Bullets: Eisner, the Sleeper Movie, and More.

News and notes from the world of Criminal...

• Another Eisner for Brubaker! In its rookie season last year, Criminal won the Eisner Award for Best New Series, and Ed Brubaker won an Eisner for Best Writer in part because of his work on the crime noir series. As we noted earlier, Ed was nominated again this year, and at San Diego's Comic-Con last month, the winners were announced. Ed won Best Writer for his work on Criminal, alongside Marvel's Captain America, Daredevil, and Immortal Iron Fist.
  
  
• The First Brubaker Interview for the Sleeper Film. MTV.com has the apparent first interview with Ed Brubaker concerning the possible film for Sleeper. In the brief story, Ed recounts how quickly things happened, and he hints that possible legal issues might be avoided in the Sleeper films by excising some WildStorm characters from the story. That would be one way to address the issues mentioned in the Hollywood Reporter story mentioned in the previous blog entry:
  
  "Sleeper" takes place in the same publishing universe as other Wildstorm books, and integrally featured characters from the company's flagship title "WildC.A.T.s" as well as characters from another book, "Gen 13."
  
  Both "WildC.A.T.s" and "Gen 13" had been set up at different places around town and some of those deals were made before DC bought the imprint in 1999.
  
  Warners, now involved in a legal wrangle with Fox over the rights to "Watchmen," appears determined to cross all the t's and dot all the i's in its contracts for "Sleeper."
  
  Frankly, I wouldn't want to see a Sleeper movie deviate too much from the books, and though Sleeper's really my only in-depth exposure to the WildStorm universe, it does seem like there are some WildStorm characters that were pretty indispensible to the narrative. (H/T Blog@Newsarama for the MTV interview.)
  
  
• More than one Sleeper movie? There's another line worth mentioning from that Hollywood Reporter article:
  
  The project is being eyed not only as a starring vehicle for Cruise but also as a possible franchise for the studio.
  
  There's an obvious trilogy in Point Blank, Season One, and Season Two, but it would be an unconventional trilogy in that Holden Carver isn't Point Blank's protagonist. And, the idea of a franchise would be a reason I would prefer not seeing Tom Cruise play Carver. Cruise already has Mission: Impossible, and the most successful franchises seem to involve rising stars, e.g., Damon as Bourne, and now Daniel Craig as 007.
  
  Tom Cruise can seem very emotionally detached, and he often does best in roles that use this fact, such as in Magnolia or Jerry Maguire, so that's one thing that would lend itself to his playing Holden Carver. But I would reiterate what I've already seen online once or twice, that Tom Cruise would make an excellent TAO.
  
  Either way, a series of Sleeper movies would probably improve the chances that the comic's complex story would be more faithfully adapted.
  
  
• Tangentially Related Articles. I've bookmarked a couple articles that, at best, only tangentially involve Criminal, Ed, or Sean, but Criminal fans might still find them interesting. First, in a Newsarama interview regarding how the movie industry affects comics, writer Steve Niles discussed the opportunity of introducing comics to new readers.
  
  "It's about to happen," Niles said, "and all we need to do is have [Ed] Brubaker make a movie out of Criminal, and then we've opened up another genre. I mean, I've sold horror comics, there are people selling crime comics, we've had Ghost World, we've had A History of Violence. We can do this."
  
  With the news about Sleeper, we're one step closer.
  
  Second, at a panel at ComicCon, several people in the comics industry discuss whether the comic book as a periodical is dying as a format. They discuss how to make monthlies attractive, the "break-even" point for monthly comics, and the risk of cancellation if too many fans "wait for the trade" for a particular book. This latter risk is what Brubaker is specifically addressing by offering exclusive content in the monthly issues of Criminal. I share his hope that those who can support the monthly format, do so.
  
  Finally, Waking Dead's Robert Kirkman posted a video editorial calling for high-profile creators to leave DC and Marvel and focus entirely on creator-owned comics, for the good of the entire industry. The argument is that the sophisticated work they're doing for the mainstream superhero titles isn't attracting younger readers to keep those titles from dying. So long as they don't work solely on creator-owned projects, their fans will have the choice to focus on their mainstream work, and they will exercise that choice.
  
  I'm not sure I find the argument completely compelling, as I doubt I would have been so easily drawn to Sleeper and Criminal if it weren't for Ed's work on Gotham Central. The leap from Daredevil to Criminal is a short one, so I wonder if the net effect of following Kirkman's footsteps out of mainstream work would really be a positive.
  
  
• Brief observations on Criminal. In the last few weeks, we've seen the release of Liberty Comics, featuring a brief Criminal story, and Criminal #4 with the opening chapter of "Bad Night."
  
  "No One Rides For Free" is the five-page contribution to Liberty Comics by Ed, Sean, and Val Staples. It's a good story, and there's a minor bit of history being made with the short tale: it's the first Criminal story featuring first-person narration from a Lawless.
  
  And in Criminal #4, Ed conducts an interview with Charles Ardai from Hard Case Crime. This interview might be why future bonus material isn't publicized quite so much: it was mentioned at least as far back as December, originally to be included in issue #1 of the second volume.
  
  In the interview in issue #4, Ed confirms that Criminal and the noir paperback imprint did some "ad-swapping", and since I'm now getting hip-deep in Hard Case Crime, I will reiterate here that I would love to see Ed do a Criminal story for the imprint, with Sean doing the cover.
  
  And I know I'm not the only one to have had this idea.

In addition to our usual coverage of Criminal, we'll post more news about the Sleeper film(s) as news becomes available.

With any luck, we'll be discussing similar news for Criminal, too, in the not-too-distant future.

CBR Brubaker Interview, Details on "Bad Night."

In promoting the publication of "The Dead and The Dying", Ed Brubaker conducted an interview with Comic Book Resources, published here on Wednesday. In the interview, Ed reveals the original plan for showing how Gnarly ended up at the Undertow, and he confirms that the parallels between Teeg and Tracy Lawless was intentional.

The interview focuses on the upcoming arc, "Bad Night." I misread the original solicitation and thought the story would be set a few years before "Lawless." Instead, it's set about a year after. In addition to putting the spotlight on Jacob, the story introduces the staff of an all-night diner -- the Blue Fly Diner, apparently -- and the story has elements that would fit in stories by David Goodis or by Jim Thompson. The issue's bonus material will feature an interview with Charles Ardai, editor of Hard Case Crime, the excellent imprint that focuses on old-school paperback noir, and this CBR interview includes six black-and-white preview pages of Criminal #4.

To follow "Bad Night," Ed already has other stories in the planning stages, and he suggests that, if Criminal ever draws to a close, the final and longest story arc may be the untold story that was alluded to in "Coward" and that casts a shadow on all who survived: what Ed simply alludes to as, "Leo’s screw up."

Bullets: An Auction, an Interview, and Upcoming Releases.

A quick update on the world of Criminal.

• Brubaker's Cap Auction. First, a worthy cause not directly related to Criminal: Ed Brubaker recently announced that he is auctioning off his writing notebook for the first two-plus years of his run on Captain America, as part of the Hero Initiative's efforts to raise funds to help famed artist Gene Colan, who is now suffering from liver failure. Ed was interviewed about this auction by Newsarama, here. The eBay auction can be found here, and the auction closes late this Sunday evening, July 13th.
  
  
• Podcast Interview, Brubaker and Fraction. Also at Newsarama, the second part of John Siuntres' "Word Balloon" interview with Ed and Matt Fraction was published last week, here. The three spend a great deal of time discussing movies, mentioning The Yakuza, which was the subject of last issue's essay, and Criminal itself is discussed in-depth for about eight minutes, starting from about the 4-minute mark. Ed discusses the difficulty of writing the last three interlocking single-issue stories, revealing that "Female of the Species" was originally plotted to be occur concurrently with the earlier two stories rather than serve as a prelude to Danica's return to the city.
  
  Ed also discusses the upcoming arc, "Bad Night," which he describes as a new kind of story for the series, where nothing is as it seems, and the story is tempered with black humor. The story features the "Frank Kafka" writer Jake who, unlike Leo, really is a true physical coward. Jake suffers from some mental health issues, including serious insomnia, and Ed revealed that -- assuming Jake survives this story (which seems likely since it's apparently set in the past) -- Jake will be featured in another story called "Vanishing Point." For those keeping up, that means that, beyond "Bad Night," there are at least three more arcs already in the works, one each for Leo, Tracy, and Jake.
  
  
• July Releases. It's a big month for Criminal. The third trade paperback is out this Wednesday, July 9th. It's priced slightly lower than the previous volumes, it features an John Singleton, and -- as Sean announced earlier this month, and as we see at Ed's blog -- it features different cover art than what was solicited.
  
  On July 23rd, we should see the first chapter of "Bad Night," in Criminal #4. And, as we covered in May, Liberty Comics, which features a Criminal story, is scheduled to be released the same day.
  
  UPDATE: Almost immediately after I posted this entry, Marvel updated its page for Criminal #4 to reflect an August release.

The big month for Criminal could end with a bang, as the Eisner Awards are announced Friday, July 25th, at San Diego's Comic-Con International. As we covered earlier, Ed's nominated for Best Writer, in part for his work on Criminal.

CBR: Preview of Criminal #3.

I didn't notice it earlier, but -- as Ed pointed out at his blog -- last week, Comic Book Resources posted what is essentially a six-page preview of "The Female of the Species," the final entry in the trio of single-issue stories set primarily in 1972.

The preview is available here, and the issue is scheduled to be released this Wednesday, June 4th.

Criminal in Liberty Comics.

Criminal completists should take note that Liberty Comics, an anthology comic to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, will include a Criminal story by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. The 32-page, full-color comic features all-new material and is scheduled to be released on July 23rd. Newsarama has a copy of the press release announcing the comic; Comic Book Resources has an interview with the editor that features the two covers for the comic book; and the editor is promoting the comic at his own blog. In addition to the Criminal creators, the book will feature Garth Ennis, Mark Millar, Darwyn Cooke, and others. Editor Scott Dunbier strongly recommends that interested readers explicitly ask their local stores to order this book.

That's about all I know about this book, in terms of official information, but I do have a few speculations about what Criminal fans will see in Liberty Comics.

I suspect the story will be called "No One Rides for Free." This title is in an image that Sean posted to his blog, and it's probably worth noting that the work is "a Criminal emission" when each individual issue and trade collection is referenced as "a Criminal edition."

And, I suspect that the story will involve Jake and Tracy, and that it be set in the present day, specifically after the events of "Lawless." Sean's been showing a lot of artwork featuring Jake lately, and this blog entry shows the most information-rich image, a full-page rooftop conversation with Tracy Lawless that appears to establish that their hometown newspaper -- where "Frank Kafka" might be published -- is the Gazette.

(Readers of "Lawless" will recall that a rooftop is not the best place to meet Tracy.)

I strongly believe this page is not from the upcoming "Bad Night" arc, because the solicitation for the first issue of that arc establishes that it's set five years ago, when Tracy was still in the army and before he got the scars we see in this preview page. This image is definitely set after "Lawless."

It looks like the short story in Liberty Comics will be a very interesting addition to the Criminal canon, hopefully a good introduction to new readers and another wrinkle in the ongoing tale of crime, violence, and tragedy.

Quick Request for Info on Comic Conventions.

I had noticed that, on the weekend of May 10th, Ed Brubaker was attending the Emerald City ComicCon in Seattle, and Sean Phillips went to Bristol Con. Their respective blogs provided fairly short notice, and I was too busy that week to write an entry here highlighting their appearances.

I would love to be able to find a quick list of upcoming appearances for Ed, Sean, and Val Staples, so I could relay that info here. I did find a site, ComicBookConventions.com, that has a pretty comprehensive calendar of upcoming con's, but it appears to have very limited information for conventions outside the United States -- thus probably excluding the many of the European conventions Sean appears to frequent -- and there's no apparent functionality for searching for appearances by a particular writer, artist, or editor.

If any readers have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments. Thanks.

UPDATE: It looks like Sean is in Copenhagen this weekend for a comic-book festival, one that isn't listed at the site above. The fact that I just noticed this announcement underlines the need for more advance information.

"Blast of Silence."

It took a little longer than I expected, but I'm finally posting a bit about the Criterion Collection release of Blast of Silence. It's an interesting film, one that I enjoyed a lot more the second time and one that I suspect will continue to grow on me with repeated viewings. Made in the early 1960s for next to nothing, it's definitely a film of its era and its budget, but I can see why it's considered a lost masterpiece. There are moments where the cinematography is really striking; other than perhaps some source music in a bar, the jazz score is evocative of the loneliness in a big city; and Allen Baron's performance sometimes eerily foreshadows De Niro or even offers a glimpse of what a New Yorker like Scorsese would have looked like in front of the camera. I would probably recommend it more for a noir aficionado than a novice like myself, but I find that, as it touches on many of the same themes with the same focus on visuals and music, Blast of Silence is a very enjoyable precursor to my favorite noir film, Michael Mann's Heat.

Probably more germane to this blog, the DVD features a lot of artwork from Criminal's own Sean Phillips. He not only drew the cover, above, but he also drew and colored a short comic adaptation of the film's opening scenes, in a manner very familiar to Criminal fans. His artwork graces the liner notes, the DVD menu, and the artwork on the disc itself. Newsarama interviewed Sean about his work on the release, here, and the article highlights an online copy of Patton Oswalt's essay that was published in Criminal, here.