- Dan Hipp channels his inner detective this week:
- Terry Moore re-designed his website and showed us the cover to Rachel Rising 7:
- Peter David writes an excellent article on SOPA/PIPA. Here's an excerpt, but be sure to check out the full thing:
The denizens of the Internet are, for the most part, screaming foul and bloody murder and (of course) shouting for boycotts of any and all who are in support of SOPA and PIPA. Because when you want to show that you’re a firm advocate of free expression and unimpeded distribution of information, naturally the best way to do that is to try and financially punish and shun anyone who disagrees with you.
Now I don’t pretend to understand all the ramifications of SOPA. I’ve read a lot about it. Read position papers on both sides. I’m fairly convinced that, yes, SOPA goes too far in its current language. It should not be passed in its present form, and–if it does go forward–will likely be scaled down to something more manageable.
But oddly enough, I can’t find it within me to work up much outrage over it. I suppose I should. I’m a freedom of expression guy.
And yet, here’s what I keep coming back to…
And I address this not to the corporations on either side, fighting for their personal interests. And not to the congressmen who are punting SOPA around like a political hacky sack.
No, I’m talking to the owners of the various pirate sites who decided it was fine to post my novels for free downloads.
I’m talking to the guy in Florida who decided that he was going to unilaterally create his own online library and was blithely offering copyrighted comic book material to millions of people before the Feds nailed him.
I’m talking to the denizens of a website whose cavalier disregard for restrictions on how much of a comic book one could reproduce caused their entire site to be shut down and their response was—with a complete inability to accept the results of their own actions—to blame me for it.
I’m talking to everyone on the Internet who is the first to download the latest anti-virus ware to protect their own computers and digital property, but have zero trouble feeling a sense of misplaced entitlement that enables them to rationalize swiping other people’s intellectual property or enjoying it at no cost.
And if you’re not among those people…if you are, for instance, one of the fans who writes to me to inform me about pirate sites because you understand that theft is theft…then you’re off the hook, and you can kick back and watch me talk to everyone else.
Ladies…gentlemen…guys…gals…
What the hell did you think was going to happen?
- Jamie McKelvie warmed up with Miles Morales:
- Jeff Smith posted a teaser video for Bone: Quest for the Spark Vol. 2:
- Skottie Young sketched a dragon for the Chinese New Year:
- Brian Wood has an interview with Weekly Crisis about a bunch of stuff. Here are his thoughts about his separation from DC:
I’m a massive fan and I count DMZ in my top 10 titles of all time. Seriously, it’s golden. I hope we’ll be seeing some HC releases of that book soon, but my question is, you wrote that book for six glorious years, do you see that ending, alongside your separation from DC, as the birthing flames for a new era of Brian Wood? Are you stretching your wings a little in terms of story type, tone, method, etc?
Wood: As far as HC releases go, I agree that would be great. But its DC’s decision and I don’t see it happening any time soon, short of a film or tv adaption being made (of which there are no plans I am aware, I should add). And yeah, a bunch of things are ending for me around the same time: DMZ, Northlanders, that Supernatural miniseries I wrote for DC, and of course my DC exclusive. I hate to see the word “separation” like that but I guess it’s fairly accurate.
RKL: Yeah, that was me just trying to be polite, ha. You tell it in your terms.
Wood: The situation is a little bit like being dumped by a girl but never really getting an explanation as to why. At some point, if only for your own sanity, you have to shrug and accept the situation and move on. I was exclusive for five of the six years I wrote for DC and I gave them 25 volumes of material. I think I did a pretty good job.
So with all of these books ending, it makes sense to take advantage of this new chapter to take a hard look at what I do, and what I want to do, and how I can ‘level up’ in terms of projects and craft. What 2012 is going to be is a year where I launch a ton of new projects, all with a renewed energy and focus, and try a bunch of new things, one of them being a lot more work for hire. I had actually made that decision last year, to work on some superhero books and had every intention of doing that for DC. But they ultimately didn’t want me to do that. Marvel did, though. You’re going to see a lot more X-Men work from me soon. And from Dark Horse.
RKL: We’ll chat Marvel in a bit, let’s first talk about Conan. You’re adapting the ‘Queen of the Black Coast’ story. However, this isn’t a straight up adaptation – this whole run is stretching to 25 issues. Why did you feel a two year run was the best way to tackle this tale which most would have read over the course of a weekend?
Wood: I think I read the original Queen Of The Black Coast book in an hour. It’s very short. The 25-issue thing was Dark Horse’s idea, it was part of the pitch they gave me explaining the project. And it makes sense, because in the original text, mention is made of an extended period of time – years – when Conan and Belit sailed around as pirates and did their thing. It’s essentially the second act of the story completely skipped over. And that’s where the bulk of my 25 issues will take place, in that space with adventures written from scratch. It’s a great thing, actually, because in doing that you can really breathe life into their relationship, all the ups and downs and successes and tragedies that any relationship has, so in the end everything becomes that much more poignant and meaningful and formative for Conan.
- Brandon Graham posted a ton of great stuff, including this title image for the Image King City collection:
- Dave Johnson posted a preview of the final Punisher Max cover:
- Dustin Nguyen posted the cover to Supernatural #6:
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