Sheldon L. Dorf’s drive and vision paved the way for the Comic-Con International in San Diego that we know today. As part of the tributes emerging for Shel Dorf is a Web site where his memory can be honored, celebrated and shared with everyone. The photo above of Jack Kirby and Shelf Dorf in 1969 is from the site. Also, is this excerpt from Mike Towry’s observations:

Would there have been a Comic-Con in San Diego without Shel? Probably, someday, sure. Would it have been the one we have today? Certainly not. Comic-Con got its spirit, its positive, non-profit, welcoming vision from Shel. The Con committees throughout the years have done a fantastic job in building the Con into what it is today, but, to paraphrase Isaac Newton, “If they have seen further than others, it is because they stood on the shoulders of a giant.”

Phil Yeh, a long-time participant at Comic-Con International and founder of Cartoonists Across America and the World, has suggested for some time now that a street in San Diego should be named after Shel Dorf to honor the man and for all he’s done to make the San Diego Comic-Con the largest pop culture festival in North America , and one of the largest in the world.

When I contacted Phil Yeh, he said, “It would be great to see a street named for Shel and maybe a park with a mural that would be created by so many of the artists who had their lives changed because of Comic-Con. There is a park in Springfield, Massachusetts  with statues in tribute to Dr. Seuss and his characters. Perhaps San Diego should consider a park with statues celebrating comic characters and the man who brought so many talented creators together.”

The Simpsons: The Uncensored, Unauthorized History
Written by John Ortved
Published by Faber & Faber

Conducting dozens of interviews with writers, producers, cartoonists and executives whose lives have been connected to the development of the forever-running television series The Simpsons, John Ortved’s book attempts to untangle the web of the series creation and provide a glimpse at how it all came to be and who fathered the show’s, and the family’s, many startling and hilarious facets.

As might be expected, a network television show doesn’t truly have its origins in a phrase as simple as “created by Matt Groening.” Dozens of writers have passed through the show’s writers room, each drawing from different experiences, divergent senses of humor and completely individual expectations for the series itself.

Curiously, Ortved doesn’t speak to the three major players: Matt Groening, whose comic strip Life in Hell was noticed by producers on The Tracey Ullman Show, who in turn asked him to come up with a concept for interstitial cartoons to run between their skits; James Brooks, the movie and TV mogul, who produced and protected The Simpsons at Fox; and Sam Simon, the show’s lead writer during its formative years. Brooks’ company, Gracie Films, opted not to cooperate with the book’s creation, leaving Ortved to fill in his history from the outside in. Thus, readers are left with an interesting view into the world of the show’s three-headed initiators.

The effect creates a multi-faceted perspective that enables backers and detractors of each of the three to put forth their own experiences as to what occurred, as well as offering other theories as to how the show found its unique satirical voice and visual design. Readers can examine the evidence presented and look for something close to the “truth,” if such exists, in the cross-section of the testimony given.

Ortved is able to speak to many of the important figures, including the show’s original animation executive producer, Gabor Csupo; former writers and producers like Brent Forrester, Jay Kogen, and Josh Weinstein, among many others; one-time writer and current talk show host Conan O’Brien; former creative consultant Brad Bird; Matt Groening’s long-time friends and fellow cartoonists Lynda Barry, Art Spiegelman and Gary Panter; and FOX CEO Rupert Murdoch and other FOX execs like Barry Diller and Charlie Goldstein. Also, the administrator of fan sites like NoHomers.net are able to weigh in. So readers will definitely get a well rounded picture of how things occurred.

Probably the most distracting element of the book is when Ortved breaks from the “oral history” style and inserts his own thoughts. Often, he’s providing valuable and factual background that sets the stage from the interview segments, but sometimes, Ortved drifts into editorializing. His comments on others’ quotes are occasionally valuable, but often unnecessary. More disconcerting is his penchant for slagging off the show’s later years. It’s not that he’s wrong (not having watched the show in close to a dozen years, I can’t say myself), but it seems unnecessary and at times even petty when cast against his own fawning over the undeniably massive influence of the show on current pop culture and comedy.

That’s a fairly minor complaint, as most of the book conforms to the “oral history” format, using quotes and only context-providing paragraphs from the author to set the scene for each person’s story. All of those people providing their perspectives on the founding of The Simpsons builds a multifaceted history of a television revolution and institution. If anyone has any interest in codifying the building of one of the most important pieces of American pop culture, The Simpsons: The Uncensored, Unauthorized History is a very effective, very worthwhile read.

By Filip Sablik, Publisher of Top Cow Productions, Inc.

So it looks like I got folks talking with my last Blog post. That’s great – good conversation and debate is the highest compliment for a blogger, it means people are actually reading and feel compelled to respond in some way. Not only did Newsarama readers comment (44 comments!), but other bloggers responded in their own forums.

The only problem is that most of the commentators seemed to fixate on one statement in the blog post and missed my intended point. Admittedly, that may have been a failing on my part as a writer, so I thought it wise to try and clarify this week. Let’s see if I can get it right the second time around.

The actual point I was trying to make was – Witchblade, as our comic most often dismissed as “T&A” by online commentators, is not and has not been very “T&A” for years. Sara Pezzini, our title character, spends more of her time in more clothes than your average superhero-in-tights comic. I posted some Witchblade covers in comparisons with some recent Marvel and DC covers. In my mind, the Witchblade covers were largely narrative, focused on portraying our heroine as a strong female lead rather than a sex symbol. The other covers struck me as a bit more “T&A” in nature.

The statement that seemed to get the most attention was:

“Top Cow does intentionally place sexy artwork on our convention variant covers. We recognize there’s a part of our audience that digs them and we’d be bad business people for not giving our fanbase what they want. These covers are put out in a limited release and are primarily sold directly to fans at conventions.”

I posted one cover image as an example of a sexy convention cover, our Witchblade #128 San Diego cover, which while sexy strikes me as pretty classy. I’m not embarrassed to show this to my wife. Your mileage may vary.

Two intelligent ladies blogged in response to my blog, one was Laura Hudson at Comics Alliance and one was our own Christine Dinh, Marketing Assistant at Top Cow. Before you ask, no, I did not ask Christine to write on my behalf. They both make some interesting points and are well worth reading.

But back to my point, Witchblade is not a T&A comic.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dragons, dragons everywhere! The She-Dragon has returned–looking ten different kinds of creepy–and finds herself facing off against a revived Savage Dragon who may be suffering from acute amnesia–or may have Emperor Kurr’s memories restored to him. All the while, there are bad guys trying to use Dragon’s blood to turn some of their B- and C-listers into Dragon-baddie hybrids, and a dark, ominous dragon calling some of the other ones names. Read the rest of this entry »

Face front, gentle readers! And as always, if you have an event coming up — whether you be creator, publisher, retailer, or reader — email us at Newsaramaevents [AT] gmail [DOT] com.

And now, on with the show:

Portland, OR:

Join creators Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth for the release of their new comic series STUPMTOWN in the home of the comic’s namesake Portland, Oregon! Greg and Matt will be meeting fans and signing books at Cosmic Monkey Comics from 4-7pm on Wednesday 11/4.

Cosmic Monkey Comics
5335 NE Sandy Blvd
http://www.cosmicmonkeycomics.com
503-517-9050
Wednesday 11/4/2009
4pm - 7pm

New York City:

November 7, 4-7pm
Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School
A Tribute to “Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Joe Shuster
with the beautiful fetish model Darenzia and Nicholas posing
sponsored by Baby Tattoo Books, Boyd and Blair Vodka, and Squishables
Dr. Sketchy’s is a life drawing class turned cabaret extravaganza. Artists draw glamorous underground performers, compete in contests, and win booze and prizes. From its humble Brooklyn beginnings, it’s spread to 100 cities on five continents- including London, Rome, Tokyo, Paris, Sao Paulo and Melbourne.

On November 7th, Dr. Sketchy’s is teaming up with renowned comics scholar Craig Yoe, to celebrate his new book, “Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman Co-Creator Joe Shuster.” Stunning fetish models will reenact the hidden art of Superman’s creator, and Mr. Yoe will speak about his book and sign copies.

Dr. Sketchy’s takes place on

November 7, 4-7 pm
at the Slipper Room,
167 Orchard St (corner of Stanton).
New York City

Tickets are $10 in advance, or $12 a the door, and can be purchased at www.drsketchy.com or at the door. 21+

Seattle:

Al Columbia is widely regarded among his peers as one of the most accomplished and influential artists working in comics today. On the occasion of the publication of PIM & FRANCIE, his most ambitious work to date, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery is hosting a rare public appearance by the cartoonist on Saturday, November 7 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.

PIM & FRANCIE represents a breathtaking vision of contemporary American art.  Collecting over a decade’s worth of artifacts, excavations, comic strips, animation stills, storybook covers, and much more, this broken jigsaw puzzle of a book tells the story of title characters Pim and Francie, a pair of childlike imps whose irresponsible antics get them into horrific, fantastic trouble.

AL COLUMBIA: PIM & FRANCIE
Art exhibition and book signing
Saturday, November 7, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Exhibition continues through December 9, 2009
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.) Seattle, WA
206.658.0110  www.fantagraphics.com
Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM

Indianapolis:

Indianapolis newest comic book store The Hero House is proud to announce Shawn Crystal (artist on Marvel Comics’ Deadpool series) will make a rare Midwest appearance to sign autographs, and meet with fans on November 6th and 7th.

He will be appearing as part of The Hero House grand opening celebration which will include a storewide sale on all back issues and Graphic novels. The Hero House specializes in Comic Books, Movies, Anime and related merchandise and is located in historic fountain square.

Have you heard the reviews about Archaia’s Days Missing yet? Have you not read the first full FREE issue yet? Still not convinced? Then check out Frazer Irving’s beautiful covers for the series.

According to Bleeding Cool, which has a larger version of these images, apparently all five covers lock together to create this cool image. What say you, Rama readers?

Red is the color of beauty, of blood, of death. It’s the mark of Queen Sonja, that She-Devil with a Sword who has moved her way up to a throne of her own. Dynamite Entertainment sat down with writer Joshua Ortega, to tease the new adventures of this warrior-born.

QUESTION: What led to the Red Sonja title transitioning to this new title, Queen Sonja?

JOSHUA ORTEGA: I think a number of factors, really. The main one being the chance to do something really different with the character, the chance to throw a twist on a classic, enduring character.

Dynamite has done a fantastic job with the current series, and has really brought the character of Sonja back to the prominence that she deserves. Now that the series is nearing 50 issues, it’s time to shake things up a bit, introduce some compelling new elements that’ll keep the readers guessing and take them to some brand new places in Hyrkania that they’ve never seen before.

QUESTION: In the previous series, the original Sonja portrayed in the Dynamite series died in #34 – and a reincarnation of the original Red Sonja took her place. Is she still in the lead here?

ORTEGA: I guess we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we? (laughs) All will be revealed in time, but you can be assured that this *is* Sonja in this story, this isn’t going to be a clone story of Sonja or “Who shot JR” or anything…you can read this and know you’re getting the real deal, an epic tale of the She-Devil with a Sword.

QUESTION: What is Red Sonja up against in this new series?

ORTEGA: She’s up against many things, but her main enemy will ultimately be the empire of Emora and its allies. We don’t want to reveal too much just yet about the specifics, but suffice it to say that she’ll be facing one of the greatest challenges of her life, and her actions will have ramifications far beyond her own personal sphere.

And of course, in classic Sonja fashion, she’ll be battling against the evil that men do, and defending those who can’t do it for themselves…while making a little bit of loot on the side, of course.

QUESTION: The solicits promise a new Sonja short story in addition to the comic – did you write that as well, and if so, can you tell us about it?

ORTEGA: Top secret so far, but I’m sure Dynamite will be releasing the details soon…all in all, it’s looking to be an awesome new launch for fans of Sonja, high fantasy, and kick-ass barbarian action!

That Batmobile of yours on its last gasp? Is your Spider-Mobile on the way to the trash heap?

Well, if you’re looking to get that eyesore off your lawn — and help some creators in need — the Hero Initiative has news for you. For anyone who wants to donate their clunker car to Cars 4 Causes, you can stipulate that your donation will go straight to the Hero Initiative.

Donating to Cars 4 Causes is tax-deductible, and in this case, will help the Hero Initiative assist creators in financial and medical need. Click here or here for more information.

Interested in process pieces? If you have the one of the most celebrated graphic novels of all time, what happens when you have to remaster it?

Corey Breen, senior pre-press artist at DC Comics and all-round nice guy, has written a blog post over at Master Digital Coloring detailing the whole experience of working on Absolute Watchmen. With 1980s artwork having to be reworked for an oversized format, it proved to be a tough process — here’s a highlight:

Since we no longer have the original art to older comics such as this, what we have are the pages in the film library.  Back in the day, all our books were shot using film on acetate.  Our film library has extensive books all on film, and when we need to reprint them, it is shot from that film, and made digital for us to use.  But this poses a lot of problems.  Since the film is well, film, and it is old, when you make a digital file from film, it can be dirty, have scratches, and have sections missing, depending on how well the film was originally made.  This was the case with the Watchmen ‘film’ we wound up having to use.

Breen goes on to discuss the main theme of remastering Watchmen — not noir, but moire, an unsightly and jagged form of lines that unfortunately crops up with high-res images of old half-toned art. It’s a cool process piece, especially for anyone interested in the production side of comics. Give it a read!

Wanna be a successful cartoonist and/or comics/prose hybrid literary sensation?: Then you should probably enroll at the University of Maryland and get a job doing cartoons for the school’s paper The Diamondback. It worked for Frank Cho, Aaron McGruder and Jeff Kinney.

Apparently, the New York Times list-makers don’t even crack the covers of the books they put on their lists: I quit paying attention to the NYT’s goofy comics bestsellers lists as soon as I got over making fun of their dumb names and dumber press announcement, but manga expert Deb Aoki hasn’t, and she notes another reason to shake one’s head sadly at the lists. Illustrated prose book Death Note: L Change the World apparently ranked #4 on the manga bestseller list, despite not even being manga, or comics of any kind.

“I used to feel as powerful as a locomotive, but I’m running out of steam”: Augusta Chronicle columnist Glynn Moore reflects on his own mortality in relation to dressing up in Superman t-shirts and towel capes with his grandson in this only mildly depressing piece.

Great, now I’m hungry: On Drawn and Quarterly’s blog, the unlikely source of inspiration for Seth’s Nancy Vol. 1 collection cover design stands revealed.

“I cannot wait until Williams III leaves in a couple months time…I wonder how many people are going to admit that if it weren’t for Williams’ III art, this would be just one or two steps above Outsiders“: In his latest post, guy-I-link-to-alot Tim O’Neil reviews the latest issue of ‘TEC, along with several other recent releases, and discusses how muscular Reed RIchards should look.

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

Today saw the release of the DVD for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the much-maligned summer blockbuster based on the enduring Hasbro toy line. I resisted seeing this when it was in theaters over the summer because the previews made it look like baby vomit, and I had no desire to spend ten bucks and a couple of hours in a movie theater to have my intelligence insulted, no matter how desperate I was for air-conditioning. Thank goodness for Redbox, because I only had to pay $1 to have my intelligence insulted in the comfort of my own home.

Actually, I didn’t think G.I. Joe was really all that bad. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a lousy film, it just wasn’t the crime against humanity I was expecting it would be. It helped a bit that I didn’t go in to the movie expecting to see the G.I. Joe from my childhood. Director Stephen Sommers and crew aren’t interested in that G.I. Joe, they would prefer to create a G.I. Joe for the new generation. And that’s fine, and in that sense, they’ve mostly succeeded. I can see kids going street rat crazy for the movie, what with the nonstop violence, copious amounts of explosions, not-very-funny one-liners and hot ninja-on-ninja action.

Read the rest of this entry »

Cyborg’s name never strikes me as all that boring and prosaic until I hear it next to the name of another cyborg comic character, like Deathlok, who has one of the most metal names in the Marvel character catalog. Deathlok returns this week in Deathlok #1, the first part of a new, seven-issue Max series written by Charlie Huston and penciled by Lan Medina. Cyborg, on the other hand, seems to have the week off, which is probably for the best–he won’t be getting shown up by Marvel’s more bad-ass cyborg.

Who else will be waiting to see you at the comics shop tomorrow? Join me after the jump to find out!

Read the rest of this entry »

Via the Hollywood Reporter, Marvel’s profits for this quarter have gone down a significant amount, mainly due to the fact that there was not a movie released this year. Last year, they had two: “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk” and that helped generate plenty of additional revenue.

“Despite the absence of any Marvel Studios feature film releases in 2009, Marvel continued to deliver solid operating performance across all our operating segments,” Marvel chairman Morton Handel said. “Anticipation for the high profile “Iron Man 2″ feature film continues to build, and we are focusing our efforts on the film’s May 2010 release and the related licensing opportunities.”

I’m sure also, with the addition of the “Iron Man” sequel, they have “Thor”, “The First Avenger: Captain America”, and “The Avengers” on the horizon, so this is probably a momentary lapse.

Check out freshly-minted Jaroo, a Hulu-esque site that’s carrying some beloved, and some extremely obscure, animated programs. One of the most popular on the list is surely “Inspector Gadget”, though I’m sure many fondly recall “Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors”, “Captain N”, or “Super Mario Bros.” They get serious points from me for including “Pole Position”, the bizarre supercar/spy show based on the extremely limited racing game of yore.

In a rather diabolical turn, there is no embedding available. However, I will link you right to the anime “The Wonder Wizard of Oz” series here.

If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

(Click the image above for a larger version of the strip.)

Hello Blog@teers!

Welcome to the lastest webcomic addition to Blog@Newsarama, WORLD OF HURT - The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic! This is the first episode of The Thrill-Seekers, WORLD OF HURT’s first story arc.  WORLD OF HURT is updated weekly, and the most recent adventures may be found at my website, www.WorldOfHurtOnline.com.

What is WORLD OF HURT? It is a black and white serial adventure webcomic inspired by the Black action movies of the 1970s and the classic newspaper adventure strips.  WORLD OF HURT focuses more on Blaxploitation’s potential for raw, urban crime stories and drama than the campier aspects of the film movement.  It follows the exploits of a Black trouble-shooter named Isaiah “Pastor” Hurt as he dispenses street justice in the city of Pointe Blanc.  The Thrill-Seekers involves Pastor’s investigation into the disappearance of a young co-ed named Alicia Patterson.

It is a distinct honor to be join the Blog@Newsarama family.  I will be posting strips every Tuesday and Thursday.  I hope you return, and I look forward to hearing from you.

- Jay Potts

It may have been short-lived, but the 13-episode run of the Ruby-Spears Superman animated series is getting another lease on life, as it is being rereleased on DVD today. Warner Home Video sat down and talked with the animators on their experience working with the larger-than-life battles of the Man of Steel.

QUESTION: Why were there only 13 episodes to the entire series?

JOE RUBY: “I think the problem for us was our timeslot. It turned out 8:30 in the morning was a killer for Superman. Only the little kids were up, and they don’t understand Superman as well as the older kids. It wasn’t for 4- to 5-year-olds”

QUESTION: Was there a guiding theme to the series?

KEN SPEARS: “I think we were true to Superman to begin with –  we produced a show that the audience expected Superman to be. He was the tried and true Superman, That’s who they wanted to see – that’s the feedback that we continue to get today.”

Read the rest of this entry »

With the new V kicking off tonight on ABC, it’s worth taking a look at the original. The first V mini-series aired in 1983; the two-parter did big ratings, and was followed by V: The Final Battle. Apparently, there was wasn’t much finality, as that mini segued into a regular series. It was short-lived, but for a while, there was nothing quite like it on American TV.

Here’s a look at the intro to the first regular series episode, which picks up literally seconds after the conclusion of “Final Battle”. And, in the interest of fairness, I decided to skip showing THE BIG MOMENT to avoid potential spoilers for unsuspecting viewers of the new version.

This just in, via Marvel, with the ominous phrase, “What price victory?”

Considering the last time Steve and Tony met, it wasn’t the best of meetings — but with Tony struggling with the aftermath of World’s Most Wanted, could these one-time friends reunite? Let us know what you think!