If someone gave you the brass ring, let you write and draw your own comic book series, including combining your favorite characters and places, and heck, even an image of yourself and your college roommate, what would you do? If you were that lucky you might put something together like Savage Wolverine. So many components of Issue #1-5 of this year’s new series screamed “win” that it’s no wonder Marvel kept charging ahead with the monthly series after Frank Cho’s initial story arc.
Frank Cho is of course the biggest reason to check out the new hardcover and trade paperback edition now on newsstands. Cho is simply the best at rendering women and dinosaurs and guns and bringing them all together. And while we’re all still anxiously awaiting the long-delayed Guns & Dinos series that was supposed to land in 2011 (where the heck is that anyway?), Cho is forgiven as this is the next best thing.
Marvel Comics, under its new Marvel NOW! brand, released Savage Wolverine #1 Wednesday, Frank Cho’s new writer/artist project. And it’s everything you want it to be. Better yet, it might as well be titled Shanna and Wolverine.
My wager is that, if there were enough artists that drew Shanna like Cho, you could have as many Shanna titles at Marvel as DC Comics has Batman titles. Savage Wolverine definitely is a Wolverine book, but it wouldn’t be a Frank Cho series without one or more beautiful, spirited women, and of course, dinosaurs. And it has all that. So even though it isn’t the long-overdue, eagerly-awaited Guns & Dinos, it might as well be, sans guns and armored tanks.
As for the Wolverine angle, because issue #1 was also written by Cho, we get to see some of Cho’s humor come through in Logan/Wolverine’s dialogue, humor we haven’t been able to see in a Cho series in a while. And this humor includes an appearance, albeit short-lived, by none other than Cho’s old pal Mike McSwiggin, well-known to avid Frank Cho fans, this time as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. What I would do to be mentioned in a Frank Cho book…
You can spend your weekend at Comic-Con wandering the exhibit floor looking for mass market collectibles, talking with dealers of original art, talking with writers and artists of current and classic comic books, attend panels and see comic and other creators, TV and movie stars and get the low-down on coming projects, go offsite for parties and studio and publisher events–the biggest problem is doing all you want when there is nowhere close to enough time to do it in. If you’re in for only a few days, you really have to pick up your pace and narrow down what you want to see. Since I spent a whole day in panels and did not stay for the entire weekend, any encounters I had with creators and studio celebrities were pretty much based on happenstance this year. Many creators are now friends, others I gawk at like everyone else from afar. So who did I see?
First of all, in panels I saw the cast of Community, Firefly, and the new series Arrow, including guys I’d love to talk in person someday–Alan Tudyk and Adam Baldwin, David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel from Bones,and the guy you may know as Bud from Married with Children, David Faustino, who is doing voice work now for Nickelodeon, and he voiced the character Mako as part of the Legends of Korra panel. As I mentioned earlier in the week, waiting in line allowed me to meet and get a photo with Joss Whedon.
The Soup host Joel McHale, Firefly star Nathan Fillion, former Angel star David Boreanaz and Korra’s David Faustino really stood out as funny guys in these panels–surprisingly quick-witted people who got the crowd cheering with everything they said.
I saw the main cast of the Syfy Channel series Haven during their signing session. They really looked like they were having a good time–like they really get along with each other. Also signing in the Sails Pavilion were Richard Anderson, who was the classic character Oscar Goldman from one of borg.com’s favorite borg shows: The Six Million Dollar Man, and Cindy Morgan from the original Tron and Caddyshack. I hoped to run into Bruce Boxleitner, JK Woodward and Scott and David Tipton but my panel schedule caused me to miss meeting them.
On the exhibit floor I watched Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk) and Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) talk with fans and sign autographs.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was coming into the hall and I staked out a photo op location but his handlers moved him out of the hall so I missed seeing him.
As a Star Trek fan, I was very happy to finally meet and have a nice conversation with Brent Spiner. He was a great guy who was as nice in person as you’d hope him to be from years of watching his lovable character Data. I also had a brief chat at day’s end with Levar Burton, also a friendly guy, signing photos of Geordi LaForge for fans. I’d met Marina Sirtis before so I didn’t chat with her this round, but she was also signing Counselor Deanna Troi photos in the hall.
Earlier this year I reviewed Table Top, a new, fun Web series hosted by Wil Wheaton with the Geek and Sundry creators. I met him near a Starbucks and shared my feedback with him on his show. We talked about some of the games and he graciously introduced me to his wife and friends.
Wheaton is truly “one of us” and a really personable guy. Of everyone at the Con, he is probably my first pick of someone you’d like to wander the Con halls and chat with. Another show host, Blair Butler was attending the Con from the popular genre cable channel G4.
Of the comic book realm, I met Cat Skaggs, a well-known comic book artist who was signing cover prints to Smallville Season 11 #1 and she sketched a great Green Arrow bust for me.
I also met Neal Adams–a comic book legend who created the look of the Silver Age Green Arrow and I finally was able to add one of his sketches to my folio. Neal was sketching non-stop for fans just like the newer, younger artists in Artist Alley–a real “working artist” even after all these years.
I ran into my friend Freddie Williams II also, and he also was busy sketching for fans throughout the Con and selling original art from his various DC Comics series.
David Petersen, known best for his Mouse Guard work, was working on commissions for attendees and selling shirts and art at his booth in Artist Alley. I also lucked into getting a sketch from him and enjoyed talking with his wife, who manned the booth when he was doing signings elsewhere.
I ran into Frank Cho again this year and he said he is still expecting to get Guns & Dinos out soon. He was selling a great pin-up calendar featuring Brandy and the Liberty Meadows gang. More on that in future posts. A nominee for the Eisner in two categories this year, Rachel Rising creator Terry Moore was busy talking with fans.
As with last year, Jim Lee could be found at several panels and signing throughout Comic-Con.
As with Freddie Williams, I met up with several folks from back in the Midwest. I ran into artist Ande Parks and met his wife, while hanging with Sean and William from Elite Comics and Chris Jackson who runs Planet Comicon. Parks was chatting with his frequent cover artist Francesco Francavilla, this year’s Eisner cover artist of the year winner, and someone we have talked about here at borg.com all year long for his great cover art. I ran into Star Trek author Kevin Dilmore twice on the exhibit floor–my third year seeing Kevin at the Con. It’s crazy how you can be in your hometown and never run into anyone, and then fly to San Diego and see so many people from back home.
If you have spent much time at all chatting it up with comic book writers or editors at comic conventions, you have probably heard several mentions of the phrase “creator-owned comic” or “creator-owned project.” The conversation usually goes like this:
Fanboy: Hey, Awesome Comic Book Creator, what are you working on?
Awesome Comic Book Creator: I am working on a big project right now featuring Huge Comic Character for [insert DC Comics or Marvel here]. [And then they look like they are pondering something deeply as they say:] I am also working on a creator-owned project that I have had in the works for several years.
It was Frank Cho last year at Comic-Con who let us in on a project he had been thinking about for years: Guns & Dinos, a project he said he had been thinking about ever since an image came to him of an archaeologist discovering an arm with a modern gun in a dig along side a dinosaur. Guns & Dinos (yet to be released) is a creator-owned project he was trying to generate interest in.
Hitting the stores this month was a new book with an odd title: Creator-Owned Heroes #1. It’s a collaborative new ongoing book between writing partners Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (who are at the top of my favorite comic writers right now with their All-Star Western series), Steve Niles, Kevin Mellon, and Phil Noto. The point? Get away from big publishing house content and bring some diversity into comics–stories you might not see reaching readers from the big houses.
The book features two eleven page stories that will have readers easily coming back next month. It also has several interviews with the creators in the nature of “here’s what this is all about.” It also includes photos of the creators with fans at conventions, an interview with a cosplayer who Palmiotti asked to create the costume of one of the stories, and an interview with Neil Gaiman.
The two stories were superb. We’ll come back to those.
For the first issue of a new type of publication I didn’t have any issue with the interviews and explanations. That said, I’d rather have more than 11 page stories or a third story for future issues. $3.99 is a fine price but a comic sized magazine with columnists as opposed to news is not really something I think can last too long. And I haven’t read much new from Gaiman in the last several interviews with him I’ve seen so that didn’t add much value for me. I am interested in what these creators think, but are most comics readers readers who just want to read new stories or do they also care about the behind-the-scenes so much?
So back to what is great about this book–two very interesting stories. First Palmiotti, Gray and Noto take on cool muscle cars in a dismal, futuristic world of survival in American Muscle. Great title, great idea. The dialogue is believable, the images make the reader feel the environment. I just hope future issues focus let us in on the cars themselves (they probably can’t specify actual makes and models because of licensing reasons from the auto dealers). Niles and Mellon give us one part Leeloo Dallas, one part human-Cylon, one part David 8, one part la femme Nikita, and one part Ultraviolet in their Trigger Girl 6. That actually should give you all you need to decide whether to check out this one. I’ll just say the pacing of the story was spot-on and the dialogue and art top-notch. I also really liked the color choices in both stories. If this is what creator-owned is, then give us more please.
The publisher of Creator-Owned Heroes is Image Comics. I’ve always viewed Image as sort of a “fourth network” like Dark Horse and Dynamite. I do wonder why Creator-Owned Heroes didn’t try something like Terry Moore and his Abstract Studios publishing company. If you don’t make it big at the major publishing houses I would think Moore has created the model to make it big on your own.
The world needs more Frank Cho. Frank Cho got me interested in Ms. Marvel and The Mighty Avengers when I hadn’t bought a Marvel comic book in years. And now Frank Cho has caused me to want to read more about the Scarlet Witch, Spider Woman, and a more recent X-Woman named Hope (actually they call her an X-Man, but that doesn’t quite work for me).
I was immediately surprised and pleased when I saw the display for the new prologue to Avengers vs. X-Men, Issue #0, because it is reminiscent of one of Frank Cho’s all-time best covers, that of the Scarlet Witch in the trade edition of Ultimates 3; Who Killed the Scarlet Witch, which I have not managed to pick up yet to read from the back issue stack.
So what I hope is that Avengers vs. X-Men will focus heavily on the focus of this prologue–equal parts redemption of the Scarlet Witch, who betrayed her husband Vision when we last saw her and devastated the mutant community, and the rest about a girl named Hope Summers, the so-called Mutant Messiah, whose story here follows a coming of age, breakaway from the status quo that feels very similar to Batgirl’s journey in DC Comics’ New 52 line-up.
What I thought this issue would cover is a lot of over-the-top brawling between Thor and Hulk and Iron Man and Wolverine, etc. I was very happily surprised that wasn’t the case. Since it does not appear that Frank Cho will be doing all the interiors for the actual AvX series, I just hope I am not disappointed in what comes next.
AvX #0 sold out practically instantly Wednesday across the country but no doubt the reprints will follow soon enough if you missed it. It is a nice standalone issue, and can go firmly on the shelf next to the best of Cho’s Marvel pages. You hear that writers write to the strength of the artists that they partner with, and it seems unlikely that Brian Michael Bendis and Jason Aaron didn’t also follow suit here. This book is chock full of what Cho draws best–not just voluptuous women, but superhero females in action, acting smart, acting tough, being cool in every way. As I mentioned above, that means Scarlet Witch, Hope Summer, and Spider Woman, but it also means Ms. Marvel and Emma Frost make a solid appearance. It also means that Bendis sent Cho a few lay-ups, with some dinosaur-tipped rockets fired at the Scarlet Witch courtesy of M.O.D.O.K. (that’s Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing). I think only Cho could pull that off, and he did it here. If this work is what partially delayed Cho’s Guns & Dinos series, there was a great reason for the diversion, and his fans will be pleased with this latest entry.
There is some alpha and omega, yin and yang going on here, as Hope was the first mutant born after the Scarlet Witch turned all the mutants (except 198) into mere mortals. Will these two get to deal with each other in the pages of AvX going forward? I hope so.
In this issue, we had split writing duties, with Jason Aaron taking on the frustration of Hope against the always whiny and wimpy (and often annoying) Cyclops. Brian Michael Bendis wrote the story of Scarlet Witch in her return to Marvel’s pages from a bit of a hiatus. Both writers balance the story well and Cho’s art further keeps the issue cohesive. It would be great if this trio took the reins for the entire series, but that is not the case.
What’s the coolest thing about Hope? Along with having an interesting character voice, she has one of the best powers around–she can mimic the powers of others. I remember thinking this was a great ability when I watched Peter use this power in the Heroes TV series. Hope uses these powers to both use Cyclops’s rays against himself and to take out a motley group of baddies at the end of the book. She also uses the classic head-butt maneuver to good effect in a classic scene found in this issue. Aaron’s writing includes a number of funny and quirky moments for Hope–she is endearing. And you instantly must side with Hope Summers against Scott Summers. It’s the same style of writing that makes Aaron’s Wolverine and the X-Men successful.
Cho's original cover art is sadly partially obliterated by the AvX logo. Check out the angel in the background. Doesn't it look like the angel from the Fearless series?
Scarlet Witch–Wanda–never looked better (you just know she wears a Beltsville shirt in her down time). She is back but wants to stay away from the Avengers. But Carol Danvers aka Ms. Marvel insists she accompany her and Spider-Woman back to their friends. The result is a long-and-coming encounter with her husband who turns her away, to the anger of Ms. Marvel, but the acceptance of Logan and Tony Stark. Bendis is really good–you really feel bad for Wanda here in a short number of pages, both from the story and Cho’s visual portrayal. And we are left with this prophecy that Hope will have to face the Phoenix… that she senses is coming toward her from far away. Cho shows us that it is not just a prophecy but will be addressed in issues to come.
For AvX, this is a great start, using the powerhouse writing and art trio of Bendis/Aaron/Cho upfront. Hopefully the rest of the creators at Marvel Comics will keep the momentum going as we will find out with the premiere of Issue #1 next week. And more than anything this issue has made me want to catch up on past Cho trade books: Ultimate Comics New Ultimates: Thor Reborn, Fear Itself: The Fearless, and The New Avengers.
Last summer we previewed a new project by Frank Cho from San Diego Comic-Con here and here. Titled Guns & Dinos, it is a limited creator-owned mini-series Frank developed. The story centers on a U.S. military base that gets teleported back to the Paleozoic Era, through something like the error in the Philadelphia Experiment, after scientists are experimenting with space folding time travel technology. The result is a modern U.S. army caught in the path of charging triceratops. It’s about an army stuck in the past and its struggle to survive, even with modern warfare at its disposal.
It was featured on the cover of the industry advance book Previews in their September 2011 issue and slated for a November 2011 release. As of Comic-Con in July Frank had not yet finished issue 1. Then November came and went. It was in many a Frank Cho fans’ pull list at comic stores across the country. And many a comic store owner was pestered each week by inquiring patrons. Is it in yet? No? And weeks went by. Yet… no guns… and… no dinos…?
So happily Frank posted what’s going on this week on his website (www.apesandbabes.com):
“Well, I saw this coming when my Marvel assignment and my non-comic project deadlines kicked into overdrive around Thanksgiving. I’m postponing the release of “Guns & Dinos” until I finish my Marvel project and Zombie King screenplay. I want to apologize to all my fans out there who were eagerly waiting for this book. But with only half the book done and no time to complete it, it’s only fair to reschedule the release date when the mini-series is completely finished. Fear not, I’m planning on releasing it before the year is out. Until then, hang tight, fellas.”
So the good news is it is half finished and only merely delayed.
If it’s not holding the top spot on everyone’s “most eagerly awaited comic” list, it’s right up there. And so long as we get to see more Frank Cho art this year from Marvel and likely other Cho projects, we’ll just sit here listening to our Tom Petty albums and try to wait patiently.
Previews, the monthly Diamond Comic Distributors catalog that reveals new products and publications from all corners of the comic book universe, revealed the publication date for a project Frank Cho previewed with borg.com at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego.
Guns & Dinos is the new creator-owned series Cho will be publishing through Image Comics, set for a November 2011 release.
At Comic-Con, Frank showed us his pitch book for a project that he was then taking to Image management. He walked us through the pitch page by page and sold us on the series. Here’s Frank giving us a first look at the new book:
The details were not public then but pages of his proposal were released on the Internet this week. Here are two of the pages Frank showed us:
Guns & Dinos at its core is as simple as its title, but Frank told us how he’d been working on the book for more than a decade, and how its impetus was a simple image–a dinosaur fossil, with an arm holding a modern machine gun. Frank said he has always been fascinated with paleontology and this new series will allow Frank to write and draw something he is clearly really excited about.
The story centers on a U.S. military base that gets teleported back to the Paleozoic Era, through something like the error in the Philadelphia Experiment, after scientists are experimenting with space folding time travel technology. The result? An army caught in the path of charging triceratops.
Although Guns & Dinos might cause fans to think back to his stellar series Shanna, this series isn’t about the jungle girl and Nazis, but how an army stuck in the past struggles to survive, even with modern warfare at its disposal. As of Comic-Con Frank had not yet finished issue 1, but with Previews’ news, and Frank’s track record, that means some good stuff is on its way.
