05/22/2001 09:15am EST/EMAIL Newsarama @ michael doran and Matt Brady
Oni's August 2001 Solicitations, British Creators Speak Out, Whedon's New Buffy Project...
Updated 05.22.01 09:10am EST

ADOLF - A DIFFERENT LOOK AT WORLD WAR II

While we here in the States prepare to be whipped into a righteous, patriotic lather with the release of Pearl Harbor, which is aimed to hit all the same notes in us as Saving Private Ryan, it's time to take a minute to remember that Americans weren't the only ones who have stories from World War II.

That's where Adorufu ni Tsugu or "Tell Adolf" by Osamu Tezuka comes in. The reprinted manga series is simply entitled Adolf. One of Tezuka's most mature and compelling works, Adolf is a powerful statement about the destructive powers of war on a national, social, and personal level.

While you may be more familiar with some of Tezuka's works aimed at younger audiences, such as Astro Boy, Kimba, the White Lion and Blackjack, don't let the earlier work fool you. Adolf has the punch of a novel, and is one of the most compelling reads that you can find in manga. The reprinted, translated volumes are like literary Lay's potato chips - you can't read just one - if you even try, the story will haunt you until you find and read the rest. It's that good. [click here for the full article...]

NEWSARAMA DAILY for Tuesday, May 22nd, 2001

LEGAL ACTION COMICS Anthology Debuts July With A Cast Of Over Seventy All-Star Cartoonists

Press Release

Legal Action Comics, a 256-page paperback featuring comic strips by over seventy of the cartooning world's top talents, makes its debut this July.

Featuring legendary contributors such as Robert Crumb, Pulitzer prize winner Art Spiegelman, Robert Williams, Kim Deitch, Mary Fleener, Gary Panter, Spain Rodriguez, Jay Lynch, Tony Millionaire, Kaz, Julie Doucet, and dozens of other renowned cartoonists [click here for the press release]...

Whedon Stay Hands-On with Dark Horse's Buffy Franchise

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the television show may be moving from the WB to UPN, but the comic book franchise isn't moving anywhere, and show creator Joss Whedon will be continuing his more hands-on involvement with the Dark Horse comics line. In addition to this current mini-series Fray, Whedon will also headline the creative team for this fall's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Slayer, an 88-page one-shot featuring new, original stories by him and other writers of the show [click here for the full story]...

Quesada Further Clarifies Marvel's Code Split...

Speaking further on what will surely become a hot discussion topic for the coming summer months, Joe Quesada sat with Newsarama for a few minutes to answer some further questions about Marvel's split from the CMAA and subsequent dropping of the Comics Code Authority seal from its comics.

NRMA: Why leave the Code altogether when DC seemingly has a successful relationship with the CMAA, while publishing non-Code books in their mainstream line, such as Green Arrow and Hitman as well as the entire Vertigo line - if DC can do it, why can't Marvel?

JQ: It's my firm belief that DC is not interested in moving comics outside of the niche it has found itself in and into the mainstream, for that reason the code works very well for them. We can remain this quaint little secret! Let's really call a spade a spade and stop kidding ourselves, let's really look at the lay of the land and what's been happening to our industry in the last six or seven years. DC had the creators and the toys while Marvel was chasing its own tail, we're talking about a company that has Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman! A company that has Time Warner and now AOL as sister companies and yet they somehow are unable to promote comics outside our little community to all of their major mainstream magazines, newspapers, networks, news networks, cable networks and other avenues of mainstream publicity. Why hasn't anyone asked this question? [click here for the full story...]

ONI PRESS' August 2001 Solicitations

HOPELESS SAVAGES #1 (of 4)
by Jen Van Meter, Christine Norrie, & Chynna Clugston-Major; covers by Andi Watson
Oi! This ain't yer old man's comic book series! The Hopeless Savage family, stars of the last two ONI PRESS COLOR SPECIALS, are finally setting up the equipment and playing their own gig. Jen Van Meter's punk rock family have never had what you might call a normal life, and when the parental units turn up missing, it's up to the kids to get united and find out who's behind the kidnapping. But first, the youngest of the clan-Twitch, Arsenal, and Zero-have to figure out where their brother Rat has gotten to, because despite turning his back on a life of rebellion for a suit and a tie, he may be the only one who can lead them to victory. This all new comics experience from the writer of BLAIR WITCH CHRONICLES and GOTHAM KNIGHTS #12 is lovingly illustrated by Christine Norrie (ACTION GIRL COMICS), with each issue containing special flashback sequences by Chynna Clugston-Major (BLUE MONDAY) and covers by Andi Watson (BREAKFAST AFTER NOON).
32 pages, black & white, color cover
In stores: August 22, 2001
Shipping from Quebecor: August 17, 2001
OIc date: August 6, 2001
$2.95 US, $4.50 Can

Hopeless Savages (tm) & (c) 2001 Jen Van Meter. Oni Press logo and icon are (tm) & (c) 2001 Oni Press. Logo design and icon artwork created by Dave Gibbons. All rights reserved.

[For all of Oni's August 2001 Solicitations, click on the link]...

THE BRITISH VOICE

They're some of the hottest writers of the current comic market - writers who hail (or have hailed) from England, Scotland and Ireland. In any given month, books from these writers occupy at least one tenth of the Top 100. Now, admittedly it's a numerically low number, but ask virtually any comic fan to name the top five writers in the industry, and more often than not, all five will be British.

So what's the deal? Is there something in the water? Do they go to super-secret comic book writing schools? Do they get a newsletter, chock full of wonky ideas? Is if the seeds of the eventual re-taking of the colonies by the Crown ("first soften the Americans by given them the Beatles, then Alan Moore, then Morrison, Gaiman, Ellis, Ennis, Millar and the rest.... soon, they'll be calling trucks 'lorries,' elevators 'lifts,' and Starbucks will sell more tea than coffee! Mwa-hahahahah. Righty-o, wot?")Or is it just they are some of the most talented folks working in comics, and it's just a coincidence that they happen to be from the UK?

Could be.

We gathered together a handful of the top British writers as well as some others and asked some questions to try and get a better handle on the phenomenon.

[click here for the full story...]

This Week:

Well, we're back.. and boy, that was an interesting week...

We didn't get out of the gate quite as quickly as we would have liked, and the full-version of the site is still being tweaked here and there. But we figure this is a marathon and not a sprint, and a start is a start. And he good news is, things should only get better from here.

A few quick notes before we get to this week's news... Joe Casey's Crash Comments is absent but not forgotten. Look for a return of the column here at Newsarama 4.0 later this summer. And we're still working on the format of the new Newsarama Weekly edition, and we're going to try our best to present it in a form that makes it most convenient for you readers.

You have two choices are far as how you want your news...For a complete compilation of all the week's news stories, including the brand new week-end stories, you can head over to our new comprehensive NEWSARAMA WEEKLY URL at http://www.comicon.com/newsarama/weekly.shtml by clicking on the links.

Or..if you prefer to be a little more selective, you can find each news story (plus the Newsarama Weekly WORD on the STREET newsbytes compilation) individually posted in our NEWS SECTION, where you can also go to comment on any story you choose. So experiment, poke around, decide which format is for you, and if you have any suggestions or comments, you'll find a 'Newsarama Feedback folder' in the News Section where you can share your ideas.

And oh yeah, before we forget... that hairy guy to your left in our 'cover image' is the star of the first cover to Dark Horse's new Planet of the Apes ongoing series, illustrated by Matt Wagner...

Mike Sangiacomo's JOURNEY INTO COMICS for Saturday, May 19th, 2001
The CMAA Responds to Marvel Exit

A spokesman for the Comics Code Authority was disappointed that Marvel Comics has decided to dropout of the organization, but said the code will do fine without Marvel.

Holly Koenig, spokesman for the Comics Code Authority and the Comics Magazine Association of America, said the group would keep on providing third-party reviews of comics before publication for DC, Archie and Dark Horse Comics. She said they would function without the $5,000 annual dues and $35 per book reviewed fees from Marvel. [click here for the full story]...

TONY HARRIS: TALKING SHOP

Coming from gaming illustration for companies like White Wolf, Tony Harris caught the industry's attention as the regular penciler of Starman for over four years before moving to a Dr. Strange mini for Marvel Knights, and then the acclaimed JSA: The Liberty Files and Lazarus 5, both published through DC, and all co-written by Dan Jolley. Currently, Harris, Jolley and inker Ray Snyder are finishing up Obergeist, a miniseries starring a former Nazi "doctor" that DC originally accepted and then declined to publish, for Top Cow's creator-owned Minotaur imprint.

With the Warren Ellis-written miniseries Down, a sequel to The Liberty Files, and a large handful of other projects coming up quickly, we figured that if we were going to chat with Tony, it was going to have to be soon - before he chains himself to his drawing board for the next two years. Tony graciously spentsome time speaking with Newsarama from the Jolly Roger Studio in Macon, Georgia.

To read the interview, click here...

• ITEM! Mishkin/Mandrake Give Readers the Creeps

• ITEM! CREATORS, DC COMICS, CMAA React to Marvel Code Break

• ITEM! MARVEL TO TELL WOLVERINE'S ORIGIN

• FEATURE! SUICIDE RUN: John Ostrander and Matt Brady Look Back at a DC Cult-Classic, The Suicide Squad