More Chris Sprouse

In a bit of synchronicity, this interview of Sprouse just appeared online. Disregard the typos. It's pretty good!

And Sprouse was set to do a Superman story, he says, but it was canceled.

Alas!

My favorite quote: "It was very easy to break in: I simply mailed sample pages to DC Comics and they called me two weeks later! "

The great Chris Sprouse

Artist Chris Sprouse has a very appealing style. Simple, clean and really elegant line work, expressive faces, terrific page design, smart sexy ladies, powerful men, scary villains — Sprouse does it all and makes it look easy.

He's currently working on a new series featuring Tom Strong, the character he co-created with Alan Moore.

I ganked the above image from his website which is well worth a visit.

Wouldn't it be great if Chris Sprouse regularly drew Superman? I sure think so.

Wayne Boring + Curt Swan + Kurt Schaffenberger = Chris Sprouse. That's how I figure it, anyway.

GrantMo On All Star Superman

Superb initial installment of an interview with King Mob himself. Also, a terrific review, some fascinating speculation and further discussion.

(Image referred to in the interview: Grant, Superman, Mark Waid and friends; lifted from Grant's site.)

More All Star Superman?

The final issue (of 12) came out this week. Nice ending to a wonderful series.

Will there be more? Grant Morrison, from an interview last April with Comic Book Resources:

“We’re stopping mainly because Frank really doesn’t want to draw Superman for the rest of his life,” Morrison confirmed. “The two of us have some other projects we’d like to do so we had to make it finite. We wanted to say our piece and leave. Personally, I could write that book forever. I just love it. I could write stories about Superman every month but the book was designed from the start to be something complete, and to have a beginning and an end. So that’s the way we are playing it.”

Morrison did add, however, he hopes to write a series of one-shot in All Star Superman specials one day as his schedule permits. “As I was working on the book, a bunch of other ideas came to mind and one was an idea for an All Star Superman/Batman book. So that was one of the stories, a thing called ‘Son of Superman.’ It was a kind of take on the Super Sons idea from the 1970s, which I really liked. So I wanted to do that one. And there is another one set in the far, far future with the Superman Squad. So they were stories that were more tangential to Superman.

“And I wanted to do a story of Superman’s first year in Metropolis when he wasn’t so powerful and he was a bit more of a liberal activist. And to do that kind of Superman, the big heavy guy who can only pick up trucks and be killed by an exploding shell, you can kind of do that as the first year and see the differences between that guy and the incredibly powerful, self-assured man-god in the main All Star Superman book. So those are the three stories I came up with and as I say, they were slightly off the main storyline but related to it so I hope to do those when the current workload eases up because as I say I could just keep doing that Superman stuff forever.”

Read the whole interview.

(Grant counts three and I count four, btw. Must be a PoMo thing.)

Super Beer?

Action Comics 869

Are Jonathan and Clark Kent drinking beer?

Rich Johnston burps, "Yes."

All Star Superman #12

art by Vincent Deighan (Frank Quitely) and Jamie Grant

Coming next week!

And Grant Morrison sits for an interview (apparently by e-mail) with Newsarama; though fanboys are still complaining that Final Crisis is too hard! Wahhhhh!!!

Brad Meltzer loves Superman

Yeah, well, my three kids each had birth announcements drawn by the artist who was currently penciling Superman. (And no, I'm not going to post 'em online.) But props to Brad.

In the meantime, I have some thoughts about the notion of a darker reboot of the Superman movies... coming soon.

fake poster by Brad Brevet

My Pal, Jimmy Olsen

This is a fantastic collection of classic comics. I love my public library!

Secret Identity

This will be interesting. (From Publishers Weekly)Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster, an unusual collection of S&M comics secretly created by Superman’s co-creator Joe Shuster. Thought to have been destroyed, the comics were discovered in a shop in Britain by Yoe, who has verified that Schuster was the creator. Called Nights of Horror, the comics are fetish fantasies with characters that look just like Clark Kent and Lois Lane. “They’re chained and being whipped and there’s women kissing women,” said Charles Kochman. “It’s a great story and no one ever connected them to Schuster.”

Charles Kochman was recently promoted to executive editor at Harry N. Abrams, the venerable New York City art book publishing house, just in time for its 60th anniversary. In spring 2009, Harry N. Abrams will launch Abrams ComicArts, a sub-imprint specializing in comics and comics related book.

I Am Curious (Black)

The legendary Lois Lane 106.

Did you know that the Harlem of Metropolis is called "Little Africa?" Me neither!

Margot & Chris?

Valerie D'Orazio thinks this is good. And I guess it's not the worst thing in the world, but... should Lois Lane and Clark Kent (and Superman) look like Margot Kidder and the late Christopher Reeve? They do in Action Comics right now.

It started, if I recall correctly, when Geoff Johns began writing Action with his former boss, director Richard Donner. Adam Kubert was the artist, and though it was a bit... different... having Supes look like Reeve seemed sort of natural with Donner involved. After Kubert fizzled, Gary Frank took over. And it's Margot and Chris. Isn't that nice?

Uh, no. It's starting to creep me out.

Book reviewed

My review of Jake Rossen's "Superman vs Hollywood," on the history of movie and TV adaptations of Superman and a host of related characters, is in The Miami Herald, here.

And I filed capsule reviews on the "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier" and the 2nd edition of of the "Luther Arkwright: Heart of Empire" CD-ROM, too. Not sure when they'll run, though. Maybe in a couple of weeks.