Broken Frontier

Batman: Earth One already a wrap?

Geoff Johns and Gary Frank have almost wrapped up Batman: Earth One. The next ‘Earth One’ graphic novel to follow after JMS and Shane Davis’ # 1 New York Times bestseller, Superman: Earth One, is projected for a May 8, 2012 release date. The book reteams Frank and Johns following their instant-classic run on Action Comics, which in my opinion featured one of the most iconic Superman renderings of the modern comics age).

George Pérez likes himself some Black Canary

Apparently, George Pérez has a fetish for fishnet stockings. Or simply likes Black Canary cosplayers better than Catwoman ones. Perhaps it’s because they tend to be blonde? Or they’re showing more skin?

The horde of Batmen in the background seem to be wondering why they’re not as successful with the ladies as George. Simple: they all look like they’ve smelled something funny.

(check the full Dragon*Con 2011 photo gallery by resident photographer Mark Shafer).
 

Chain World, an experiment by A. David Lewis (Kickstarter)

Comics creator and scholar A. David Lewis launched a Kickstarter campaign looking to raise funds for ‘Chain World’, a ‘freeform comic book experiment’ tailored on the experiment tried by Jason Rohrer in the videogame industry. The project currently has raised slightly more than $1,400 of its $2,150 goal, which has to be reached by Thursday, September 29.

Rewards include sketches and/or paintings from Chandra Free, Lea Hernandez, J.K. Woodward and a one-hour Skype tutorial by Ben Towle. Go to the project’s Kickstarter page for more if you fancy making a donation.

The Image Seven: What do their peers owe them? And what does Mark Millar think?

There’s an interesting discussion going over on Mark Millar’s Millarworld forum about Image Comics' early days and whether or not how the founders behaved was warrented. It got a lot more interesting a few hours ago as the man himself chimed in with some comments on Image’s early days (and Rob Liefeld). And speaking of Liefeld, someone also dusted off this classic vid where Rob promotes the hell out of jeans.

The one conclusion we can draw from this today? George hearts fishnet stockets, Rob craves pants.

Here are some highlights of Millar’s comments, starting with: if you were given the choice to be a rock star vs a hard-working twentysomething, what would you pick?

Someone asked further back in the thread why these guys, when they made millions from these comics, didn't bring them out more regularly. If they made a million an issue why didn't they do 20 a year instead of 4 or whatever. And the answer is quite simple - they were all pretty young, early twenties to early thirties, and the cheques they got were about ten times bigger than they expected. Within a couple of months, they had made more money than they dreamed of and so they went out and had a good time, I guess. An empty stomach is a great motivator, but if you have a choice between and eighteen hour day and being a rock star I think most of us would choose rock star. They were HUMAN.

Why forming Image was a huge risk at the time:

I don't think you guys realise what it's like from the pro side. It's a business. If somebody sets themselves up as competition the knives are out. These guys took a HUGE fucking risk and people who were FRIENDS with them were nervous about getting work from Marvel and DC at the time. Jim and Rob went back with Heroes Reborn 5 years later and THAT was jaw-dropping news. Anyone who thinks these guys weren't ballsy risk-takers genuinely has no idea what they're talking about. Even a decade on I spoke to people in comics who were still looking to get these guys for what they did.

Raven Gregory = Never Weak

Raven Gregory (writer on Fly, Grimm Fairy Tales and a whole slew of other Zenescope titles) is showing off his new tattoo on his left arm, featuring the text 'Never Weak'. Apparently, the art was done by Eric Basaldua, the artist who provides lush covers for many of Gregory’s comics.

Star Wars Stands up for Cancer

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… someone thought it would be fun to make a video with Samuel L. Jackson, Seth Rogen, Emma Stone, Bill Hader and such featuring classic Star Wars scenes to generate awareness for cancer research.