Saturday, July 31, 2010

Direct Currents: Saturday, July 31, 2010

A quick note before we begin: This will be my last "Direct Current" in the present format. I'd conceived DC Bloodlines as more of a collaborative effort, and thought a regular linkpost like this might get passed around several hands. For one person, it's entirely too time consuming. Any contributor who would like to continue with the feature, be my guest, but as of now I expect to turn "Direct Currents" over to blog links and occasional news stories.





Is This Is A Terribly Racist Tea Party Comic? Or Is It A Plant?

TPMMuckracker has got Tea Party commentary who deny any involvement with the existence of the comic...

Surprise Hit SWEET TOOTH Lures New Readers @ 1-Year Mark

We talk with writer Jeff Lemire as his surprise hit Vertigo series SWEET TOOTH approaches it's 1st year on the stands

JEFF LEMIRE: From Small Press to Smallville & Small Dudes

In the 2nd part of her interview, Vaneta Rogers discusses Superboy and the Atom with writer Jeff Lemire

Frank Miller Turns Batman Into The Fixer

We knew for a while that the original Holy Terror Batman project from Frank Miller, originally described as Batman Vs Al Qaeda, wasn’t actually going to star Batman anymore. But who would the stand-in replacement be?

Mike Allred's DC Universe Monopoly Game Artwork

Once upon a time, something truly awesome nearly happened in the comic book community. Well, it did happen, but fans weren't able to see the results for themselves until now.

CCI: The "Smallville" Panel

On the final day of Comic-Con International in San Diego, fans woke up early to line up for the "Smallville" panel commemorating the long-running show's pending conclusion.

CCI: DC's Premiere Teams

DC Comics rounded out its Sunday programming at Comic-Con International in San Diego with an informal panel discussing the publisher's several superhero team titles. Editor Mike Carlin introduced the packed panel to the crowd, naming writer of “R.E.B.E.L.S.” and “Green lantern Corps Tony Bedard, oncoming writer of “Justice Society of America” Marc Guggenheim, “Teen Titans” writer J.T. Krul, writer of “Legion of Super Heroes” Paul Levitz, “Justice League of America” scribe James Robinson, writer of “JSA All Stars” Matthew Sturges, artist of “Teen Titans” and “Birds of Prey” Nicola Scott, and artist of “JSA All-Stars” Freddie E. Williams II.

CCI: Spotlight on Ivan Reis

DC Comics editor Eddie Berganza introduced Ivan Reis to an anxiously waiting audience at Comic-Con International in San Diego, with the popular illustrator bringing along myriad examples of his progression as an artist, from childhood comic book reader to the present day. Reis was aided by Joe Prado, who served as an interpreter of sorts, (but more often acted as comic relief.)

Grant Morrison And Game Theory

Grant Morrison, is certainly doing something very interesting on a wider canvas. He’s playing games. Seriously.

Art Baltazar, Franco Aureliani set to Script 'Young Justice' Ongoing Comic

With news breaking out of this year's San Diego Comic-Con that Peter David will be penning scripts for an all-new "Young Justice" animated series on Cartoon Network, it should come as no surprise that the folks over at DC would be gearing up a new "Young Justice" monthly comic to expand on the series' unique universe -- and that's exactly what the publisher is doing.

CCI: The DC Kids Panel


'DC Universe Online' to Include Shapeshifting, Cities as Characters and Pre-Loaded Logos

Despite the welcome deluge of information Comic-Con's various announcements and trailer releases yielded regarding Sony's upcoming "DC Universe Online" MMORPG, the sheer scope of the game has ensured that fans still have plenty of questions running up to the title's November release. As part of their ongoing effort to address fan inquiries, game director Chris Cao and creative director Jens Andersen have shed some light on not only the game's characters, but also the mechanics of its world.

Partymorpho!

Today is "Hector Plasm" and "Invincible Presents" artist Nate Bellegarde's birthday, and to celebrate, he asked his friends for only one present: drawings of DC's swingin' Element Man, Metamorpho, and brother, did they deliver. So as our way of wishing a Happy Birthday to one of our favorite artists, ComicsAlliance has gathered all the drawings he's gotten so far together in one spot! It's a Partymorpho!

Annotations: 'Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne' #4 [Spoilers]

And we're back again, this time with yet another issue of "Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne." This one eschews the search plot to focus purely on the story from Bruce's perspective -- or, more precisely, from the perspective of the people around Bruce, who is completely silent for this entire issue in a nod to the silent, nameless lone gunslinger (or Batarang-slinger) archetype.

Super Mario Meets Superman and Other Imagined Illustrations

"Marvel vs. Capcom 3" may be on the cutting edge of comic book/video game crossover approaches, but one bold, forward-thinking artist out there has a vision of how things could be in a world where confrontations such as the Super Skrull vs. Ryu and The Hulk vs. Donkey Kong are commonplace.

The Damp Knight Returns


Comic Book Legends Revealed #271



BLOGS


The Aquaman Shrine
JLA-Z: JLA Year One Pin-Up

Armagideon Time
Ghetto-Blaster — it’s who he is, and what he does…

Atomic Surgery
Steve Ditko's First Changing Man (1960)

Diana Prince: Wonder Woman
The Top 20 Steve Trevor Covers

Diversions of the Groovy Kind
Spectre/Wildcat team-up in The Spectre #3 (December 1967)

Firestorm Fan
Brightest Day, Toys, Appearances, Cartoons, and more!

Girls Gone Geek
Who’s That Girl?

Green Lantern Butt's FOREVER!
Green Lantern #56

The Idol-Head of Diabolu
The Human Flame: Sixth Most Important Martian Manhunter Adversary

Kingdom Kane
ATOM No. 35, March-February 1968

Once Upon A Geek
Too Many Blondes?

Power of the Atom
The Top 20 Captain Atom Covers

Reilly2040's Blog
Time Masters: Vanishing Point #1

Siskoid's Blog of Geekery
Batman and the Outsiders #6: Pages 17-19

Slay, Monstrobot of the Deep
World Without A Superman, Part III

Supergirl Comic Box Commentary
Review: Action Comics #891

6 comments:

The Irredeemable Shag said...

Frank - While I'm gonna miss these comprehensive posts, I completely understand where you are coming from. Sorry I haven't been much help with Bloodlines. I've thrown a couple links out there to this site, but I haven't contributed any articles. :(

I love what you're doing here, so I hope you keep up the parts you have time for.

The Irredeemable Shag
http://onceuponageek.com
http://firestormfan.com

Diabolu Frank said...

No worries, Shag. Between OUAG and FF, I figure you have your bases covered. I needed the space, and a few others have made use of it, but it was never intended as an obligation. I'm real happy with how things are going, and if some things have to fall by the wayside to keep up overall quality, so be it. I just wanted to explain why Direct Currents was hitting the Slimfast and offer up the slack if anyone wanted to take hold. Truthfully though, there is such a thing as too many links, especially to already well-trafficked news sites. Better to focus on highlights and blogs, I figure.

The Irredeemable Shag said...

Frank - Thanks for the understanding. Sounds like a good plan.

Keep up the good work here and on all the other blogs you run. By the way I've been meaning to ask, are you trying to surpass Rob Kelly for the number of blogs? ;)

Thanks!
Shag

LissBirds said...

I still haven't figured out what (if anything) I can do to contribute to this blog in some meaningful way, but I think I could handle a link list...I feel a little bad for not contributing.

Diabolu Frank said...

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!! No more blogs, at least until I'm out of school. I've got to get me a Marvel blog sometime, but I'll enlist ...nurgh... for that when I can. Wonder Woman had to have her own blog, and I don't have the heart to kill either JLD or POTA to fold them into Bloodlines, but that. is. it.

Liss, again, I'm not whining over not having enough friends playing with me. I just know some folks (looking at you both) liked the regular link lists, and I didn't want to chop them down or turn them irregular without explaining myself.

I also have to warn you, link lists such as these are MASSIVELY time consuming. Pic posts take me about a quarter hour if I don't ramble on, fuss with manipulation overly much, or have to do research relating to the images. I can knock out an opinion/anecdotal post in 30 min.-an hour. Brief story synopsizes start in that time frame, with more elaborate numbers taking as much as 3-4 hours. Any given DC Current of the type I've done to date starts in the two hour range, and if I couple it with a ...nurgh... Linkypoo, I can blow 10-12 hours on the two posts, which are almost immediately out of date and irrelevant to general audiences. It's all sizzle, no steak, and grease burns besides.

LissBirds said...

A Marvel blog? Nooooo.....!!

I don't mind the time-consuming aspect (I have plenty of time), it's the coming-up-with-good-links and/or ideas aspect that holds me up. I might post a link list or something here sooner or later just for the heck of it.