Archive for the 'linkblogging' Category

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Space Girls

May 6th, 2009 Posted by david brothers

Philip Bond is one of my favorite artists. He absolutely killed on Vimanarama and Kill Your Boyfriend, not to mention his Invisibles work. He’s one of the artists I follow on Flickr, and he’s got all of his art neatly sorted into a group cleverly named “artwork.”

He’s got a very cool set going of female astronauts. Each head shot comes along with a bit of history. Here’s a sample:

3305787444_3c6d389cab_o
Delta Tau Delta sweetheart Judith Resnik became the fourth female astronaut when she flew as mission specialist aboard the maiden voyage of the Shuttle Discovery in 1984. Judith was killed during the launch of her second spaceflight aboard the Shuttle Challenger in 1986.

He’s got a ton of pieces of art, and about half a dozen astronauts. Go give it a look.

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Anti-Americanism & Manga

May 6th, 2009 Posted by david brothers

A public opinion poll conducted jointly by Gallup and Japan`s Yomiuri Shimbun in November of 2008 revealed that positive feelings toward America were at their lowest ebb in decades with only 32% of Japanese respondents saying that they “trust” America compared to 67% of Americans who express “trust” for Japan.[3] Rather than being channeled constructively, such as through discussion of the nature of the Japanese-American relationship, however, these feelings are instead manifested in examples like Morikawa’s war image and simplistic “vengeance through boxing” narrative.

Nationalism and Anti-Americanism in Japan – Manga Wars, Aso, Tamogami, and Progressive Alternatives

I found this link via Brigid at MangaBlog this weekend. It’s a long read, but a rewarding one. It doubles as both a sociology and a history lesson.

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Say Hi to Kate @ The Manga Critic!

May 4th, 2009 Posted by david brothers

Kate Dacey, formerly of PopCultureShock, has launched a new blog called The Manga Critic with two things: an adorable avatar and a name so obvious and well chosen that I can’t believe no one beat her to it. It’s subtitled “Reviews for the discerning manga fan,” and a very good read so far. I added the RSS to Google Reader. You should, too.

Funnily enough, or maybe not, she’s already reviewed a book I was thinking of checking out. Samurai 7 is a retelling of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, and Kate tackles it with gusto.

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Are you reading Ants?

May 1st, 2009 Posted by david brothers

The homey Julian Lytle has started up a webcomic called Ants, which stars, yeah, ants. They talk, they play games, and they’ve got flavor. Get up on it before it gets popular so you can shame the scrubs who discovered it late. He updates once a week right now.

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Crush, Kill, Destroy

April 29th, 2009 Posted by david brothers

Adam Rosenlund, the guy who drew this:

Jubes, Harl, and Diz

has a new deal online: Destroy All Mics!.

He’s pushing out rap & comic remixes over there, like Darkseid x Suge Knight or Biggie Smalls x MODOK. Go give it a look, bookmark it, and grab the RSS. It’s clever, and totally worth it. In his own words:

Destroy All Mics! is a visual mash-up of hip hop and comic icons. Sometimes the connections are merely physical in nature, some are derived from word play, and some draw loose paralells to the more dramatic stories found in each. That’s what these are all about. Suggestions are also welcome!

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Show Gavok Some Love

April 28th, 2009 Posted by david brothers

Are you digging his Top 70 Deadpool Moments? Take a moment and digg it, too! If digg isn’t your thing, but you’re on Comics Blips, you can vote them up there, too.

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Bullpen Bulletins

April 20th, 2009 Posted by david brothers

Quick hits while I’m at lunch at work:
ITEM! Jog wrote a great review of The Spirit over at Comixology. He pins down a lot of what I liked about the movie, and even calls to attention a few things I completely missed, like Spirit’s inability to commit to women means that he also cannot commit to death, who is personified as a woman.

ITEM! I talked about Models, Inc. and Marvel Divas a Saturday ago, wondering if the former had been bumped for the latter. I realized shortly after the post went up that it’s 2009, we have the internet, and you can just email people and ask. I emailed Paul Tobin, asking if the series had been canned, and got a very nice response back. In short, the series is in moderate limbo, but is being reworked. Mary Jane is out, but the series is going to be set in the modern Marvel U. There’s no schedule for it yet, but it isn’t erased. So, cool! I can’t wait to see it. I’m very, very skeptical of a 3.99 price point for any comic, but Models Inc. is just the kind of series I’d like to see more of.

ITEM! I still don’t care about Marvel Divas, though. Doesn’t sound like my kind of book at all.

ITEM! It’s a good week to be Jog, because he also talked about some French comic or something yesterday. (It’s Metabarons.)

ITEM! The only Dark Reign book I’ve really liked so far is Elektra. Zeb Wells and Clay Mann told a fun story of a ninja assassin coming back from the brink. It’s light, but fun work. The other Dark Reign titles? Ehhh. Norman Osborn has been replaced with Snidely Whiplash, and is suddenly the guy who will order people to shoot down a commercial aircraft just to see if maybe the new Iron Maiden (dumb name) is worth bothering with. The Hood is suddenly monologuing his evil little heart out while torturing subordinates, making him a cut-rate Kingpin. I don’t know, it’s just coming off overall lame.

ITEM! I liked Fear Agent, but Rick Remender’s Punisher? I can’t do it, man. I think Punisher really probably died with Ennis to me.

ITEM! I have a similar problem with the X-Men. Mike Carey’s first 12-18 issues were really very good, but the last great run was Grant Morrison’s, at least on the writing side.

ITEM! Speaking of New X-Men, here’s the last word on sexy comics, from New X-Men Vol. 5: Assault on Weapon Plus:

new-x-men-142-assault-on-weapon-plus-01-02new-x-men-142-assault-on-weapon-plus-01-03new-x-men-142-assault-on-weapon-plus-01-04
new-x-men-142-assault-on-weapon-plus-01-05new-x-men-142-assault-on-weapon-plus-01-06

Actually, I was thinking about how weird and sexless and unarousing this is.

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Todd Klein on Comic Sans

April 18th, 2009 Posted by david brothers

Todd Klein, letterer extraordinaire and letterer of the upcoming League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century, takes on Comic Sans.

It’s a great read, as usual.

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Ain’t Nothin’ But Sweat Inside My Hand

April 16th, 2009 Posted by david brothers

Remember Blokhedz? I reviewed it a couple years ago after NYCC2007, shortly after its animated series was announced. The animated series is here, and it’s coming courtesy of Mission G. Click here to watch it, or just check it out right here on 4l!.

I watched it, I dug it, and I’m gonna keep watching. It’s a short start, but a good one. I recognized a few voices (Talib Kweli, Bobbito the Barber, Charlie Murphy maybe) and caught a lot of references. The Dungeon of Rap should be familiar to any Nas fan, for example.

I like it.

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Supergirl is 50 Years Old

March 31st, 2009 Posted by david brothers

Who knew? The Silver Age Comics blog has the lowdown.

Supergirl is, by a wide margin, the most important female character in comics during the Silver Age. Only Wonder Woman even has an argument, and given the wretched state of that feature during the 1960s, I don’t think many people will make the case.

Seems like it should be more of a big deal, doesn’t it?

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