Panel2Panel

• A bit of old news: Star Wars artist Dave Dorman thought breastfeeding wasn’t appropriate for children. Artist Fiona Staples responded.
• DC announces cancelled titles, new titles, and a new logo.  With the cancellations, DC loses three superheroes of colour: Mister Terrific, Static Shock and OMAC. DC also loses all (well, two) of their black writers.
• John Rozum has posted online about his frustrations writing Static Shock.
• Also getting Worlds’ Finest (starring Huntress and Power Girl) and Earth Two (with art by Nicola Scott).
• Hawk and Dove is cancelled and Rob Leifeld gets rewarded with writing gigs on three more comics?
• Liefeld and Robert Kirkman have cancelled their high-selling Image comic The Infinite, other irreconcilable differences about inking.
• One of the new titles: Dial H – Writer: China Miéville. Artist: Mateus Santoluoco. The first ongoing series from acclaimed novelist China Miéville, this is a bold new take on a cult classic concept about the psychological effects on an everyman who accidentally gains powers to become a hero.
• Marvel titles are coming out on the Nook, which would be fine except that Barnes & Noble are arseholes.
• GLAAD announces nominees for Outstanding Comic Book of 2011.
  • Avengers: The Children's Crusade, by Allan Heinberg (Marvel)
  • Batwoman, by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman (DC Comics)
  • Secret Six, by Gail Simone (DC Comics)
  • Veronica Presents: Kevin Keller, by Dan Parent (Archie Comics)
  • X-Factor, by Peter David (Marvel Comics)
• Psylocke is in an impossible pose. Noelle Stevensen makes fun of it.
• Fox News criticises DC comics for being full of sex and violence and then SHOWS THESE COMICS TO CHILDREN!!! (approx 10-13 according to Wiki)
• Least I Could Do adds itself to the growing list of webcomics tackling depression. The storyline starts here: http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20120106

Reviews

• Rin-Ne Vol 1, by Rumiko Takahashi (Viz Media)
• The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths, by Brian Froud, Brian Holguin, Alex Sheikman and Lizzy John (Archaia)
• Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #5 and #6, by Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli and Chris Samnee (Marvel Comics)
• Batwoman #4 and #5, by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman (DC Comics)

Special topic: Crowdsourcing comics

• Crowdsourcing is becoming an increasingly common way for independent writers and artists to fund their comics and graphic novels. Is this a revolution in comics, or are there problems with this style of publishing?
• Paul Duffield (Freakangels) is promoting a new graphic novel project on Indie Go Go.
• Digital Manga are now using Kickstarter for less commercial products - but is this the right thing to do?
• Alex de Campi and Jimmy Broxton fell out over the graphic novel Ashes, funded via Kickstarter - funders have been offered refunds while de Campi tries to source a new artist. What happens when a project collapses after the fans have paid their money?
• Some crowdsourcing websites - have a look around:
  • Kickstarter
  • Indiegogo
  • Pozible (the Australian crowdfunding website Grant couldn’t remember)

• Both Marvel Entertainment and DC Comics are supporting SOPA, the US House of Representative’s new and slightly nightmarish legislation to curb online piracy.
• DC’s “Hooded Lady”, who cameoed in all 52 relaunched titles, is named “Pandora”.
• The first cancellations of the DC New 52 are reportedly due by issue #8. Titles widely considered to be “on the bubble” (and the number of copies they sold in November) include Legion Lost (28k), Grifter (27k), Resurrection Man (26.5k), Captain Atom (24k), Mr Terrific (23k), OMAC (22.5k), Voodoo (22.5k), Static Shock (22k), Men of War (21k) and Blackhawks (20k).
• For the record, Suicide Squad (37k) and Red Hood (45k) are probably, and annoyingly, safe. Miniseries, however, aren’t tracking too well: this includes My Greatest Adventure (12k), The Shade (21k), The Huntress (28k), The Penguin: Pain and Prejudice (21k).
• 8 titles sold more than 100,000 copies in November, which seems promising: Justice League, Batman, Action Comics, Green Lantern, Point One, Avenging Spider-Man, Uncanny X-Men and Detective Comics.
• In WTF news, Axe Body Spray (Lynx in Australia) is making a comic book.
• On 7 January, Marvel offered coupons for print comics to US customers when they bought digital ones.
• The 12 issue series Avengers vs. X-Men is only getting one spin-off, but it’s AvX: Versus, which contains the full fight scenes pulled from the main title.

Reviews

• Grant complains about Aquaman #1-4 and recommends Fatale #1.
• Grant strongly recommends Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand.
• Kitty recommends The 99 #6-7.

Eligible Works To kickstart the conversation on Hugo-eligible comics and graphic novels, we recommend you check out the following titles.

• Batgirl: The Lesson by Bryan Q Miller, Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs
• Secret Six: The Darkest House by Gail Simone et al
• SVK by Warren Ellis and Matt “D’Israeli” Booker
• Freakangels, Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield
• The Death of Spider-man, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley
• Malinky Robot, Sonny Liew
• The Red Wing, Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarro
• Orbital 3: Nomads, Sylvain Runberg and Serge Pelle.
• American Vampire, Scott Snyder and Raphael Albuquerque
• The Unwritten: Leviathan, Mike Carey and Peter Gross.
• Batman: The Black Mirror, Scott Snyder et al.
• Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science, Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener.
• 20th Century Boys (Vols 13-18), Naoki Urasawa
• Jonathan Strahan recommends Joe the Barbarian, Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy
• Chris Hayward recommends Space Trawler, Christopher Baldwin.

Info on Hugos: http://www.thehugoawards.org/

News

• The industry is, by and large, on Christmas break, so there isn’t too much comic news this fortnight. We instead talk about some gender-based news we’ve seen going around the Internet.
• A young girl objects to superheroes in the boy’s aisle, and pink things in the girl’s aisle - as do we all. This leads Grant and Kitty to talk about Lego.
• One teacher has found a way to deal with gender in the classroom.
• This week it’s Stan Lee’s 89th birthday! Happy birthday, Stan!
• Archaia are publishing a three-volume Dark Crystal prequel comic. A preview is readable over at Comics Alliance.
• Rebecca Watson wrote a disturbing post on sexism in the atheist community. (WARNING: some of the quoted discussion board posts in this article are very triggering in regards to sexual violence against women.)
• In other news, neither Suicide Squad nor Red Hood and the Outlaws have been cancelled.

Reviews

• Kitty finally reviews SVK.
• Grant finally reviews the Mark Waid Daredevil.
• Kitty reviews Ultimate Spider-Man #4.
• Grant reviews The Ray #1.

Special Topic - The Year In Review 2011 was a big year for American comics. We discuss:

• The really good things for the year, including the two best comics.
• The really bad things for the year, including Suicide Squad and Red Hood and the Outlaws.
• The trends of the year: what will 2011 be remembered for?
• What we’re looking forward to into 2012: Womanthology, Conan the Barbarian (now there’s two things you wouldn’t expect to see in the same sentence), the Hugo Awards and reading through Tansy Rayner Roberts’ list of recommended comics.
• How to make a difference in 2012: how do we get DC and Marvel to publish more comics with writing and art by women, or with female protagonists?