Wednesday March 14th 2012, 11:41 am
Today sees the release of Batwoman issue 7. Our second installment of an unorthodox espionage plot. This second arc is a tricky one. We felt that there a lot of different things happening over different amounts of time. And that each element’s time progression and length for the event being focused on starts in different places but all end up around the same moment roughly. As example, the reveal of Maro’s schemes shows that he has been at this well before the events in issue 1. We’ve read plenty of espionage plots for comics before, that are released as periodicals, this type of plot can move very dryly when read in installments over several months. Mainly because the juiciest action climax stuff will be in the last chapter. So we thought it might be interesting to remix this by using different pieces, moving through time at different rates of speed all bookended each month by part of the climax. Yes, each story segment takes place at different times, but each also moves forward in linear fashion leading up to the climax point in time, and allowing for specific reveals to happen in a different way, helping to make the smaller and bigger moments sort of interact narratively. We knew going in, this would be a risky idea, but Batwoman has been about risk from the beginning, even in Elegy there was manipulation of time and story, taking chances is what stories about this character have always been doing.
This second chapter of arc 2 is visually brought to us from the talented Amy Reeder. Its unfortunate that she is moving on after only three issues, but bittersweetly we have this week’s issue 7, and later issue 8 from from her to go. Below is her cover to #7…
Saturday March 10th 2012, 3:35 pm
I saw the very sad news today that Jean Giraud has died. Most of us know him and his tremendous work by the name Moebius. This saddens me greatly that we no longer have him. But his visionary dreamscapes will live on forever in explorations of other realities.
I consider him one of my greatest influences, as I’m sure a lot of artists do. His work is highly revered around the world by many of his peers, or anyone that knows really great art when they see it. Some of my earliest exposure to his work was some of his science fiction works when I was a young boy, but what truly won me over for a lifetime was his work on Blueberry. Probably thee finest comics tales of the old west ever produced. Moebius was a true master and innovator of line, texture, and use of palettes. His work has impacted comics in so many ways its impossible to follow all of the roots. In my humble opinion, his art has affected our understanding of modern comics to the same level as Jack Kirby influence.
I had the amazing good fortune to meet him many years ago in San Diego, and lucked out that he was willing to draw a sketch in a copy of one of the Blueberry volumes I had packed to travel with me just in hopes that I’d make it to see him. Nervous that I’d actually get to meet him, I barely made it before the line was cut off. I will never forget that experience, totally geeked-out giddy.
A short time ago Wendy and I did a european signing tour, and one of the stops was Paris. And just down the street from our hotel was a gallery that happened to be showing Moebius original art of his Arzach works, and a few other things. Getting to see the work up close like that was exhilarating beyond words. There were complete pages that were small or single panel images that were enormous in size, but somehow he made them fit into the final printed page with the other panels through some sort of production voodoo. Getting this glimpse behind his process was pure joy.
His books should be on the shelf of every comics reader, no excuses.
He’ll be sorely missed. I think I’ll be reading some Moebius stories tonight.
Friday March 09th 2012, 10:02 pm
Blue Moon Comics will be hosting myself and Haden Blackman this March 24th, from 2pm-5pm, with a meet and greet after-party that evening from 7:30pm to 11pm. We hope anyone in the San Francisco area or traveling to SF around that date will come and say hello, hang out, chat, and get their books signed. Details are on the schedule page at the tab above. Additional details for the party at…
Blue Moon Comics
Friday March 09th 2012, 1:29 pm
I couldn’t help using the most cliche David Bowie reference as the title of the subject to this post, yeah I’m a nerd.
Anyway, artistic shifts are happening on the second arc of Batwoman. Unavoidable, but thats the thing with monthly comics, things shift before expected sometimes.
But we’re glad we have Trevor McCarthy able to step in. His work for DC on other things has been really great, Gates Of Gotham, Nightwing to name a couple. All nicely done, so we’re enthused to see what he’ll do with Batwoman. Go check out his Deviant Art Galleries, some great examples.
And we get the treat of a Ben Oliver cover to grace Trevor’s first issue. While I will be doing covers 10 and 11, and return to interior art duties on issue 12.
