Janelle Asselin
‘Mouse Guard’ Invites Guest Creators To Play in its Sandbox This March [Preview]
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of David Petersen's beloved series Mouse Guard, a new collection of short stories set in the Mouse Guard world is about to debut. With stories from creators as varied as Mark Buckingham, Becky Cloonan, and Dustin Nguyen, the four part Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Vol. 3 begins in March.
Comixology Adds Huge Chunk of VIZ Media Manga To Its Library
Good news, manga fans who prefer Comixology over all other digital comics platforms: it's now easier to get your VIZ Media manga fix. This seems to be part of VIZ's ongoing dedication to diversifying the platforms their digital manga is available on, which leaders at the company reported as important over a year ago. As of this week, VIZ has added 650 volumes - over 65 total series - to the Comixology library. These titles are from those originally published by Shogakukan in Japan. This brings the grand total of VIZ offerings up on Comixology to 190 series and 1,100 volumes. Plus, to celebrate this occasion, there's a sale on a few VIZ bundles to get your collection started or to continue building your collection.
Aren’t You A Little Short For A Preview? Get A First Look at Marvel’s ‘Princess Leia’ #1
Everyone's favorite feisty princess headlines a new comic from Marvel out next week. In Princess Leia #1, readers will follow Leia's story immediately following the events of Star Wars IV: A New Hope. As part of Marvel's all-new Star Wars publishing program, this book is a new entry point for readers that seems to require little to no knowledge of anything beyond the movies. Writer Mark Waid and artist Terry Dodson promised we'd see a lot of political intrigue and action, plus Leia's "take-charge attitude and her justified unwillingness to be mansplained to," when we spoke with them in July.
A Whole New World of Creativity: Elsa Charretier on ‘The Infinite Loop,’ A Sci-Fi Story About Women In Love [Interview]
IDW's new book The Infinite Loop, out in April, came from the minds of two French comic creators, writer Pierrick Colinet and artist Elsa Charretier. Colinet and Charretier crowdfunded the first three issues of their comic in Europe, but had their eye on releasing the book in the US due to its adaptability to the American comics market. A sci-fi story about time travel and women in love, The Infinite Loop has a catchy hook, but is even better in execution. It's a book that is a clear collaboration between creators who passionately love the story and are working to execute it in the best way possible.
A few months ago, we spoke with Charretier for our ongoing column Hire This Woman. Now that this woman has, in fact, been hired, we sat down with her again to talk about The Infinite Loop in more detail, including the process and inspiration behind the comic.
Exclusive Preview: ‘Help Us! Great Warrior’ #1; Adorable Creatures And Poor Hygiene
Spinning out of Madéleine Flores' charming, adorable, and funny webcomic about a powerful warrior who protects her village from all kinds of threats, Help Us! Great Warrior #1 hits stands next week from Boom's all-ages line, Boom Box. Fans of the webcomic will find more of the comic they know and love, quite literally -- more hilarity, longer stories, more color, and more battles.
In this exclusive preview Great Warrior faces off against an enemy as old as time, and that enemy is... not having time to shower before going to work. She also faces off against an actual enemy with her requisite humor and toughness. Plus, check out the variant covers by Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb, and MAiS2.
Cece Bell, Jillian & Mariko Tamaki Win Major ALA Awards
The American Library Association (ALA) announced their yearly awards today in conjunction with the ALA Midwinter Conference in Chicago. In a groundbreaking move, a Newbery Honor has been awarded to cartoonist Cece Bell for her graphic novel El Deafo. This is the first time a Newbery Honor has ever been awarded to a comic. At the same awards, Jillian and Mariko Tamaki won a Caldecott Honor and a Printz Honor for their graphic novel This One Summer.
‘The Sims’ Paris Art Show: Enjoy The Pictures, Try Not To Set Them On Fire
In what seems like a fever dream straight from my brain, Geek-Art and French Paper Art Club have teamed up to put on The Sims Official 15th Anniversary Art Show at Espace oppidum in Paris. The pieces will also be available in very limited prints following the show, available on the French Paper Art Club site (which has a ton of really gorgeous prints besides these Sims pieces).
Jeremy Haun’s Dino Day Kickstarter Is Good Parenting AND Good Art
Comics artist Jeremy Haun is currently running a Kickstarter for a project he calls Dino Day, which the father of two created to engage his sons in the process of creating art. The end product will be a hardcover art book of all of his dinosaur drawings, which range from detailed and serious to loose or humorous.
Haun has drawn for DC, Marvel, Image, Top Cow, and more, and is currently the artist on DC's Constantine and Wolf Moon. He's also a part of the Bad Karma collective. While Dino Day has surpassed its funding goal, the Kickstarter is still running for another six days, so fans can still back the project to help it hit stretch goals like fancier printing and additional t-shirt designs.
Educating and Protecting Artists: Comics Lawyer Caitlin DiMotta [Interview]
Caitlin DiMotta goes by @ComicsLawyer on Twitter and she is exactly that. As an attorney and partner at Impact Law Group, she works with many comics creators as their lawyer. Her clients include Kelly Sue DeConnick, Ed Brubaker, Rick Remender, Chip Zdarsky, and Jeff Lemire. Her top priorities are protecting the rights of artists and educating them about their legal rights. ComicsAlliance sat down with her to learn more about the work she does.
Push Comics Forward: Talking About The Future With Boom EIC Matt Gagnon
Boom Studios has a reputation in the comics industry for publishing an increasingly diverse group of books and creators. This commitment to diversity in genre and people is reflected in an all-new initiative the publisher announced today in Previews with a letter from founder Ross Richie. While 2015 is the 10th anniversary of Boom, the publisher wants to talk about what's next rather than what's come before. They call this discussion of the future Push Comics Forward and they don't want it to be only about Boom.
Push Comics Forward is Boom's way of focusing on the ongoing conversation about diversity and the future of the industry. To learn more about this initiative and what to expect from Boom for the next ten years and beyond, we spoke with Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon.