First Second Books - Doodles and Dailies

COMICA 2008 Features Emmanuel Guibert

Why, Spurgeon!

Mark Siegel of First Second Books heartily endorses Cul De Sac while at the same time totally revealing he doesn't read this blog or at the very least doesn't value any of the opinions expressed here! Thanks for nothing, Siegel! Actually, I'm kidding, and am glad that Siegel enjoyed the first Cul De Sac book as much as so many of you have told me you have. It's a really, really strong strip. 

No fair, Comics Reporter.

OK, so I see that I missed an extensive interview of Thompson, back in January... I had an excuse: I was in Angoulême for the Comics Festival at the time. 

Favorite Bedside Reading: CUL DE SAC by Richard Thompson

I hadn't been following the strip, and I confess I just picked it up on Bill Watterson's endorsement. What a delight! I take so much pleasure in the kooky, wondrous artwork and writing. It has that 'where-in-outer-left-field-did-this-come-from' that the early Simpsons had, and rewards many readings in a way that Calvin & Hobbes last did for me.

Cul de Sac = immense reading pleasure.

Thompson has a blog here, and is also a brilliant editorial cartoonist, to witness his Obama as FDR for the New Yorker:

GENE YANG in the New York Times Magazine FUNNY PAGES

Starting this week, Gene Yang's PRIME BABY appears in the New York Times Funny Pages!

PAUL POPE/BRAD PITT NEWS ITEMS

Paul Pope news release in VARIETY this week: Paramount and Brad Pitt's Plan B Productions team up to bring BATTLING BOY to the silver screen. Read here.

And a piece in the last PUBLISHERS WEEKLY COMICS WEEK:

Pope said now more than anything he wants to focus on "optimistic work," particularly his ongoing series THB and Battling Boy, an all-ages story set to come out in two graphic novels from First Second, the first set to debut at the 2010 New York Comic Con. Speaking during a brief break from working on Battling Boy in his New York studio, Pope said it's a very personal project "and I just want it to be bad ass."
Battling Boy is set in Monstropolis, a "pre-World War II European capital," type of city, Pope said. The titular character is the son of a god/hero and he's an elite monster-slayer even though he’s still a child. Pope said he set out with the project to make a super hero story for children, a type of project he doesn't see coming from Marvel and DC. He also believes the book is a "brother project" to THB, his much-lauded and much revised science fiction epic about the colonization of Mars.
"I really like this idea of [novelist] Michael Chabon's that a super hero is a wish fulfillment," Pope said. "Jung said something like a super hero emerges when people's consciousness concentrates. So, what's the superman for now?"
The answer Pope came up with was a super hero who would protect children. And the story grew as he combined elements of mythology and Jungian archetypes to craft an elaborate world. Pope will explain the fantasy and mythology of Battling Boy through an index in the back of each book, which he said he hopes will inspire young readers to look into mythology.
"I think kids can handle stuff that's scary," he said. "I think kids realize they're not really safe in this world. So that's kind of the heart of the story. Also it's kind of funny, an indestructible kid destroying monsters." He's also trying to expand on the traditional graphic novel structure, he said, eschewing the three-act format and following the story into "eddies" and breaking the story out into fight scenes that can last as long as 40 or 50 pages.

America the Beautiful

Nick Abadzis interview on Animal Inventory Blog

 

Nick Abadzis was recently interviewed about his Eisner-award winning book, Laika, at the wonderfully specific Animal Inventory Blog, which tracks and analyzes the use of animals and animal imagery in media and pop culture.

"One of the functions of myth in human culture is to understand the abstract; the viewpoints we can’t rationally describe or comprehend. The story of Laika is a modern myth; we need to attempt to look at it from her point of view, too."

It's a fascinating conversation, and an illuminating examination of a great book from a new (to me) perspective.

Go, read!