Great unknown characters of children's television

Sal the Sanitation Bear (He's the one in the orange vest.) shows up in various interstitial bits on "Nick Junior."
We don't really learn much about him except that he is heavily into recycling. He also drives a garbage truck, but somehow stays remarkably clean.
We also know he has a full collection of "Gnomes on Ice" commemorative glasses, which he completed when he convinced Moose A. Moose not to throw away the last glass missing from his set. Moose was going to recycle his old glass because he didn't want it anymore, but Sal convinced him to re-use it, instead.
(Do you suppose Sal used Moose's generosity to make a killing selling the whole set on eBay? He doesn't seem the sort, but you never know.)
What does Sal teach us about life?
Well, he shows us we should sort our recyclables correctly.
He also shows us that some people collect strange things. Like, say, comic books.

Google is celebrating Will Eisner's birthday!

I opened up Google this morning to see they had replaced their "Google" logo," with a design based on Will Eisner's "Spirit" comics, including using twisted buildings and the Spirit's head as the logo. Eisner, of course, used to find all kind of creative ways to use objects to spell out 'The Spirit" on is splash pages.
Go enjoy!

Post script:
I just found out here the logo was designed by comic artist Scott McCloud.

Novelists give comics their Zombies and Widows (or comics about women, part three)

How interesting that this article should come out on Comic Book Resources just as I am finishing up my brief (and wholly incomplete) tour of comics with good female lead characters. It’s coincidental, because “iZombie” was one of the comics I was going to talk about.
“iZombie” is written by Chris Roberson, who also writes “Cinderella,” which I mentioned here. Roberson, who also writes science fiction novels, is fast becoming one of my favorite comics writers.
Here’s how the CBR article explains the comic:

In actuality, the plot of "iZombie" is fairly simple: a girl named Gwen died and woke up a zombie. She has to eat a brain every month, "because if she doesn't, she goes all George Romero 'Night of the Living Dead,' shambling, mindless zombie-thing," said Roberson.

In the article, Roberson, conveniently, talks about writing female characters:

"It's actually easier for me to write strong female characters than it is for me to write kick-ass, macho guys, because kick-ass, macho guys I can't relate to at all," said Roberson. Citing his mother, sisters, wife and seven-year old daughter as inspiration Roberson continued, "Strong female characters, I don't even have to pause to think about what would interest or motivate them, because I see it around me all the time."

“iZombie” is drawn by the incomparable Mike Allred, of “Madman,” “Atomics,” and “X-Force” fame.
I have bought almost everything Allred has ever done. (For some reason I didn’t make it through his “Red Rocket 7” series of a few years ago, but that’s the exception and not the rule.) His skill just keeps increasing. His art is clean, and simple, yet unique and instantly recognizable. If he isn’t one of the best artists in comics, he’s close.
The first “iZombie” trade paperback is coming out soon, and I’d recommend it with one caveat: While the concept is great, I thought the story started kind of slow because Roberson and Allred had a lot of pieces to introduce and then put in motion. I stuck with it because I trust Roberson and Allred to pull it all together in the end.
It’s also possible “iZombie” will read better in larger chunks when compiled in a trade paperback. I have found a few other series to be like that, including “100 Bullets,” and “Fables,” and I am considering dropping monthly issues of “House of Mystery” in favor of the trades.
For “iZombie,” though, the pace is picking up because the cauldron of characters are beginning to swirl and bubble together. It’s really getting fun, and I can recommend it wholeheartedly.
The last comic I wanted to touch on during this much-longer-than-I thought-it-would-be-when-I-started series, is “Black Widow,” which I have not even read. Here are some preview pages.

Why on earth would I want to discuss something I have not even read?
Well, like “iZombie,” the first five issues of the latest incarnation of “Black Window” is written by a novelist, Marjorie Liu. Wikipedia tells us she writes, “Paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels.”
She is also the only female comics writer of this bunch I have discussed.
I don’t know how many female novelists have been tapped to write comics, but I suspect the number isn’t all that high. There are probably a few, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head.
I didn’t come upon this fact until the fourth of her five issues came out, and I have not been able to get them all in one chunk. Rather than piecing the story together, I have been patiently waiting for a trade paperback or a comic store that has all of them. The preview pages do look great, though, don’t they?
Liu left after only five issues, stating in her blog that she writes three or four novels a year as well as two other comics and didn’t have time to do any more.
In an interview over on the Comic Vine Web site, Liu had this to say about female comics creators:

The industry itself, I think, is pretty warm toward female creators -- at least at Marvel.  But we do seem to be a bit invisible, sometimes, as far as comic book readers go.  There's a misconception from the public that there are no women whatsoever in comics -- besides the busty ladies on the covers -- and there's a sense, too, that the female comic book reader doesn't exist. Oh, that elusive creature!   

One day I’ll read all five issues in their entirety, and report back. I promise.
I’d like to end this back were I started three days and four blog posts ago: There are a lot of really great comics out there with female leads.
There are more yet than I have covered in this brief survey. I stopped with these seven, only because they are the titles I am following (Or, in one case, not following, and in another case waiting to follow.).
I think this a trend worth watching as comics readership continues to shrink and is increasingly dominated by 40-year-old men like me who have been reading conics forever and can’t bring themselves to stop.
Are female characters and/or creators a way to draw new readers into comics, or do they just provide a different window into the genre for those of us who have been here a while?
I guess we’ll see.

One thing I might like, one thing I like sometimes (Or: Female leads in comics part two)

What made me think about this whole female comic book character thing I have been writing about?
Well, it was this little preview on comicbookresources.com for a comic called “Lorna: Relic Wrangler.”
It has yet to debut, but it sure looks cool. The artist, Loston Wallace, is an alumnus from “Batman: The Animated Series,” and as such draws in the wonderfully simple yet expressive style of the great Bruce Timm.
Let us note Timm’s Batman show and the companion Superman show always has great female supporting characters, from Batgirl, to Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn on Batman to Lois Lane and Supergirl in the Superman show.
Often Timm is joined with writer Paul Dini to tell his stories, and perhaps one of the greatest comics of the last 20 years is “Batman: Mad Love,” By Dini and Timm. Which is another great story featuring a rather twisted, but memorable, female lead, Harley Quinn.
But, I digress.
I like the Timm style a lot. Sadly, Timm hasn’t drawn a whole lot of comics. Many of his imitators have, though, to varying degrees of success. Perhaps the best of the bunch are Darwyn Cooke, Aluir Amancio, Mike Manley and Rick Burchett.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand: Wallace’s preview pages look as though he is one of the better artists to pick up and use that style.
I think I am in for “Lorna.” I’ll have to check it out when it appears at the comic store, though.
Now, what else am I currently buying? After all I did promise to mention four more great comics with female leads.
Well, since I was talking about Dini, I shall easily transition to “Zatanna.” Zatanna, the magician who says her spells backwards, has long been a member of the DC universe, but has usually been lumped in with al the other characters in the Justice League of America. I remember reading numerous issues of JLA in which she had a bit part, but never had a leading role.
I thought it was cool DC decided to take an old character and give her new life with her own book. When it started with the creative team of Dini and artist Stephane Roux, I was convinced this would be a comic worth watching.
And it was, for the first few issues.
You see, I cannot entirely recommend it carte blanche for a couple of reasons:
1. Too many guest writers and
2. Too many guest artists.
“Zatanna” started out strong under its original creative team. Then Roux left. Then Dini left. Then Dini came back. Roux is supposed to be back for an issue in a couple of months.
DC got a really great three-issue fill-in job from Cliff Chiang, one of the younger comics artists whose work I really, really enjoy, much like Shawn MacManus on Cinderella. Chiang reminds me a little bit of Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez at times, but his finished work is a little rougher and more spontaneous. His sense of layout and storytelling is original, but still simple and easy to follow, like MacManus. Frankly, I like Chiang better than Roux, but they are both really good.

Other than Chiang’s issues, the fill-in stories have not been memorable.
So, “Zatanna,” at its best is a very welcome, very well-written and drawn vehicle for an old character to shine. At its worst, it’s pretty mediocre.
I hope the comic stays at its best for a while, because if not, I’d suspect it’s in danger of being cancelled.
Speaking of cancelled, I think I shall end here for now. I went on too long about Bruce Timm and why you should and shouldn’t check out Zatanna to fit in the other stuff.
I know I still owe you a few more female-led comics, which I promise to deliver next time.

Serial cereal blogging

I like Raisin Bran. I have been eating it for two days now.
Did you ever notice that the bran without the raisins and the raisins without the bran are not so good? The whole is greater then the sum of the parts.
Especially with a little sugar on top.

Why I am reading "Power Girl," Batgirl" and "Cinderella" (And, maybe you should, too!)

(Before I start, forgive me for not writing about comics for a while. I promise to do better.)
I don’t know if anyone has noticed besides me, but there are a lot of really great comics being published with female lead characters.
My posts about She-Hulk always seem to stay at the top of my most popular lists (I am going to leave Jennifer Walters’ alter-ego out of this discussion.).
“Power Girl,” when it was written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray and drawn by Amanda Conner, was one of my favorites. When I came home with a new week’d worth of comics, that was always the one to which I was most looking forward.
I think what really hooked me was Conner’s art. Everything she draws has such personality and energy!
I think she could draw a story about a hospital waiting room and make it look exciting.
Sadly, all three left the book with issue 12. I was pretty well convinced that it would not be any good afterward.
What actually happened, however, was that after a few issues of the new creative team, I still really look forward to “Power Girl.”
The new writer, Judd Winick, has an entirely different sensibility than Palmoitti and Gray, but he has managed to keep the characters “feeling” the same. The book isn’t quite as in-your-face raucous as it was, it’s quieter, but it’s still in tune with what came before.
Sami Basri’s art took some getting used to. It’s a kind of a Manga-influenced style that depends heavily on the colorist to fill in the open spaces. His sense of anatomy is a little bit odd as well.
I said I wasn’t gonna talk about “She Hulk,” but, this was not unlike the artistic transition when Peter David started writing “She Hulk,” after writer Dan Slott and artist Rick Burchett left and the art chores were turned over to a team of fellows whose names I don’t remember and who drew an awful lot like Basri. For me, “She Hulk quickly thereafter plummeted into boring irrelevance.
That experience made me wary of what was to come for “Power Girl,” but I decided to be patient.
As a few issues passed (the series is on issue 21 now) I have gotten used to Basri’s art, and I have even started to appreciate the subtle expressions and body language he captures.
So, “Power Girl” is good. What else?
“Batgirl,” no kidding, is not the Batgirl of my youth, but a new character who fights criminals when she isn’t busy with her in high school drama. The stories are largely self-contained which is a big plus for me. I am getting so sick of cosmic stories wheer the entire universe is about to be destroyed. It’s fun to read smaller scale suoer hero stories that have a human side.
Dustin Guyen started drawing the book a couple of months ago, and he brings solid drawing and good storytelling to the interior pages and gorgeous subtly-colored watercolor-looking covers to the outside. If I had a vote as to best cover artist, I think I’d vote for him.
Another good comic with a female lead is “Cinderella.” This is a spin-off of “Fables,” but stands well in it’s own right, even if you have never read the original. (I have been buying the original series in trade paperback for, so I get the story in big lumps, but I have not gotten any of the other spin-off “Jack of Fables.”) The title character, the original Cinderella now living in our world, is a James Bond-ish spy for the Fabletown characters of the original title.
The second series just got underway, and the first was on the top of my reading list by the time it ended.
Why? For one, writer Chris Roberson is fast becoming one of my favorite comics writers. Roberson comes up with great plots, but also populates the pages with clever, witty characters using some of the fable characters we don’t get to see in the main book.
Shawn MacManus’ art has enough personality that it’s easy on the eyes, but is simple and classic enough that it doesn’t get in the way to telling a story.
The other artist who defines the series, Chrissie Zullo, draws absolutely perfect covers. Her style is very different that MacManus’ on the interiors, but they work together to produce a visual look that makes the book eye candy every month.
School Library Journal (via Amazon.com) tells about the series better than I just did:
In this spin-off of Bill Willingham's "Fables" series (Vertigo), Cinderella is a covert agent: her cover is a shoe store called The Glass Slipper. In her latest assignment, "Cindy" must work with handsome but infuriating Aladdin to find out who is sneaking weapons between Fableland and the outside world. Could it be Cinderella's fairy godmother? Roberson effectively integrates fairy-tale and nursery-rhyme characters into a complex, action-packed spy caper worthy of Alias or James Bond.
That’s three of the comics I wanted to talk about. I think I have four more I’ll post something about next time.