly than he had planned, setting aside (for now) the planned follow-up to <strong>The Fade Out</strong>.<br />
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Fans probably have questions for the writer, and he used his newsletter (with a subsequent <a href="https://us13.campaign-archive.com/?u=12703963b24c2d94a368d4082&id=ad2dfffd5e">addendum</a>) to announce a miniature book tour -- a "signing tour" which Image Comics publicized in its own <a href="https://imagecomics.com/content/view/image-comics-is-pleased-to-announce-the-my-heroes-have-always-been-junkies">press release</a> yesterday.<br />
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So far only four stops have been announced, three in California and a fourth in the "other" LA -- Louisiana, the first time the writer will be a guest at an event in this area and his first time in the Big Easy.<br />
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The tour <strong>STARTS TONIGHT</strong>, and the event links below should be up-to-date.<br />
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<li>Oct 10, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/291208361475976/">Collectors Paradise</a>, Winnetka, CA</li>
<li>Oct 11, <a href="https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/ed-brubaker-discusses-his-new-graphic-novel-my-heroes-have-always-been-junkies-jeff-garlin">Skylight Books</a>, Los Feliz, CA</li>
<li>Oct 13, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/295870227680032/">Isotope</a>, San Francisco, CA</li>
<li>Oct 25, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/2254651698152205/">Crescent City Comics</a>, New Orleans, LA</li>
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Finally, if you still can't get enough of Brubaker and Phillips, <strong>The Undertow Podcast</strong> has released a few new episodes since we last posted here at the blog.<br />
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<li>In <a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-25-kill-or-be-killed-20/">Episode 25</a>, Robert and I review the 20th and final issue of <strong>Kill Or Be Killed</strong>, with some broader thoughts on the overall series.</li>
<li>In <a href="https://undertow.podbean.com/e/episode-26-case-file-gotham-noir/">Episode 26</a>, Robert opens our second "cold case" to take a look at some of the earliest <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-complete-collaborative-works-of.html">collaborations</a> between Brubaker and Phillips, the prestige-format comic Batman: Gotham Noir from DC's Elseworlds line and Batman #603 from the Bruce Wayne: Fugitive crossover event.</li>
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We'll be back with another podcast very soon, and it's clear we'll have lots to talk about.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33025878.post-68505769927990294912018-06-27T16:10:00.000-04:002018-06-27T16:14:27.569-04:00In Stores Now, KILL OR BE KILLED 20 Featuring The JUNKIES Teaser!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_DUXGYfENyTd1eFhHXLaa1naQCi0Xzi8EaFJhi5LIh74cb_bRRD5wT4DUvZ15ZeyAvtH6mmWIt7a9h0pcp0CzamNCDXCIdVW20WUWMY1SSLBYJ4TG8AZbgLyrBnEyNKJR4WeDrw/s1600/KOBK-20_covers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="800" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_DUXGYfENyTd1eFhHXLaa1naQCi0Xzi8EaFJhi5LIh74cb_bRRD5wT4DUvZ15ZeyAvtH6mmWIt7a9h0pcp0CzamNCDXCIdVW20WUWMY1SSLBYJ4TG8AZbgLyrBnEyNKJR4WeDrw/s400/KOBK-20_covers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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For fans of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, it's the biggest week in quite some time. The conclusion to their twisted vigilante comic, <strong>Kill Or Be Killed</strong> #20, arrives in retailers today, including in a <a href="http://criminalcomic.blogspot.com/2018/06/bullets-virgin-variant-eisner-nod-and.html">virgin variant cover</a>.<br />
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Image Comics features the issue in one of its front-page banner images, shown below, and the publisher has just posted a <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/kill-or-be-killed-20">three-page preview</a> -- the same preview we found in last week's CBR interview, with a few profanities blacked out.<br />
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Brubaker and Phillips tend to announce and promote their major projects with a short teaser comic, evoking the cinematic feel of a movie trailer, and their next project is no exception. <br />
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<strong>My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies</strong> is an original hardcover graphic due in October, and we previously reported on Phillips' tweet that the KOBK finale would include that teaser, a hint of which we see in the embedded image.<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
My copies of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KOBK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KOBK</a> #20 have arrived. Out next Wednesday. Includes a teaser for our new book. Virgin variant edition available too. <a href="https://t.co/92hLA8E7Zl">https://t.co/92hLA8E7Zl</a> <a href="https://t.co/RCmgrWBs51">pic.twitter.com/RCmgrWBs51</a></div>
— Sean Phillips (@seanpphillips) <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1009722475771580416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
Phillips has since posted the <a href="https://twitter.com/seanpphillips/status/1011724289719132160">full teaser</a> to Twitter, and Image has done the same with a <a href="https://imagecomics.com/content/view/my-heroes-have-always-been-junkies-original-graphic-novel-teaser-revealed">press release</a>.<br />
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We'll be sure to discuss the teaser at length in <strong><a href="http://undertow.podbean.com/">The Undertow Podcast</a></strong>, but for now we'll simply point out the striking combination of the familiar and the new: there's the three-row layout that has been a staple since the first Criminal arc in 2006 and the first-person narration that's an even older hallmark, but the mixed-case lettering, the more minimal lines that verge to cartooning, and <strong>ESPECIALLY</strong> the muted pastel colors evoke an indie romance comic.<br />
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But, as the teaser begins with a robber and ends with the threat of violence, all drawn to evoke empathy more than outrage, there's no mistaking the story for anything but a noir comic from the best team in the business.<br />
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We're sure we're not the only ones eager to get <strong>KOBK</strong> #20 in our hands today, for the main story and to see that teaser in print -- and we can hardly wait for the book's October release.Bubbanoreply@blogger.com0