Redhead Fangirl

Friday, March 30

down with the dang sickness


Man, this week I had not only a root canal but then got the worst bout of flu! 104 fevers and 24 hours in bed. Each day I'm getting a little better, but I think at least in Jersey there are some bad juju bugs going around.

I will share the Red Sonja sketch I got from Mike Oeming this weekend- he actually took my sketchbook from last August's show, and I just got it back. Ooh, I forgot to ask if he wanted me to pay for it! Artists aren't usually shy to ask, so let's hope it's a gimme.


I did read a Grimm Fairy Tales comic, the JLA 6, and the Moon Knight with Captain America. That was late on the upswing due to recent CA events.

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Tuesday, March 27

Operation Pajama Pants and more


I want to highlight a couple of indie artists who were at the MidJersey Comicon this weekend.

First, Ziggy McCoy with Operation Pajama Pants.

The art is a fun match with the story- the dialogue between a young man and woman on an archelogical hunt - finding a mummy with pajama pants. These pants make someone invincible! Good art, good banter and an unusual premise. Check out Ziggy McCoy's work.

Michael Parla was a new indie creator who did the MJCC. He has a comic called Galatic Grem, about an alien searching for answers about his past. The art is very detailed, the start of an interesting character.
Check out: Galactic Grem search "Galactic Grem"

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Monday, March 26

New @ my lib

Sunday, March 25

About the Comicon...


A really good response to yesterday's show from guests and dealers and even the public! Because of many additional expenses, the only downer is we barely broke even financially. There were even two other librarians- a great library director and an archivist who had a table selling original art.
It was organized, good, nice door prizes...and now I have a lot of post things to do, but it's nice to put it to bed. Michael Golden was a great special guest, and it was fun to see even the professionals happy to see him there. He'll be next at the Emerald City Con this weekend.
Thanks to staff PhillyGirl, Shoreturtle and JohnO!

Wanna see photos of: a Stormtrooper, artists, writers, fans, Variant Edition interviews, door prize winners, and me reading Gumby 3D!
MidJersey Comicon 2007 photos

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Saturday, March 24

M golden

Thursday, March 22

520 pages of Batgirl!



Two days from my comicon! I'll try to send a few camera photos from Sat. Lots to do.

Two nice people have emailed me in that there will be a Showcase edition of Batgirl!

I read the Dark Tower, issue 2. Peter David is taking us deeper into the story, and the road trip begins. There is also the introduction of the love interest. Jae Lee's art was just as striking, but there were a few panels were I felt the shading was just too dark. I guess you can chalk it up to mood, but painting over such dark shading will give this effect. Still a great read overall.

The Atom was off on a trip that involved his high school bully tormentor, and his sixteen year old love/crush-- who of course, married the bully. Simone has made me care more about Ryan Choi than I thought I would, and I like the pencils of Choi much better than than the Byrne run.


Sexy, not sexist
Hughes Wonder Woman cover versus that abomination JLA Turner cover.
Lastly, look at the faces of Wonder Woman & Power Girl. Wondy's face has LIFE. Her eyes are alive.

Just read it! Spiderman loves Mary Jane #1 free.

The perks of the job Creators talk about going to their LCS.

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Monday, March 19

This is madness! This is running a comicon.

Light posting this week while I prepare for the MidJersey Comicon! There is so much to do running even a small con- tables, chairs, guests, press, cash, door prizes (Michael Golden and Mike Oeming both offered work!), etc.

I saw 300. It was true to the look and dialogue of the GN. I'm a little concerned that they are playing this on military bases-- the Spartans vs. the Persians is not US vs. 'axis of evil'. Miller has always been very to the right (Holy Terror, Batman?) and loves his naked ladies. I did think it was appropriate that the Oracle was a redhead. The expansion of the wife's role at home was completely undone by yet another covet-thy-wife by the scumbag traitor...done to death.

Thanks Elayne for this post
I love her Friday cat blogging! The weblog has been chock full of bloggers I haven't followed; my only regret is that I just can't read the 200 posts per day.


I haven't even read any coverage from Wizard LA myself.Wizard World LA

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Saturday, March 17

St p

Irish Rover



Happy St. Patrick's Day from the redhead! After digging out of the ice and snow, I hope to have a pint or two. Here are two images from a comic in Gaelic I got at Forbidden Planet Dublin.

Cló Mhaigh Eo is a publisher of books in Irish for children and young people as well as a series of acclaimed Irish graphic novels. The company is based in Claremorris, County Mayo in the West of Ireland.


Of interest to me:
I've always loved Aquaman. I was buying the previous Aquaman, then came on board to Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis. The last few issues with villian "The Fisherman" was just confusing. The Comic Treadmill sums up the latest abandonment

An Aquaman run by a new creative team that abruptly changed directions and promised to bring new vitality to a title that has floundered for direction for years launched to great fanfare and potential and has been just as abruptly abandoned by the creative team for a new team that will likely abruptly change directions and promise to bring new vitality to the title.

Divalicious I really liked Penny&Aggie

Dynamo 5 sells out this title has the buzz!

Mike Oeming's Omega Flight preview

Buffy's back

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Wednesday, March 14

King of Skrull Island


Hope you have been checking out Heidi's Is this gratiuous? series. Sadly, they mostly are.

Gordon adds me to his plan to be an archenemy against bloggers Dave Campbell and Chris Sims

Thx comicbycomic, who listed some blogs..
wherein the trials and tribulations of a Red Headed Librarian Fangirl are chronicled with wit, style and taste.

And Dave's long running Sunday Monkey Covers which leads to..

Check out writer Chuck Satterlees blog, including sketches from Kong: King of Skrull Island. Just found his NY Con post-- On Friday, the con began. For the first half of the day, it was industry folk. Mainly...librarians! We love librarians! Redhead Fangirl was in for the show. I killed her in the first issue of the 2nd volume of OBS. She also runs a comic show which makes her incredibly cool. I dig her.

Random-
Greg Rucka is honest about DC and 52.

Heroes panel-- entire cast and Tim Kring. Greg (the cop) wanted to be Peter Petrelli?

Try to beat my bracket - Comic Geek Speak March Madness

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Tuesday, March 13

Graphic novels- thanks librarians and women!

The young and the graphic novel
Discusses all ages graphic novels like Bone, or YA like American Born Chinese, and how awesome and dedicated librarians (OK, my note) have started to create real demand for these titles.

Librarians have been saying for 10 years now that comics are always off the shelves," he said. "That's real reader demand. There's more of that than publishers think."

"Bookstores and libraries seem to be moving these books," said Deb Wayshak, editor of the new graphic-novel version of Beowulf by Gareth Hinds, the first graphic novel published by Candlewick Press. "

Graphic Novel Sales Hit $330 Million in 2006
The market has quadrupled since 2001, according to Griepp, driven by the continuing manga explosion and also the strength of the backlist in American genre comics, as well as new material with wide appeal such as Fun Home and the comics adaptation of The 9/11 Commission Report.

One of the drivers for the category's growth continues to be the increase in female readers...
Killen confirmed that nonfiction and memoirs sold well in 2006, with the usual suspects like Persepolis mentioned. "These books have a huge resonance for females. In the same way there was an explosion in manga six or seven years ago, fueled by Sailor Moon and shojo titles, we're seeing this category spread into the mainstream."

Random--
New Venom stills Topher and Tobey!

Rorschach test shot I discussed earlier my reluctance to see a Watchmen movie.

R2D2 Mailboxes

Is anyone else depressed that Veronica Mars ratings are lower than The search for the new Pussycat Doll? A whipsmart heroine replaced by, let's face it, strippers? Don't cha wish?

Library has provided many DVDs, and have to say some of these films were disappointing.
The Black Dahlia- Ellroy's words and De Palma directing, but just off in casting and execution. Scoop- #2 Scarlet movie that struck out; actually stopped watching. Best of these three was Sherrybaby- Maggie was dead-on as the just out of jail mom who uses her sex and tries to do right, yet it was hard to watch.

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Sunday, March 11

"She can steal the magick of anybody"

Four titles starring female characters from DC! I know I am drawn to these books, but there are more female-led comic books in the last few years. These, along with She-Hulk and Spider-Man loves MJ on the Marvel side are on my pull list.


Justice Society of America 3 April 07
Geoff Johns, Dale Eaglesham

Stargirl helps Maxine create a costumed identity. While she's very cute, she could get a side job as an elf at the Macy's Santa display. The women of the JSA are playing a significant role these days, from Power Girl to Stargirl to Maxine. Yes, sometimes their depictions are comicMaxim, the fear at an ambush and the growth of the female characters still makes JSA a good read. I also like the positive moments, in the dark and moody gloom of many of the other titles I read.
Not to say there isn't the very serious storyline of murdering descendents of former JSA members by Captain Nazi and crew.

The Helmet of Fate: Black Alice 1
Black Alice (Lori Lechlin) made a recent dramatic appearance in Birds of Prey, I was interested in her own storyline. She's a goth outsider at her high school, trying to resist using her powers against the jocks and people who torment her. She's lonely, her dad is drunk and angry recently, and her mother was brought back at nearly zombie level. This title involves the "be careful what you wish for" moral, where Black Alice is granted her darkest desires by the Helmet of Fate. This character has a strong potential future-- she's like the Hot Topic superheroine of the day. "She can steal the magick of anybody"

Birds of Prey 102
Mismatch

Oracle's backstory with the Spy Smasher Katarina, of two brilliant and driven women who compete at academics and on the track, was a good one. I like the intimate connection to Oracle, who only orchestrates her team against the villians. Here, the line of morality of what Oracle is and how the Spy Smasher considers the consequences to her bad deeds then does them anyway. The team still has rough edges, and I guess Manhunter will be out soon.

Catwoman 64
"I suppose that's why I like Gotham so much. This place on the other hand...It's just too damn sunny." Catwoman goes to Metropolis to steal a snow globe for The Calculator; hidden under steel and concrete at Lexcorp. Her jaded observations of Gotham vs. Metropolis are witty, and coming up against Luthor is an interesting ride. The Halle Berry Catwoman movie was on last night- I've never seen nor do I want to. I'll stick with Pfeiffer's Catwoman here.

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Wednesday, March 7

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?


{Who will watch the Watchmen?}

The last thing blogland needs is yet another ode to Watchmen, but since I put in the time to reread, I wanted to share my thoughts.

The coming threat of nuclear war, with the arms race with the Soviet Union, in one way seems outdated...but in another, it captures the gripping generalized fear of the Cold War, very different from the remote bloodshed in Iraq to the average American. (Except for the terror fear we feel especially in the Northeast post 9/11.)

The layers of the superheroes, the newsstand worker, the pirate story-- While not the first with these methods, the most credited. The postmodern change from the linear, clear-cut moral tale is evident here. Environmental and psychological destruction, politics, idol worship, and tons of symbolism.

Laurie and Dan's awkward start, and growth into a real relationship was mature and deep. Gibbons art, full of expression is the exclamation point to Moore's story. Nearly every panel includes significant details of the story-line or visual motifs (such as triangles and pyramids) with themes important to the plot.

And Rorschach alone- vigilante, detective, brutalized childhood stands as one of the best characters comics created. He should have made my redhead list.

Alan Moore hates the films made from his works, and once again a Watchmen movie is on the horizon. I fear the movie, currently aligned with the Dawn of the Dead director. I did enjoy V for Vendetta (which Moore took his name off of), while not an exact replica of the book, the themes of fascism and individuality still rang through the film. Even cute but wooden-acting Portman was good.


If comic books have a "Citizen Kane," the clear choice is "Watchmen ," written by Alan Mooreand drawn by Dave Gibbons.

Has any comic been as acclaimed as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen?

Alan Moore, who wanted to transcend the perceptions of the comic book medium as something juvenile, created Watchmen as an attempt to make "a superhero Moby-Dick; something that had that sort of weight, that sort of density

Two decades after its arrival, there is still no greater comic book.

[an emergency root canal Monday sidelined blog plans for reviews. I have a tooth full of medicine right now to heal the infection. But I have been at work for 2 days- librarian toughs it out.]

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Sunday, March 4

Watchmen, woman, damn teeth

Actually getting back to reading some comics. A week behind on 52, but just read the big Dibny issue. He's not dead, dead, right? I have a lot of my regular pull list comics, and a few new ones I picked up in NY, and the Virgin Comics collected editions B insists I try.

Rereading The Watchmen. At NYCC we met up with Crimson Rabbit, who is a dedicated Lost fan and wrote this post Lost=Watchmen on The Fuselage (where phillygirl spends a lot of time!)

Have you voted for your favorite woman superhero? I voted Batgirl - didn't see there was a Batgirl and Oracle.

February referral time-
the redhead in snakes on a plane
nightwing & batgirl get together
rogue & mystique love
who will you stand with? magneto
she hulk sexy paints
unicorn perv
spidog
algebra's cool
greedo dolls
doghouse manhole
Big Ethel lures Moose to get Jugheads attention
the smurfs christ crisis
Barbara Gordon love spell
the world needs more redheads
aquaman's girlfriend
zombie dreams explained
the batman spirit religions
how do i find a fairy that symbolizes forgiveness
william katt porno

Back to fussing with my 3 day long toothache. Sharp throbbing pain and sensitivity, ouch!

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Thursday, March 1

200 million blogs

A tech analysis firm said currently there are 200 million abandoned blogs, and 2007 will peak with 100 million active blogs. No wonder my bloglines for comic blogs is overflowing!
But, there have been some blog shutdowns of late: Focused Totality. The Brill Building. Absorbascon for 1 month.

It's hard out there for a blogger.

Working hard on the final details for the March 24th MidJersey Comicon.
Midlantic staters come on out! Big guests like Michael Golden, Mike Oeming, Chuck Satterlee, and lots of great indie creators and dealers. The NYCC was fun, but if you want real face time and not to be pushed and prodded and overheated, small comicons are the real deal!

New York Comiccon panels------
It was interesting to see 'big name' comic bloggers, but I didn't get what I wanted out of the panel, which was to contrast the old with the newcomers.

Galleycat - covers publishing, many writers and aspiring writers read
themes- comic numbers attractive to mainstream publishers
fun snark/random bitching
curiosity of fans all along, now it's cool and legitimate to like comics

comics212 some people only know Neil Gaiman from his books, add more context for the rest of the non fandom world
Heidi The Beat- news and views from blogs to larger part of media

RSS feeds- expect them- comics212 finds that annoying not to see whole page of site "it's so pretty"

real people read your blog; Heidi: only say on blog what I would to their face. There was a discussion about that, whether you could be polite and review work and then meet the person.

Knowing a lot of people in the industry can be good, but also a disadvantage
Don't 'play to comments'
As time goes on, it's harder to be the same small community it was

Newsarama- Chris said the site is old looking and badly designed

MARVEL INITIATIVE- only saw the end of the Quesada led panel.
Moon Knight pro-registration comes knocking for MK
Oeming Omega Flight June 2007 has punches but characters you can enjoy, take jerk like US Agent and put him in Canada
SubMariner June 2007 Namor not in great place
Slott Great Lakes Initiative

I booed the dude who got up and said "it would have been sweet to kill off Aunt May" ; some others did; then someone yelled out to "kill Mary Jane too". Marvel boys can be such punks!

VERTIGO-
Came in for Q&A, missed the person who was taken out after yelling at Vaughan; he was sitting back behind the podium.
Not a question of quality with V titles
Sales on Vertigo titles, "long term strategy is for everyone in the room to have more children."Brand is growing a culture
I didn't agree with Azzarello who told all of us if we buy other comics we aren't "the ideal Vertigo customer". I buy for me, the library, and tell patrons- that's pretty ideal.
Diggle talked about Hellblazer
Someone asked if the Vertigo universe is in DC continuity and "Constantine does not live in any world with Superman in it".

DC Nation-
This panel is a total sideshow with Didio as the carnival barker.
Countdown - Paul Dini- $2.99 an issue for 52 issues (!)
Event of the year...starts May 9 after the last 52, on 5/2
Jimmie Olson must die - foolish not to tap Kingdom Come
Seduction of the Innocent - Mary Marvel has mentors, is at a crossroads, takes surprise turn
Ray Palmer- Atom
Villians Defiant- two contentious supervillians together
Crypto issue "put to sleep"
Manhunter saved- changed mind 2x
Captain Carrot
Flash not as directionless as it seems
Dini read All Star Batman? "when I was a kid"
McKeever writing more
Diversity in comics? "White folks hate it" "committed to diversity in DC line to reflect buyers"
Firestorm find a home
Mike Norton exclusive to DC

Stephen King - Dark Tower panel
Let JJ Abrams and Lindelof option the rights to Dark Tower for $19
painter Isanove got Quesada - Q asked about painting over Jae Lee's work instead of Q's- he said "well, when you are working with a better artist". I almost fell out of my seat!

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