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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Detective Wyrd is on the case at Dark Horse

Curt Pires and Antonio Fuso team up for a ‘James Bond meets the X-Files’ miniseries.

Curt Pires and Antonio Fuso have a new series coming from Dark Horse next year, and it’s weird — or Wyrd, actually.

Wyrd, is a four-issue comics series that’s decribed as “James Bond meets The X Files,” and features Pitor Wyrd — “an un-aging, invincible detective with a penchant for the strange who steps in to assist…for a fee. Between a botched attempt at recreating a certain U.S. supersolider, a monster roaming the countryside and a trail of bodies, there is no case too big, too small, or too weird.”

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Comics Lowdown: Chuck Wendig says Marvel fired him because of negative tweets

After posting a controversial interview, Bleeding Cool gets a new editor in chief! Plus Steve Ellis, Alex Ross, MAD Magazine and more!

Comics writer and novelist Chuck Wendig says he has been fired from Marvel “because of the negativity and vulgarity that my tweets bring. Seriously, that’s what Mark [Paniccia], the editor said. It was too much politics, too much vulgarity, too much negativity on my part.” Wendig had just been announced as the writer of Shadow of Vader, with artist Greg Smallwood, and said he had another as-yet-unannounced Star Wars comic in the works.

In addition to various Star Wars comics, Wendig also wrote Star Wars: Aftermath, a novel that included LGBT characters and was one of the first books published after Lucasfilm ended the “expanded universe” Star Wars books. After it was published, Wendig said he received “TONS” of harassment online — “harassment that has gone on for years, harassment that has required me to contact local police and warn them of SWATting attempts, harassment across all corners of the Internet, here, FB, Reddit, YouTube. Some of it was bot stuff, obviously, or sock puppets, but some of it was pretty creepy, and very personal.”

This story has been reported on widely, with stories from Deadline, io9, the Verge, Vulture and more. Update: Wendig has a post answering many of the questions he’s received since he went public with this news.

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Inktober Spotlight: Caanan Grall’s pop culture mash-ups

The creator of ‘Max Overacts’ shares a drawing a day in October.

We’re 13 days into October, 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 focus on Caanan Grall, creator of Max Overacts, one of my all-time favorite webcomics. The strip has been on hiatus since Grall was diagnosed with, and eventually had surgery for, a brain tumor. The good news is, Grall is drawing again and sharing his Inktober contributions on Twitter. His fun style is perfect for mashing up various bits of pop culture, like the Harley Quinn/Charlie Brown image you see above.

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Weekly ‘Avengers: No Road Home’ kicks off next year

Writer Jim Zub shares details on the spiritual sequel to last year’s ‘Avengers: No Surrender,’ as he teams up with Al Ewing and Mark Waid for another weekly story.

Last year Avengers: No Surrender ran through all of Marvel’s various Avengers titles on a weekly basis, as the creators of those books tag-teamed on a giant story involving lots of Avengers, the Grandmaster, the Black Order, several new villains and a plot to steal the Earth.

One of the writers involved in the story was Jim Zub, who attended New York Comic Con last weekend to announce the “spiritual successor” to that story, the 10-week Avengers: No Road Home. He took to his blog this week to provide more details on the project.

Unlike “No Surrender,” “No Road Home” will not run through the Avengers titles — there’s actually only the one now, written by Jason Aaron. Instead it’ll be its own stand-alone series. Zub will once again work with Mark Waid and Al Ewing on writing it, while Paco Medina and Sean Izaakse will provide the art.

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‘Champions’ gets a new first issue, new art team and international focus

Writer Jim Zub welcomes the ‘Wayward’ art team of Steven Cummings and Tamra Bonvillain to the series.

At New York Comic Con, Champions and Wayward writer Jim Zub was on hand to announce two new projects — including a relaunch of Marvel’s “teens saving the world” team The Champions.

The comic will receive a new #1 in January, along with a new art team — one Zub knows well. He’ll be joined by Steven Cummings and Tamra Bonvillain, who he worked with on the Image series Wayward. Zub explained the reason for the reboot on his blog.

“The response to my Champions stories has been great so far and many of the single issues have gone into second printings, but in the current retail climate the simple truth is that readers look to issue #1’s as a clear jumping on point for stories and characters,” Zub said. “When new Marvel Editor-In-Chief CB Cebulski came on board I was already announced as the writer of Champions with issue #19 and so, as other Marvel series have been getting Fresh Start issue #1’s to mark important story changes and signal to readers and retailers that they have big plans, it was decided that Champions should get the same treatment in the new year. Marvel is really happy with what I’ve been doing and they want to make sure more people know about it and get on board.”

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Smash Pages Q&A: L Nichols on ‘Flocks’

The ‘Ley Lines’ creator discusses the collected edition of ‘Flocks’ from Secret Acres, music, engineering and more.

L Nichols has been serializing Flocks for years, working on the comics memoir in between other projects, including overseeing the acclaimed quarterly comics series Ley Lines. Flocks is out now in a collected edition from Secret Acres. Also out now is the new issue of Ley Lines, which is written and drawn by Nichols. Nichols and I have met at various shows over the years but never sat down to talk.

Flocks is an immense achievement, but it’s also striking how well Nichols made the individual issues stand on their own and how well they work as chapters of a book — and how well it comes together into a thoughtful and emotional story arc. It is one of the best of the year, but also deserves a place among the very best graphic memoirs ever made. We spoke recently about Beethoven, engineering and religion.

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Comics Lowdown: Stan Lee speaks out on elder-abuse allegations

Patti LaBoucane-Benson appointed to Canada’s Senate! Finding Olivia James at CXC! Plus: Grant Morrison, Matthew Thurber and why we love Spider-Man so dang much!

People: In an interview subtitled “Those I Trusted Betrayed Me,” Stan Lee speaks to The Daily Beast about elder-abuse allegations against his daughter and the removal of several of his associates from his life.

“There really isn’t that much drama,” Lee said. “As far as I’m concerned, we have a wonderful life. I’m pretty damn lucky. I love my daughter, I’m hoping that she loves me, and I couldn’t ask for a better life. If only my wife was still with us. I don’t know what this is all about.”

People: The Outside Circle comic writer Patti LaBoucane-Benson has been appointed to Canada’s Senate by Prime Minister Trudeau.

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Smash Pages Q&A: e jackson

The cartoonist and scholar discusses ‘It’s Discourse, Archie’ and much more.

e jackson is a cartoonist and scholar. They have been drawing comics and illustrations for a few years now, making minicomics like Flux and Love Bites, webcomics like Warm Blood and Baby, and appearing in anthologies including We’re Still Here. They cohost the podcast Drawing a Dialogue with Cathy G. Johnson and are currently in the PhD program in Comics Studies at the University of Florida.

One of jackson‘s recent minicomics, It’s Discourse, Archie, captures a lot of what makes their work so interesting and so unique. The comic is autobiographical but states very clearly that it’s talking about issues as a way of commenting on the show Riverdale. The way they play with the expectation of autobio comics and of fanfiction, while also explaining and addressing ideas and theory. These are many of the same concerns that e addresses in their scholarship and I reached out to talk about how they work and being a comics creator in between classes.

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