It may be September, but we’re not done sharing videos from Comic-Con! Our final one-on-one conversation from San Diego is with none other than two-time Eisner Award winning artist Cliff Chiang!
Continue reading “Hard NOC Live from SDCC 2016: Cliff Chiang”
Nearly ten years after collaborating on Secret Identities together, Keith finally meets artist Dustin Nguyen on the floor of San Diego Comic-Con 2016 for a special mini edition of Hard NOC Life!
Continue reading “Hard NOC Live from SDCC 2016: Dustin Nguyen”
The creative team behind the critically acclaimed Image Comics series Monstress — Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda — made a rare appearance together at San Diego Comic-Con 2016 and we were able to spend a few minutes with them for a special Hard NOC Life chat!
Continue reading “Hard NOC Live from SDCC 2016: Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda”
Last week, we had the opportunity to be a part of CrossLines, a pop-up culture lab on intersectionality presented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. In addition to hosting a Reading Lounge/Book Swap and live mural by artist Matt Huyhn, The Nerds of Color was invited to conduct live recordings of Hard NOC Life. The first of these live podcasts featured comic book artist Shawn Martinbrough.
Continue reading “Hard NOC Live at the Smithsonian #CrossLines: Shawn Martinbrough”
This essay contains spoilers for both the television series and the comic book.
I don’t have cable. So I usually have to wait until the day after to watch The Walking Dead. As luck would have it, I’m in a cheap hotel with complementary AMC with my daughter when the episode “Thank You” airs. Six years old, my daughter is in the bath and complains about the sound from my television show — the two things that she fears the most, while awake and in her nightmares, are racists and zombies. Our compromise is that I turn the sound down and the captions on. And then I watch one of my favorite characters in pop culture get deluged in zombie claws, teeth, blood and guts.
Continue reading “Now or Later: We’ll Need to Deal with That Death on The Walking Dead“
Paper Girls #1 is a finely crafted, unpredictable marvel. I haven’t been this hooked this instantaneously on a comic since maybe all the way back to Dark Knight Returns, or the first Eastman and Laird TMNT books, stuff I loved as a kid. Paper Girls gives me that kind of nostalgic sensation, like I’m in middle school again. But I was never as cool as these night-riding, shit-talking 12-year-olds.
Continue reading “The Happy Hour Review: Image Comics’ Paper Girls“
Yesterday, we published the first part of my sprawling interview with fantasy novelist and comic book writer Marjorie Liu. She was at New York Comic-Con promoting next month’s release of her first creator-owned comic for Image Monstress.
For the second half of our interview, I ask her about her previous career as a lawyer, how she decided to become a writer, and what it means to be a prominent Asian American in the media.
Continue reading “Knowing Our Passions: More with Marjorie Liu”
I spent this past weekend at New York Comic-Con. When I wasn’t manning the Epic Proportions booth, I was able to sneak away and meet with writer Marjorie Liu. She makes her long-awaited return to comics with Image Comics’ Monstress, reuniting her with X-23 artist Sana Takeda.
In the first part of this exclusive, wide-ranging interview, Marjorie and I discuss the origins of the book, her childhood obsession with the apocalypse, the influence of pre-World War II China, and what it was like reuniting with artist Sana Takeda.
Continue reading “Making Monstress: An Exclusive Conversation with Marjorie Liu”
For as long as I can remember, one description of comics has prevailed: comic books are adolescent white boy power fantasies. If you look at the majority of the offerings, it would be kind of difficult to dispute this. Go to any comic shop and you will see a crowd of covers presenting overly muscled white men and impossibly voluptuous white women competently combating some evil, some threat that is just as anatomically disproportionate as the hero/ines are.
Comics, at first glance, are filtered through a firmly and profoundly white and male point of view. But this is a cursory view. If you dig, research, or explore beyond the DC/Marvel axis, this notion begins to lose its stickiness.
by Jerry Ma | Originally posted at Epic Proportions
The countdown begins, and I’m super excited to announce the guests I’ll be having at my booth for New York Comic-Con this weekend!
It’s always a pleasure and honor for me getting friends to come do some signings, but this year just seems to have some more excitement for me.
Continue reading “Epic Props’ NY Comic-Con Schedule and Exclusives”
Remember comic books? Those flimsy sheets of paper emblazoned with colorful superheroes battling diabolical supervillains in space, in an underground lair, in a bunker, under the sea, or in parallel dimensions? Those passports to wonder that are the progenitors of the DC and Marvel Cinematic Universes and their respective television properties? Yeah, they’ve been completely overshadowed by their on-screen interpretations. Most people enjoying super heroics on the big and small screens aren’t comic fans. This isn’t a bad thing. I know tons of people who loved the Harry Potter films, but have yet to read word one of J.K. Rowling’s epic texts. There are still some of us who are huge comic book fans, and have been feeling a little cheated by the Big Two.
Written by Jonthan Tsuei and with art by Eric Canete, RUNLOVEKILL — which debuted last month — is a refreshing, futuristic, cyber-punk tale with art and elements that I would dare to compare to Aeon Flux. Issue #2 hits comic shops everywhere next week. Before it comes out, though, we’re going to take a look back at RUNLOVEKILL #1, which builds tension very well and leaves you on the edge of your seat.
Jonathan Tsuei and artist Eric Canete will soon be gracing the nerd world with their new comic from Image, RUNLOVEKILL. I had the honor of reading the first issue and can report that it is an innovative, futuristic, action packed story with some elements that I would dare to compare with Aeon Flux.
Recently, I had the opportunity to talk to writer Jonathan Tsuei about the comic, character development, and his future projects.
Continue reading “An Interview with RUNLOVEKILL Writer Jonathan Tsuei”
by Marjorie Liu
Well, last Thursday was a big day.
I took the stage at Image Expo to discuss my new creator-owned title, Monstress, which I’m working on with Sana Takeda (who is brilliant and kicking ass). I gave an extensive interview at Newsarama, so check that out — but in short, it’s a privilege and honor to be creating this book with her at Image, where we can finally stretch our wings. We’ve also got Rus Wooton on letters and design, and editing is being handled by Jennifer Smith, my former assistant editor at Marvel.
I’ll be writing more about Monstress, but in the meantime, here’s a full rundown of all the art we showed at the release — and it’ll give you a hint of what’s in store for readers this summer.
by Phil Yu | Originally posted at Angry Asian Man
AMC hit zombie drama The Walking Dead returns for its fifth season this Sunday, October 12. Last season left off on a bit of a cliffhanger, with Rick and his merry crew of walker slayers finally reuniting, but captured and locked away in a train car by some mysterious new adversaries. How will they get out this jam?
And of course, we get to see Steven Yeun as our favorite Asian American zombie apocalypse survivor Glenn Rhee. According to this interview in Entertainment Weekly, Steven says Glenn “is a leader” in season five.
So check it. To celebrate the return of The Walking Dead, I’m giving away some official Walking Dead Series Five Action Figures by McFarlane Toys. Who wants a Glenn action figure? Scroll down for details.
Continue reading “Giveaway: Win a Walking Dead Glenn Action Figure”
Thumbnail layouts are the essential blueprint for every page that I draw. This is the stage where I do all of my storytelling editing such as choosing angles, the lighting, etc.
In this sequence from Thief of Thieves #17 written by Andy Diggle, my deadline was looming so the layout is looser than I typically prefer. It might look like chicken scratch but it was enough for me to quickly nail down the flow of Andy’s script and keep things moving.
Continue reading “Staging the Action in the Pages of Thief of Thieves“
Designing comic book covers can be a challenging process especially when you’re also drawing the interiors. Since covers are done months in advance (for sales and solicitation purposes), the final script typically hasn’t been completed yet. As the artist, you have to create an image that teases the story without knowing exactly what that story is.
Usually, I’ll turn a cover design around within a day or two after I get the concept. Once approved, I’ll turn around the cover a few days after that. The biggest hurdle is stopping the process of drawing the sequential pages to shift gears and tackle the cover.
Continue reading “Designing the Covers for Image’s Thief of Thieves“
[Ed. note: This essay first appeared as a series of tweets on Marc’s twitter account and is being re-presented with his permission.]
The six years between the Genius Pilot Season issue release and the miniseries dropping [last week] felt like an eternity. But now, it feels like the world was making us wait for just the right time. When the hunger for female leads would reach a tipping point. When the hunger for diversity on and behind the comics pages would reach a tipping point. And, sadly, when the devaluation of black youth would reach a tipping point.
I wanted the opportunity to voice the reasons for the design of the cover for a comic book by Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman entitled Genius. Before the book’s release, it has already been the subject of many heated conversations. Some feel offended that a black character being celebrated for her tactical Genius, is displayed nearly nude on a floor with caution tape loosely bound around her. They think the cover is over sexualized and offensive. Some feel it’s a poor representation of the book and black women as a whole, without ever having read it.
Others have their burdens of color on their shoulders because of the past suffering of blacks, its subsequent plots and the negative portrayal in mainstream media being so prevalent, that anything slightly resembling that, is tarred and feathered in the digital town square. Where I can understand why this may be the case, I’d like the opportunity to explain who I am and why I’ve made this. If you then feel I should be hung on the proverbial cross for doing this, c’est la vie. I have spoken my mind and created something without apology or retraction. Not everyone will like my work. But I won’t have it misrepresented by people who don’t understand it.
I warn you, there are spoilers in this. So if you prefer not to know the twists and turns, I’d wait until the end of the month after the book has reached its completion. Otherwise, journey forth, brave soul.
As you know, Image/Top Cow releases the hotly anticipated weekly series Genius today. Before you head out to your local comic shop, make sure you check out Shawn’s very nuanced endorsement of the series.
The co-creator of the book and friend of the blog, Marc Bernardin, was a guest on Hard NOC Life recently and talked briefly about the series.
He was also asked by Wired to “write a piece charting his childhood voyage through the nerd-culture landscape — a landscape that rarely felt like a place he belonged.”
Continue reading “Genius Co-Writer Marc Bernardin’s Nerd Origin”
After reading this book, I was hesitant to review it. It is one of those rare books that transcended the four-color realm and hit me in my real life. I was also unsure if my endorsement of the book was an endorsement of some of the messages in the book. Artist Afua Richardson and co-writers Marc Bernadin and Adam Freeman’s Genius is a book that I am still digesting. First introduced in 2008 by Top Cow via “Pilot Season,” Genius is a book that challenges me in a way that I haven’t felt in a while.
Comics are my escape from a stressful job. I want to read snikt and see folks teleport, and leap off buildings — it is a great way to decompress after days of seeing people in pain. Hell, even the more serious fare can act as 22-page escape pods — escaping into the fantastic from the sad and mundane. But this book read more like a possibility than a fantasy. In light of the killings of Eric Garner, Pearlie “Miss Sully” Golden, and Kathryn Johnston at the hands of the police, Genius is almost prescient. And it is a little foreboding.
As we continue Bat Week here at the NOC, Keith (@the_real_chow) brings on William (@williambwest), Raymond, and special guest Marc Bernardin (@marcbernardin) — senior editor at The Hollywood Reporter who is also a comic book and television writer, as well as a frequent guest on Kevin Smith’s Fatman on Batman podcast. Together the four of them reflect on the legacy of Tim Burton’s Batman on Hard N.O.C. Life.
Continue reading “Shadow of the ’89 Batman with Marc Bernardin”
by Adam WarRock | Originally posted on tumblr
I had the pleasure of meeting Joe Kelly yesterday, author of the wonderful Image Comics graphic novel, I Kill Giants. He was an amazingly nice and supportive person, and I had the chance to perform my “I Kill Giants” track for him, which made the house a bit misty eyed. It was a great moment for me, and if you haven’t had the chance to read the book, or hear the song that I made, please take a second to check it out!
Continue reading “I Kill Giants, Free Music, and the Donation Drive”
