The Sunday Spotlight: The “Real Avid TV Fan” Edition

Here we go, as the nights draw in and the cold eats into your bones, time to snuggle up in that blanket and absorb the latest bits of comics news coming your way — it’s the Sunday Spotlight …

Shelfdust brings in The Gutter Review …

Steve Morris‘ Shelfdust is another one of those comic sites you should have bookmarked to regularly visit. The principle behind it is to publish essays concentrating on a single issue of a comic, with plenty of excellent writing going on.

That alone is enough to recommend the site, but an added attraction is that, this year, it’s broadened its focus with a commitment to reprinting various pieces from the sadly lost to us Gutter Review. Yes, we might have lost Chloe Maveal‘s site to the ether but the commitment to republish the articles here, one week at a time, is important, meaning the writing isn’t lost to us.

And there’s great stuff there no doubt. Just looking at the last month or so of what Steve’s brought over from the Gutter Review, we’ve had Tom Shapira on Deathlok, Garth Ennis‘ Punisher, and Adam Warren‘s Marvel work, Chloe Maveal talking about John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra‘s Al’s Baby, Martyn Pedler on illness as madness in Gotham, and Robert Smith looking back on the legacy of Martin Emond.

It’s excellent writing about comics that you should be reading. Here you go, the opener to Tom Shapira’s Punisher piece…

‘The Punisher doesn’t work. Obviously he does work in some surface manner, the character has been in near constant publication since his first appearance in 1974, and he’s got the full franchise treatment (movies, TV show, a surprisingly decent arcade game). Nevertheless, pretty much any attempt to use him seriously, to try and comment on American crime or on the place of vigilantism in society or reaction to personal tragedy has been a dud. The concept can’t take it (which is not to say the stories can’t entertain as adrenaline injection).

‘Whatever arguments the series has to make on the subject of vigilantism are rooted in the perverted notion that the real problem with American law-enforcement is that cops are too nice. Whatever point it can make in response to trauma is lost in the fact that Frank’s wife and children exist only to die, to motivate him, they are not characters in any way, shape or form. Neither he nor the readers can mourn for them. There is, however, one glaring exception to the Punisher problem. One writer who has made it work on a level other than the puerile; and that writer is Garth Ennis.’

More fascinating interview subjects at the Comics Journal — ‘Don’t remind people what you aren’t”: DC’s Richard Bruning on prestige, Vertigo, and why Paul Levitz wouldn’t buy a Mac’ …

Yes, the Comics Journal, always a great source of interviews and articles, have run into a recent purple patch of form. Case in point, Zach Rabiroff interviews graphic designer Richard Bruning to talk about his work, particularly those years spent in the white-hot heat of DC Comics during the 90s, where he was integral to the look and feel of DC’s books, particularly the Vertigo line. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here. Be sure to give it a read.

‘I am the luckiest guy in comics as far as I’m concerned. I walked in while they were building Dark Knight and Watchmen. I got to play with both of them very, very intimately, as it were. One of the first meetings I had was with Frank [Miller] at Chicago Comicon a few months after I started, and we sat down and started kicking ideas back and forth about how to do Dark Knight differently than a regular comic book. Frank had already argued for doing the prestige format with a square spine. Dark Knight was the first time DC used that format.

‘Alan [Moore] and Dave [Gibbons] had finished the first couple of issues of Watchmen. I had realized that Watchmen was going to come out like a regular floppy comic with the staples on the side, but it was going to have an ad flat in it. And I said, “You can’t put a fucking ad flat in this book. Every page is just too perfect.” It was so well thought out, and so considered, that on the flight after San Diego Comic Con, I convinced Dick Giordano to take the ad flat out of there. I had to come up with something to do with the back of the book, because now we had eight pages to fill. I got to work with Dave and Alan on creating those back features, which were unique to each issue.’

Lakes International Comic Art Festival’s latest Between The Lines magazine out now…

The Lakes Festival (LICAF) happens 2nd-4th October in Kendall, UK, one of the two big comics festivals the UK puts on, something very special, featuring some fabulous guests from around the world, events, panels, exhibitions, and so much more, all happening across the picturesque town of Kendall.

Their latest Between The Lines magazine is out now, a free PDF download featuring a selection of articles on the creators and the comics you’ll see at the latest LICAF. Definitely worth taking a look – download from here.

Gosh! Comics and Broken Frontier presents their latest Drink and Draw — 25 September…

The Gosh! Comics and Broken Frontier drink and draw event gets better and better and better. I mean, who can say no, frankly, to talking comics and drinking your favourite tipple? But now, with the wonderful Mark Stafford installed as the regular host/resident cartoonist, and plenty of special guests as well — this week’s guests being Roman Muradov and Daisy Crouch.

The way it works is you pitch up at Gosh! for 6.30, then everyone piles into The Royal George for 7.00. Grab a seat, grab yourself a beverage at the bar, and then take part in three short rounds of drawing, where each artist sets the drawing theme. Everything wraps up from 9.30. And all involved have had a great time.

The next one happens on 25 September, well worth heading along if you’re in the area.

And finally … a little 2000 AD news … new 2000 AD, new smell, two release dates and a Mastermind appearance …

I told you about the recent troubles 2000 AD had had with their printers going into unexpected and sudden administration, along with the rather fast turnaround they had with finding themselves a new printer, meaning there was actually no delay in the comic hitting the shops, albeit the subscriber copies did go out a little late.

Well, as artist and Brit comics legend Lew Stringer reports, there’s been not just a slight change in texture of the physical copies (but no loss of quality) but also in the smell of the comic. Can’t report directly on that, as I’ve been digital for quite a while now, but we all know that comics and books all have a unique smell to them, don’t we? One of those things that makes heading into your local bookstore or comic shop such a great experience.

Also, as Lew’s pointed out, the shift in printers and the lateness of subscriber copies has led to one quirk …

Yep, exact same Prog, two different dates and a brand-new smell to boot!

Then, the comic made an appearance on the BBC’s long-running quiz show, Mastermind, where contestant Chris Matterface’s choice of specialist subject of ‘2000 AD in the 1980s and 1990s’, scoring 10 points out of a possible 12, and then going on to win the show and progress to the semi-finals with 13 extra points in the general knowledge round. Sadly, as per the show’s rules, he’ll have to pick a new specialist subject for the next appearance.

More on that one at the BBC here.

Okay, that’s it for this week. Back in seven!