Comic Books 101

by Chris Ryall

  Smith had long envisioned Bone as a finite story, and brought the series to an end with issue #55 (2004). The series continues to be popular in collections, available in black-and-white graphic novels, a truly mammoth “One Volume” single collection, and its current re-release in colorized collections from Scholastic Books. Bone has also found its way to action figures, video games and several attempts at a feature film, none of which has quite found its way to fruition. But with a story so fun and characters so lovable, it's only a matter of time.

  SCOTT SAYS

  One of the most immediately addictive facets of Bone is Jeff Smith's exquisite comedic timing, often employed through the pacing of panels and dialogue. In a favorite sequence from an early issue, Fone Bone, who is running from the monstrous rat creatures, finds refuge at the end of a long branch, hanging off the side of a cliff. Relieved, Fone Bone remarks to himself, “Those rat creatures would have to be pretty stupid to follow me on to this frail, little branch.” Cut to the next panel, with the two rat creatures now hanging on the end of the branch, which is about to snap away, as Fone Bone yells “Stupid, stupid rat creatures!!” I was hooked.

  5 Top Shelf Productions

  Top of the popsIndependent comic companies need two things to really stand out in a world so dominated by the two biggest companies' superhero lines: intelligent, innovative titles and proper promotion to help expose the books to fans. Top Shelf Productions, a Marietta, Georgia-based publisher, has both.

  Too Cool to Be Forgotten is the latest project from Alex Robinson, creator of one of Chris's all-time favorites, Box Office Poison.

  TOO COOL TO BE FORGOTTEN: © 2008 BY ALEX ROBINSON. PUBLISHED BY TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS.

  Top Shelf's owners, Brett Warnock and owners, Brett Warnock and Chris Staros, had these two needs in mind from the start of the company in 1995. Staros, an agent representing international artists and author of The Staros Report, an annual exploration of the best comics released in a given year, hooked up with Warnock, who that year had self-published a book called Top Shelf, an anthology featuring creations from talented newcomers.

  The company launched its first title in 1997, Pete Sickman-Garner's Hey, Mister, but it was the publication of writer/artist Craig Thompson's Good-Bye, Chunky Rice that really established the company as a champion of comics as a literary art form. Rice is a poignant story of friendship and loneliness about a turtle who leaves behind his best friend, a skittish mouse, as he goes off to follow his dreams. The story's sensitive writing and whimsical artwork captivated its readers and won the company a Harvey Award.

  Top Shelf gained further acclaim when it agreed to distribute From Hell, the acclaimed graphic novel by creators Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell. This incredibly detailed, beautifully illustrated (and very long — 572 pages) look at the possible secret behind Jack the Ripper won numerous awards.

  A sign of fandom's appreciation for Top Shelf occurred in 2002 when one of the company's primary bookstore distributors went under, causing severe problems for Top Shelf. In desperate need of quick support, the company went public with this news, and fandom responded in a big way. In less than twelve hours, the company's fan support was great enough to pull Top Shelf through this financial difficulty.

  Top Shelf continues to take creative risks that proves successful and creatively inspiring at the same time. Its line of books has expanded to include projects such as Craig Thompson's sensitive coming-of-age Blankets, James Kochalka's American Elf, as well as Jeffrey Brown's Clumsy, Alex Robinson's Box Office Poison and Andy Runton's Owly. Rather than relying on only bookstore distribution, Top Shelf does considerable business every year through comic conventions.

  In 2006, the company took its biggest risk and produced its biggest success yet: the publication of Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's Lost Girls. Lost Girls is celebrated creator Alan Moore's erotic graphic novel series that details the sexual awakening of three literary characters: Dorothy Gale from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Wendy Darling from Peter Pan and Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The book might seem like a safe bet now, since any new project from Moore is met with headlines, positive press and immense fan support. But at the time, it was a big gamble for Top Shelf, since just the printing costs for the three oversized, slipcased hardcover volumes were astronomical.

  Jeff Lemire's second of three Essex County books experiences middle-chapter syndrome.

  ESSEX COUNTY, VOL. 2: GHOST STORIES © 2008 JEFF LEMIRE. PUBLISHED BY TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS.

  THE COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND

  Another way in which Top Shelf co-founder Chris Staros supports the comic-book industry is through his work with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Staros serves as president for the non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community. The CBLDF has been in existence since 1986 and has diligently fought against censorship, raising funds for court battles and holding benefits for creators, retailers and fans. The organization offers membership for just twenty-five dollars a year, and the donations are of vital importance to the organization and to the industry in general. The fund's website, www.cbldf.org, offers full information on its many efforts to ensure comics' long-term viability and freedom.

  Though the success of the book was anything but assured — the controversial content has caused concerns about child pornography, incest and other themes (Moore himself even referred to the book as “pornography”), and it has a high retail cost ($75) — the first two printings of the book both sold out on the day of release. The book has gone on to be a steady seller and creative success. While the furor over the book's release has faded, the entire experience served to typify Top Shelf's approach to business — the company is willing to take great chances as it continues on with its mission to advance comic books as an art form. Happily, the market supports this approach and Top Shelf continues on unabated.

  RECOMMENDED READING 101

  TOP SHELF

  American Elf by James Kochalka

  Blankets by Craig Thompson

  Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson

  Clumsy by Jeffrey Brown

  Essex County Trilogy by Jeff Lemire

  From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell

  Incredible Change-Bots by Jeffrey Brown

  Lost Girls by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie

  Owly by Andy Runton

  Super Spy by Matt Kindt

  The Surrogates by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele

  Too Cool to Be Forgotten by Alex Robinson

  THE AWARDS

  Top Shelf is also a perennial contender for comic-book awards. There are many such awards that are handed out to comic books and graphic novels, everything from the Wizard magazine Fan Awards to the Lulu Awards (given out to female creators) and even the very occasional Pulitzer Prize. These are the primary awards handed out to comic creators and cartoonists.

  THE REUBEN AWARDS The Reuben Award is given to the Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society, the world's largest and most prestigious organization of professional cartoonists. Named after Reuben “Rube” Goldberg, the award has been in existence since 1954, longer than any other comic-book award. Division awards also are given in dozens of categories, including excellence in the fields of newspaper strips, illustration, greeting cards, feature animation and comic books. All members of the society vote on Cartoonist of the Year, but division awards are chosen by both general society and separate juries overseen by the regional chapters.

  THE EISNER AWARDS — formally called the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, but referred to informally as “the comic-book Oscars” — replaced the Kirby Awards in 1987. Will Eisner presided over the awards until his passing in 2005. The categories are nominated by a rotating five-person panel and then voted on by comic-book industry professionals. The winners are awarded at a ceremony at Comic-Con International: San Diego every summer.

  THE HARVEY AWARDS, named after writer
/artist Harvey Kurtzman, was the second awards show to be created out of the disbanding of the Kirby Awards in 1987. The Harveys also award achievement in comic books, although, unlike the Eisners, the nominees are chosen by any comic-book professionals, who then also vote on the winners. The winners are traditionally awarded at a ceremony at a comic convention. The location of the award ceremony has changed over the years, but has taken place at the Baltimore Comic Con since 2006.

  THE IGNATZ AWARDS are named for creator George Herriman's influential Krazy Kat newspaper strip (one of the lead characters in the strip was a mouse, Ignatz) and recognize outstanding achievement from small-press or indie comic creators. The nominees are named by a five-panel jury, and the winners are voted on by attendees at the annual Small Press Expo (SPX).

  THE EAGLE AWARDS are the primary U.K. comic-book awards. They have been in existence since 1976 and are named after a popular 1950s U.K. comic magazine of the same name. These awards are open to fandom, both for nominations and voting on the winners. The awards are given out during the annual Comic Expo held every spring in Bristol.

  6 IDW Publishing

  Designing an idea that worksSometimes, the best-laid plans of a start-up company can take an unexpected turn and lead to even better things. Such was the case for IDW Publishing, a company that began Publishing, a company that began with no plans to publish comic books.

  A decade ago, four people — Ted Adams, Robbie Robbins, Kris Oprisko and Alex Garner, all of whom had years of experience in the comic-book industry — formed Idea and Design Works (IDW) as a full-service graphic design company. In 1999, they experimented with publishing, releasing the art book Uno Fanta, created by artist Ashley Wood, though they had no real intentions of publishing comic books on a regular basis.

  Plans changed in 2001. Writer Steve Niles and artist Ben Templesmith, two friends of the partners, approached them about taking on a comic that had been rejected by nearly every other comic publisher: 30 Days of Night. Although the book has become the company's flagship title and a solid success story, its beginnings were more humble.

  October 2007: when vampires ruled the box office.

  30 DAYS OF NIGHT SCRIPTBOOK © 2007 BY COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC. 30 DAYS OF NIGHT © 2007 STEVE NILES, BEN TEMPLESMITH AND IDEA AND DESIGN WORKS, LLC.

  The first issue featured a cover by Ashley Wood and debuted to little fanfare. But the serious nature of the vampire story, the intriguing, painterly artwork by Templesmith and some press attention from Wizard magazine focused more eyes on it. Its 3,000-copy print run sold out, and it became the focus of a Hollywood bidding war and eventually optioned by Sony Pictures. The comic and the company jumped to the forefront of a new era of horror comics. The company re-considered its stance and delved deeper into comics publishing.

  IDW's next innovative move was licensing the comic rights to the top-rated television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The show had millions of viewers, but it was not considered workable as a comic because it did not feature costumes, colorful characters or super natural settings. Though there was no reason to think that a crime-procedural comic would resonate with fans, the first CSI miniseries debuted to huge sales and widespread acclaim. And thanks to mail order, it attracted a sizable number of buyers who normally don't set foot in comic-book shops.

  In its developing years, the company followed two paths: producing additional horror comics and producing high-quality licensed titles. IDW comics such as 30 Days of Night, Bigfoot (by Steve Niles and comic legend Richard Corben) and Wake the Dead (an update of the Frankenstein mythos) further cemented IDW's reputation at the forefront of the horror-comics revival.

  In 2004, around the time that the company began to diversify its line even more, IDW hired Comic Books 101 co-author Chris Ryall as its publisher and editor-in-chief. While the company's horror titles expanded to include some author-driven projects (adaptations of Richard Matheson's Hell House, Clive Barker's The Thief of Always and The Great and Secret Show, author F. Paul Wilson's retelling of his own novel The Keep and novelist Joe Hill's all-new comic-book creation, Locke & Key), it expanded into new arenas, too.

  The signing of the Transformers comic license in 2005 was foremost among the company's expansion plans. The title, based on the 1980s toy brand, had fallen into disrepair after its previous publisher closed its doors under bankruptcy. IDW returned the title to its former glory, producing numerous series based on the existing brand as well as the big-budget movie release in 2007. The publisher further cemented its relationship with Transformers toy-makers Hasbro when it signed on to produce G.I. Joe comics in 2008.

  IDW has re-released and relaunched cancelled titles from the past, too. Popular independent comics from the 1980s such as First Comics's Grimjack, Jon Sable Freelance and Badger have all relaunched new series and reprint volumes under IDW. In 2005, writer Peter David brought his acclaimed-but-canceled DC title Fallen Angel into IDW's fold, and writer Alan Martin created new comics based on his popular Tank Girl character.

  Novelist Joe Hill's debut topped critics' lists and was snatched up by Dimension Films.

  LOCKE & KEY #1 © 2007 BY JOE HILL AND IDEA AND DESIGN WORKS, LLC. ART BY GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ.

  GUEST LECTURER

  CLIVE BARKER, author/filmmaker/painter

  THE BEST comic-book SERIES I'VE EVER READ

  Alan Moore's Promethea, without question.

  THE BEST CREATIVE TIME ON A TITLE

  I have to go with the conventional here, Kirby/Lee's Fantastic Four.

  THE BEST COVER

  The white cover of Promethea (#23 by J.H. Williams III). The simple gold lines against the white background are stunning. A very close second favorite is Fantastic Four #49, with Galactus pursuing the FF. He's waving his hands with his fingers pointed earthward, and the ground is erupting all around them.

  THE BEST STORYLINE/ISSUE

  There's an embarrassment of riches … do I go to Doctor Strange by Steve Ditko? I think I must. This was my first introduction to the idea of comic books as art. This intro into the world of Ditko's Doctor Strange redefined the way we see comics. Ditko truly embraced the lessons of the surrealists. His style was the dominant thing that drew you to that book; his flavor was all over it. His art was best served by Doctor Strange's world — in his hands, magic became a plausible reality. No one drew with the delirious specificity of Ditko.

  GOOFIEST COVER

  Anything by Jim Starlin. Starlin, while talented, is guilty of over-mythologizing everything he worked on. Every story had to be bigger and more cosmic than the last.

  BEST GAY STORYLINE

  Enigma by Peter Milligan. An amazing story of the layers a gay man uncovers on his way to discovery. Also, Grant Morrison's Marvel Boy, the most homoerotically illustrated comic ever done.

  Chris and Comic Books 101 cover artist Gabriel Rodriguez adapted Barker's epic novel into an epic graphic novel.

  THE COMPLETE CLIVE BARKER'S THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW © 1989 CLIVE BARKER. PUBLISHED BY IDW PUBLISHING. ART BY GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ.

  Among the many licensed comics that IDW has published, perhaps its biggest success has been Joss Whedon's Angel series.

  The comics, based on the popular television series, captured a small but passionate audience when first debuted. This early success exploded when creator Whedon returned to the story, continuing it where the TV show left off. Whedon and writer Brian Lynch's efforts on 2007's Angel: After the Fall led to the largest sales the company had ever seen for a monthly comic and helped propel the company to its position as the fourth-largest publisher in 2008.

  IDW is also home to high-profile license Star Trek, a property that's been in the hands of four previous publishers (Gold Key, Marvel, DC, and Wildstorm). Comic Books 101 co-author Scott Tipton has written numerous Star Trek titles for the company, including a Klingons comic published entirely in the Klingon language.

  In 2007, interest in 30 Days of Night hit a peak when the big-screen adaptation of the comic de
buted at number one in its opening weekend. The movie, a faithful retelling of the original miniseries, was directed by David Slade and starred Josh Hartnett in the lead role. The movie took great care to maintain the look and feel of the comics, and delivered one of the more faithful comic-book adaptations.

  The company has expanded its line with the creation of new imprints. Under the Library of American Comics imprint, IDW produces deluxe hardcover collections of acclaimed newspaper strips such as Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates and Harold Gray's Little Orphan Annie.

  IDW's Worthwhile Books imprint was launched in 2008, focusing on children's picture books. The line's debut title, Michael Recycle, launched on Earth Day and was embraced by many elementary schools' reading programs.

  IDW has long been determined to leave the creation of superhero universes to the publishers who've mastered such a thing over the last half-century, but it continues to have success in a variety of other areas in the vast comic-book arena.

  In 2007, the Eisner-nominated pairing of Chris and acclaimed painter Ashley Wood teamed up to present the ultimate team-up book.

  ZOMBIES VS. ROBOTS © 2007 IDEA AND DESIGN WORKS, LLC. PUBLISHED BY IDW PUBLISHING. ART BY ASHLEY WOOD.

  The 30 Days of Night graphic novel.

  30 DAYS OF NIGHT © 2002 STEVE NILES, BEN TEMPLESMITH AND IDEA AND DESIGN WORKS, LLC. PUBLISHED BY IDW PUBLISHING. COVER ART BY BEN TEMPLESMITH.

  RECOMMENDED READING 101

  IDW PUBLISHING

  30 Days of Night by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith