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Gargoyles: Bad Guys 2 by Greg Weisman and Karine Charlebois

The Japanese gargoyle Yama is banished from Clan Ishimura until such time as his lost honor can be restored.  Truly alone for the first time in his long life, he becomes a target of the Hunter, a human who has spent her life training to destroy the gargoyle race.  So when Hunter and her new teammates, Dingo & Matrix, catch up to him, Yama is offered no mercy – and a job?!




Rex Libris 11 by James Turner

R'lyeh has risen from the sea, and volcanoes and riots have erupted all along the Pacific Rim. Rex and a team of elite librarians join forces with a navy taskforce and head to the South Pacific to prevent Cthulhu from awaking and enslaving humanity. Yet the closer the task force gets to R'lyeh, the more its members fall under the sway of Cthulhu's insane dream....




Wonderland 6 by Tommy Kovac and Sonny Liew

The current Wonderland story arc comes to a close with lots of Cheshire Cat and all of the things that make this series, well, a wonder! Artist Sonny Liew was nominated for a 2007 Eisner award for his work on Wonderland.

Rex Libris has always been reliable as a source for funny extraneous expository dialogue, but in issue eleven there was the immortal narration "The phone! It's ringing! I... I'll answer it!" that had me cracking up more than usual.

Of course, the tension is palpable in Rex Libris 11 by James Turner as the librarians prepare to battle the biggun, Cthulhu. But first they must match intellects with Professor Murtlebee, who posits, "Perhaps it is not Cthulhu who is insane but humanity." To which Circe replies, "Just what genre do you think this is?"

Andrew Speed shares my amusement in her review of Rex Libris 11 in her review at Comixtreme. As she notes, Rex is drawing to a close and "Everything's building to a crescendo, and you just know it's going to go out in much action and weird humor, pretty much the way it started."

Rex Libris will end at issue 13. After that, there might be the movie to continue Rex's adventures. Let's hope they get it right.

Hey, I'm back! A week and a day away, and no wealthy patron stepped forward to offer me a life of leisure, so I'm back. Like Zowie in Midnight Sun, I must work for living. (Imagine that last part in a Russian accent.)

Midnight Sun's creator, Ben Towle, is interviewed extensively at the literary blog Chasing Ray, where he discusses the finer points of writing historical fiction and what we should make of the bird that H.R. rescues. I like it because Ben gets in a critique of Ayn Rand's work:

So, to bring things back to the bird, if in my wrestling with that part of the story it ever seemed that something really transparent was developing like "the bird represents so-and-so," I'd rework things—which is why I can't really give you a quick answer for "what does that bird mean?" It strikes me as really unsubtle when I encounter that sort of thing in, for example, those Ayn Rand books where each character represents some sort of really obvious trait or belief and the story then gives us the author's "message" via what happens to those characters within the narrative. I know some people really enjoy those sorts of things, but perhaps it's my background as an undergrad philosophy major that makes that a turn-off for me: if you have some particular philosophical point you want to make, then state it clearly and be done with it. This isn't really what narrative is good at.

Johanna Draper Carslon at Comics Worth Reading has been one of the most prominent fans of Halo and Sprocket by Kerry Callen, and she recently posted a review of Natural Creatures, the eagerly-awaited volume two of that series: "This is truly a comic that anyone can enjoy. The humor comes naturally, and the character interactions have surprising depth." And how does it look? Johanna's verdict is "terrific art, with the characters feeling very realistic and expressive."

You can pre-order Halo and Sprocket: Natural Creatures at comic book stores or at the SLG Publishing website, where it's 10% off!

I would be remiss in my responsibilities as a human being if I did not link to the new Milk and Cheese story, "The Fur Suit of Crappiness" by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer, in Dark Horse Presents. The synopsis: Milk and Cheese practice some fur-secution.

God, I'm sorry about that pun.

Oh, and if you're ordering Fun with Milk and Cheese from Previews, we want you to know that the illustration at left is what the cover actually looks like. Diamond just does not want to change the image for us, no matter how many times we send the new one to them! Also, the book has 96 pages, not whatever it is they've decided to change the page count to. When you're not-a-monopoly-octopus-creature you can get away with doing stuff like that. It's funny because no matter how much your clients complain, they have no other viable choice! You can also buy a movie theater and a share in a baseball team. Just 'cuz. Gives us something to aspire to, kids.

Wow, kids, April was totally the cruelest month to me this year -- so much so that it lasted a couple of weeks into May. But now some of the madness is over, and I had a chance to catch up on submissions. I read about twelve, and then came to one that has a big copyright notice across every page of art, and I got too annoyed to go on. (Yeah, artists -- I'm going to scan your artwork and make my own mini-comic out of it. I'm that much of a loser. Thanks for the vote of confidence!)

So, now that I've divested myself of that responsibility for another week or so, I have time to bring Do You Think You Can Help Me? out of its hiatus state. Since it's been gone so long, I'm answering two questions!

Remember, comments are always welcome on DYTYCHM? posts, and you can send your own questions to slgchief@gmail.com

On to the questions:


This question is a bit of an add on to the last entry. Is it a bad idea to receive a critique from the publishers (or editor)? Perhaps not a detailed critique, but a broad one like "If I wrote about a boy and his lovely dog sprinkles, would you like the idea?" Is this type of critique up to other readers, should they just send the submission in and hope for the best, or would asking the publishers be helpful?

It's really hard to assess a project from a very basic description. When people ask me questions like this at conventions or by email, the answer is usually "Maybe. It depends on the execution." (Other times it's something like, "No, I would not be interested in an amputee incest porn comic.") This comes up often enough that this is in the SLG FAQ, actually. I see submissions that have great premises but poor execution and submissions that have premises I think I wouldn't really be interested in (time travel, for example EDIT: Landry just remind me: no, stupid, you love time travel -- gah, my brain!) that are very well done and draw me in. So when people ask me, "I have this idea... would you be interested in it?" I just say, "I don't know. If you want to make the comic, then start writing and drawing it and send in a submission."


So there is such a thing as a person-to-person interview where author can show a publisher their work in order to be reviewed. This seems like a good idea for many creators because the creator can explain anything that needs to be explained and present themselves in a good manner. However, creators live all over the country, and so paying for a plane ticket to fly to California may be a bit too much. How much of an advantage does a person-to-person interview have versus a submission sent in the mail? Would it be worth meeting a publisher person-to-person, or should a creator not worry because the comic does the talking for them?

You've got it in that last clause there: It's all very well if the creator is there to explain everything to a prospective publisher, but they're not going to do that for every reader. The work has to hold up on its own. If we like the work but have questions about it, we will write to the creator and ask them. Nobody publishing comics has time for in-person pitches for everyone who is wants a project published. If someone were to call or email me and ask if they could come in and pitch something or follow up on a submission, I would say, absolutely, "No" and nervously scan the street outside. You're imposing on an editor if you ask for this.

This is not to say we haven't met with artists in person after they've sent us a submission to discuss their project. This usually happens at conventions that we both happen to be attending. If we can't meet up, then email or the telephone will suffice.

Some publishers set aside time at conventions to hear pitches. I don't know how they do this; I'm way too busy at conventions to think about submissions. But if they do this, it's fine to make an appointment (if necessary) and talk to them, obviously.

Colleen Mondor reviews Midnight Sun by Ben Towle in her Kid, P.I. column at Bookslut. The column focuses on books for kids and young adults, and while Midnight Sun is not meant specifically for this audience, it is still a good graphic novel for young adults, so long as they don't have parents who freak out over a couple of swears. Mondor calls Midnight Sun "a tightly plotted human drama."

Have you ever wondered what it's like to work in comics? So have I -- what it's like for other people, that is. It might be something I'll be exploring soon. Sometimes you get glimpses into those other lives, and here are some that I'm sharing with you with the always-appropriate gift of links.

Zombies Calling creator Faith Erin Hicks signed and sketched to the limits of sanity on Free Comic Book Day. And then she made a comic about eating Darwyn Cooke's Pringles. Check it out on her blog. We've all been there. I once sat on the floor during clean-up at Comic-Con and ate a bag of Cheetos that Jhonen had left at the booth. (It was unopened, OK?!) The orange residue on my fingers was like shame manifest.

American Born Chinese, Gordon Yamamoto and Loyola Chin creator Gene Yang writes about having a day job at the First:Second blog. Gene is a teacher, which he thinks is an excellent profession for cartoonists.

Finally, I myself give you a lurid glimpse into my life and the constant specter of my meaninglessness to most of the population at Blog@Newsarama.

Chris Arrant talks to Faith Erin Hicks about her SLG graphic novel Zombies Calling and webcomics at Newsarama.

One of the commenters asks, "Who hasn't fantasied about being in a Zombie Apocalypse?" Another answers that despite being "a very imaginative guy," he hasn't. Well, more pity to him! I have dreamed about being in a Zombie Apocalypse, a few years ago, and it was terrifying and awesome. The zombies were comic book convention attendees (no joke), and I killed someone who was about to turn into a zombie with an umbrella. Somehow the umbrella sliced him into very even segments and he slid apart before my eyes and I screamed and screamed.

Anyway, Zombies Calling and Faith's description of her character Joss, and how Joss's very realistic-ness makes her a commentary on pop culture: "I think she's a little bit more of a realistic interpretation of a female nerd. Sometimes I stumble across the odd comic where there's a "girl geek" character, but typically she's drawn like Pamela Anderson and just happens to like comics and Star Wars and has a mad fetish for the main male geek, who is often an author stand-in."