Tag Archives: j.h. williams iii

Updated: Williams and Blackman Walk Off Batwoman Citing Editorial Interference & Gay Marriage Flap

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3175940-batwoman+01I woke up to rather shocking news, but the team of JH Williams III and WH Blackman have walked off DC Comics‘ Batwoman citing editorial interference. This past year numerous similar stories have come forth of upset creators clashing with editors, but this is the highest profile team yet to quit their book.

Williams explains on his blog:

Dear Batwoman readers -From the moment DC asked us to write Batwoman — a dream project for both of us — we were committed to the unofficial tagline “No Status Quo.” We felt that the series and characters should always be moving forward, to keep changing and evolving. In order to live up to our mantra and ensure that each arc took Batwoman in new directions, we carefully planned plotlines and story beats for at least the first five arcs well before we ever wrote a single issue. We’ve been executing on that plan ever since, making changes whenever we’ve come up with a better idea, but in general remaining consistent to our core vision.

Unfortunately, in recent months, DC has asked us to alter or completely discard many long-standing storylines in ways that we feel compromise the character and the series. We were told to ditch plans for Killer Croc’s origins; forced to drastically alter the original ending of our current arc, which would have defined Batwoman’s heroic future in bold new ways; and, most crushingly, prohibited from ever showing Kate and Maggie actually getting married. All of these editorial decisions came at the last minute, and always after a year or more of planning and plotting on our end.

We’ve always understood that, as much as we love the character, Batwoman ultimately belongs to DC. However, the eleventh-hour nature of these changes left us frustrated and angry — because they prevent us from telling the best stories we can. So, after a lot of soul-searching, we’ve decided to leave the book after Issue 26.

We’re both heartbroken over leaving, but we feel strongly that you all deserve stories that push the character and the series forward. We can’t reliably do our best work if our plans are scrapped at the last minute, so we’re stepping aside. We are committed to bringing our run to a satisfying conclusion and we think that Issue 26 will leave a lasting impression.

We are extremely thankful for the opportunity to work on Batwoman. It’s been one of the most challenging and rewarding projects of our careers. We’ll always be grateful to everyone who helped us realize 26 issues: Mike Siglain, who brought us onto the project originally; Greg Rucka for inspirationally setting the stage; our amazing artists Amy Reeder, Trevor McCarthy, Pere Perez, Rob Hunter, Walden Wong, Sandu Florea, Richard Friend, Francesco Francavilla, Guy Major, Dave Stewart, and Todd Klein; Larry Ganem, for listening in tough times; and editors Mike Marts, Harvey Richards, Rickey Purdin, and Darren Shan.

And most of all, a huge thank you to everyone who read the book. Hearing your voices, your reactions, your enthusiasm every month was such a joy, so humbling, so rewarding. You guys rock! Because so many of you embraced the series, we were able to complete four arcs, and your passion for Batwoman encouraged us to push ourselves to do our best work with each and every issue.

Thank you for loving Batwoman as much as we do.

Goodbye for now,

Haden & J H

Batwoman has been a nationally recognized book for its portrayal of the main protagonist, a gay woman. It’s won two GLAAD Awards for its portrayal of gay characters. Recently two characters of the same-sex got engaged with little promotion or fanfare by DC Comics.

We’ve spoken to numerous former and current DC creators and editors and all paint a picture of a chaotic scene with issues on every side. Senior decisions impacting editors impacting creators, creators whose egos have gotten to them and editors run amok. It’ll take a long time to set this train straight.

Williams has gone to Twitter to further clarify on the gay marriage issue:

I’m guessing there won’t be a third GLAAD Award in the future….

Update: DC has Tweeted a response:

Review: Batwoman #23

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So when did this series become about someone other than Batwoman? I mean, I get expanding and fleshing out supporting characters, but for the past two issues, Batwoman has been essentially MIA in her own book. This was a particularly unsuccessful issue of Batwoman, so let’s breakdown why.

This issue made me very angry. Before I started to write this review I looked over all the notes that I had taken as I was actually reading the issue, and my notes are full of the kind of profanity that this site eschews. Almost every single choice made in the creation of this book is wrong. Let’s start with the first scene, in which Kate Kane (aka Batwoman) injects herself with fear toxin to prove how much she loves Maggie. Oh God. Seriously? It’s literally the most melodramatic choice J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman could have made. What kind of person drugs herself to prove her love? Kate Kane certainly wouldn’t; Kate is tough, practical, logical, and intuitive, with a mission starting in eighteen hours. Seriously? What an idiot.

It’s a moment that screams against everything that makes Kate Kane an interesting and relatable character. I expect a move of this over-the-top magnitude to be on some ridiculous soap like General Hospital or Days of our Lives, but not on this comic. You know, I’ve tried very hard to avoid directly comparing individual moments of this run of Batwoman to Rucka’s, but I can’t help myself anymore. Greg Rucka helped to create a nuanced, believable character, and these current writers are butchering her. Plus, it meant that there was essentially no Batwoman in this book. Because she had drugged herself.

So now let’s move on to Bette, aka Hawkfire (a name which still makes me shudder). In her big scene, she managed to persuade a DEO agent to spill the beans on where the DEO is holding Beth Kane (Kate’s sister and former super villain, Alice). After hours of torture by Jacob Kane and the Murder of Crows (ugh), Bette swoops in and cracks the guy in about two minutes. Do I buy that? Nope. And she does so in the most boring way ever: she tells the guy that if the DEO loses a high valued target from the detention area, Director Bones would be out of a job, leaving a power vacuum that this particular DEO agent could fill. Maybe. And of course the agent immediately cracks, with no thought to what might happen if Bette and the Murder of Crows fail to break into (and out of, with a prisoner, no less) a heavily guarded, government sanctioned, military base. Yeah. Furthermore, it made Bette seem so much smarter and resourceful than Jacob Kane, a colonel with a huge amount of experience in the military and intelligence fields. Nope. Not buying it. Maybe I should just stop worrying and learn to love Bette, but I just can’t. There have been two issues almost directly focused on her, and Williams and Blackman have not made her interesting to me.

The final third of this issue is just as annoying. The DEO lets out seemingly all of Batman’s rogue’s gallery under Bane’s leadership, presumably with the plan of drawing out the Bat so that Batwoman can take him down. They just assume that Bane can control the Riddler, Mad Hatter, Poison Ivy, and some other goons? Please. That seems like a recipe for disaster to me. And then Kate wakes up from her self induced near OD, and is surprised to find that Maggie hasn’t left her. Why would Maggie have left you, Kate? You just injected yourself with toxin. You could have died. By injecting herself with poison, she passive aggressively ensured that Maggie wouldn’t walk out on her. God. Then they have an overly cliché discussion about cheating and love, with poor dialogue during a moment that’s meant to be emotional and dramatic. Let me just print an example. Kate says to Maggie:

“I’m so scared that you’ll never forgive me all those mistakes . . . and for the mistakes that I haven’t even made yet . . . all the ways I might hurt you in the future.”

That’s much too formal and writerly. No one speaks like that.

Normally the art in Batwoman is better than most other books, but this week it seemed rushed. There were pages that seemed to lack a lot of detail, or seemed sketchier than usual, and several times Maggie looked like a man. I am in no way advocating that this book adopt a fourteen year old boy’s image of what a woman should look like, but her face needs to be a little less masculine, please.

The two double splashes in the first third of the book were a strange mix of Trevor McCarthy’s style and Williams’ more painted style, and they didn’t really work. Yes, we got to see what Kate is afraid of, but none of it was new. The symbolism is obvious, and in the end, the double splashes just take up four pages that the plot desperately needed. It’s very much time for this arc to pick up, as the last two issues have seen it mostly in a holding pattern, and frankly it’s getting boring.

I’ll say this again, I absolutely love the character of Kate Kane/Batwoman, but this series is not doing it for me. Something needs to change. It needs a new writer, and it needs J.H. Williams III back on art.

Stray Observations

-Director Bones uses binoculars to watch a building in Gotham blow up. Apparently he, and by extension the DEO, is cool with civilian casualties. Okay.

-Kate’s surprise proposal to Maggie was beautiful, but that was so long ago, and nothing has really happened with that. Sure they’re engaged, but so what? This issue tried to create and clear up some romantic and emotional states, but it just didn’t work.

-That cover though, right? Some months it feels like I just buy this book for the covers.

Story: J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman Art: Trevor McCarthy
Story: 4 Art: 7 Overall: 5 Recommendation: Pass

Review: Batwoman #22

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3175940-batwoman+01I want to love Batwoman so badly. I really do. Every month it’s one of my most anticipated books, and each month I’m left a little disappointed. It’s not bad, of course, and it has some of the most striking designs that DC produces (particularly when J.H. Williams III is on art duty), but the story just never measures up. Maybe I’m just remembering Greg Rucka’s amazing Batwoman storyline during his run on Detective Comics, I don’t know. It’s hard to live up to Rucka.

(SPOILERS) That being said, J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman haven’t plotted out a boring story, but it just never seems to live up to its potential. Issue 22 comes right in the middle of an arc that’s supposedly going to set Batman and Batwoman against each other, which is a fight I’m very interested in seeing. Plus, we’ve recently learned that Kate’s sister Beth (aka villain Alice from Rucka’s run) is actually alive and being held by the DEO as a way of blackmailing Kate. All of that seems great. But, what actually happened in this issue?

Nothing, is pretty much the answer to that question. Kate, as Batwoman, and Bette, as Hawkfire (ugh, what a name) track down Bane for some reason, ostensibly to learn how to defeat Batman, as Bane has been the only man to do so. I didn’t even realize that still counted (Thanks, messed up New 52 continuity!). Then of course, we learn that Agent Chase of the DEO wanted to cut some kind of deal with Bane, the details to which we don’t learn. Surprise, right? Bane’s advice to Batwoman was so inane and unhelpful, she should have seen straight through the ruse. But she didn’t. Apparently she’s stupid now.

The final half of the book had to do with introducing a new mercenary team called Murder of Crows, somehow led by Colonel Jacob Kane (Kate’s father), even though he’s active duty military . . . We’ll just skip how ridiculous that is. We have pages of Bette as Hawkfire fighting and besting this group, all of whom are introduced with a caption box dedicated to their strengths and personalities, none of which I remember. We don’t see them do anything. We don’t see them in action. We see them all telling Jacob Kane how great Bette is. Boring. (Also, when did Bette become such a bad ass? Wasn’t she just screwing things up?)

All of what I’ve written above sound scattered and nonsensical, and that’s because it is. Nothing really happens. Scenes are lumped together with no sense of narrative flow, and the issue ends very abruptly, as they frequently do. Also, there’s not nearly enough Kate Kane/Batwoman. Bette is just not interesting to me. Hopefully the storyline picks up next issue.

Whenever J.H. Williams III is on art for this book, it’s undoubtedly the best looking comic DC publishes every month. However, while Williams is off doing Sandman: Overture, art duties have fallen to Trevor McCarthy. And that’s all right. He’s moved away from trying to replicate Williams’ ridiculous sense of design and begun to make the book his own: less detail, more cartoony, with pages that are a little less subtle. I personally like the style. It adds a boldness and aggression to the characters, which is something Williams didn’t frequently bring to the table.

Granted, I had a little trouble following the fight scene with Bane (One panel had Batwoman sneaking up behind Bane, and the next was a close up of Batwoman getting punched in the face. How did we get there?), but most of the action was kinetic and agile. The fight scenes with Bette and the Murder of Crows at the end fared worse, as McCarthy didn’t have the opportunity to actually stage a fight scene. He could only draw single panels unconnected with anything else.

As for the colors, I don’t know. I honestly can’t make up my mind. Guy Major’s choices at the beginning of the issue were great (during the fight with Bane). The snow was crystalline with a hint of light blue, which played against the dark of the forest very nicely. The bright orange and red of Hawkfire’s and Batwoman’s costumes, respectively, added another, deeper dimension. Unfortunately, and again I’m going to harp on the back half of the book, the pseudo-fight scenes with Hawkfire and the Murder of Crows were awash in dark blues, greens, and blacks, making everything sort of run together. Even the bright orange of Hawkfire’s costume became a dull copper. Nothing stood out, and everything seemed very one dimensional.

I love everything about Kate Kane/Batwoman as a character, and the art on this book is some of the best. It’s too bad #22 is such a let down. Here’s hoping next month’s issue will be much better.

Story: JH Williams III and W Haden Blackman Art: Trevor McCarthy

Story: 5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 6.5 Recommendation: Read

Vertigo Reveals Details Surrounding Neil Gaiman’s Highly Anticipated Return to The Sandman

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Its been 10 years since writer Neil Gaiman weaved tales from the beloved Sandman universe. This October 30th, Gaiman returns to the realm of the Endless for an eagerly anticipated tale that will bring readers back to one of the most critically-acclaimed comic book series ever. The Sandman: Overture will unite Gaiman with artist J.H. Williams III and reveal a previously untold story in The Sandman mythos. This new story will explore Morpheus’ world before he was captured.

One of the most popular, groundbreaking, bestselling and award-winning comic books of the last twenty-five years, Gaiman’s The Sandman stands tall as one of the few graphic novel series ever to be on the The New York Times Best Seller list and lauded by critics the world over for its transformative storytelling in the comic book industry. The series has been translated into nine different languages and sold over 7 million copies.

The Sandman features literature’s Endless family—Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destruction, Destiny and Dream. The critically acclaimed Vertigo fantasy series transformed the landscape of comics, helping usher in an era of more compelling and sophisticated storytelling. Combining mythology and literature in an epic story, it is one of the most popular, groundbreaking, bestselling and award-winning comic books of the last twenty-five years. It has garnered nineteen Eisner and six Harvey Awards and is the only comic book to win the World Fantasy Award.

The Sandman: Overture #1 will be an oversized issue and will showcase J.H. Williams III’s talent with a spectacular interior gatefold. The series will be published bi-monthly and each issue will feature stunning covers by Williams and original series cover artist Dave McKean and will be published on the same day digitally.

Also bi-monthly and alternating with the main Overture series, Vertigo will publish The Sandman: Overture Special Edition. These deluxe issues will include original scripts by Gaiman, additional concept art and sketches by Williams, Q&As with the creative team and more, starting in November.

More details about the series – including artwork – will be revealed at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Gaiman, Williams and McKean are special guests of the convention, during which Vertigo will host a 25th Anniversary all-star panel featuring Gaiman, Williams and artists Dave McKean and Sam Kieth. Gaiman will also be spotlighted at his own standalone panel. Additionally, the cover of the San Diego 2013 Souvenir Book features all-new Sandman art by Dave McKean, which will also be featured on an official convention T-Shirt.

SNDM_Promo

Review: Batwoman #21

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Batwoman 21J.H. Williams III’s and W. Haden Blackman’s Batwoman is probably one of the strangest books on the market—complex, grim, filled with unique art, and though it’s technically part of DC’s New 52 Bat-Family, it seems to exist in a niche entirely its own. It’s an enigma really, but one that always surprises me. In fact, I always forget it’s on my pull-list; I walk in day of its release, my local comic-bookshop owner Roman hands me my stack, and there’s another white-black-and-red Batwoman cover! And this month’s issue was a sweet surprise.

Batwoman #21 is all about Killer Croc—though I think he prefers Waylon—and takes places after the Medusa incident. Williams III and Blackman show their literary dexterity with this issue, entitled “Interlude III,” penning great internal monologue for Killer Croc and showing us the inside of the were-cult he belongs to. At least until exeunt. I do love when authors write in the voice of the character, and Croc’s monologue is filled with all the spelling errors and ingrammaticalities a poor sewer croc like him is bound to have.

Moreover, the story features Croc as a shrewd leader, usurping his place and making decision for the betterment of himself (duh) and his new love, Claire (who seems to be with were-child). Oh yeah, and there’s a battle with Batwoman and Maggie, but it’s sort of sideline to Croc’s revelatory destiny.

If Williams III and Blackman deliver great writing and an engaging story, it’s made three to fifteen times better accompanied with Francesco Francavilla’s artistry. While Batwoman has seen the hands of talented artists before, Francavilla really does her best, and though he won’t be continuing in future issues, boy do I wish this were his regular gig…

Open up Batwoman #21 without context, and you’ll think you just bought yourself some sketchbook for a lizard demonomicon. It’s all the noir and fantastica this book needed, and Francavilla juxtaposes the more sketched-style lines of Killer Croc and the weres with the solid beauty he brings to Maggie and Kate.

Williams III and Blackman present the tragic story of yet another villain who may not be all-bad, but might have something below the layer of green, sketchbook Francavilla art that just hasn’t been apparent in past stories (he’s too busy getting the crap beat out of him by the Bat-Family). Batwoman #21 shines a sensitive spotlight on a villain much in need of depth, and deserving of such horror-comic-esque art. This is the rightful home for Croc.

Story: J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman  Art: Francesco Francavilla
Story: 8  Art: 8.5  Overall: 8.5  Recommendation: Buy

GLAAD Media Awards Nominees Announced

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glaad media awardsThe nominees for GLAAD‘s 24th GLAAD Media Awards have been announced and a solid list for their comic book category has been announced. The GLAAD Media Awards celebrate outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and our allies on TV, in film, and in the news.

Astonishing X-Men by Marjorie Liu
Marvel

Batwoman by W. Haden Blackman, J.H. Williams III
DC Comics

Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Andrew Chambliss, Scott Allie, Jane Espenson, Drew Z. Greenberg
Dark Horse

Earth 2 by James Robinson
DC Comics

Kevin Keller by Dan Parent
Archie Comics

Congrats to all of the nominees! The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in New York on March 16, 2013 at the New York Marriott Marquis; in Los Angeles on April 20 at the JW Marriott; and in San Francisco on May 11 at the Hilton San Francisco – Union Square.  Special Honorees for each city will be announced in coming weeks.

SDCC 2012 – New Sandman By Neil Gaiman and JH Williams III

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DC Comics might have dropped the announcement of San Diego Comic-Con on the first day. We can expect new Sandman from Neil Gaiman with art by JH Williams III in 2013.

Some art:

And the release:

Twenty-five years after one of the most celebrated graphic novels of all-time hit shelves, award winning and critically acclaimed author and screenwriter, Neil Gaiman, announces his return to THE SANDMAN. Gaiman made the surprise announcement, via video, at DC Entertainment’s Vertigo panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.  Karen Berger, Executive Editor of Vertigo, then revealed that Gaiman is paired with artist, JH Williams III (BATWOMAN) for the series, who appeared on stage to an already stunned and elated crowd. THE SANDMAN mini-series will be published by Vertigo in 2013.

One of the few graphic novels ever to be on the New York Times Best Seller list and lauded by critics the world over, THE SANDMAN is credited with changing the path of storytelling in the comic book industry. Gaiman will pick up his pen for the first time in more than 10 years since ending the series to continue a story that he feels still has yet to be told.

“When I finished writing THE SANDMAN, there was one tale still untold. The story of what had happened to Morpheus to allow him to be so easily captured in THE SANDMAN #1, and why he was returned from far away, exhausted beyond imagining, and dressed for war. It was a story that we discussed telling for Sandman’s 20th anniversary… but the time got away from us. And now, with Sandman’s 25th anniversary year coming up, I’m delighted, and nervous, that that story is finally going to be told,” said Gaiman.

“There’s nothing like a Neil Gaiman story,” said Berger, “and there’s nothing like having Neil back home on THE SANDMAN, his dark, soulful, literary epic that transformed comics and continues to captivate countless new readers year after year. Working with him again, and with JH Williams, the extraordinary and groundbreaking artist, is truly the stuff dreams are made of.”

DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio added, “As accomplished as Neil Gaiman is in other media—whether it be novels, film and even music—he still has an incredible passion and love for comics. It’s exciting to have him back. J.H. Williams will be the perfect complement to Neil’s writing. He has a history of creating art that pushes the boundaries of the medium.”

Each issue of THE SANDMAN mini-series will be published day-and-date digitally.  The title will be announced at a later date.

23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards Comics Nominations Announced

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The comic book nominees for the 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards have been announced.  The award is for series that portray LGBT characters in a positive way.  This years nominees are:

Outstanding Comic Book
• Avengers: The Children’s Crusade by Allan Heinberg, Marvel
• Batwoman by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman, DC Comics
• Secret Six by Gail Simone, DC Comics
• Veronica Presents: Kevin Keller by Dan Parent, Archie Comics
• X-Factor by Peter David, Marvel Comics

All are great examples of the progressive nature of comics and how this is being portrayed in mainstream comics.  I do also encourage folks to check out Prism Comics and Northwest Press (two examples of many) that primarily produce LGBT comics.  Congrats to all the nominees, all of which I’d be happy to win.

Esteemed Artist J.H. Williams III Provides Alternate Cover For Oni’s D.B. Cooper #1

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Official Press Release

ESTEEMED ARTIST J.H. WILLIAMS III PROVIDES ALTERNATE COVER FOR ONI’S D.B. COOPER #1

Oni Press is pleased to announce that the debut issue of its brand-new series The Secret History of D.B. Cooper will ship with an alternate cover by innovative comics creator J.H. Williams III (Promethea, Batwoman). This extra special variant will be shipped to participating comics shops at a 1-to-10 ratio when The Secret History of D.B. Cooper #1 hits stands in March 2012. The standard cover is drawn by series creator Brian Churilla.

The Secret History of D.B. Cooper is a full-color series written and drawn by Brian Churilla (The Anchor, The Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet) detailing the previously untold story of what really happened forty years ago when a man calling himself D.B. Cooper skyjacked an airplane, collected a ransom, and parachuted into oblivion taking the loot with him. Churilla’s comic book retelling uncovers a vast conspiracy lurking behind the legend of D.B. Cooper. The actual tale is almost too strange to be believed, and yet too important to ignore.

Oni Press will celebrate the launch of this exciting new title with the special variant. “J.H. Williams is practically a legend himself,” commented series editor James Lucas Jones. “We’re all big fans of his work. His striking compositions are often like puzzles in that the more you look at them, the more you will find hidden, mysterious depths. This makes him the perfect artist to lend his hand to Brian’s unraveling of the D.B. Cooper folklore.”

“This story has intrigued me even since I was a little kid,” Churilla said. “To get to play around with the mythos in comic book form is a dream come true, and that dream has only gotten better after seeing how J.H. has chosen to interpret the material. If I were picking this comic up at my local store, I’d totally buy the one with his cover on it.”

The Secret History of D. B. Cooper #1 has a $3.99 cover price and goes on sale on March 14, 2012 at finer comic shops worldwide.

D.B. COOPER #1 COVER - CHURILLAD.B. COOPER #1 ALT COVER - - WILLIAMS III

CBLDF Announces Liberty Annual 2011!

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Official Press Release

FIGHT FOR YOUR FREEDOM!
Support CBLDF With The Industry’s Greatest Creators in CBLDF LIBERTY ANNUAL 2011 from Image Comics

Berkeley, CA & New York, NY – 8 August 2011 United We Stand Against Censorship! That’s the message from Image Comics, over two dozen of the industry’s greatest creators, and our friends at DC Comics and Marvel Comics, who have all banded together to deliver the greatest CBLDF benefit comic yet — CBLDF LIBERTY ANNUAL 2011!

Famed comics editor Bob Schreck, Editor-in-Chief of Legendary Comics, and Assistant Editor Greg Tumbarello view censorship as the ultimate form of bullying and have gathered an all-star team of comics creators to tell powerful stories that take a stand against censorship. CBLDF LIBERTY ANNUAL 2011 comprises 48 powerful pages of all new stories and art. The proceeds from the sale of the book benefit the ever-important First Amendment work of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Schreck declares, “It’s an honor to be asked to edit LIBERTY ANNUAL! We wanted to show the human side of what it means to be censored, and we’re elated with how many powerful and heartfelt tales were delivered. With an American facing prosecution in Canada for the comics he reads, the work that CBLDF does is more important now than ever, and the CBLDF LIBERTY ANNUAL is essential tool in the fight against censorship.”

CBLDF LIBERTY ANNUAL 2011 collects incredible contributions, including original stories by superstars J. Michael Straczynski (Superman: Earth One), Frank Quitely (All-Star Superman), J.H. Williams III (Batwoman), Steve Niles (30 days of Night), Judd Winick (Catwoman), Mark Waid (Daredevil) and Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth), and Carla Speed McNeil (Finder). Look for all-new tales featuring Grendel by Matt Wagner, Cowboy Ninja Viking by AJ Lieberman and Riley Rossmo, and Elephantmen by Richard Starkings and Shaky Kane. Plus: a massive and first-ever full-color story from independent comics master Craig Thompson (Blankets)! Marvel and DC Comics have stepped up to show their support, with all-new pin-ups of Batman by Dustin Nguyen, X-Men by Greg Land, Green Lantern by Ivan Reis, and the Avengers by Greg Horn! It’s all topped off by incredible covers by John Cassaday, Matt Wagner, and two variant covers by Frank Quietly: a full-color, 1 in 25 cover, and a black and white, 1 in 50 cover!

“Bob’s experience as an editor is hard to beat, and we’re proud to have him at the helm,” says CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein. “Bob made a book that has something to say, without being sentimental or preachy. He’s made a comic we can all be proud of, and that will go a long way towards advancing the CBLDF’s important work.”

Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson says, “It should go without saying that free speech is one of our most fundamental rights as citizens of this great country. Our right to free expression is challenged on a daily basis, though, and sometimes, those challenges occur within the comics world. Without the diligence of organizations like the CBLDF, everyone in the comics community would be much worse off. There are always bullies out there trying to keep people from enjoying the rights we’re all entitled to, but thankfully there are also people willing to stand up for those rights. I’m proud that Image is able to lend a hand.”

Join the fight against censorship by picking up your copy of CBLDF LIBERTY ANNUAL 2011 (AUG110415), a 48-page full color comic book benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, available from Image Comics on October 12, 2011, for $4.99.

ABOUT THE COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics artform and its community of retailers, creators, publishers, librarians, and readers. The CBLDF provides legal referrals, representation, advice, assistance, and education in furtherance of these goals.

ABOUT IMAGE COMICS

Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.

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T-Shirts Debuted at Comic-Con Now Available Online

CBLDF debuted a number of new shirts during Comic-Con, including all new shirts from Matt Wagner and John Cassady and new colors and women’s sizes for CBLDF’s popular “I Read Banned Comics” shirt! If you missed us at Comic-Con, you can now get these shirts online!

The new shirts come courtesy of Graphitti Designs. Matt Wagner’s shirt delivers an incredible new image of Grendel leaping into action! John Cassaday’s Uncle Sam design makes a powerful statement about the fight to defend Free Speech!

Finally, CBLDF’s I Read Banned Comics shirt now comes in yellow on black in both men’s and women’s sizes. You can also get the shirt in blue on white in women’s sizes. The original shirt is available here.

These shirts are sure to move fast, so get yours now!

New Luchadore-Inspired BPAL Scents Now Available Online!

CBLDF, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, and J. Gonzoscored a K.O. with their epic tag team debut of LA MANO DEL DESTINO and EL NUEVO PURITANO during Comic-Con International. If you missed us at Comic-Con, you can still jump in the ring: These CBLDF-exclusive scents are now available online!

About the fragrances:

LA MANO DEL DESTINO

Powerful Sumatran patchouli and enigmatic Brazilian copaiba with pao d’arco, cacao absolute, bourbon vanilla, Ceylon cinnamon, and tobacco

EL NUEVO PURITANO

The wicked wrath of moral panic: unmoving, rigid oak, dry leather, tonka, gunpowder tea, and pious olibanum with a core of perverse and furtive vanilla bean, bay leaf, clove bud, and lime.

You can purchase each fragrance individually, here and here, or you can get them as a set. The set includes a gorgeous, limited-edition full-color print from J. Gonzo, inspired by his new 6-issue comic series La Mano del Destino. Help take censorship to the mat by picking up these CBLDF exclusive scents and print today!

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