Interesting question this time, about serialized material that’s either out of print or has never been collected. It’s interesting mostly in what it says about the current atmosphere concerning single comics vs. book collections. The era of pawing through long boxes seeking that missing issue is fading away. With the large omnibuses and the regular collected trades, more and more people are going that route, myself included. And I can completely understand it, not just from a reader/collector point of view, but as a publisher. We’ve been hauling single issues of the old DFS mini comics to shows for years and they are a hassle. Trying to keep over a dozen issues in print and displaying them and storing them is no fun. So we are finally getting close to retiring them in favour of the second trade collection. So the real answer of what storyline I most want collected is our second mini-comics run.

This was not my answer on CBD however, as it would have seemed rather self serving. Instead it was a superhero book that I remember fondly that has not been collected and really should be. I think it was our old comic pusher Heath that introduced me to Ted Kord. a lighter spirited Batman, Ted was smart, athletic but a real hero. He was a brains over brawn kinda guy. And I hope I don’t have to explain how fun and cool Blue Beetle is, especially his Justice League days.

And then they went and shot him in the head.

But that original solo run by Len Wein, Parris Cullins and Bruce Patterson are really fun and I’d like a nice big fat book with all of them.

And then there’s his original appearances in the Charlton comics before they were bought by DC. Does the name Ditko mean anything? Yeah. Plus there’s ties to another cool character, the Question, also from Charlton. Those I gather have been collected and I’d like to find those.

And then there’s Dynamo Joe, but I’ll leave him for another time.

I can’t really say a lot more than I did when originally answered this question. 2010 for me was all about Scott Chantler, Faith Erin Hicks and Caanan Grall. And I have been not only following them, but thanks to modern social media, I’ve even been able to interact with them. I actually knew Faith through her Dad who was a teacher at my high school, so that’s been very cool, and Faith’s been helping me find Manga I might enjoy. Caanan did that awesome Max/Jay piece for us for TCAF after a back and forth he and I had, and Scott tweeted late one night that he was buried in colouring and was there anyone else out there in the same boat. I responded, and later that night he had tweeted back that he’d had a look and said nice things about DFS that still make me giddy.

I feel vindicated in Caanan getting the Eisner nod. And both Faith and Scott have had very good years.

But that question was sorta about 2010 in my mind. Now it’s 2011 and I need new people to obsess over. So far? My new one to watch is David LaFuente. I don’t exactly think he’s new, or truly up and coming, but I got one of the Ultimate comics Spider-Man collections he did from the library and really liked his work and have been trying to find lots more. So he’s my first new personal find for 2011.

I came to reading comics in a bit of a roundabout way, and like most, I started with stuff that wasn’t that meritorious. I detailed it earlier, but this weeks question was about the comic that made you sit up and take notice. The one that really made you change your outlook on comics. And I reiterate that Cerebus and Elfquest were really important in showing me what else was out there and possible.

But the question specified, “as an adult”, so I had to re-think my answer and think back to when I read what. My response was slightly tongue in cheek, but still very honest. When we published The Dirty Baker’s Dozen, we dedicated it to, Captain Thatcher, The Little Grey Guy and The Lad. The first two I’ve mentioned before, the first is our friend Heath, who was not only our comics pusher, but had created his own comics way back in grade school. The second is Dave Sim, whose work on Cerebus, as well as his support and advocacy of self-publishing and doing your own thing in comics, let alone the high water mark of his own work, were a huge impact on us.

The other is a reference to Lethargic Comics.

Lethargic Comics came out of Sheridan College’s Animation program. A group of students and one instructor were the creators of such characters as Walrus Boy, The Grad, Him, The Zit and the titular Lethargic Lad. These were superhero parody comics, some lampooning specific stories, others a specific character or just the general tropes of superhero comics.

From simple beginnings, rough photocopied mini comics, only four pages to begin with, but expanding over time, over 50 issues, leading up to a move to full-sized comics, distributed to comic shops and drawing attention of the comic world at large.

Over time, Lethargic Comics weekly was replaced by Lethargic Lad and eventually Lethargic comics moved online to it’s current home at LethargicLad.com. The driving force all along has been Greg Hyland, and it’s Greg that keeps the Lethargic fun going on.

Lethargic Comics were important to us not only for showing a path and what was possible, but the people themselves were supportive and encouraging. Brian Lemay was very helpful in starting us towards getting our first trade paperback together, even going so far as to air-brush the cover gradient for us. John and Steve, um, life lessons, yeah, let’s go with that. And Greg, Greg has always been a role model in sticking with your dream, and following your own path.

How important were the Lethargic guys? We made them into supporting characters.

This is why I read comics, because I make comics, and I love seeing what’s out there, what other people are doing. And because it can be a great community.

As to what changed the other lives, well go see.

At first glance, the question for the week seemed like an opportunity to get rid of people I might have a grudge against, and after I stopped making out a list and re-read the question, I realised it was about characters and not staff. So I had to re-think my response.

And really what I was thinking about was the whole notion of comic book deaths. That’s become a phrase in and of itself, ‘comic book death’. It’s come to mean overly dramatic, done to shock and get attention, but with the understanding that it won’t be true death.

All this came about because there was another ‘major’ character who was being marketed as dying in a huge media attention grab. I won’t say who, because you could read this in 5 years and it will still apply. We’re not talking about an element of a story, we’re talking about a sales gimmick. While I’m sure the moment will be played out for all the pathos possible, in the larger scheme, and I do mean scheme, it’s nothing more than a new costume, new art team, or shiny cocaine laced ink on a cover.

The death of a significant character in a story should be there because it serves the story, because it’s an element of the story as a whole. Bambi’s mother died as a main plot point of the overall story.

Hamlet is full of people dying, but each one dies for a reason and it drives the story forward. And yeah, we could accuse old Bill of a ‘comic book death’ or two, it really screwed over poor Romeo, but again, it was a key part of the whole story. With all these comic character deaths, it’s like the villain of the week. Who dies this month, only to come back in a later story, having been resurrected or as a certain comic writer liked to crib from Mark Twain, “reports of my death were greatly exaggerated.”

So my response to the question was pretty flippant, and it looks like it was actually mangled, losing part of it in the middle. What I was trying to point out was the ridiculousness and emptiness of killing on a quota, (there were reports a senior editor type was calling for a major death every quarter) and then referenced the difference that struck me as a kid between the massive battles in the GI Joe cartoon and Robotech. In one, no one died despite a crazy amount of weapons fir everywhere, and in the other there was death on both sides and we lost a couple of key characters permanently and each was significant to the other characters and the course of the story.

And then, thinking back on it all, I realised I was a huge hypocrite. Here I am complaining about killing off characters, and we’ve done exactly that. We killed Alex and Walter. Did it way back in issue 12 of the small press DFS. And it was a ‘comic book death’, because it was the Alex and Walter from an alternate past time-line. But I submit that while it was a very ‘comic book’ death, we planned it out as a part of the longer story we’d built towards, it had a profound effect on the living Alex and Walter and their future, (and in the short term, they spent the next couple of issues dazed from the experience) and frankly, it was done as a satire of that exact type of comic-book death.

We also had a bit of fun with the whole thing in one of our pre-launch teaser posters.

So you can agree with me or call me a hypocrite. I’d still kill off Deadpool. Who would the panellists kill? Who would you send below?

I’m not a big awards follower. I don’t watch the Oscars or the Gammy’s or such. Frankly, the idea of choosing one single film or song or other achievement and saying this was the single best thing of an entire year is pretty crazy. I do however, like the way it sheds a light on works that are worthy of attention. I’d be happier with nominees and no winner.

So when we were asked about our reactions to the Shuster awards, (Canadian Comic awards) I was kinda at a loss. I was only familiar with some of the work. And I was pleased to see that two of my favourite things from 2010 were in the lists, namely Kill Shakespeare and the works of Scott Chantler. (I checked and Caanan was in the running, but didn’t make the short list. ) But I can now go to the list and see what work was singled out and discover some more great Canadian work. And to me, that’s the good part of the Shusters. As others point out, it’s a very American heavy industry, and it’s often hard to know what’s Canadian and who’s doing what.

So go check out the others responses, and more important, go see the nominees and check out their work!

Admittedly, this question is a bit of a rub, or at least hypocritical for me to weigh in on. I’ve been pretty consistent in bemoaning the fate of TV and movies as a wasteland of new  and original ideas. And worse, that they see comics as merely a farm where they go to harvest Intellectual Property that can be made into said TV or movies. I actually noticed an ad for something from Marvel the other day that had a copyright Marvel Characters Inc. note on the bottom. Marvel Characters Inc.? What happened to Marvel comics? Well, they are just a minor sideline in the giant Marvel IP machine. And DC is the same, as are so many companies. I expect that there are people creating comics, mostly because they couldn’t get their idea made as a movie and they hope that this will be a stepping stone to achieving that goal. No, I don’t just suspect this, I’ve heard it suggested as a technique.

And it’s a niggling thought that’s been there since early on with DFS. When we started DFS back in the early 90’s, there was a swell of small press, indie comics and things were looking up. But at the same time, you had all sorts of TV and movies being made out of things like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bucky O’ Hare and such. It was a real back and forth between comics, toys and TV/Movies. We actually took a stab at it all with our own take on the Turtles as evil corporate guys back in issues 9 & 10 of the small press run. But the question does get into your head. What would a DFS Movie be like? What would a live action or animated DFS TV show be like? We’d chosen our theme song, Headlong by Queen, we’d imagined the opening credits, I even did a treatment for a film in University as a class project*. But ultimately, I just don’t think it would work, and I don’t think we could ever be happy or proud of what would end up on the screen. Okay, maybe if it was something that came directly from Jeff and I, like we made a cartoon ourselves, or a small budget movie with friends or something. And people are doing it. Hell, wasn’t Clerks just that?

As we venture back into the world of comics, and try to get more people aware of DFS, using online tools and attending conventions, there is the fear that one of the scouts who go out to such shows, looking for new IP, will pick up on DFS and we’ll be faced with some kind of offer. I can’t honestly say we wouldn’t at least consider it, just for the fun of imagining what might be. But I think, and I hope, we’d turn it down. although, if we could ride it for some publicity in the process, that might be okay. Because in the long run, this stuff doesn’t traditionally do that much for the original work. There might be a brief bump, but once the show/movie is over, the comic goes back to obscurity, or even infamy if the adaption is really bad.

All that being said, I’d likely check out most of the shows suggested by the other respondents.

*It focused on a canister of original Coke syrup and there have been and likely will be bits of it that make their way into our comic stories. there’s a scene I still want to see that involves a lot of glass.

**Sorry this went live before I finished it. Mea Culpa.

This question was the product of harsh things said by Alan Moore and then more harsh words said by Jason Aaron about Moore and his statements. But the crux is a simple question. Can you separate the artist from the artwork.

I think I largely can, I cited Dave Sim and Woody Allen, two artists whose personal lives, opinions or actions might be unpopular or controversial. For me, I just don’t care that much.

Woody split with Mia Farrow, she made a lot of noise about things that were of dubious truth. Later, Woody took up with a young woman who’d been a part of their large family.

Does he make good films? Uhhhh-yup. That’s the end of it for me.

Same with Dave. He’s made some unpopular observations. Come to some conclusions that are controversial. Chosen to live his life in a way that some find unusual.

Is he still one of the most brilliant creator in modern comics? Does he still believe in the medium and does what he can to further the art form? Yes. Glamourpuss is gorgeous, and his exploration into an era and style of comics work has been really interesting.

Are there artists that I don’t like? Sure. Is it the work or the person? Could be either or both. Funny enough, if I dislike one, it’s likely the other as well. I think it comes down to artists putting themselves into their work. But I can always separate the two if I like one and not the other. It’s only because we live in an age where everyone’s personal life is so available and under such scrutiny that it’s even an issue.

And I hope people feel the same way I do. Cause I’ve got a weekend with Charlie Sheen lined up and I don’t want it to interfere with you enjoying DFS.

Now go read the rest of the responses.