Battle Hymns' 2011 SDCC Highlights

So, the San Diego Comic Con was this past weekend.  SDCC is the Big Daddy of comic conventions, and it is when all the comic makers like to make big announcements about big things that are coming up.

I tried to follow the highlights of the con as best I could, and I've rounded up what I consider to be the coolest, most interesting news coming out of the con.  So here are my SDCC highlights:

2011 Eisners:  The Eisner Awards are like the Oscars of comics, minus the pampered, dysfunctional insecure actors and actresses.  So, way cooler than the Oscars.  You can see the complete list here, but I'll go through a few highlights:

Best Continuing Series  went to Chew, which I think is well deserved.  The comic won Best New Series last year, so this is a move in the right direction for the comic.  Joe Hill pulled in an Eisner for Best Writer, and Darwyn Cooke, deservedly took home the Best Writer/Artist for his adaptations of the Richard Stark Parker novels The Hunter and The Outfit. 

Nate Simpson won the Richard Manning Promising Newcomer Award for his one issue of Nonplayer.  That might seem like a very small body of work to go off in order to give such a fancy award, but believe me, Nonplayer is stunning, and Nate Simpson totally deserves the accolades. 


The Underwater Welder:  From the looks of things (Thanks Multiversity Comics!)  it would appear that Jeff Lemire's next graphic novel, The Underwater Welder, will make its debut at next year's SDCC.

Lemire made this announcement via Twitter, so there isn't a lot of detail to tell about it. Other than that little tid-bit I know that it is written and illustrated by Lemire, so in my book, that means it'll likely be pretty fucking awesome.

When I spoke to Lemire at the Emerald City Comicon he said that out of all his work in comics he is most proud of The Underwater Welder, so that right there is a pretty good endorsement.  I'm looking forward to it.

Image Announces Some NEW* Comics:  When the Image Comic announcements came out I was particularly interested to see what they were promoting because, well frankly, they are putting out the best comics right now.  So, I was totally surprised to see that they were pimping a fucking MacGyver comic.  Yeah, that MacGyver.  I'm pretty sure this is seriously gonna be a comic. I look forward to giving that first MacGyver issue a flip-check.

Another cool announcement was that Kurtis J. Wiebe, who has been continuously impressive on both The Intrepids and Green Wake will have a new comic titled Peter Panzerfaust which will hit shelves sometime in 2012.  I wish there was more information about it available, but so far, just a cover image. 

It also looks like the current Witch Doctor mini-series will be followed up with a one-shot in December, and another mini in March of 2012...it's nice to see Image will still be bringing the thunder well into 2012.  (Props to Comics Alliance and Multiversity Comics for their information!)

The 6th Gun TV Adaptation:  It looks like one of my favorite ongoing comics, The Sixth Gun will be getting a TV adaptation soon.  The Syfy channel will be handling what looks to be a six episode mini-series that will cover the events of the first arc.

I have mixed feelings about this adaptation business.  Brian K. Vaughn said in a recent interview that "Comics should be the destination...not the blueprint" and I agree, but I also find that I enjoy seeing live action adaptations of my favorite stories...though I never enjoy them as much as the source material.  (Thanks to Comics Alliance for the pic and the information!) 

DC Plugs Their New "Dark" and "Edge" Titles:  This stuff gets a mention because a fairly big chunk of the DCnU stuff I'm looking forward to checking out fall into these two categories.

Jeff Lemire talked about his two titles Animal Man and Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. 

It looks like Animal Man is gonna be more of a horror book rather than a super hero book.  Which is a relief to me, since I'm not so sure how excited I am for this comic, but had planned on checking it out simply for the fact that it is written by Lemire.  That it will be a horror comic makes me more excited.

Frankenstein is gonna be more about balls out action, and the art for the series looks to fit that description quite well.  I guess there'll be some one-shots, with guest artists, mixed in which will explore Frank's history through the various people whose bodies were used to create the monster. (Once again, Comics Alliance with the info and art!) 

Jonathan Hickman Announces Two More Image Titles:  The heading pretty much says it all.

Hickman is a big name in comics, thanks in large part to his work with Marvel.  However, I'm most interested in his creator owned material, so it is good to hear that after he completes his current creator owned Image series The Red Wing he'll be moving on to more creator owned stuff.


My perusal of the Multiversity Comics blog tells me that the first one will be titled The Manhattan Projects and will about the men who created the nuclear bomb, and the second, Secret will be a corporate espionage story.  Hickman said that both titles will run longer than his usual mini's and come in around fifteen issues.  All around good news.  The comics both sound pretty interesting, so I'll be looking forward to them whenever they come out...

Brian K. Vaughan's New "Saga": So, I saved the bestest, most excitingest piece of news for last:  Brian K. Vaughan, the writer of Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina has announced that he'll be kicking off a new ongoing "balls to the walls" sci-fi comic.

The story will follow a family during their struggle to survive an intergalactic war. The art will be handled by Fiona Staples, who, judging from the teaser image, is a great choice for the comic.

There isn't a lot of information available, but once again, Comics Alliance delivers the news, and scores an interview with Vaughan where he talks a little bit more about the comic. 

I'm particularly excited about Saga for the fact that it is written by Vaughan.  Y: The Last Man is one of my all time favorite comic series, and Ex Machina, pending a solid ending, will be right up there too.  So, yeah, I have high hopes for this series.  You can bet I'll be updating information on this when more info is available.


So, that's all the news that I found particularly interesting coming out of SDCC 2011.  There were oodles and oodles of other announcements and promotions, but for my money, the above is what I consider to be the coolest stuff.

Once again, I'd like to thank Comics Alliance and Multiversity comics for their amazing coverage of the con.  I would be mostly ignorant of the SDCC happenings if not for these two sites, and for sure, this post would be a joke without their professional coverage.

Comic Quickies Debut Triple Threat

Nonplayer #1: Despite being up against some tough competition in the debut department, Nonplayer stands out as my favorite.  In fact, I pretty much fell in love with this one from the first page.  Nonplayer begins in the MMORPG world of Jarvath where a virtual assassination is strangely met with life-like response.  From the looks of things, the lines between reality and virtual reality are going to get pretty blurry in this futuristic fantasy tale.

 The first, and most striking quality of Nonplayer is the absolutely gorgeous art.  I may be a bit of a comic newbie, but Nate Simpson's artwork is hands down the most beautiful comic art I've ever laid eyes on.  Every panel of every page is filled with meticulously detailed and imaginative art, and it is truly an awesome sight to behold.  That being said, the artwork isn't the only strength of Nonplayer.

This debut issue sports some great writing as well.  The opening half of the issue builds up to, and delivers a great action sequence.  From there, we catch a glimpse into the regular everyday life of the main character, and Simpson adds some nice touches, some that are rather subtle,  that make her easy to relate to on a human level.  After watching her do some epic ninja shit in the opening half, it was good to see the normal side of her. I thought the character building was deftly handled. 

On top of the strong character building, Simpson also managed to fit in world building both on the virtual, and non-virtual worlds that his comic features.  It might sound like a packed issue, and it is, but it doesn't seem crammed at all.  By the end, I immediately wanted to read the next issue.  A sure sign of a winner.

Green Wake #1:  Up next in this debut studded Comic Quickies, is the crime noir title, Green Wake.  This one starts out with a gristly murder, and a missing suspect.  The mystery element of this comic hits on three levels.  The first is the murder mystery itself, which is looking to be pretty interesting.  The second is the town of Green Wake itself, that seems to be some sort of lodestone for the decrepit and the lonely.  The third is the main character, Morley Mack, who seems to have a pretty mysterious past.  All these elements play nicely together to make for a damn interesting story.

After reading this one, I feel like I have basically no idea what is going on, but that sense of feeling lost is tampered with the fact that as I read I got the sense that this comic is gonna have a great slow-burn pace to it, and that everything will eventually unfold in good time.

Kurtis J. Wiebe's writing is dark and gritty, and Riley Rossmo's art fits the feel of the comic perfectly.  I'm very excited to see where this one is leading.  

Blue Estate #1: Another crime/mystery story here, but with a totally different feel.  Blue Estate takes place in Hollywood, and has a bit of Hollywood-ized crime feel to it.  The majority of the issue is back story that sets up what will be the conflict for the series.  As with Green Wake, I feel a little bit lost in the early stages of this one, but there are plenty of cool elements (drugs, starlets, ex-KGB agents, money laundering, etc.) at play to make this one worth reading.

I had a bit of a hard time getting into this one because of the art.  The problem was that the issue featured four different artists, each with a different style, and for me it broke up the flow of the story a bit.  There were times when a character would not look quite the same as he or she had earlier in the book, and I had to double check to make sure it was the same person.  Those types of things took me out of the flow a little bit, and took away from the enjoyment.  I'm not sure if the multi-artist approach is gonna continue throughout the series, or if that is a one issue type deal.

Still, a pretty solid comic, and one that I'm looking forward to seeing more of in the future.

"Who is Jake Ellis?" Extended! And some awesome looking debuts...

Good news for fans of the Who is Jake Ellis? series.  I recently learned via Multiversity Comics that the sweet spy/espionage series is getting a much deserved extension! What was initially slated to be a 5 issue mini series has now been extended to at least 10, possibly 15 issues.  Writer Nathan Edmondson says that he'd always had a longer story line in mind, so the extension of the series will allow him to delve into some areas he wouldn't have had time for in the original format. 

This is pretty awesome news, as Who is Jake Ellis has been extremely entertaining through the first two issues and one of my surprise hits for 2011.  This title has quickly risen through the ranks and has become one of my most eagerly anticipated titles.  I know I've said it before, but it is worth saying again: If you aren't doing it already, read this damn comic!


In other comic news, two brand spanking new comics come out today that I feel are worth mentioning. These two debuts have been on my radar for the last few weeks, and at last they are hitting the shelves.

The first is Green Wake, written by Kurtis J. Wiebe, also known as the writer of the very awesome comic The Intrepids, and the art is done by Riley Rossmo, who has done work on other cool titles that I haven't gotten around to reading yet. 

This one is a sort of horror/crime noir that looks to be absolutely gristly and amazing.  It'll  be interesting to see how Wiebe switches up his style from the somewhat light-hearted Intrepids to something more dark and gritty.  The art in the preview is looking prety great too.  This looks to be another hit for Image.  Check the link to the website for a preview of issue #1, or just get down to your local comic shop and buy the comic.  It comes out today!

The other comic I want to mention is Nonplayer by Nate Simpson, who in true hero fashion writes, draws, and colors this absolutely stunning comic.  The art truly stands out in this one, as it is some of the most beautiful and detailed art I've ever seen, and on that quality alone, Nonplayer is getting tons of much deserved attention from all the big comic sites out there.  However, as amazing as the art is, the story appears to be equally as interesting.

This one is basically about a young woman who leads a rather mundane and ordinary life, but on the MMORPG game, Warriors of Jarvath,  she is an elite assassin.  The edges between reality and virtual reality get blurred after her latest hit.  Sounds pretty mind-bending and cool to me.  Once again, feel free to click the link and check out the preview, or simply search "Nonplayer" and take a look at the bevvy of previews and promos.  There are rumors swirling around that this might be an instant comic classic, so now's your chance to get in on a piece of comic history.  "Classic" or not, I know that it looks awesome, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

If you happen to be in Seattle, Nate Simpson is doing a signing at Comics Dungeon today as well.

Emerald City Comicon

My 2011 Emerald City Comicon experience was pretty much the polar opposite of last year's visit.  Whereas last year I was an awkward, uncomfortable comic newbie and pretty much directionless, attending mostly for the spectacle, this year I was a man on a mission. 

It's crazy how much can change in a year.  Last year my comic reading consisted of a few scattered titles here and there, and you could fill a library with everything I didn't know about comics.  A year later and I could still fill a library with my major lack of comic knowledge, but I certainly am much more well read in the medium, and I have a much better grasp on my comic likes and dislikes.  As a result, my comicon this year was a much more focused endeavor.

A couple nights prior to the con, I eschewed my pending schoolwork in favor of scouring the con guest list and taking note of all the writers and artists I wanted to see, and meet.  You could've titled the list: Who's Awesome Work Will I be Drooling Over on Saturday.  I even mapped out where their booths were.  Despite my awesome planning, I knew the droves of comic fans were equally, if not even more hyped than myself, so I got there early.

Being the planner that I am, I prioritized my list, starring the must-see names.  It should come as little surprise that John Layman and Jeff Lemire, were tops on that list.  I'm proud to say that every last Chew related item I own is now signed by John, (who actually remembered talking to me at a comic shop signing last December!) and a good chunk of my Jeff Lemire collection is not only signed but sporting some awesome original art by Jeff.  In the signature department, I also got the full Joe the Barbarian run signed by the super friendly and skilled artist Sean Murphy, and I got my Axe Cop graphic novel and the ultra new Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth comic signed by both the Nicolle brothers.  Getting my stuff signed by a six year old was pretty awesome, and my Axe Cop trade is sporting a sweet red lightning bolt along with Malachai's signature.  The signing aspect of the con was a complete success, as I got everything I brought with me signed.  I wish I could have lugged more around, but a backpack can only hold so many comics!

Aside from getting lots of stuff signed, I also got to talk to a lot of great comic writers and artists.  It was cool talking westerns with Brian Hurtt, the artist of The Sixth Gun, and talking about the pressure of working with Marvel characters with indie artist/writer Farel Dalrymple.  I had an interesting talk with Mark Rahner, the writer of Rotten, about how his gritty zombie comic set in the post Civil War era draws on some of the hot new items of our recent history.  Mark puts a lot of research effort into the comic, and it adds nice hidden nugget element to the comic.

I found myself spending a good chunk of time at the Image Comics booth, which was loaded with cool creators.  Probably the biggest highlight of the con for me was meeting Kurtis J. Wiebe, Scott Kowalchuk, and Nate Simpson, three young dudes who have some sweet looking comics already out or on the way this spring.  All those guys were incredibly easy to talk to, super nice, and grateful for my interest in their material.

Kurtis and Scott work together on The Intrepids a sort of science-gone-wrong action comic. Kurtis also works on the upcoming horror comic Green Wake, which looks pretty sweet, and Nate is writing and drawing the beautiful looking Non Player which is looking absolutely amazing.  Three dudes who have some great looking comics on the horizon.

I was totally pleased with my con experience.  Getting to talk to people who entertain and inspire me is always a treat, and it gives me greater appreciation for their work, but lets face it:  Part of going to comicon is to see people dressed up, so here you go, some con pics!

Ramona Flowers

It's sorta scary how much he looks like the real deal!

Wonder Woman might wanna keep an eye on Freddy.

The last unicorn.

These guys were doing a cool pose, but my camera is slow to turn on, so instead of a cool Darth Maul attack, I caught the post-battle hug.