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Posted in: Comics, Run Around | Tagged: adventure time, awards, book, Comics, costa, graphic novels, jae lee, media
Saturday Runaround – Comics Are Still Not Just For Kids Anymore
COVER STORIES
Charles Rousseau is signing at Cards, Comics And Collectibles in Maryland from noon today, and the store will naturally have their exclusive Adventure Time #10 cover by Charles for him to sign. Jae Lee will be doing similar (with their Jae Lee exclusive cover of Masks #1) on the 28th.
MEDIA DISCOVER COMICS ONE MORE TIME
Partly as a result of the Costa Book Awards nominating two graphic novels on their 2012 short list, the media has been discovering comic books again. Apparently some of them aren't just for kids anymore.
Still, it's no stretch to suggest that with his new work, "Building Stories," he has upped the ante, pushing comics in a new direction while paying tribute to their history. An oversized box containing 14 related but free-standing comics, in a variety of shapes and styles, "Building Stories" is a kind of do-it-yourself narrative: a set of stories that revolve around the residents of a Chicago apartment building, and at the same time, a meditation on how stories are built.
The newly announced chairman of the 2013 Man Booker Prize has said he would welcome entries by authors of graphic novels. Robert Macfarlane, an English fellow at Cambridge and a judge in 2004, said that the works of authors such as Dickens and Wilkie Collins were produced with illustrations in the 19th century and if publishers were keen to submit them it would provoke a "great discussion".
Mr. Cooney is the author of a comic book, "The Atomic Yeti," and "Valentine," an acclaimed graphic novel series about a woman contract killer. That series has caught Hollywood's eye and is under option. For the past seven years, Mr. Cooney has been an instructor at the Academy of Art University (AAU) in San Francisco, where he built the graphic illustrating program from scratch. AAU now offers seven courses in the medium. Mr. Cooney continues to teach online and his hope is to offer workshops on the Island next spring and summer. "I miss that one-on-one interchange with students," he said.
But while Franklin agreed the market is growing, comic books are costly investments. Jonathan Cape publishes about 10 a year, Faber & Faber publishes two or three. "Money isn't remotely the same for comics artists as regular book authors – it's terrible," said Franklin. "They are often printed full colour, and the economics doesn't allow for a huge advance to the author." Angus Cargill, who publishes comics at Faber, says it would not be possible to greatly expand his list. "In publishing you either do loads and hope that one or two hit, or you try to find the best ones and make them count. The production costs, the time, and the fact that the comics market is smaller means we choose the second course."
From UK indie veterans The Wedding Present to US prog-rockers Coheed and Cambria, and Camden indie band The Red the White and the Blue (who include members of Ash and Feeder), musicians are writing their own comics to illustrate the imaginative worlds in their heads. Meanwhile, clambering over the other side of the fence, comic-books' most brilliant writer, Alan Moore, regularly performs sell-out shows to eerie musical accompaniment.
Coheed and Cambria, who have released a series of top 10 albums in the US, are named after characters in the popular comics their singer-songwriter Claudio Sanchez also scripts. The albums' concepts only make sense when heard alongside the comics' cosmic conspiracies. Sanchez was inspired by bands of the 1970s who suggested a world beyond their music. "When I was growing up," he recalls, "I liked the bands that had a cinematic counterpart to their record, like Pink Floyd with The Wall. I liked the idea of the songs having a life off of the record, and that's what I'd like to see happen for Coheed. The comics detail all those moments that might not be fleshed out in the music. They work hand in hand, to help create each other."
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