Wednesday Links

• Well, so much for me covering any of the Gordon Lee trial in Rome, Georgia. It ended amid a very strange mistrial. Apparently the judge agreed that any previous incidents regarding Lee — the comic shop owner who gave out pages of Nick Bertozzi’s work featuring a nude Pablo Picasso to some kids on FCBD – were to be kept out of the trial. Then the prosecutor went and brought it up anyway. Trial over. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which aided Lee’s defense, has plenty more. The district attorney says this ain’t over.

• The Bags and Boards blog at Variety has more on what the Hollywood writers strike means for comic books. It’s nice to see that creators see comics as a welcoming alternative to TV and movies. And, maybe with this strike, they’ll actually finish their comics projects. Paging Damon Lindelof.

• How hungry is Galactus? So hungry, only Hardees can sate him! Good work from Beaucoup Kevin on the animation.

• In his Marvel blog, editor Tom Brevoort explains that the market has changed, so that publishers actually create issue covers to entice retailers first, then fans. He adds that he doesn’t understand the draw of variant covers, to which I say, amen. He further adds that he especially hates the Michael Turner variants. Oh, wait, that was me.

• A New York Jets fullback is planning to create an animated web comic about a superhero/athlete (from USA Today). Does this remind anyone else of that old cartoon with Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretsky and Bo Jackson, Pro Stars? “Wayne’s hot, slap shot! Pro Stars!”

• Politics in comics is nothing new, but comics published expressly as part of a political agenda is becoming more common. Last year saw the graphic novel published by the National Rifle Association, and now an anti-poverty group is putting out Iraq: Operation Corporate Takeover, which calls for the British government to intervene in the actions of corporations in the rebuilding of Iraq, according to a press release.

• Alex Robinson’s Lower Regions is out today (finally, he says), and he posted some sketchbook material coinciding with the release.

• Frank Santoro has a pretty interesting Comics Comics blog entry about how best to appreciate graphic novels, and even says the term “graphic novel” is prosaic. How about “graphic fiction”? Santoro talks about approaching comics criticism from a purely artistic point of view. He says comics are inherently narratives, so more focus should go to the art. I’m always welcome to discussions of art, but to me this strikes at a consistent problem I see from cartoonists who write their own material (I’m not being inclusive here). Too often, comics can be beautifully pieced together, only to have a weak narrative. What makes comics so great is the combination of skills in writing and in art and design, so I hate to see one subjugated below another. (via Newsarama)

• In his Previews roundup, Chris at ISB makes the fair point that Alex Ross is cheating by taking credit for introducing characters in SuperPowers that were actually used not long ago by Alan Moore.

• An interesting thought from Elayne Riggs at Comic Mix. She posits that negative comics reviews aren’t actually more common than positive reviews, but negative reviews gain far more attention, because it’s easier to dogpile on snark than it is to engage in serious criticism.

• Chris Ware did the poster for upcoming film The Savages. (via Drawn & Quarterly)

• Amazon has its Best Graphic Novels of 2007 list posted. Some decent choices from their editors, but even more mistakes. Shortcomings? That book was among my least favorite.

• Molded nipples? An “ebullient” Catwoman? George Clooney? Worst cover ever? So says Every. Issue. Ever. (via Occassional Superheroine)

• Interesting post on The Beat, on Brian Wood’s attack on sales charts.