Smash Pages Q&A: Jamila Rowser

The co-founder of Geek Girl Brunch and former Girl Gone Geek blogger discusses two comic projects, ‘Wash Day’ and ‘Wobbledy 3000.’

Jamila Rowser is familiar to a lot of people in the comics community because she created Straight Outta Gotham, co-founded Geek Girl Brunch and launched the blog Girl Gone Geek. This fall though she’s doing something different, turning her attention to writing comics.

Wash Day is a comic drawn by Robyn Smith which was kickstarted earlier this year and is out now. In addition to an English language edition, there’s a Spanish language edition of the comic, Dia de Lavado, which is also available. Rowser is following that up with her second comic, Wobbledy 3000, which is drawn by Sabii Borno and is out this month as a digital comic from Black Josei Press.

The comics are very different, made with different artists and approaches, but both of them demonstrate Rowser’s skill at dialogue, her subtle talent of characterization and, through this, a very nuanced and lovely consideration of friendship. One book may be realistic and set in the here and now, and the other is science fantasy, but they are both an effort to tell slice of life narratives, and explore the lives of characters who are rarely explored in comics. Taken together, the comics show Rowser is very interested in finding ways to use the medium to convey and explore personal experience, to both break new ground and be a part of the medium and its traditions. I caught Rowser in between shows, and she was kind enough to answer a few questions.

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Inktober Spotlight: Benjamin Dewey’s super-pets

The ‘Beasts of Burden’ artist creates Jean Greyhound, The Green Labtern, Barkseid, Mews Wayne and more for Inktober.

October is also known as Inktober in artist circles. During Inktober, artists from all over the world create a different ink drawing every day of the month. While the official Inktober site provides a list of “prompts” to help inspire artists, many of them choose their own themes.

With many comic artists once again participating this year — you can find a lot of them on Twitter or Tumblr using the #inktober hashtag, and we’ve been posting a bunch on our own Tumblr — we thought we’d spotlight a few of the fun ones we’ve seen so far.

Today we spotlight Benjamin Dewey, the artist of Beasts of Burden: Wise Dogs and Eldritch Men and The Autumnlands, and the creator of the Tragedy series. Given his resume, it makes sense that for Inktober he’d focus on turning pets into superheroes — or turning superheroes into household pets. Take your pick.

Check out some of his Inktober contributions below; you can see more on his Twitter feed, and you can buy several of them as prints on his Etsy shop.

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Whitta, Robertson reinterpret a Charles Dickens classic in January

‘Oliver’ from Image Comics imagines Oliver Twist as a post-apocalyptic superhero.

Screenwriter Gary Whitta and The Boys artist Darick Robertson are putting a “twist” on Charles Dickens’ classic Oliver Twist — by reimagining him as a post-apocalyptic superhero fighting to liberate a war-ravaged England.

Oliver has been more than 15 years in the making, so it’s a particular thrill to finally see it on its way to a comics store near you, and at a time when it feels more relevant than ever,” Whitta said in a press release. “I couldn’t be more excited to be working with my long-time friend Darick Robertson, whose artwork I’ve admired ever since his groundbreaking work on Transmetropolitan.”

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Ridley’s ‘The Other History of the DC Universe’ starts with Black Lightning

The screenwriter/producer for ’12 Years a Slave’ will write a ‘largely prose-driven’ series featuring heroes from ‘from different disenfranchised groups.’

DC Comics has revealed more details about The Other History of the DC Universe, a five-issue “largely prose-driven” series written by John Ridley.

According to the press release, “The Other History of the DC Universe will look at notable events from DC Universe history through a different perspective, telling the equally vital stories of heroes who have been there throughout the DCU’s past, but come from different disenfranchised groups.” The first issue will spotlight Black Lightning and will feature illustrations by Alex Dos Diaz.

The series will run five issues, and subsequent issues will feature Karen and Mal Duncan, Katana and Renee Montoya. It’ll be published under DC’s Black Label imprint.

Here’s the first issue’s cover and solicitation information; it arrives in January:

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