Tag: indie comics

Comics2 Comments

A King Among Men, Dinosaurs, and Robot Karate Bears

Ren Hsieh

It’s the distant future, it’s Los Angeles. So the desolate wasteland in King — a new creator-owned comic by Joshua Hale Fialkov, Bernard Chang, and Marcelo Maiolo — is no stretch. The titular man is the last of his kind, left on an Earth we recognize only in its rubble, surrounded somehow by talking dinosaurs, humanoid animals they call CrossFreaks, and of course, giant karate robot bears.

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Comics, Music

What I Learned by Failing in Comics: Hustle & Flow

ILLMATICAL

Let me start by saying, I’m not a writer. I’m a hustla that raps a lot. For the duration of this causerie, I’m a rapper. Like your favorite rhymes sayer: I got a story to tell.

About decade ago, there was a cipher with the man who gave Bruce Leroy his glow. That build set me on a journey; I took my lyrics and went looking for Sun Dum Goy.

My rhymes, evolved into a screenplay. I rapped in the studio, my rhymes became a novel. I kept on rapping until I had a demo tape.

When I was hustling my original novel in the streets, OGs put me on to the comic book route. Considering the nature of my rhymes: martial arts fantasy fiction, many figured it was best way for people see me lyrically.

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Art, Comics, Guest Post2 Comments

The Art of Monstress

Guest N.O.C.

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.

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Art, Comics4 Comments

Announcing San Francisco’s Inaugural Black Comix Arts Festival

John Jennings

I’m extremely pleased and honored to be a co-organizer of the inaugural Black Comix Arts Festival with the NorcalMLK Foundation of San Francisco! Our committee has put in a lot of work over the last few months to make this happen. Starting in January 2015, in conjunction with the city’s Martin Luther King Day celebrations, the first ever Black Comix Arts Festival will become an annual event.

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Comics, Marvel, Movies13 Comments

I’m Happy for Black Panther… However…

Brandon Easton

Originally posted at The Fool’s Crusade

If you haven’t heard by now, Marvel Entertainment has announced a Black Panther movie and the Black geek community has gone bonkers with virtual high-fives and backflips about the fact that they’re finally getting a big-budget superhero movie with a Black lead.

I’ve never been a fan of the Black Panther (my favorite Black superhero from Marvel was Night Thrasher from the New Warriors) but I will definitely check out the movie when it is released.

One of the unforeseen developments since the announcement of the film is the fear that this will overshadow the efforts of Black indie creators because the Black genre fans out there will have gotten what they’ve always wanted from the Marvel/DC entertainment machine: recognition.

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Comics3 Comments

Robin Ha’s Banchan Comics Will Make You Hungry

Keith Chow

Last weekend, at Baltimore Comic-Con, I had the opportunity to run in to several members of the SIUniverse fam in attendance. One of the alums I visited with was artist Robin Ha, who was exhibiting in Artist Alley for the first time. Not only was it great to catch up — however briefly — but it was also an opportunity to get a print copy of Banchan in Two Pages, a pretty cool recipe comic she’s been updating on the tumblr of the same name.

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Comics, Conventions

Read Yumi Sakugawa’s Ignatz-Nominated Never Forgets Online This Week

Keith Chow

If you love comics and live in the Baltimore-Washington area, this is a big week. The ever-growing Baltimore Comic-Con just concluded one of its biggest shows ever, filling the downtown convention center with fans, cosplayers, and families looking to meet artists and have a generally good time. And this coming weekend, 45 minutes down I-95 in Bethesda, the Small Press Expo (SPX) will be celebrating its 20th anniversary.

A veritable who’s-who will be in attendance at the Marriott Bethesda, including Ignatz Award-nominated artist Yumi Sakugawa. In honor of SPX — and for a limited time, Yumi is letting you read her nominated minicomic Never Forgets online for free.

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Comics, Hard N.O.C. Life1 Comment

MariNaomi Joins the Latest Hard N.O.C. Life

The Nerds of Color

In a special one-on-one conversation, Keith talks to award-winning cartoonist MariNaomi about her recently launched Cartoonists of Color database and forthcoming graphic memoir Dragon’s Breath and Other True Stories from 2D Cloud and Uncivilized Books.

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Comics2 Comments

The Cartoonists of Color Database is Now Live

Keith Chow

A few weeks back, we mentioned that cartoonist MariNaomi was in the midst of creating a database of cartoonists of color. As of today, that database has not only been created, but it’s now live and available here!

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Comics3 Comments

Submit Your Info to the Cartoonists of Color Database

The Nerds of Color

For the last several days, the award-winning cartoonist and graphic novelist MariNaomi has taken to social media to solicit names for a database of cartoonists of color she is currently assembling. And now you can help by adding your name to the list!

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Comics, Conventions3 Comments

The Invisible World of Black Comic Creators

David F. Walker

Originally posted at BadAzz MoFo

Okay, so I got back from the San Diego Comic-Con a few days ago, and I really wanted to share some of my experiences and thoughts, before they are lost in the jumbled mess of my mind. Let me start by saying that I’ve been going to SDCC since 1998, and in that time there are only two years I’ve missed. Some years have been great, and other have been not-so-great. This year was one of the best years for Comic-Con — especially considering where my life is at on a personal level (which I won’t bore you with). Professional things are going well, but because of a series of non-disclosure agreements, I can’t talk about what I’m working on (nor could I talk about these various projects at the con itself).

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Comics11 Comments

Does Anyone REALLY Care About Diversity in Comics?

David F. Walker

Originally posted at BadAzz MoFo

I’m starting to feel like I’m going crazy — as if there is something seriously wrong with me — when the sad truth of the matter is that it is not me at all. It is you. And by “you” I don’t necessarily mean you, the person reading this, but I do mean someone other than myself — the crazy person running around pointing out the truth that You (though not necessarily you) don’t want to face. And the truth that I’m talking about is the simple fact that for all the complaining about the lack of diversity in comics — specifically as it relates to black creators — You don’t really want diversity. Instead, You want to sit around, writing blog posts and articles and leaving comments here and there about how few black creators are working in comics, and how You are so righteously indignant to the plight of struggling black creators who aren’t being given a chance to work for major corporations like Marvel (owned by Disney) and DC (owned by Warner Brothers).

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Comics21 Comments

The Lack of Diversity in Comics: What’re You Doing About It?

David F. Walker

ImageIt seems like every day I read something, somewhere, about the lack of diversity in comics (not to mention various other pop culture mediums). Sometimes these pieces focus on gender, other times on people of color, and sometimes both. At the recent Image Expo, sixteen comic creators took the stage, with only two being women, and none being of color, and in the aftermath we are once again having this conversation. (Read about it here on Bleeding Cool.) To be absolutely clear, this lack of representation in the creative forces that produce comics is problematic. There needs to be greater diversity on many levels when it comes to comics, both on the creative side, and within the stories that are being produced. But that is only one problem, and not the problem I want to address.

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Comics, Reviews4 Comments

‘Letter 44’ Delivers a Political What If?

William B West

What if George W. Bush’s presidency wasn’t as bad as many think? Sure, there were wars and the economic meltdown, but what if that was all part of a greater plan? Like Sway, we don’t have the answers. But what if there was a method to the madness? That’s the jumping off point for Letter 44 from Oni Press.

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