Turkey Induced Rage

By John Voulieris

Blair is off this week celebrating Thanksgiving, so faithful ALL THE RAGE readers get a thankless Canadian to fill in as this week’s writer. Blair, make sure you save me some stuffing and cranberry sauce please!

The Dead Pool

In a late breaking story, David Seidman of Claypool Comics left the following message on Newsarama a few days ago:

    Claypool Comics is in trouble.

    Diamond, the main company that distributes our books to comics shops, has said that it’ll stop distributing Deadbeats and Soulsearchers And Company starting with the issues shipping in April. That move would wipe out much of our company.

    If you’ve ever bought Claypool’s comics, buy them now. Diamond may delay or withdraw its decision if we can show an upward trend in sales.

    Ask your local retailer to order Claypool’s books, especially Soulsearchers #76 (on sale in January) and Deadbeats #76 (on sale in February). These are our “Jump In” issues, written and drawn especially for new readers.

    The retailers are writing their January orders now, so we need your help immediately. If you can save us, we won’t forget it.

    Thank you sincerely.
Now, several comic insiders have been expecting something like this ever since Diamond’s new policies were announced. And Claypool will more than likely not be the last company affected by them. To be honest, I don’t actually read any of Claypool’s comics… but I hate to see this happen to any comic company. I know Soulsearchers is Peter David’s creator owned book and I like his writing, so that’s enough for me to check out the next issue. If any of you feel the same, I suggest you do too…

This Has An “S.O.L.” Factor of Ten Out of Ten

Blowback

So now that the Losers is wrapping up its run with January’s issue 32 what are Andy Diggle and Jock up to next?

Well, Andy has stated on his blog that he has renewed his exclusive contract with DC comics for another year and is working on writing 6 issues of a new mainstream DCU book. He is also researching FBI procedure for a possible Vertigo mini series (at least I hope that is what his research is for).

Jock will be illustrating an issue of Swamp Thing and then will pencil a 6 issue Vertigo mini series called Faker written by Mike Carey.

After that mini wraps up, Jock will be collaborating with Brian Azzarello on an original as yet unnamed graphic novel.

This Has A “What About Lenny Zero?” Factor of Nine Out of Ten

This Bird’s Gonna Fly

Word is that Arthur Adams is hard at work penciling a Batman story. It is not clear whether it will be for the regular series of Batman titles or if it will be on the All-Star Batman title immediately after Frank Miller and Jim Lee’s current run.

This Has An “I’m The Goddamn Batman!” Factor of Six Out of Ten

Give The Devil His Due

Mike Carey has a new novel coming out called The Devil You Know. Its protagonist is Felix Castor, a freelance exorcist in London, who has to come out of retirement to take care of some demons, ghosts and were-beings.



This Has A “Stop Writing About Satan!” Factor of Ten Out of Ten

The Dead Continue To Rise!

Nate Southard and Shawn Richter have a new graphic novel coming out from Frequency press that will be solicited in the December issue of Previews.

Shawn sent me a preview of the solicits as well as some sneak peeks at the art:
    Millwood was a good place to be when the dead rose. It was small, isolated, and easy to defend. The survivors there forged a community, weathered what came, and began to prosper. But then they ran out of food. Now, Millwood is sending five men to the neighboring town of Rundberg, a town ruled by over three thousand living dead, to find enough food to save a community.



    Five against three thousand?

    They don’t stand a chance.
This Has A “Stock Up On Ammo!” Factor of Ten Out of Ten

7 Soldiers Shuffle

Readers of Grant Morrison’s excellent mega-crossover the Seven Soldiers remember that Pasqual Ferry was the artist on the Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle series, but then he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel after completing the first issue. Pasqual was ready to complete his work on the series, but DC elected to hire Billy Dallas Patton to complete the art on the remaining three issues.

But now after completing issue 2, Billy Dallas Patton has been replaced by Freddie E. Williams III (Noble Causes). Freddie has some pages in #2, and he's doing #3 and #4 as well.

Despite the numerous artistic changes, I still highly recommend the Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle series. In fact, every Seven Soldiers mini series has been brilliant to date.

This Has A “New New Gods” Factor of Eight Out of Ten

The Wild Wild Web

Batton Lash, best known as the Harvey-nominated cartoonist of Supernatural Law (http://www.webcomicsnation.com/supernaturallaw/) (nee Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre) has launched a webcomic of his series. The online series, unlike the print version, is in full color. It features all-new stories, "ripped from the headlines." The first storyline, just concluded -- "My Husband Killed Me and Now He Must Pay . . . Damages!" -- is a takeoff on the Scott Peterson case and includes fun jabs at Nancy Grace and Court TV.

The new storyline, The Life Mate of Frankenstein, addresses the legal aspects of marriage, as townspeople go into a dither when the good doctor's two creations want to tie the knot legally.

The strip (part of Joey Manley's new webcomicsnation) is updated on Mondays and Thursdays at http://www.supernaturallaw.com.

Meanwhile, (unlike some of his fellow cartoonists who have opted for webcomics only) Batton will continue to publish the print version of the series; a new issue is due out in February.

This Has A “Wave of The Future” Factor of Eight Out of Ten

Suicidal Tendencies

There’s a rumor that one of the featured stories in DC’s upcoming weekly event entitled “52” will focus on a new version of the Suicide Squad. Geoff Johns has dropped hints about a new Squad in a recent JSA issue, and the success of the Villains United mini series may have prompted DC to bring back the team.

This Has A “Task Force X” Factor of Seven Out of Ten

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Carnivale was cancelled earlier this year by HBO, but devoted “Carnies” have been banding together in online communities and conventions reminiscent of early Star Trek fandom. Thus far, their efforts have not been successful. However, an entrée in Terry Morrow’s blog offered the first signs of hope in months:
    HBO's terrible decision to end Carnivale earlier this year may not mean the end of the series. One insider tells me that HBO has inquired about making a two-hour movie to wrap up the loose plot ends. There is also discussion of relaunching the series in comic-book form, starting from the first season and bringing it past where the last episode left us.

    The powers-that-be behind the series have nixed the idea of the two-hour movie because they say it would not be enough time to do the story justice. Apparently Carnivale's storyline went through 1945, and when the show ended it wasn't out of the 1930s yet.

    The comic book suggestion, however, might just happen.
If this happens, Carnivale creator, Daniel Knauf would almost certainly be involved. By all accounts, he is a big comic book fan, and is writing a 6 issue Iron Man arc for Marvel next year. However, I can’t quite see Marvel picking up this one, as they mostly stay away from licensed comics these days. Though I think it would appeal to those Stephen King fans they’re trying to attract… My guess is that it will end up at a company like Dark Horse or IDW that has a proven track record with licensed comics.

Now for those of you who have not seen the show, it is pretty complex (and quite good), so here is the official IMDb synopsis to bring you up to speed:
    1934, America. The Dustbowl. A fugitive named Ben Hawkins finds refuge within a traveling carnival comprised of a tarot card reader and her catatonic/telekinetic mother, a blind mentalist, a bearded lady, and conjoined twins, amongst others.

    The carnival is owned by the mysterious and unseen Management, who has designs on the young Hawkins, for the boy is concealing an untapped gift: he can heal the lame and raise the dead--at a price. Ben also finds himself disturbed by cryptic and prophetic dreams, which he shares with a Methodist preacher in California, Brother Justin Crowe.

    Brother Justin, convinced he is following God's will, has begun to practice his own extraordinary talents, although the preacher's plans increasingly lead to disturbing and tragic consequences. In this "last great age of magic," Ben Hawkins and Justin Crowe are moving toward a great conflict between Good and Evil, although it not yet clear on which sides these men will stand.
Doesn’t that sound like a perfect fit for Vertigo?

This Has A “Blood of The Avatars” Factor of Six Out of Ten

Doomstadt

Through his blog, Dr. Doom has issued a challenge to ATR backed Presidential candidate, General Zod:
    This exiled buffoon from the phantom zone is running for President Of The United States in 2008???? BAH!!!! DOOM HAS BEEN HERE MUCH LONGER!!! Doom is a natural born citizen of Earth. We do not need aliens coming here to do the job that Honest Americans won’t do.

    If that caped meddler Superman had done his job, and prevented this illegal alien from coming to Earth with his moronic cohorts, We wouldn’t see this idiocy on the web, nor would we be seeing commercials and conferences with this illegal alien meddler here. Doom bets 10 Latverian Sovereigns that he hasn’t even applied for a Green Card. Doom knows that Zod isn’t married to an Earthling, or an American Earthling, so he can be deported at any time.

    Doom is going to start with Immigration and see where this leads. Doom is the sovereign leader of Latveria, and is afforded diplomatic immunity, and cannot be deported. The idea of that Kryptonian Exile being the president of The United States while Doom is living here is not only repellant, but insulting to THIS LORD OF LATVERIA!!!! If anyone is fit to rule this nation of idiots, IT IS DOOM!!!!

    Doom has already run for President in this country and was defeated by Diebold Voting Machines, Voter Fraud, Bad Advertising Campaigns, Being forbidden to participate in the debates, not to mention it was nearly impossible to be on the ballot.

    DOOM IS THE ONLY PERSON FIT TO RULE THE WORLD.

    Do not vote for that milquetoast from another world, VOTE FOR DOOM. Doom doesn’t ask for your vote, nor does he ask for your servitude, DOOM COMMANDS IT!!!

    Doom will soon be putting together his team of specialists who will insure Doom’s win over that carpetbagger from another planet.

    Doom will win in 2008, and his first act will be to publicly crush that alien meddler, and gauntlet blast him into oblivion.

    So swears Doom.
We at ATR stand by our decision to side with our glorious leader to be!

This Has A “Planet Houston” Factor of Eight Out of Ten

Blair will be back next week, so please send any news and rumors you come across to blairm@silverbulletcomicbooks.com.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

John