The Bum’s Rush #85

WARNING! None of the news or rumors you see here in The Bum’s Rush should be considered FACT until it actually happens. It might never happen. How do you know I’m not just making all this crap up? I could, you know. You’ve been warned!


Amazing But True - Sasquatch AND Girls Reading Comics!

2007 is going to be a busy year for Josh Howard. He already has the Dead@17 and The Lost Books of Eve monthly comics going at Viper Comics. And about a week ago it was announced that the top-secret DC project he was working on with Andi Watson, now known as Clubbing, will be one of the debut graphic novels from DC’s new imprint, Minx, a line of original graphic novels aimed at young girls.

As if that weren’t enough for the busy writer/artist, on Tuesday he announced a new project, Josh Howard Presents Sasquatch, which will be released by Viper in April 2007. Howard has released very little info about the project though looking at the Sasquatch website reveals a huge list of contributors to the project which probably means it will be some sort of anthology comic or graphic novel.

Contributors to the project include Howard, Nicc Balce, PJ Kryfko, Martin Abel, Jason Burns, Wes Molebash, Christopher Graybill, Lawrence & Robin Etherington, Tom Kurzanski, Courtney Huddleston, Scott Zirkel, Brock, Will Wilson, Ralph Soll, Otis Frampton, Benjamin Hall, Pat Bussey, David Hartman, Bryan Baugh, Greg Gatlin, Brian Thompson, Chris Wolf, Josh Boulet, Guy LeMay, Alex Ness, Paul Harmon and Matthew McLean.

And going back to DC’s Minx for just a second, other debut titles for that line include The PLAIN Janes by Cecil Castelluci and Jim Rugg (of Street Angel fame), Good as Lily by Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm, and Re-Gifters by Mike Carey, Louise Carey, Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel. There’s been a lot of criticism about the lack of involvement by female creators in a line aimed primarily at female readers and I’m inclined to agree. With so many talented women in the industry such as Gail Simone, Jen Van Meter, Lea Hernandez, Amanda Conner, Joanna Estep, Colleen Doran, Alex de Campi, Sara Dwyer, Hope Larson, Jessica Abel and more it’s a little bit curious that most of the books announced from Minx are being done primarily by men. All I know for sure is that I want to buy some of these books when they come out… and I feel a little weird about that.


Shark Versus Orca – FIGHT!

Over on his blog, Corey “The Rey” Lewis just released the first
look at the final design of Orcasword, the big nasty nemesis of
Sharknife, who first appeared in 2005’s Sharknife graphic novel
from Oni Press. The newly redesigned Orcasword will face off
against Sharknife (who’s also had a handy dandy makeover)
in 2007’s Sharknife Double Z.

Click on image to view full size in a separate window

 

Pyle!

February 2007 sees the release of the much-anticipated Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil by Jeff Smith. The 4-issue Prestige Format mini-series has been in the works since 2003 and will be Smith’s first major comic book work since the end of his award-winning independent series, Bone, in 2004. I have to say that this is one of the books I am looking forward to the most in 2007. Smith’s Bone is one of my favorite comics of all time and his style is an absolutely perfect fit for Captain Marvel. Here’s a preview of the upcoming first issue:

Click on an image to view full size in a separate window

King Of The Dead

I’ve been looking long and hard at the list of comics I collect and I’ll admit, it has been found lacking. I’ve cut dozens of titles from the list. No more plain ol’ superhero comics for me. I’m bored to tears by that crap now and I’m refocusing on only the coolest and most unique stuff I can find. The kind of stuff that reminds me why I love comics to begin with. The kind of comics that inspire me to do stuff as cool as the comics I read each month. Sometimes you have to look long and hard to find those comics. And sometimes they fall right into your lap.

Case in point - KING!, a 4-issue mini-series coming from Blacklist Studios in January 2007. The book, written by Tom Hall with art by Daniel Bradford, features an aged Elvis Presley fighting off hordes of monsters. Elvis-meets-Hellboy. Only in comics, folks. And sometimes movies starring Bruce Campbell.

The book happened to catch my eye while I was perusing my LiveJournal Friends page about a month ago and I’ve been in love with the idea and the art ever since. Check some of it out and tell me it doesn’t fill you with glee and all sorts of other feelings that aren’t appropriate to talk about in public:

       


Only He Didn’t Say “Fudge”

It’s no secret that HBO recently announced its intention to adapt Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s popular Vertigo series, Preacher into a TV series. This is pretty exciting news for fans of the series, like me, who have been eagerly anticipating some sort of live-action version of the controversial book ever since rumors of a movie adaptation, starring James Marsden in the title role, was announced several years ago. I mean, sure a movie would have been cool, but how do you seriously fit a six-year, sixty-six issue epic like Preacher into two-hours of film? A TV series, especially one by HBO, a network known for their controversial TV shows, makes much more sense.

Now it seems that fans have even more to be excited about as director Mark Steven Johnson, who is adapting and producing the series for HBO, has been quoted saying that each episode of the series would adapt one issue from the series. How awesome would that be? I’m not naÔve enough to believe that the network won’t make some changes to the series along the way but it looks as if this could be the most faithful adaptation of a comic to live-action since Sin City.

There might be some fans out there who are fearful of Johnson’s involvement in the series. After all, many comic fans tout Johnson’s Daredevil as one of the worst comic book movies of all time. I’m not one of them but as I understand it I’m pretty much in the minority as far as liking Daredevil goes. But never fear, oh yea nerds of little faith for both Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon are apparently serving as executive producers for the series and are involved with talks on the shows direction.


Park It In The Fantastigarage At The Fantasticrib

I know I can’t be the only one but it sure is rare that I run across someone who loved the Fantastic Four movie as much as I did. I understand that it wasn’t perfect, but I really enjoyed it. And I don’t even like the comic. Not at all. Nope, I’ve never been much of a fan of the book or the characters, except perhaps The Thing. Who doesn’t love Ben Grimm? Anyway, what I’m trying to say is I loved the first movie and I can’t wait until Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer hits theaters next June. I’m even more excited after seeing the photo of the Fantasticar (yeah, that’s really what they called it in the comics), which was released last week. Feast your eyes:
 

In Case You Didn’t Know…

Next week will be Part One of a 3-part Bum’s Rush end-of-the-year special, The Best In Comics 2006!


The Only Comics That Matter

Last Week –
Batman/The Spirit by Jeph Loeb, Darwyn Cooke & J. Bone
Immortal Iron Fist #1 by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja & Travel Foreman
Nextwave #10 by Warren Ellis, Stuart Immonen & Wade Von Grawbadger
Talent #4 by Christopher Golden, Tom Sniegoski & Paul Azaceta

This Week –
Doctor Strange: The Oath #3 by Brian K. Vaughn & Marcos Martin
Invincible #37 by Robert Kirkman & Ryan Ottley

Next Week –
The Spirit #1 by Darwyn Cooke & J. Bone
Stormwatch: PHD #2 by Christos N. Gage & Doug Mahnke
X-Factor #14 by Peter David & Pablo Raimondi



If you have any interesting news, rumors, lies, etc. about comics and think I should know about it too just email me at thesuperleezard@yahoo.com.

Read more dumb crap written by me at www.livejournal.com/users/superleezard.
 

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