Reading Copy

The San Francisco Chronicle has eight comics to read before you die.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Spiderman is getting divorced, or unmarried, or the marriage will simply have never happened. Big trouble in the comic world!

Popularity: 12% [?]

I remember Tintin as a child but mainly from a cartoon series that aired during the summer holidays. Herge’s adventures of Tintin passed me by but when I brought up the subject in the office I was surprised by the number of Tintin fans who suddenly emerged from the woodwork.

Earlier this year in the UK, Tintin was in the headlines but for all the wrong reasons. A human rights lawyer had filed a complaint with the Commission for Racial Equality over the racist content of Tintin in the Congo. Some bookshops removed the book, some shifted the book out of the children’s section.

Clearly Tintin in the Congo is racist but it was written 77 years ago and politically correct writing wasn’t the flavour of the month as colonial Europe geared for another world war.

The controversy simply reignited interest in the Belgian author and his intrepid reporter. Tintin in the Congo and many other Tintin books have sold heavily on AbeBooks.co.uk since July and Tintin in the Congo is easily the most popular one. Nostalgia and historical curiosity are the most probable reasons for the interest in an old-fashioned hero forgotten by many.

The ten bestselling Tintin Books on AbeBooks.co.uk in 2007

1. Tintin in the Congo
2. Tintin in America
3. Tintin in Tibet
4. Tintin and the Picaros
5. Tintin in the Land of the Soviets
6. Tintin and the Alph-Art
7. Cigars of the Pharaoh
8. The Castafiore Emerald
9. The Crab with the Golden Claws
10. The Blue Lotus

On 6 December a Tintin stage play opens in London’s West End and a Tintin movie trilogy is being planned in Hollywood, so there’s going to be plenty of opportunities to analyse this old fashioned hero.

Popularity: 11% [?]

It was bound to happen - another childhood favourite will be adapted for the movies. The Guardian is reporting that Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg are set to direct 2 of the 3 proposed movies. I remain skeptical, especially considering the quote that the

“films will be shot in 3-D, using motion capture technology, a technique by which an actor’s movements are recorded and used to create an animated character”

A traditional animated style I wouldn’t have minded… but 3D CGI? Hm.

Popularity: 15% [?]

If you need a break from Harry Potter (and who doesn’t at this point?), Cover Browser is a large collection of comic book covers. Relive your youth or hunt for a missing issue. A fun time waster.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Just a note for anyone in the southwest corner of the US this weekend.
July 26-July 29th will be the 2007 edition of the San Diego Comic Con.

Looks like a good event again this year with some neat author appearances including the likes of Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Laurell K. Hamilton and George A. Romero.

If you end up attending leave us a comment letting us know how it goes!

Popularity: 28% [?]

BBC is reporting on the release of manga style Shakespeare books. I am torn on the idea - it could be a useful tool in encouraging reading, but they have certainly used a heavy editorial hand in some edits… Perhaps a serialized approach would have worked better.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Novelists are turning to the medium of comics.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Don’t forget - the 5th is free comic book day.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Over the weekend I picked up the graphic novel Six, initially compelled by the strong graphic style of the cover - heavy black and white against green. As it turns out the story matches the tone of the art - very noir. It’s a little bit Matrix, a little bit Walking Life, with dreams, aliens and human emotions … opening with Edgar Allan Poe words “All that we see or seem, Is but a dream within a dream” and spiralling from there. Definitely worth picking up if you’re into such things.

Sadly this is only a one-shot, but rumors are that it is being turned into a television series.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Stephen King is going into the comic business, reports Associated Press. His Dark Tower books are going to become comic books.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Can’t remember where, but I recently stumbled upon this odd web comic - My Elves Are Different. It seems to be a strip based on the world of books, authors, science fiction and fantasy.

Popularity: 15% [?]

As a child I spent a lot of time with the Peanuts gang. A lot. No really, just ask my parents. So when Fantagraphics started re-publishing the entire Peanuts series I was extremely excited.

Fantagraphics is one of those unsung heroes of the publishing world. The material released is alway interesting and of high quality They publish a large collection of books and comics - tending toward the offbeat and alternative variety (Clowes, Crumb, Hernandez, Woodring…) but also re-printing alot of classic materials (Peanuts, Denis the Menace, Eldon Dedini etc).

One of their more recent interesting projects is the Beasts book. The books is “a collection of mythological creatures illustrated by about a hundred of the most acclaimed artists and cartoonists from the most avant-garde gambits of the art world.” Additionally, as part of the book release there is a limited edition letterpress book showcasing 10 of the illustrations being released through the art site Tiny Showcase.

Find out even more about the book, signings and book events at the Beasts blog. And keep up to date with Fantagraphics goings-on at their blog.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Apparently Myspace just launched a new comic book community, and the folks over at Mashable were discussing if this news would be the beginning of the end for the newly formed ComicSpace.  The battle for Web2.0 comic supremacy wages on.

In related news, Jessa at Bookslut tipped us off to The Nerve’s 20 comics that may change your life

Popularity: 27% [?]

Publisher’s Weekly is reporting that Keiko Takemiya classic sci-fi graphic novel To Terra is being released at the New York Comic-con. Very cool. (via Bookslut)

Popularity: 16% [?]