Posted in: Comics, Run Around | Tagged: alex de campi, alison bechdel, captain america, Comics, grindhouse, jonathan letham, pittsburgh

Tuesday Runaround – From Grindhouse To Pittsburgh Zines

Published Tue, 01 Oct 2013 05:06:33 -0500

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Tue, 01 Oct 2013 06:33:42 -0500

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GRINDING DOWNTOWN

Alex De Campi is signing her Grindhouse #1: Doors Open At Midnight at Midtown Comics Downtown on Thursday. Doors open at 6.30pm.

THANKS FOR ALL THE FLASH

A thank you letter from retailer Dennis Barger to DC Comics;

The best part was when you Dan announced at Boston that there would be allocations before FOC was due. But my favorite time you helped me out was by announcing "The Allocation" totals 5 minutes before you closed on a Friday and that we had to put a strategy in place by Monday to place 2D orders to make up for your failures in production or ordering.

STAGE FRIGHT

The difficulties of putting Alison Bechdel's Fun Home – or indeed any comic book – on the stage;

What vexed Ms. Tesori was that she had no experience adapting a graphic novel for the stage. Musicals, even challenging ones, demand structural simplicity and a linear story line, whereas the graphic novel lays out a series of cells containing illustrated moments, often with captions and bubbled dialogue, that can jump time and setting from cell to cell.

DISSIDENT MEDIUM

Jonathan Letham also has something to say on the form.

There's something about the milieu and the form and the tone and even the reading protocols of comics. They screw you up: you have to figure out this new way of inserting yourself in the space between these panels and drawings and word balloons. Where is the meaning in that space? Everything about those comic books is undermining — not to mention what you called the griminess. Though we should be careful about too much fetishizing of griminess; there's lots that's grimy and it's boring.

But yeah, comic books are an eruption. They contain irrational pressure on the status quo. They seem to be begging you to see things differently. They're uncomfortable. Where they came from is bizarre; where they're going is bizarre.

BIG HERO

While Joe Quesada goes back to basics;

Comics is a very unique beast. Going from zero to 60 with respect to crossovers and continuity, while great for the long time loyalist, is the best way to alienate the larger world out there who needs to be weaned into the universe just like our long time fans were when they first started. Stan Lee once said that every comic is someone's first. We now have to take that philosophy and apply it to everything we do, regardless of whether it's paper or film.

WAITING FOR 186

For the tenth anniversary of the book's conclusion, there's a book group reading the entirety of Cerebus. Digitally.

ARKHAM ANTICS

DC Comics tweets a big reveal for the 1st of October:

RT @batmanarkham: A new character will be revealed tomorrow… #ArkhamOrigins pic.twitter.com/IjcvBsAEOG

— DC Comics (@DCComics) September 30, 2013

Second clue for today's character reveal. Seems pretty obvious now…doesn't it? #ArkhamOrigins pic.twitter.com/3y76iFqZDC

— Arkhamverse.com (@Arkhamverse) October 1, 2013

ZINES OF STEEL

Dre Grigoropol goes to the Pittsburgh Zine Fair.

At the table next to Maggie Negrete, artist Steph Neary was exhibiting her work in different mediums, including her book This Is the Next Morning, a perfect-bound collection of black and white drawings she drew in Pittsburgh over a two-year span. She enjoyed the positive responses from the Pittsburgh community and is inspired by the works of art, zines, and commix she collected together at the zine fair.

SUCKER PUNCH

While an old Captain America #402 from May '92, reveals a little latent misogyny…