Category: Creators

Warren Ellis story pulled from upcoming ‘Dark Knights: Death Metal’ anthology title

‘Dark Nights: Death Metal Legends of the Dark Knights #1’ will instead include a story by Marguerite Bennett and Jamal Igle.

Following the sexual misconduct accusations by many, many women against Warren Ellis that came to light this past week, DC Comics sent an update to retailers yesterday on the contents of Dark Nights: Death Metal Legends of the Dark Knights #1, which was originally intended to include a story by Warren Ellis and Jim Cheung, focused on the T-Rex Batman we saw in the first issue of Dark Knights: Death Metal. I was pretty excited about it when it was announced, but now? No.

DC will replace that story with one by Marguerite Bennett and Jamal Igle, according to comics retailer Ryan Higgins:

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Warren Ellis accused of sexual misconduct; Ellis responds

The writer was accused of predatory behavior by many women on social media this week.

Following the accusations against Cameron Stewart that were posted by many women on Twitter this week, others began sharing stories about another creator, writer Warren Ellis, on social media, including musician Meredith Yayanos, writer and editor Katie West and photographer Jayne Holmes, among others.

Multiversity Comics has rounded up several of the accusations. West’s initial tweets were the first to mention Ellis, and she would later delete them. But after other women came forward, West posted:

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Denny O’Neil passes away at 81

The prolific writer, editor and teacher died from natural causes June 11.

Writer, editor and teacher Denny O’Neil has passed away at the age of 81. According to Newsarama, O’Neil died of natural causes in his home last night.

O’Neil was one of the most prolific writers of Batman, having written more than 200 issues featuring the character. His work appeared in Batman, Detective Comics and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. In the 1970s, he was credited with bringing Batman back to his darker roots, following the campy Batman TV show of the 1960s. He co-created Ra’s al Ghul, Talia al Ghul, Leslie Thompkins and Azrael, and also edited the Batman titles from 1986 through 2000.

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Reading for Revolution: Black comics, Black lives

On Blackout Tuesday, take a look at eight graphic novels that explore the issues of police brutality, the experiences of Black people and working toward change.

It’s Blackout Tuesday, and we’re centering Black creators with a short list of comics and graphic novels that explore issues of police brutality, the experiences of Black people, and how to work toward structural change. To find more Black creators, follow the #drawingwhileblack hashtag on Twitter and check out Sheena Howard’s Encyclopedia of Black Comics (full disclosure: I was a contributor).

Read. Learn. Then go out and change the world.

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‘Quarantine Coloring Book’ shares an as-yet unproduced Gerard Way project

The writer and singer shares a piece called ‘Pink Station Zero’ that could still become a comic some day.

Gerard Way has shared what’s described as “a character study he did for a comic that may come to life one day” on the site for an online coloring book he started with Sara Taylor of the musical duo Youth Code.

The Quarantine Coloring Book was started by Way and Taylor last month to offer free downloadable coloring pages for people to enjoy during the pandemic. They’re also raising money for the First Responders Children’s Foundation. The art for the project has come from comic artists like Becky Cloonan, Mike Allred and Gabriel Ba; musicians like Frank Iero and Jordan Buckley; and many others.

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Rest in peace, Martin Pasko

After a career that spanned comics, TV and animation, the writer/editor passed away at 65.

Martin “Marty” Pasko, a writer and editor whose career span decades, has passed away at the age of 65, multiple sources have reported, including his friends and colleagues Paul Levitz and Mark Evanier.

During his long career, Pasko worked in many creative and editorial capacities, with much of his career spent in the comics industry and animation. His love for comics, though, started before that, as a fan and frequent contributor to letter columns.

“Marty connected with comics originally as a letterhack, with Julie Schwartz pinning the label ‘Pesky’ Pasko on him,” Levitz said on Facebook. “Whether commenting on the latest comic he read, the events of the day in politics, creative theory, or just making conversation, Marty had one of the sharpest wits of our generation, and opinions…oy, did he have opinions. I learned from him, learned by arguing with him, and took joy in ample helpings with the hamburgers or Chinese food we shared over the decades.”

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Rest in peace, Richard Sala

The prolific creator of ‘Delphine,’ ‘Cat Burglar Black’ and ‘Invisible Hands’ was 61 when he died.

Fantagraphics has shared the sad news that Richard Sala, creator of Delphine, The Grave Robber’s Daughter, Cat Burglar Black and Violenzia, has passed away at the age of 61. No cause of death was mentioned.

Sala’s work spans several decades, as he published his first comic, Night Drive, in 1984, and just a few weeks ago he announced a new webcomic, Carlotta Havoc vs. Everybody. In between, he combined his love of comics and monsters into a career that saw him published in anthologies like RAW and Blab!, create his own comics and graphic novels, and appear on MTV’s Liquid Television program, in a segment called Invisible Hands.

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Artists take the #SixFanarts Challenge

Melissa Capriglione kicked off a fun, art-filled meme in March — and the participants grew from there.

Way back in mid-March — which feels like a million years ago at this point, but was really just a few weeks back — Falconhyrste creator Melissa Capriglione kicked off a fun exercise that would turn into a widespread meme for artists across social media: The #SixFanarts Challenge.

What started has a simple tweet has blossomed into a fun and welcome distraction during these difficult times. And it’s pretty easy to participate: artists just ask their social media followers to throw out character names, and the artist draws six of them on a grid that Capriglione has provided.

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Project Art Cred returns with a new story from Tom Taylor

Different artists draw the same script to show the importance of artists to the comic-making process.

Project Art Cred returned this week with another round of artists drawing the same comics script to show the impact they have on the comics you read. This time around, they tried their hand at a very topical script by Suicide Squad writer Tom Taylor.

We had an idea to demonstrate the impact artists brings to a comic script. We gave artists a one page script written by the legendary @TomTaylorMade and they put their stamp on it.

Here’s the script. Check out some of the results below …

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Creators for Creators accepting 2020 grant applications through May 11

The Creators for Creators grant is ‘intended to encourage, support, and promote original works through grants and education.’

The nonprofit Creators for Creators is taking applications for their 2020 grant through May 11. Complete details on submitting can be found on their website.

As their website says, Creators for Creators “is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization intended to encourage, support, and promote original works through grants and education.” The grant was founded by several creators, who also serve as mentors for recipients: Charlie Adlard, Jordie Bellaire, David Brothers, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Nick Dragotta, Leila del Duca, Matt Fraction, Kieron Gillen, Jonathan Hickman, Joe Keatinge, Robert Kirkman, Jamie McKelvie, Rick Remender, Declan Shalvey, Fiona Staples, Eric Stephenson, C. Spike Trotman and Brian K. Vaughan.

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Cartoonists go all in on Hourly Comics Day

Check out comics by Becky Cloonan, Kate Beaton, Celeste Woods, Faith Erin Hicks and more.

It’s early February, which means its time for the annual #HourlyComicsDay, where cartoonists commit to making and posting a comic every hour for a day.

Most hourly comics typically fall into the “autobiography” category, as participants detail their day in comics form, but some will share fictional stories as well. Unlike Inktober, which has prompts and structure (and, apparently, legal issues now) Hourly Comic Day is just a fun challenge that artists choose to take.

Here are a few examples from this year:

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Project Art Cred spotlights ‘the impact artists bring to a script’

40 artists turn a Kieron Gillen script into a comic — with interesting results.

So this is pretty cool: artists Stephen Byrne and Declan Shalvey had an idea to showcase the effect a particular artist has on a comic, so they came up with Project Art Cred. Their idea was to have a comics writer — in this case, Kieron Gillen — write a one-page script, then have different artists interpret it in their own styles.

After 200 artists asked for the script, Gillen said in his email newsletter that 40 artists submitted pages, which have been shared on both Twitter and Tumblr. The artistic styles are impressive in their range and voice, bringing Gillen’s words to life in many different ways.

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