comic's,manga,anime and anything else us Nerdz ooze over'

[DJ LunchBox]

man its all about anything written by Brian Michael Bendis!!

Ultimate Spidey, Dardevil, Powers, Alias. just dope stories and great dialogue.

Also Bruce jones on Hulk is of the wall insane as well.

[tangent23]

just found this:

http://www.scifidimensions.com/Jul03/1602.htm

^ preview about: 1602
8 issue series staring 13th Aug '03
Neil Gaiman collaborating with artists Andy Kubert, Richard Isanove, and Scott McKowen

He's taking the Marvels universe and setting it 400 years in the past, when people with strange powers are known as "witchbreed"

1602 takes place in Europe at a time of great change. The Catholic Church's Inquisition is pursuing and rounding up "witchbreed", strange individuals with all sorts of unexplained abilities. Many of the witchbreed flee to the relative safety of England, where they are taken under the wing of Carlos Javier, an expatriate Spaniard with extraordinary abilities of his own. An elderly Queen Elizabeth sits on the throne of England - her ministers include Sir Nicholas Fury, her Minister of Intelligence, and Dr. Stephen Strange, her Court Physician and Magician. As issue #1 begins, Fury sends a blind Irish balladeer named Matthew Murdock to Europe to retrieve, from the last of the Templars, a mysterious item that may be either weapon or treasure. Unfortunately, this item has also come to the attention of Count Otto von Doom (also called The Handsome), ruler of Latveria.

i love alternate history/dimension stuffs and Gaiman writes a terrific story...

[macphisto]

I love independent comics, they're so much more creative and darker than mainstream like DC, Marvel, even Image, i'm totally into this series that started somewhat recently called, I feel sick"by johen vasquez (i think that's the name) and i'm currently enjoying a hentai book called, dimples down under. and also the manga series saria. I need to start a comic allowance for myself

[Batsu]

Hey Macphisto - Have you checked out Jhonen's earlier work like Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Squee? They are both worth your time. Jhonen also did a cartoon series recently called Invader Zim.

My current "dark" read is the crime-noir comic Sleeper which is on Wildstorm's Eye of the Storm line up.

[evillilgirl]

just got the new shiro ballistics.. omg it's so badass.. i love he does variations of his work and shows it. sweet.

[Batsu]

I'm waiting for the TPB of the Filth as I missed the first 3 issues. Is it as impenetrable as Invisibles?

If you are a Grant Morrison fan you might enjoy this link which Margin Walker sent me.

www.barbelith.com

[kid_robotron]

Scrotnig

[macphisto]

Originally posted by Batsu
Hey Macphisto - Have you checked out Jhonen's earlier work like Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Squee? They are both worth your time. Jhonen also did a cartoon series recently called Invader Zim.

My current "dark" read is the crime-noir comic Sleeper which is on Wildstorm's Eye of the Storm line up.

i was wondering if invader zim had any relation to Jhonen's work, i've only seen one episode of that show and i was on my ass laughing. Yeah, i checked out johnny and squee, terrific awesome and funny. The popularity of cute little characters gone demented is really increasing. Have you read Fillerbunny?

[tangent23]

AlphaMech0Divide: there's also this crazy short [20-30min] i saw once about a futuristic race track around a city
archonemis: was it like a hover craft shaped and operated similarly to a motorcycle?
AlphaMech0Divide: i think it was, it was about some dude who went so fast his craft started disintergrating [in slo-mo of course :-)] and as he died the ghosts of past racers could be seen and he keeps racing
AlphaMech0Divide: wild

does anyone know the name or any details of what we're talking about?

it's japanese, very beautiful, probably late eighties/early nineties...

it screened in australia on eat carpet, a late night shorts programme [they used to show liquid television as well, actually it may even have been on LT].

also:

does anyone know where i can view/download/get a copy of Ken Ishii's EXTRA videoclip? the one with the kid in VR, on R&S Records.

[tangent23]

thanks for the info peko!

yep, it was 'running man'...

[RazeOner]

Originally posted by Iago
Just bought...

Marcel Dzama's The Berlin Years
Published through McSweeney's



The Berlin Years
By Marcel Dzama

Are they still available? I heard they weren't in prodution anymore and were getting harder to find... great deal if you could get it for the $30 list... even better if you were one of the lucky 10! Guess I should do a search.

[tangent23]

hola again! [going through an anime/manga rediscovery at the mo']



i have the UK trade of Akira [the beginning] which is a large volume [thickness], in full colour, but i have never been able to find any more issues...does anyone know if they ever brought out any more? i can't seem to find any mention of it online except in this guy's site: http://www.smoothascream.com/GREATAK...ocu/comics.htm

[atomicscissors]

Originally posted by tangent23
hola again! [going through an anime/manga rediscovery at the mo']



i have the UK trade of Akira [the beginning] which is a large volume [thickness], in full colour, but i have never been able to find any more issues...does anyone know if they ever brought out any more? i can't seem to find any mention of it online except in this guy's site: http://www.smoothascream.com/GREATAK...ocu/comics.htm

Dark Horse Comics released 6 TPBs. Check 'em out here.

[tangent23]

no, what i am talking about is different...the Dark Horse versions have the kanji down the left hand side and are B/W [i think]...the versions i am looking for are UK Mandarin Press imprints [?], full colour, printed in HK, 1994.

i have a feeling they only put out the one volume...


darkhorse on the left, scale isn't correct, i think they're the same size [wxh]:

[atomicscissors]

Just flipping through my copy of the L.A. TImes today and found this:


The Hard Realities of Make-Believe

In anime, the hours are long and the pay paltry. But for many Japanese, it's still a dream job.

By Colin Joyce, Special to The Times

TOKYO — The starting pay can be less than $500 a month in this, the world's most expensive city, but becoming an illustrator in Japan's famed anime industry remains the fantasy of thousands of young Japanese.

In scores of cramped studios, largely clustered in two small districts of western Tokyo, young illustrators lean over desks, producing page after page of drawings that eventually will be turned into cartoons for broadcast in Japan and, increasingly, overseas.

Despite the huge popularity of the industry and its growing cachet internationally, even big studios typically pay recruits between $1,200 and $1,800 a month. Their counterparts in Tokyo office jobs earn up to twice as much, including benefits such as subsidized accommodation and train passes. Even convenience-store work pays $8 an hour.

Although "anime" simply means animation, the product differs from U.S. cartoons and animated films in that it is not geared mostly to children. Like its printed counterpart, manga comics, anime is a diverse field, producing everything from cute children's programs such as "Sailor Moon" — a superhero schoolgirl with impossibly long legs and big eyes — to violent and sexual images for Japan's otaku, or "nerd," subculture.

Many foreign fans have been won over by the imagination and intelligent story lines in the genre's most celebrated works. Others are drawn in simply by the vivid colors, fantastic characters and surreal landscapes common in anime.

Masaru Muto, a 20-year-old student, is among those willing to accept low pay to be part of the phenomenon. He will start as an intern at a Tokyo television animation company this month.

"Of course, my parents would prefer me to find a regular job, but I wanted to draw since childhood, and my fascination with animated films became deeper and deeper as I went through school," he said. "I decided that whatever happened, I wanted to give it a try."

Like many anime devotees, Muto is an admirer of director Hayao Miyazaki, who created the acclaimed films "Spirited Away" and "Princess Mononoke."

"To become so great, Miyazaki had to work hard," Muto said, "so I think I will have to fight and to suffer even more than him to become famous."

But many of the young enthusiasts quickly become disillusioned with the long hours and meager salaries. Yoshitake Ogata of the Anime Union, which represents freelance illustrators, said: "However keen they are when they come in, the reality is that they cannot live on the pay. There are animators with 10 years' experience earning less than $20,000 a year. In the end, they have to quit."

The union's informal surveys suggest that 10% of the animators have no health insurance and that as many as one-quarter haven't joined the state pension program, although it is meant to be compulsory. Often, anxious parents pay for their children's health insurance and, in some cases, lodging.

The main factor holding down pay is the availability of cheap labor in East Asia. Japanese production companies now rely on illustrators in South Korea, the Philippines and China to do much of their routine work. Ironically, just as Japanese anime is becoming more famous overseas, it is becoming less Japanese.

Nippon Engineering College in Tokyo is one of several high-tech institutions in Japan that train aspiring animators, including Muto. The school attracts technically gifted students who spend two years learning the art of creating anime and character-based computer games. Most graduates go on to work in the industry.

But teachers stress that talent alone is not enough.

"Of course students need strong powers of observation and have to be good drawers, but they also need to have passion," teacher Masataka Kawai said. "To stick it out in anime, you can't just like drawing, you have to love it."

Kawai worked for eight years in one of Japan's most famous studios. During deadline periods, he would barely leave it for nearly three weeks on end, sleeping under his desk. It is widely believed that most animators work 12 hours a day or more, often working weekends as well.

A 30-minute cartoon typically requires 3,500 pages of drawings. New illustrators usually draw the movements in between the "key frames" done by their seniors. A team of illustrators typically produces a cartoon in about three months. The contribution of any one illustrator might last just 10 seconds for an action scene or as long as 10 minutes when movement is limited, as in a conversation scene.

Despite the long hours, Kawai has happy memories of his days as an illustrator.

"There's no doubt it is hard work, but when you see one of your cuts and it goes well, that is real happiness," he said. "Personally, I felt happy when a small girl from my neighborhood said she enjoyed a cartoon I had worked on."

Many illustrators say they want to give children the same joy they experienced watching cartoons such as "Doraemon," featuring a talking cat who looks after his hapless schoolboy owner, and "Gatchaman," about spaceship superheroes. Today, cartoons such as "Pokemon" reach a worldwide audience.

Tokyo's Suginami ward, where 71 of Japan's estimated 430 anime studios are based, has expressed concern about the damage the working conditions could do to its most famous industry. The ward recently launched a program to sponsor apprentices to work for six months as animators.

But many in the industry say anime's crisis lies not in hiring talent, but in retaining it.

"All the famous directors, including Miyazaki, developed their skills working on anime for television. But now the industry isn't rearing animators with the talent to create new characters or the experienced hands to draw the crucial key frames," Ogata said. "The conditions are so poor that the next generation is not coming through."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rie Sasaki in The Times' Tokyo Bureau contributed to this report.