★ strange news from another star

I'm a bit 'meh' about Marvel these days, but I'll just put this here anyway because Jim Cheung.

The biggest super heroes in comics today: the Avengers, X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy, Fantastic Four, Inhumans, Superior Spider-Man and more!

The most dangerous threat in the Marvel Universe: Thanos!

The grandest Marvel Comics event of all time: Infinity!

This May for Free Comic Book Day, prepare yourselves for the greatest battle for survival ever waged in the Marvel Universe as Marvel marches towards Infinity! In this all-new story by the blockbuster creative team of Jonathan Hickman and Jim Cheung, witness the opening shots of the war that will be heard around the galaxy. Plus, get a sneak peek behind a major Marvel release that hasn’t been announced yet and relive Thanos’ first solo story.

With the entire Marvel Universe on the brink of intergalactic war, no fan can miss this year’s Free Comic Book Day!

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2013: INFINITY
Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN
Pencils & Cover by JIM CHEUNG
ON SALE – MAY 4, 2013!

Marvel.com, February 11, 2013

There's another world living inside Vasilis Lolos' mind. One that runs off of electric lungs and electric nerves and neon signs that fire off strange and weird ideas that no one can capture, save him. His mind is like an island made of unused replicant parts and Otomo extras, jutting from the waters of impossibilities, its only inhabitants the offbeat characters he's created with his ink and words.

"Last Call 2" is the first of these beautifully morbid creations: an OGN about two boys on an interdimensional ghost train, soon to hit finer comic shops at the end of the month from Oni Press. Then there's the three-issue "Akaneiro: Demon Hunters" miniseries at Dark Horse Comics in May, where Lolos will be drawing an armor-clad Red Riding Hood set in what can only be described as an amalgamation of Japanese RPGs. And finally, "Electronomicon" is a bizarre, futuristic story where cyberpunk clashes with a love of retro junk also published by Oni and set for release later this year. Lolos spoke with Comic Book Resources about his offbeat projects, his inspirations and his reaction to the comic book industry.

CBR News: Vasilis, recently you posted an inspired take on Spider-Man 2099, yours being a man covered in mech-armor, and having arms for legs. Is this a direction you'd like to see some of the more mainstream characters take? Are there any specific characters or titles you'd like to work on?

Vasilis Lolos: I understand the iconic mythology around characters, but I also like it when people do their own take on a specific type of household character. I mean, take Frank Miller's "Dark Knight" -- I remember reading that when I was 10? 11? I was like, "What the fuck is this!?" It blew my mind that all that crazy story and art potential was inside the character. The only other Batman thing that really amazed me was when I saw Tim Burton's "Batman" at the theater.

As far as it goes on a personal level of what I would like to see -- Hell yeah, fuse "Metal Gear" with "Spider-Man 2099." Yes, it totally makes sense to me. Arms for legs, sure! I mean, if you are genetically changed into something like a spider that doesn't separate between arms and legs, you just have the one thing that helps you crawl around better. Or it could be a cyborg thing, where in the future he comes to that conclusion on his own, and he's like, "Oh yeah, hands for feet." But that's something you see on spinoff titles where you don't mess with the iconic element or continuity. I personally thought that making Peter Parker a clone was one of the most brilliant things in mainstream comics! I thought that this makes everything interactive, like all these years [and] all the stories, all the Spider-stuff, everything was the story of a copy. Brilliant. But then I saw what was really going on... not what I hoped for.

Like I said, I love the iconic mythology of these characters, but I'd love to see them go to some other places. Take Ghost Rider: what if a serial killer dies from his own iron maiden-like killing tool, and has to redeem himself by living inside his own device of torture as the Spirit of Vengeance? Demons inside a robotic torture machine, haunted by his actions, pushed to do good, while satisfying his own lust for blood and death. I could go on like this forever. You can shape anything into whatever you want, you can have Tony Stark create a "Neon Genesis Evangelion" robot and rule the world.

Is that the kind of work you want to do, or do you prefer doing your own thing?

I've learned to work an angle on any job I take, no matter what I like at the moment. I trained myself to find the one thing that appeals to me on any project and keep me interested. It's a mechanism I picked up, has a 93% success rate. I am interested in a variety of things, it's not like "I like to draw guys in raincoats" therefore "raincoats for everyone!" I keep my radar way open when it comes to art and stories, but since we are talking "basic comic book structure," let's focus on the art. If I have a preference, it would be projects where making the art does not feel like being part of a factory conveyor belt. That and fads, especially comic book fads; I like to consider myself as a very forward-thinking person with a huge artistic ego which does not allow me to "follow."

You have two books coming out from Oni Press soon, "Electronomicon" and "Last Call 2." Can you explain what they're about?

"Last Call" is kinda my version of "Stand By Me" set in a Miyazaki-type world. It's about two boys lost inside an interdimensional ghost train, trying to find their way home while escaping a murderer of ghosts. One of the two main characters gets thrown off the train in the beginning of the book because he doesn't have a ticket. He comes back in the end of it, [and] a lot of things have changed, time has passed differently while he was off the train, and he is ten years older than his friend. The second book goes deeper in the murder mystery and the relationship of the two friends. It is essentially a coming of age story.

"Electronomicon" is set in the future in the year 2133, on a post-global war earth [where] humans are forced to move under the earth; the final war made the atmosphere uninhabitable, there is no sun coming through, just freezing [weather] and toxicity. Humans have built black pyramid energy collectors. To make "good of a bad situation," they bomb the radioactive atmosphere, creating really intense massive toxic storms that the pyramids convert to energy to power their electric subterranean structures.

The cities are in classic '90s cyberpunk fashion, "sectors", and there is one global city under the flag of the United Allies. Our hero is a child of 2121, a celebrated year for human kind that acted like a fix for the planet that was coming out of the "Final War." He is all about collecting everything vintage from our time, and makes money making custom computers out of vintage electronics from our time. One day he finds a strange cassette tape program while on his usual retro-junk rounds and takes it home. That's where trouble starts. One thing is for sure, that whatever is coded in there makes the dead twist and turn inside their machine graves where humans stored them.

That's seriously unlike anything I've heard of. What was the inspiration for this story?

The inspiration comes from just over-thinking about death, the occult, and the internet. Also keeping busy with things I like such as "Blade Runner," Kubrick, Lovecraft, Sega Genesis/MegaDrive games. I don't really know; there is not one place that I drew inspiration from. It's just me and the stuff that occupies my mind. What does the future hold; is it going to be like the movies? Are people in the far future going to be like us just with different gadgets? I mean, people in the past were just like us, same vices, same problems, it's the "stuff" that changes, not the essence of what you do with it, how you get them or how you make them.

Music is the same; there are things that most people like, things that are for the young and restless, and things that are in the underground just before they become the mainstream in their turn. It is all the same.

I spend time thinking about how death will be in the future; will it be more exploited like in the Victorian times, and boom of séances and mysticism? Dial-a-dead? Holographic memories of loved ones gone? The more sci-fi notion of uploading a cemetery where you can visit anyone? In the "Electronomicon" world such things exist, you can literally visit Hades, it's like a huge game full of NPCs -- seems full, but it is desolate, sad and dead. Now if something boils and toils inside those machine coffins, it's another story.

My initial idea was of the earth as a black, unnatural, dead planet going through the motions of a headless chicken that runs around. The body does not know what happened to the head. It is pretty grim man, it is therapy.

Let's talk about something less black and muddy, the visuals. I feel like I took a lot from my early inspirations of old-school anime and the movies of Ridley Scott and Kubrick. There are a lot of sub-worlds in the book such as cartoon characters, commercials, products, and a huge library of subtle characters that are not in your face, but add to the world.

With "Electronomicon," it's a whole different game, its a personal epic that I've been planning and plotting for years to create a plausible, believable universe. It is not even a comic book in my head, it's an audiovisual art statement.

What do you mean by "audio/visual art statement?"

I mean that personally this book is a milestone for me, because I freed myself of a lot of self-imposed blocks. That goes for the writing part and the art part. The way I think about the book and the story is on a whole, that's why I use the phrase "audio-visual project" often. That's why I re-did huge chunks of it three-to-four times. It would be great to do a version where I can have all the original versions of the parts that were remade or just scraped. I am making a full soundtrack for it under the name "La Suspiria," which is my personal music project, and I am looking into making some animated parts to enhance the experience of the world that I am trying to build. Making comics is hard, but I think that there should be more to it than sequential panels of art. Maybe it's just me. And in the end, that's just how I feel about it, it's an art statement. Too cocky? Who cares?

I love it when things aren't rushed, and the project feels like an experience. Like when someone gives you a map to go along with whatever fantasy story you're reading, or a dictionary that defines alien terminology. You're not providing a map, you're providing moving parts.

Right now, I just want to be done with it. The world is already in my head and I've been adding to it for years. But the truth is that even if this took, what, four years roughly, the actual work is being done in a very short period of time. For instance, "Last Call," both books took me less than three months to create start to finish. It's the details that delay the process. If I do a 40-page chapter five times over and over because the art is not coming out right, or it's plain bullshit, or I decide that the character design needs to change -- or I need a break by doing a 30-page story that has nothing to do with the book I am working on. In other words, I don't want to further the experience, I just want to finish it. If any "furthering" is needed -- blam -- VOLUME 2. But on this specific "Electronomicon" project, I keep myself busy with writing music, making videos, and creating all sorts of art/storytelling devices.

It was recently announced that you'll be working with writer Justin Aclin on American McGee's "Akaneiro: Demon Hunters," a 3-issue miniseries from Dark Horse in May. How did you get involved in the project and what readers can expect?

I think it came from working with Dark Horse on "Conan." They liked the work I did and they are a blast to work with, so -- I am sure that my Japanese comic book vibe helped seal the deal too.

The readers can expect some really cool looking art; we as a team at DH, Justin Aclin the writer, and me, have creative freedom, and that makes some really good comics. On my side I grabbed "Breath of Fire," "Lufia" and all the other SNES [Super Nintendo Entertainment System] RPGs by the collar, and ran with it. I have always been a fan of that genre and practically grew up on it. It's cool to put the Red Riding Hood fable in an RPG Japanese Demon spirit slaying twist.

You mention SNES RPGs -- will Akaneiro have armor, HP, and Phoenix Down vials? What about the demons?

Yeah. [Laughs] All the elements are there: crystals, armor level-ups, potions, demons too. I am actually drawing a demon king sitting on a throne of bones inside a cave; he's plotting and talking to a shape-shifting fox demon. It's RPG, alright!

Who are some comic creators you're following? Is there anything out there you'd like to see more of? Less of?

I have not been following any comic book-related stuff since 2009. I have literally no idea what's going on, the only new comic art I see is from people that are my Facebook [friends], and that's three-to-four people. I turned my sights to fashion, contemporary art, design and people in comics that I already knew of, like '70s manga, Mike Mignola, Katsuya Terada, Jamie Hewllet and such. I started looking more at illustration masters, and '70s-'90s video game box design. Tumblr accounts. The internet. Right now, personally, I'd rather make comics and tell stories than read them.

I would like to see more stuff that appeals to my tastes, and I would like to see comics reclaim their high-ranking place in the popular art market. I would like to see what's the next evolutionary step for the medium.

As for what I want to see less... I want less bullshit.

What do you consider bullshit? Revamps or half-hearted productions?

None of the above. It's a personal thing and it has to do with the art as a form of expression through sequential storytelling, the way some things are promoted or not promoted enough, the future of comics in general. I don't know how to describe it because it's something different every time I set off at something. One man's garbage is the other man's treasure. Maybe I am upset that I don't see more stuff that caters to me, or maybe I would be more upset if I did.

"Bullshit" is when people go into this pissing contest of who uses up the most ink, he who puts the most lines or letters wins. I love a high detailed comic or a meaty read, but it's as if some people think that good comics measure in some sort of dot/per/detail/inch or how many words per page thing. Tell that to the "Sex Pistols," the manufactured boy band of the '70s that barely knew how to turn on the amps, yet they changed the world.

Do you think comics can change the world?

Yes, "Superman" and his heritage changed the world. Frank Miller's "300" did permanent damage to Greece. Did you know about that? It's a great comic book with great art, which I owned two copies of each issue -- one to read, one to keep. But "300" woke the insane Greek/white pride in the hearts of Greeks. I am talking about the movie, of course, because morons can barely read. I can surely say that "300" permanently changed our Greek modern society for the worse. There are so many Greek pride/"300"/Leonidas tattoos that if you get one there is a joke about it: At the beach it will be you and 300 Spartans.

"Last Call 2" is on sale January 30 from Oni Press, and you can read a preview right now on CBR. Oni will also release "Electronomicon" later this year. "Akaneiro: Demon Hunters" begins in May from Dark Horse, and you can see more of Lolos' work on his personal website.

Lolos' Opens "Electronomicon" with "Last Call 2" & "Akaneiro" by Ryan Burton, January 30, 2013

By far the best single recap of MorrisonCon is Andy Khouri's:
'Multiversity': Grant Morrison Interview And Frank Quitely Art From MorrisonCon, September 29, 2012
MorrisonCon: The Cure For The Common Comic Book Convention, October 5, 2012

Check out all of Comics Alliance's coverage of the con @ their website and the rest of Pat Loika's photos @ his Flickr photoset.



Really great perspective from "LessThanZero" @ The Beat, On the Scene: MorrisonCon—how life changing was it?, October 2, 2012

And Bleeding Cool will be doling out their coverage in small doses all this month @ their MorrisonCon tag. Check it out.

Laura Sneddon has posted an awesome recap/transcript of the headline panel featuring Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (even though it gets a bit distracting to me to keep calling him "Frank" when he's Vince inside my head). Some great photos as well: Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely in Conversation, July 5, 2012

Vince: The choice is usually work with Grant or work with somebody else, so Grant's always the better choice. Or what sometimes happens is Grant will say, "I've got a couple of things," and he'll run them past me to see which one I’m most interested in.

Grant: There are certain things like Superman or We3, which seemed like no one else could do this. So I kinda had this idea of what could be done, and I knew that nobody else would carry the nuances like in All-Star Superman and in We3 the kind of kinetic, highly edited camera movement.

My favourite parts of the panel are all of the parts where they're saying things.

Check out Comics Anonymous' coverage of the event as well:
Glasgow Comic Con 2012 - Day 1 by Craig Hastie & Gary Watson, July 1, 2012 and
Glasgow Comic Con 2012 - Day 2 by Craig Hastie & Gary Watson, July 2, 2012

And Bob Mitchell has also posted some interesting bits of the panel:
Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely at Glasgow Comic Con!, July 3, 2012

Grant Morrison filled the guest DJ spot on KCRW radio - the audio interview is posted on their website.

Grant Morrison is a renowned writer who explores the underbelly of pop culture and modern society through the prism of comic books. His music tastes are just as thoughtful, with a track that proves parodies can be as good as the original, some psychedelic hip-hop and a song he considers the theme to his cult favorite comic series The Invisibles. Grant’s most recent release is a book analyzing superheroes called Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Superhero.

( Tracklist )

( Transcript )

Guest DJ Project on KCRW hosted by Eric J. Lawrence, January 4, 2012

Dark Horse will serialize new work by Evan Dorkin in three issues of its Dark Horse Presents anthology beginning with March's Issue 10.

Called House of Fun, the comic will serve as a venue for Dorkin to revisit some of his older concepts, including Murder Family, The Eltingville Comic Book, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Role-Playing Club, and, yes, Milk and Cheese. Each eight-page installment will be colored by his wife and frequent collaborator Sarah Dyer.

"The idea was to bring back as many of my old characters and concepts from Milk and Cheese and Dork as possible, grouping it all under the new House of Fun name," Dorkin explained on the publisher's website. "I decided not to use Dork as a catchall title for these comics. I got sick of the name a long time ago and this relaunch felt a good opportunity to finally retire it. [...] This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time now. The last issue of Dork came out in 2006 and it's been even longer since I worked on an Eltingville or Murder Family strip. I'm excited to be working on my own stuff again, I'm having a lot of fun making these comics, and I hope folks will have fun reading them. If not they can go suck an egg."

Dark Horse Presents #10 goes on sale March 21.

Evan Dorkin brings House of Fun to Dark Horse Presents by Kevin Melrose, November 30, 2011

This is THE BIG ONE! This December, 20 years after Michael Allred's independent comics icon was introduced to the world, a celebration of all things Madman will take the form of a gigantic 11 x 17 hardcover! The MADMAN 20TH ANNIVERSARY MONSTER HC will include an all-new MADMAN story from Allred, as well as contributions from an impressive list of industry giants such as Darwyn Cooke, Frank Quitely, Jeff Smith, and Erik Larsen.

The jam-packed 264 pages of this epic coffee table book will weigh in as the perfect selection for those looking for the most ginchy of gifts this holiday season. The MADMAN 20TH ANNIVERSARY MONSTER HC will appeal to any fan of the heartfelt, retro-pop heroics of MADMAN and Allred's other critically acclaimed work like X-Statix and iZombie.

Twenty years on, Madman still holds the same appeal with fans, and with his creator, more than ever. "In my new story I was inspired to take Frank "Madman" Einstein on an adventure that took him on retrospective time trip, an inter-dimentional detour, a jungle excursion, and a kind of faux-family therapy exchange. I pulled out all stops," Allred said. "We're making sure that everyone will be getting some serious bang for their buck!"

Nearly every great artist to ever work in comics is in this book! That means more new Madman strips from Peter Bagge, Kyle Baker, Philip Bond & Peter Milligan, Darwyn Cooke, Dave Cooper, Dean Haspiel, Los Bros Hernandez, Erik Larsen, David Mack, Pat McKeown, Bernie Mireault, Michael Avon Oeming, Paul Pope, Eric Powell, Frank Quitely, Steven T. Seagle & Teddy Kristiansen, Jeff Smith, Jay Stephens, Craig Thompson, Matt Wagner, Joe Quinones & Maris Wicks. Plus, almost every Madman illustration collected over the past 20 years from all the greats will be included, including images by the likes of Frank Frazetta, Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, Moebius, Frank Miller, and Dave Stevens.

MADMAN 20TH ANNIVERSARY MONSTER HC (OCT110429, ISBN: 978-1-60706-472-5), a 264-page oversized full-color hardcover graphic novel for a hundred bucks, will be on sale in stores on December 21, just in time to make the list of perfect gifts!

THIS MADMAN IS A MONSTER! by Image Comics, November 28, 2011

On sale now is Dark Horse Presents #6, the latest issue of Dark Horse's prestigious anthology series. Featuring no distracting advertisements, the 80-page book contains material by such reliably entertaining comics creators as Robert Love, Peter Hogan, Carla Speed McNeil, Filipe Melo, Neal Adams, Steve Niles and David Walker. Among the stories in the latest issue are a new works by Daytripper and Casanova's Fabio Moon, plus new episodes of Beasts of Burden by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson and Andi Watson's popular Skeleton Key.

Described by ComicsAlliance's David Brothers as having what comics fans need whether they know it or not, Dark Horse Presents' greatest asset is its diversity. "A diverse line-up can draw in fans from several different directions," wrote Brothers. "Diverse anthologies are opportunities to discover new creators or series, too. The relaunch of Dark Horse Presents... has been particularly good to me on that front, giving me a chance to discover classic series that I never got around to reading and learn about new, and talented, creators."

'Dark Horse Presents' Brand New Work by Fabio Moon by Andy Khouri, November 23, 2011

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the comic shop, Dark Horse unleashes another monstrous volume of comics from today's greatest creators! Boasting a brand-new story by Brazilian wunderkind Fabio Moon, this volume also features the second of three new Beasts of Burden stories by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson! Throw in continuing stories by Steve Niles, Robert Love, David Walker, Carla Speed McNeil, Filipe Melo, Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse, and Howard Chaykin, and you'll find yourself on the receiving end of another eighty-page dose of ad-free thrills!

* A brand new Beasts of Burden story and a new short by Fabio Moon!

Dark Horse Presents #6 by Dark Horse Comics

We’re about to look into the future. Look for these Vertigo titles to be published in Summer 2012. Please keep in mind this information is not final and may be subject to change.

Coming in August 2012:

THE INVISIBLES OMNIBUS HC
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: Steve Yeowell, Jill Thompson, Dennis Cramer, Chris Weston, John Ridgway, Steve Parkhouse, Kim DeMulder, Paul Johnson, Phil Jimenez, John Stokes, Tommy Lee Edwards, Dick Giordano, Mark Buckingham, Mark Pennington, Michael Lark, Keith Aiken, Marc Hempel, Ray Kryssing, Philip Bond, Glyn Dillon, Ivan Reis, Warren Pleece, Sean Phillips, Jay Stephens, Frank Quitely, Grant Morrison, and others
Collects: THE INVISIBLES #1-25, THE INVISIBLES VOL. 2 #1-22, THE INVISIBLES VOL. 3 #12-1 and a story from VERTIGO: WINTER’S EDGE #1
$150.00 US, 1,536 pg

What’s coming in Summer 2012? by Pamela Mullin, November 22, 2011

DC Comics announced on Tuesday that Grant Morrison and J.G. Jones‘ 2008 crossover event will be getting the giant, oversized treatment with Absolute Final Crisis.

Final Crisis was the story about how evil defeated good in the DC Universe. And while plenty of readers didn’t quite enjoy the book, I did. In fact, it’s one of my favorites events. But how I or you feel about the content of the story is simply irrelevant when it boils down to the Absolute format. You see, because Absolute Editions are not necessarily a way to enjoy the narrative of whatever story they collect. No, these oversized editions, to me, are primarily for the art. Of the Absolute Editions I do have, I can never actually read the story, because the art is too pretty and I just get distracted. And Final Crisis is a perfect addition the these collections.

In Final Crisis #1-7, J.G. Jones’ art is some of the most gorgeous out there. To see the scene of Batman fighting against Darkseid in this format would be like a dream come true. Think of all the colors! And really, how could anybody complain about Jones’ art in this book, at all? As I said, that’s the take-away from any Absolute Edition. So, simply put, you’re going to want to pick this up.

Now, you may be thinking that 7 issues may not seem like a lot for an Absolute Edition, and you’d be absolutely right. But, what you may not remember is that Grant Morrison wrote several of the tie-ins to the mini-series, also. And the majority of those will be in this collection, as well. Absolute Final Crisis collects Final Crisis #1-7, Final Crisis: Submit #1, Final Crisis: Superman Beyond #1-2, and the Final Crisis Sketchbook, which are all written by Grant Morrison. But, if you remember, the Superman Beyond comics were originally printed in 3D. So, how then are they going to work that in to this collection? Well, DC Comics will also be providing 3D glasses in the packaging for this Absolute Edition.

Again, this isn’t the prime way to check out the narrative of the extremely high concept story. If you want to do that, I’d suggest you read every DC book that Morrison had written up until that point [see Batman: Batman & Son and The Black Glove] as well as a lot of New Gods comics. Or, pick up the collected Final Crisis in hardcover or paperback which has the same titles from this collection, but it’s told in a linear manner. And there’s no sign whether or not this collection will have them separated or brought together. Also, the giant format, as I said earlier, is not the best way to read the story. But if you want the story, you’re also going to need to read the Final Crisis: Batman tie-ins that are in the RIP collection, as well. Supergods wouldn’t hurt, either. Either way, though, J.G. Jones’ art in this will be a sight to behold, and if you’re wanting to get it, go to your local comic shop and make sure they reserve a copy, or hold out and hope that the traditional short print runs will be nice to your bookshelf.

Absolute Final Crisis will be hitting stores in February at a retail price that is currently unknown to me because I can’t find the information anywhere. Usually, though, the prices for these are anywhere between $75 and $150, so take a cue from the scouts and be prepared.

‘Absolute Final Crisis’ Coming In February by Hunter Camp, November 12, 2011