WELCOME TO GUTTER MAGAZINE

Ever since I first got up early on a Saturday morning and watched the 1994 animated series of Spider-Man I’ve been hooked on the world of comics. While this near obsession with Spidey had to contend with my other loves at the time (namely dinosaurs and Lego) and then with my beloved Birmingham City Football Club, the passion for comics was always there. Before going on holiday every year my parents would take me to WHSmith and I would buy a few issues of Spider-man and reread them to death but I never really got the chance to experiment with other comics.

That’s where I have getting a job and my student loans to thank, the floodgates were opened and I spent unholy amounts on every comic series I could. It got to the point where my friends were slightly worried for me.

That’s why despite this being (initially I hope) a university project, it’s a complete passion project for me. Being able to talk to people within the comic industry and produce a magazine about is beyond exciting.

Then to have people draw gorgeous illustrations like Rae Valters has and to work with someone such as Adam Norfolk and have them design the layout of the magazine and the front cover in all it’s magnificence is equally as exhilarating.

So a massive thank you to everyone who has contributed namely Sam Russell, Rae and Adam and to everyone who gave up their time to speak to me.

Contents

4- News from the comic world

The latest news on upcoming comics and everything comic book related.

6- The First of its kind

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival. Exclusive interview with event organiser Julie Tate and event highlights.

8- Bagatelle

An introduction to The University of Cumbria’s comic book magazine.

10- 24hr Comic

Scott McCloud’s infamous 24 hour comic book challenge continues at LICAF 2014.

12- Webcomics

Joseline Fenton’s Hemlock, Raza Farazmand’s Poorly Drawn Lines and more.

14- Give the fans what they want

The representation of female characters in popular comics books.

16- This Revolution will be televised

The latest news on television adaptations of comic book series.

18- Now for something completely different

Discover a different side to comic books.

19- Fan picks

What we think you should be reading.

20- Fear of Seagulls

A comic by our designer Adam Norfolk.

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GUTTER

Editor

Matthew Gibbs

Words

Matthew GibbsSam Russell

Illustrators

Rae ValtersAdam Norfolk

Layout and Design

Adam Norfolk

Thanks to

Dan BerryJoseline FentonFionn JordanNick DoddsJulie TateKristyna BaczynskiReza Farazmand

Disclaimer: Gutter wishes to make it clear that we do not own the rights to any images used in this magazine. Copyright belongs to the creator of the images and artwork and we have credited the creators when and where we can.

NEWS FROM THE COMIC WORLD

Ever heard of the land of Fignation? No me either but we will find out this Autumn when Image releases Otis Frampton’s new fantasy series Oddly Normal. Following the on-going adventures of half-witch Oddly Normal, who makes a reckless wish when blowing out the candles on her tenth birthday meaning she has to travel to the magical realm of Fignation, where she will join an odd new school and attempt to uncover the mystery surrounding the disappearance of her parents. For the first time since their award winning graphic novel Skim, cousins Jillian and Mariko Tamaki have teamed up again to produce This One Summer. This graphic novel follows summer friends Rose and Windy who have been holidaying at Avago Beach for years, this year however everything is a little different as they start to discover more about the baffling workings of the adult world and is available to purchase now.

Good news for fans of the original Nova as Marvel’s main man Brian Michael Bendis has announced, you’re going to find out what happened to him in the Cancerverse. Whether or not Richard Rider will be making a triumphant return remains to be seen but Bendis will reveal Rider’s fate in Guardians of the Galaxy #18 which will act as a tie-in to Marvel’s big summer event, Original Sin.

Sticking with Marvel, they are adding to their Marvel NOW! series with something fans have been lusting after for years, the queen of the elements Storm will finally be getting her own on-going series. Many will be bewildered by why this hasn’t happened sooner considering Ororo Munroe’s considerable fan-base, but starting in July Greg Pak and Victor Ibanez will be telling Storm’s solo adventures for the first time.

Another series announcement now in the form of Vertigo’s brand spanking new BODIES. Illustrated by Dean Ormston, Meghan Hetrick, Phil Winslade and Tula Lotay and written by Si Spencer, BODIES is a century spanning mini-series telling the story of four different detectives, on the case of four different murders, in four different time settings all in the same city of London.

A bit of Fantastic Four movie news coming in the form of new cast member Reg E. Cathey. The Wire alum has been cast as the Father of Kate Mara and Michael B. Jordan’s characters in the form of Dr. Storm and joins the already announced cast of Miles Teller as Mister Fantastic, Kate Mara as Invisible Woman, Michael B. Jordan as the Human Torch and Jamie Bell as The Thing. Tony Kebbell has been cast as mega villain Doctor Doom with Tim Blake Nelson (already seen in 2008’s Incredible Hulk as the man who would become The Leader Samuel Sterns) potentially following suit in the role of Harvey Elder, an eccentric scientist who will turn into the Mole Man.

A quick update for those people not aware of the new Comixology situation. After Amazon’s acquisition of the digital comic distributor, Comixology were quick to remove their storefront app from the IOS store meaning customers now have to purchase comics through their browser and download their products to their reading device. Similarly Android users are no longer able to purchase products using their Google Wallet. While more cumbersome for users this is an unsurprising move on Comixology’s part as they seek to move to a similar business model to Amazon, as well as cut out the 30% cut Apple took from IOS Store purchases.

Image have announced a new on-going starting on May the 27th which focuses on an alien invasion - with an unusual twist. In this new series, written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Jason Howard, the invading martians just settle in and make themselves comfortable without acknowledging that humans are already living there. Taking place years after the bizarre arrival of these silent beasts, Trees is told through four different storylines and explores the results of society having to deal with their unwelcome inhabitants.

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Property of Image comics.

Property of Vertigo comics.

With so many different creators from around the globe attending and taking part in so many different events at this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival, Gutter takes a look and picks out the ones we are most excited for.

Divas and Fatales - Few comic artists are as critically acclaimed as the Eisner Award winning illustrator Sean Phillips. The Englishman has been involved in comics for over 20 years, known for his work on Hellblazer and his collaborations with Ed Brubaker on Criminal and Fatale. Hailing from Cumbria, Sean is also one of the founding patrons of the festival and was a major part of getting the festival in his home county started.

On Sunday Sean will be joined by Rian Hughes (more on him shortly) at the Brewery Arts Centre where they will be staging a Burlesque inspired drawing of a live model and share with the audience the art behind the creation of a fully formed character.

Design Demon - Rian Hughes will also be heading up his own presentation on Saturday at the Brewery Arts Centre concerning his work with design. The London College of Printing graduate has been involved with any corner of design for over 20 years, with work in illustration, graphic designing, writing and typography. His company Device has dealt with clients such as The BBC, MTV, The Guardian and well, frankly, the list is endless. As well as designing his own fonts, Rian helped redesign the latest Fantastic Four, X-Men and Batman Incorporated logos.

Dobby To Dark Knight: Concept Artists In Action - A fascinating aspect involved in the production of films is the concept art behind many of the scenes we see. Recently the breathtaking illustrations for the original Stars Wars trilogy drawn by Ralph McQuarrie were released, showing just how important concept art is to the formation of a film and how it moves forward.

At Lakes International a number of UK concept artists, who have worked on films such as The Dark Knight Returns, The Secret Service and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, will congregate in the Brewery Arts Centre to talk about the processes and inspirations involved in their trade. The artists involved are Adam Brockbrank, Rob Bliss, Glyn Dillon and Dermot Power.

Demons And Desires - One of the events that Festival Director Julie Tait is particularly looking forward to is the special presentation by Japanese creator Junko Mizuno. With a unique take on the Japanese cute culture, Junko injects her own style into the genre taking inspiration from food through to fetish art. Junko is pushing the boundaries of comics and what women can do in the Japanese industry, so her presentation is sure to be fascinating.

To Boldly Go... A Journey Into Digital Comics with Scott McCloud and Daniel Godbrey - Here at Gutter we are massive advocates of webcomics and everything that can be achieved with them, so being given the opportunity to hear ‘The Aristotle of Comics’ Scott McCloud himself talk about them with the pioneer of hypercomics, Daniel Godbrey, is something we cannot possible pass up, and neither should you.

The Big Comic Draw - This is potentially one of the more high profile events happening at this year’s Lakes International festival, bringing together artists that have illustrated some of everyone’s favourite comics. Hosted by Peter Docherty four artists will come take and part in a live and interactive live draw event where fans will get a chance to see Emma Viecili of Vampire Academy fame and the unique style of Savage Wolverine and the upcoming Wytches (written by Scott Synder) artist Jock in action. Added to this line up is the artist who has contributed to pretty much every other series created such as Hellblazer, Miracleman, Shade The Changing Man, Doctor Who, The Unwritten and is still drawing the soon to finish Fables epic, in the form of Mark Buckingham and with him will be the man who needs to no introduction in the form of comic legend Dave Gibbons who has contributed artwork to series such as Harlem Heroes, Give Me Liberty, The Secret Service and of course the best selling graphic novel of all time, Watchmen.

THE FIRST OF ITS KIND

In October of 2013 the small town of Kendal in Southern Cumbria played the unlikely host to the first of its kind in Britain, a comic festival. The festival celebrates everything to do with the industry, from manga to superheroes and cartoon strips to darker non-fiction works and will be taking place again this year.

Difficulties aside, more elements have been added to this year’s event including a 24 hour comic marathon (which you can read all about over on page 10) as well as commissioned artists. One such commissioned artist is Oliver East, known for his work with indie band Elbow and his Trains are... Mint series, who spent 10 days walking alongside the railway track from Arnside to Carlisle and then will depict in comic form and will draw 10 murals in Kendal to represent the 10 days he spent travelling. Julie sees work being produced because of the festival is just as an important aspect as celebrating exisiting work;

“I’m interested in getting new audiences into comics and also trying to support new talents and creators who are trying to make their mark, not just in the superhero genre but also celebrating work done by indie publishers just as much as applauding the work done by more mainstream artists.”

With the passion on display by the people involved, such as Julie Tait and founder patrons in award winning couple Brian and Mary Talbot and Sean Phillips, the second Lakes International Comic Art Festival is sure to emulate the success of the first, if not surpass it.

The Lakes InternationalComic Arts Festival

Despite 2013 being its first year, The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival managed to bag quite a few high profile names with the likes of Kurt Busiek, Joe Sacco, Charlie Adlard and the writer of the comic that inspired the recent Captain America: Winter Soldier film Ed Brubaker. Festival Director Julie Tait spoke to Gutter about how the festival started;

“What I do for a living is organise festivals, I’ve been involved in every nook and cranny of the arts for a long time now but festivals really are what inspires me. I like the idea of people coming together in real time and real places and sharing, celebrating, having a laugh but generally just enjoying something specific.”

This led to Julie befriending Fatale and Hellblazer artist Sean Phillips, who also resides in Cumbria, and asked what he thought of a comic festival being held in Cumbria. “He said what a good idea and put me in touch me with Brian Talbot who basically thought it was a perfect time to do something like that. I managed to cut a few corners and get quite a few big names, and we got the first festival off the ground last year and despite the fact it wasn’t perfect it really wowed people so we are kind of on a roll!”

The comic arts festival takes after the European festivals seen in places such as Angouleme with the Masion Des Auteurs festival in that the whole town is incorporated into the festival, with venues across Kendal being utilised. This even included Kendal College which was used to host a 2000AD event and the Clock Tower which was used as the extremely popular meet and greet hall for fans to meet the creators.

Since last year was so successful, expanding the festival has been one of the obstacles facing the 2014 edition of the Lakes International Festival;“That’s the thing that we were already up against since it was so successful last year, trying to accommodate growth and the amount of people wanting to come and having the venues to accommodate those people . So there were difficult parts to it but in the end we can get really good audiences travelling from long distances, which is great for the local tourism side of things, but also get some of the best creators because it is a beautiful place to come to.”

Photograph: Elspeth Moore

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What’s On? Gutter Picks

6

Photograph: Elspeth Moore

BAGATELLEMAGAZINE

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival offers fans from across Britain a beautiful setting to meet and see their favourite artists and writers in person, but also allows aspiring comic creators to rub shoulders with their heroes. Whilst the celebration of working artists is one of the main objectives of the festival, the nurturing of young talent is equally just as important to the founders of the festival with many of the workshops and presentations at the festival reflecting this. This support allowed a number of students from the University of Cumbria to take their own magazine to the festival as well as have a stall alongside established creators.

The idea behind the magazine Bagatalle, created by university lecturer Nick Dodds, is that anybody at the University of Cumbria who is interested in comics can contribute as student and Bagatelle contributor Adam Norfolk (who also designed the layout and front cover for this glorious magazine you are reading) describes;“Bagatelle is a collection of short comics put together by Nick Dodds, he takes anyone who is willing to do it. We’ve had some graphics students, some illustrators, we’ve had some journalism students and writing students who would usually work with an illustrator, just anyone who is into comics can get involved.”

This year’s magazine will be its fifth edition, with last year’s proving popular in LICAF’s Comic Clock Tower, so popular in fact that the students will be returning again this year with an even bigger stall. Since the Bagatelle is not included as part of the student’s studies they are not limited to what can be included, so the work varies from excerpts from other projects to finished short stories which is what Adam and his fellow student Jasper are working on this year;“This year we want a finished story since last year I had an excerpt, so we want to create something completely new for it, we’re currently working on a short little horror story. This one was inspired by some of Charles Burns and Emily Carroll’s work, we want it to be something quite eerie and creepy.”

Helping The Future

One of the aspects of last year’s festival that Adam enjoyed the most was a workshop put on specifically to benefit aspiring comic artists. John Allison is an artist with over 10 years experience, particularly in the field of webcomics with series of note such as Bobbins, Scary Go Round and his ongoing Bad Machinery which has been running since 2009, who hosted a portfolio review workshop. In this workshop Allison offered one-to-one advice and passed on his knowledge about self-publishing, industry practices, writing and art and although Allison isn’t appearing himself at this year’s festival, other workshops similar to this will be running.

This is one of the major positives that the Cumbrian festival has over other conventions that are held in Britain, it allows those who want in on the comic industry to not only exhibit the work that they have and are producing, but also to meet creators with experience. The field of comics is deemed one of the friendliest of professions, this festival allows those creators to impart their knowledge onto students to help them improve their work and potentially the industry, and isn’t a continually improving comic industry something we all want?

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98 Excerpt from Fionn Jordan’s Vinyara. www.fionnjordan.co.uk

24HRCOMIC

The 24 hour comic challenge will take place on the 16th of October.

In 1990 Scott McCloud dared his friend and comic book artist Stephen Bissette to draw and write a 24 page comic in just 24 hours. Both artists completed the challenge, leading the way for thousands of artists and writers since then to rise to the challenge and complete their own 24 hour comics.

The rules are simple. The artists have 24 continuous hours to complete the comic, without any prior planning. This means that all storyboarding, designs and plotting must be done within the 24 hour period. If the artists get to the 24 hour deadline and the comic is not yet completed then the artists are able to go one of two ways, either leave the comic as it is (the Gaiman variation) or continue until the comic has been completed (the Eastman variation).At this year’s Lakes International Festival however, they are playing by different rules.

Seven artists will sit down and produce a comic in 24 hours, but they will not just be allowed, but encouraged to plan ahead so they are able to produce the best comic that they can.

This year’s group of artists will be led the curator and producer Dan Berry who lectures at Glyndwr University as well as hosting a podcast where he talks to comic artists about how they approach their work.As curator of the challenge Dan helped the Director of the Lakes International Festival, Julie Tait, handpick the artists involved as well as looking after their technical and creative requirements. Dan’s curating responsibilities also include ensuring the work produced is collected, collated and prepared for printing, “ I also have to draw 24 pages of comics in there somewhere!”

The other artists involved include Oliver and The Seawigs creator Sarah McIntyre, Tank Girl artist Warwick Johnson-Cadwell and Fumio Obata. Joining them are also Joe Decie and Jack Teagle, all of whom Dan is looking forward to working with; “I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside some incredible artists at the Maison Des Auteurs during Angouleme’s 24 hour comic event, and being surrounded by incredibly talented artists who are all experiencing the same pressure and challenges provides really valuable support when you’ve been drawing for 14 hours non-stop”

The seventh creator involved with the challenge is award winning illustrator Kristyna Baczynski who has worked with the likes of Gosh! comics, No Guts No Glory and Inky Goodness to critical acclaim. Despite the artists working on individual comics Kristyna is looking forward to be surrounding by other artists;“All the artists are creating individual comics, so there won’t be any collaboration in that sense.

However, simply working in a room occupied with other comics artists, drawing to the same brief and deadlines together will be a powerful experience. My usual set up is working alone a small room, so the studio atmosphere will be a real buzz, and we will no doubt support and spur each other on during the 24 hours”

Although Kristyna is looking forward to the challenge, the time restraints will have an affect the work she produces, “The ideas and drawing has to fit within the strict time-frame, so this will affect the complexity of drawing, and therefore the complexity of things I can include in the narrative. I won’t be setting the story in a bustling city, cluttered museum or crammed supermarket for example.”

Despite having completed a number of 24 hour comic events before at the Maison Des Auteurs festival in Angoulme, Dan agrees that the time scale does have an impact on the work he produces,

“I still plot and make notes, design characters, draw up roughs and lightbox and paint the final artwork, but the restrictions of time means that certain corners have to be cut to make the deadline. The skill I think is in telling the story in a way that I hope artfully conceals those cut corners!”

The 24 hour comic challenge will take place on the 16th of October with the festival goers being able to view the resulting comic over the following days. Both artists are looking forward to the festival and the daunting challenge, particularly since the 24 hour challenge inventor Scott McCloud will be in attendance at the festival to see the result and off his opinion;

“Dan and Julie have slightly changed the rules for our event, in that we are able to prepare the comic before the 24 hours begin, with character development, storyboards and thumbnails. I’ll be intrigued to hear his view on this change, and the comics we subsequently make. Although, his opinion holds so much weight, so it’s a tentative intrigue.”

Illustrations by Dan Berry. You can find out more about him and some of his work at www.thingsbydan.co.uk and more of Kristyna Baczynski at www.kristyna.co.uk

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Hemlock

WEBCOMICS

In recent years the big companies such as Marvel have started producing comics solely to be read digitally with their Infinite Comics imprint, this however is a recent example of what many before have been doing. Whether it’s as using it as a platform to showcase their work or for publsihing a strip a day, the internet has brought about a vast array of opportunities for comic creators. For many who use the web it offers them something that otherwise would not have been possible. Creators are now able to operate without restraint to produce whatever they want, when they want and how they want.

Web comics appear in all shapes and sizes, for example some creators operate similarly to the constrained comics format, where the artwork is produced within tightly controlled boundaries. This can be seen in Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics where the art remains the same but the dialogue changes in each comic. Other creators take after the more traditional format of comics but only publish a few pages a week. An example of the latter can be found in the black and white webcomic Hemlock.

Set in the forests of 19th century Scandavia, Hemlock follows the witch Lumi, who was tricked into marrying the witch king Sindri, and her familiar Tristan, whose soul upon dying was sucked into the body of a frog. Hemlock is written and drawn by desginer and illustrator Josceline Fenton;

“At first Hemlock wasn’t mean to be a webcomic, all of my comics are designed to be read in print really, but I wanted to post it online to build up a bit of buzz around it and also to help me stay motivated to finish it.”

Josceline updates the Hemlock site every Friday and uses the set schedule to get what she can done and then work out if the pages she has finished, work together if she publishes them, “I like leaving on a cliffhanger haha!”

The first comic was published in 2010 whilst Josceline was still studying at the London College of Communication but unsurprisingly now has close to 3000 fans on the webcomic hosting site smackjeeves.

“In the first two years it was okay because the workload wasn’t quite so intense, but once I hit my final year it became a challenge to keep up. I had to take a break for a long time while I finished my degree. It’s been hard to get that work ethic back again, I’m not sure how I did it in those first two years of uni!”

Fantasy is a subject that never goes out of fashion and coupled with the gorgeous black and white artwork it is easy to see why Josceline was the winner of the emerging talent award at the 2012 British Comic Awards.

Using the internet as a platform, Hemlock pages are published every week for readers to enjoy, which is something the illustrator is a fan of, “There are always new webcomics starting up every day and it’s becoming a bigger part of the industry. When Hemlock is done,

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hopefully I’ll start another one!”Hemlock recently entered its penultimate chapter and is a successful example of how webcomics can benefit both reader and creator, since the reader is able to read the comic and then purchase a physical copy.Josceline is still surprised by how popular Hemlock as become, “I still get surprised when I meet people at conventions and they say ‘oh, I’ve read this!’” and provided a little teaser of what we can expect next from the adventures of Lumi and Tristan.

“Chapter 5 is all about the in-laws we haven’t seen much of yet, Baba Yaga and her youngest son Sisu! It’s the second to last book in the series, so expect some cliff-hangers.”

Lose yourself in the Scandavian forest by visiting hemlock.smackjeeves.com and to view more of Josceline’s award winning work go to www.mildtarantula.com

Poorly Drawn LinesA different kind of comic that has made the transition to digital successfully, is that of the comic strip. Generally what we think of in terms of the comic strip is what you would find when you open the newspaper or a magazine, and see Charles Shulz’s Peanuts. A few, brief number of panels of ageless protagonists who are there to highlight the best of human nature and make us laugh. But now we have an infinite amount of strips online, from the doodle-esque Toothpaste For Dinner, to the downright barking mad Twitter: The Comic. Instead of waiting everyday to see the latest ‘funny’, thousands are available with websites such as Buzzfeed taking note and helping promote the comics.

Some online strips have even found major, commercial success with examples such as Cyanide & Happiness. This cynical strip-style comic was first published in 2006, but has since grown into a company called Explosm that has its own merchandise, selling t-shirts and prints, as well as its own mobile application.

Another perfect example of comic strips born on the web is Reza Farazmand’s delightfully charming Poorly Drawn Lines. The writer and cartoonist who hails from Northern California publishes new strips three times a week and sees the internet as one of

the main reasons he started the comic; “It started as a weekly strip in my college newspaper. After a couple years of publishing it there, I decided to put it online. I was inspired by all the great webcomics that were gaining popularity around that time, and I wanted to reach the kind of audience you can find on the internet.”

Reza also believes that, much like him, more creators are moving their content online, “I don’t know about comic books, but strip-style comics have already moved predominantly to the internet. You don’t open a newspaper to discover a cool new comic strip anymore, you look on the internet. That’s just how people are consuming media now.”

Thanks to the initial encouragement from his friends, Reza has seen Poorly Drawn Lines’ audience grow and expand to the point that he is now able to sell prints and t-shirts featuring some of the recurring characters, such as Ernesto (get it together Ernesto), of PDL to those who enjoy his comics.

Despite his comics being genuinely funny Reza attributes some of his success to the openness of the internet;“I would probably still be writing comedy, but I’m not sure I would have pursued cartooning if the

internet didn’t exist. My drawing style was really rough when I first started, and I can’t imagine that a syndicate or a publisher would have taken it seriously. Webcomics lower the barrier of entry as far as art style goes, so I felt comfortable putting my stuff in front of people on the internet.”

Although not a recent development, Reza agrees that webcomics will play a role in the future of comics as an industry, “They’re diverse and they offer a lot of unique voices and perspectives. They opens up these cool little niches of humour, which attract their own individual audiences.”

Let yourself be charmed by Ernesto and the gang at www.poorlydrawnlines.com

More Webcomics worth your timeTwitter: The Comic - ‘Comics based on the greatest tweets of our generation’, Mike Rosenthal finds the weirdest tweets he can, and draws them to magnificently hilarious results.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Cynicism through scientific inspired jokes, award winning cartoonist Zach Weiner tells you the meaning of life and various subjects with barely any gutters.

Doodle Time - 21 year old Sarah Andersen comicifys herself and her talking rabbit to perfectly depict how it feels to be that age where you’re not a teenager anymore... but you’re not really an adult either.

The Oatmeal - Matthew Inman’s baby could potentially be the first webcomic to win an Eisner award (yes that’s right, an EISNER AWARD) for Best Short Story with his intensely personal “When Your House Is Burning Down, You Should Brush Your Teeth” comic, his other work is pretty funny as well though.

COMICS

WOMEN INIn just under two years the sequel to 2013’s Man of Steel will be hitting a cinema screen near you. As the film gets closer more casting and rumours are being announced, firstly we had that SDCC appearance by director Zack Snyder where he announced (albeit a little theatrically) that the sequel would pit Superman against Gotham’s favourite son, Batman. Then we had the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman followed shortly by the casting of Fast and Furious alum Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman as well Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alferd Pennyworth and Ray Fisher as Cyborg.

Wait what? Back track a little there, Wonder Woman? The character who has been around for 73 years, the character who has more history than most other characters in both DC and Marvel history combined, the character who has only ever had one solo representation in a medium other than comics, the character who Green Lantern had a sucky film before is being introduced in a Batman vs. Superman film?

This is baffling, and I mean mind-boggingly confusing. Wonder Woman is a legend, I knew of Wonder Woman before I could even comprehend what comics were, she is a feminist icon for people of all ages and she deserves to be in a film, or at the very least a TV series with her name stamped on the titles. This is something that author and Comic Book Resources columnist Kelly Thompson agrees with;“Wonder Woman should get the chance to stand on her own before being shoved into a Superman/Batman grudge match. In fact, she doesn’t belong anywhere near that film. She belongs in her own film (and franchise if successful) and then she belongs in the group film.”

This is a worrying trend, and not just at DC. Marvel Studios, the company that is churning out blockbuster after blockbuster, twice a year, every year still has not announced or given any real indication that we will be seeing a female led Marvel film any time soon. There were rumours about a Black Widow solo outing and Kevin Feige, head honcho of Marvel Studios, mentioned Captain Marvel in a few interviews but nothing solid has been confirmed;“There were hints last year that maybe it was in the works, but the latest news has suggested we’re still a long way away from that coming true (at least for Black Widow). Now is absolutely the time to strike - in fact - the time was a year or two ago - superhero films will not be in vogue forever - there’s a limited window on this and audiences will burn out.

The author of Amazon Bestseller ‘The Girl Who Would Be King’ who currently resides in Manhattan, believes that this purple patch of comic book movies we are currently having will eventually stop being such a desired commodity;“It doesn’t mean we’ll stop having superhero movies, but it does mean that audience attitude and reception will eventually shift and it will go back to becoming HARDER to make a female led superhero film, not easier. So if we don’t get a great female led superhero movie going in earnest in the next few years I do worry we’ll miss our best opportunity for that. The time is certainly now.”

I recently read a blog post by Wendy Browne of Women Write About Comics, where she talked about how she would rather her daughters watch Captain America films over Man of Steel because of the message Captain America delivers. While I agree completely with Wendy about what Cap stands for, the blog post still depressed me somewhat, here is a site full of writers and fans dedicated to talking about the best of women in comics and they can’t talk about a female led superhero film, purely because the studios lack the foresight or knowledge that it is something that is needed right now. There is talk that studios use the Catwoman and Elektra films as excuses that a female led superhero film wouldn’t work, but these films didn’t fail because of their female leads, they failed because the films were dreadful.

Luckily, the comic industry are improving where the movie studios are decidedly failing. While not everybody agrees with the way Marvel operate, their second wave of new on-goings as part of their Marvel NOW! rebrand has brought with it SIX female led series. A new Storm series with Greg Pak on writing duties was recently announced to add to the roster of Elektra, Black Widow, Captain Marvel and She-Hulk.

This is just Marvel though, there are so many amazing, female led series out there such as Lazarus, The Wake, Fatale, Sex Criminals, Pretty Deadly, Rat Queens, Rachel Rising, Velvet and Saga. All these successful, fan favourite and critically acclaimed series prove the big studios wrong, female led stories can be and are successful. Outside of comics two of the biggest films of the last year, Catching Fire and Frozen, were female led. In Frozen’s case they have two female leads and is currently the sixth highest grossing film EVER, once again proving the studios wrong.

One new series I omitted from the list above is that of Ms. Marvel, a unique new series from Marvel that not only has a female but a Muslim lead character. I’m already hooked on this new on-going, it’s wildly exciting for so many different reasons but I’m going to let Kelly explain why;“Ms. Marvel is hugely important and I am so glad to see both that it is a great book (I love it) and that it’s being really well received, well reviewed, and has people - including new readers to comics - really excited. This feels like one of those moments. One of those moments when you can feel the needle moving, even if only slightly. It’s an exciting time for women in comics. We’re experiencing a lot of the growing pains that come with a changing industry - people afraid and lashing out, holding on even more tightly to what they know whether it’s right or wrong, controversy, drama, and people taking

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sides, sometimes with frustrating consequences - but it’s an exciting time for that same reason - and eventually we will win out...because the only constant is change. And change is upon us.”

This brings me to the title of this piece, ‘Give The Fans What They Want’. And what do the fans want? Fans want great stories, fans want equality and fans want representation. We live in such a diverse culture that is not currently being represented in some mediums. It is of absolute paramount importance that the big companies take note of this and start representing the minorities in a fair and equal manner, and not by shoving a character with such a rich history like Wonder Woman into an already overcrowded sequel where she will likely be overshadowed by others. Characters like Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Black Widow and even the Birds of Prey should have their own movies so they can tell the stories that people can relate to, so that parents can take their daughters to the cinema to see role models that aren’t buffed up, white guys punching stuff really hard but strong women that they can look up to and aspire to be like.

Representation is important, so maybe I got the name of this article wrong. It shouldn’t be ‘Give The Fans What They Want’, it should be ‘Give The Fans What They Deserve’. Or even ‘Give The Fans What They Need’.

Give The Fans What They Want

Illustration by Rae Valters

GUTTER

1716

This Revolution Will

be Televised

With an unprecedented amount of comic based television shows in production with various networks, Gutter takes a look and makes sense of it all for you.

FlashBarry Allen, the fastest man alive (well apart from all the other flashes out there), has already featured in CW’s other comic adaptation Arrow. While his two episode stint ended with him in a coma, viewers got to see what kind of Flash Grant Gustin will eventually bring to the little screen as well witness the accident that turns him into the scarlet speedster. Barry Allen’s appearances in Arrow were initially meant to serve as a back-door pilot for the series but those ideas were soon scrapped in favour of a traditional pilot that started production at the end of March and has recently been picked up for series order.

The cast has already been announced with Law & Order’s Jesse L. Martin starring Barry’s surrogate father and Detective Joe West. Two of Barry Allen’s foes have been also been cast and but will first show up in Starling City to give Arrow’s Green Arrow a hard time before moving across to Central City, with Danielle Panabaker starring as Killer Frost and Rick Cosnett as Professor Zoom, who interestingly enough is the villain in the comics who is responsible for the murder of Detective West’s daughter and Flash love interest, Iris West. This could get interesting.

There have been various incarnations of the DC hero over the years, all of them a member of the Tyler clan. The original Hourman was a biochemist called Rex Tyler who through his research inadvertently discovered the vitamin ‘miraclo’ which grants the user an hour’s worth of superhuman ability. The mantle was passed down to Rex’s son Rick who like his father eventually became addicted to the Miraclo vitamin.Where Hourman is in stages of development at CW is unclear, as one of the more obscure shows in production there have not been as many details made public so it’s unclear .

Something that may be of interest however is that the drug miraclo has already made an apperance in CW’s Arrow and there is also a link with Flash since Rick Tyler is married to Jesse Chambers who can also tap into the speed force much like the Flash. So the odds of crossovers with CW’s other productions are likely if Hourman makes it past the pilot.

I know as a journalist I’m supposed to remain impartial and blah blah, but this is one series I am equal parts unbelievably excited and extremely worried for. Hellblazer fans have already had to endure one awful movie adaptation where Keeanu Reeves portrayed occultist and magician John Constantine to an almost unrecognisable degree.

So why will NBC’s series be any different?Well for starters it’s a positive that they have actually cast a Brit as the infamous Liverpudlian, with Welsh actor Matt Ryan slipping into Constantine’s signature skinny tie and trench coat. Writer and executive producer David Goyer (whose writing credits include the Blade and Batman trilogies, as well as last summer’s Man of Steel) has already moved to reassure fans that the series will follow the source material much more closely than the film, with the primary antagonist of the series coming in the form of voodoo mob boss Papa Midnite.

The directorial duties of the pilot are in the capable hands of Neil Marshall, who hails from Newcastle, is known for his work in the horror genre with such films as Dog Soliders and The Descent, and also directed the explosive Blackwater episode of Game of Thrones.One thing that remains unclear however is whether or not Constantine will be able to smoke in the series since American network television are prohibited from showing such things. with Goyer citing it as a “tricky proposition”.

That being said the pilot clearly did enough to impress the heads at NBC and has been given a series order.

There are so many reasons to be excited for Chris Roberson and Michael Allred’s iZombie appearing on our tv screens that has already been given the green light and ordered to series. The Vertigo series has everything you could ever want from a comic book from a unique mythology to the fact it’s not set in New York City, try Eugene, Oregon instead. Something that sets it apart from every other series currently being adapted is that iZombie has a gay lead character in Scott the were-terrier, whose story of coming out and starting to date is something that is still arguably under-represented on television.

Another positive for iZombie fans is that Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas is attached as a producer. Thomas is known for creating fan favourite shows that are generally just good tv series. There are also some experienced actors in the announced cast such as Robert Buckley of One Tree Hill fame and Rose McIver of Once Upon a Time, who has been cast as lead character Liv.

There are still plenty more series being adapted for TV with three Vertigo series in development. WGN America has picked up Scalped while Syfy have Mad Men writers and producers Andre and Maria Jacquemetton helming a DMZ adaptation. Potentially more exciting than these two is the planned Preacher series over at AMC (you know that network that little show called Breaking Bad?) with kings of comedy Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg attached to the project along with Breaking Bad producer Sam Catlin. Not to mention, an extended trailer for the Batman prequel series Gotham has been released after it was picked up for series by Fox.

And we haven’t even mentioned what’s happening at Marvel yet. An Agent Carter series has been officially picked up by ABC, with Hayley Atwell set to reprise her role as the ass-kicking Peggy Carter, alongside the recently renewed Agents of Shield.Then there’s that small thing of Netflix producing a grand total of 60 episodes of Defender goodness with Luke Cage, Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist all getting their own mini-series that will culminate in a Defenders event series. The four series will all be set in the same cinematic universe as the films and Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada has already promised the scripts coming in for the series are fantastic, so this is exciting news for Marvel fans everywhere.

Constantine

and the rest...Hourman

iZombie

Now For Something Completely Different...

If you were to stop the average person on the street and ask them what is the first thing to come to mind when they think of comics, nine times out of ten they would instantly say super heroes.The comic industry is inundated with superheroes. And by inundated I mean full to the brim. Marvel alone has close to the fifty current on-goings and mini-series on the shelves so people can perhaps be forgiven for thinking comics just means capes and cowls.

However this is simply not the case. Beyond the world of kapows, booms and thwips are comics that deal with current issues being talked about in the media in the form of non-fiction and comic journalism.

Journalism in particular has always been difficult to define, many in the industry have their own definition but most, including freelance journalist and professor Benjamin Cardew, generally agree on a few aspects;

It’s interesting to note that while objectivity can be something to strive for, many in the journalism field do not believe it is a requirement. This is reflected Joe Sacco’s revolutionary work in the form of Palestine. Sacco, generally considered to among the pioneers of comic journalism, spent a number of months in the Gaza Strip and West Bank areas of Israel to experience the plight of the Palestinian people. The book as a whole is a fascinating insight into the Palestinian culture that depicts everyday life in occupied regions and contains conversations that Sacco had with Palestinians.

Sacco himself readily admits that his position as narrator does mean that he cannot be considered a neutral observer, but states later on in the book in a conversation with an Israeli soldier that he had been hearing the Israeli point of view his whole life and that his outlook on the affair had been affected by viewing the conflict through Palestinian eyes.

Joe Sacco’s meticulous work is a testament to what can be achieved through the comic format. It’s hard to say how presenting his story through a different medium would affect the result, but by choosing this format he perfectly presents both how he views the conflict and what the Palestinians are experiencing.

The scope of what one can do with the comic format is perfectly encaptured as early as pages twelve and thirteen that depicts the decision to settle the wandering Jews in Zion, to the conflict

ridden effects this had on the inhabiting Arabs with amazing attention to detail. These two pages alone highlight the apathetic nature of those not directly involved in the conflict as well as portray the clear heartbreak the Palestinians feel, the image of an elderly person being helped away from a war zone is one that will stay with you.

Comic journalism is not just confined to what Joe Sacco produces however. There are numerous examples of journalism in comics from Marjane Satrapi’s intensely personal Persepolis to Art Spiegelman’s equally moving Maus. Another example, somewhat similar to Palestine, is Burma Chronicles which recounts Guy Delisle’s trip around Burma with his wife and son. All of these serve as cases of poignant journalism that tell stories accurately and fairly.

There is a concern that because many view comics as mostly works of fiction that these works, that are meant to inform the wider public about such conflicts like Palestine, will not be taken seriously. This is a concern that Cardew, who teaches journalism at University at Abat Oliba in Barcelona, shares;

“People have very blinkered views of what ‘journalism’ is (which is stupid because no one can even define it) and for many of them it doesn’t include comics. But I think the success of something like Maus (which, incidentally, I’m not sure if I’d call journalism, it’s more of a history book from what I remember [and I read it ages ago so maybe not so clear]) can help people to accept that comics can serve serious subjects.”

Journalism is there to inform the people and evoke debate. The comic format is perfect and begging to be used as a vehicle for this change.

“I don’t think anyone has ever really nailed the definition but it has something to do with telling stories accurately, truthfully and honestly.”

GUTTER

1918

Comicbook Journalism

Spider-man’s death was a big cultural event. Even though it happened only within the confines of the much maligned Ultimate Universe, it garnered a fair amount of press outside the comic community. Introducing Miles Morales as his half-black-half-Hispanic replacement was certainly one way of smashing this apparent taboo. The Pandora’s Box of “I’m not being racist, but...” opinions was well and truly opened. For many though, Spidey-Senses tingled that having a diverse role model could only be a good thing.

Recently, trendy film star Andrew Garfield has been vocal in his support of Morales taking over from him in the film world. The Producers aren’t so hot on the idea, but realistically it’s only a matter of time until Sony decides that rather than lose the rights, they’re willing to toss Miles the Webshooters. After all, there’s only so many ways you can reboot the same story.

Saying that however, what we do see in terms of the story is still kind of the same origin story: Teenage boy bitten by Radioactive Spider, Climbs Walls to fight crime. The first volume of Miles’s adventures isn’t so much about the plot (as in there isn’t a great deal of action scenes). What the work really endeavours to do though is set a tone of sincerity right from the off. Straight away, in a way which is genuinely sweet, Miles tells his best friend what he’s going through. So now you’ve not just got one teenager dealing with an unusual problem, you’ve got a quirkily charming friendship taking it on.

Sarah Pichelli’s art work really contributes to this tone as well, mainly because it’s absolutely fantastic. There’s real emotion behind the drawings which allows us to really get to know Miles. We’re allowed into his heart and mind, and as you turn each page you’ve actually seen how kind a soul he has.

As a mentor, catalyst, and hero the way he’s revered and remembered illustrates Peter Parker’s place in our hearts. The city visibly mourns for him. This provokes the interesting idea of whether it’s in bad

taste to replace him. Spidey isn’t just a replaceable commodity. Miles succeeds because he’s far from being Spider-Man mark II (now with added Venom Strike); he’s his own distinct character. Yes, he puts on a crappy Halloween imitation costume, but he does it because of Peter Parker, not instead of him. All comparisons between the two are to be left at the door, thank you.

Regardless of villains, teenage problems, or indeed his skin colour, the first challenge Miles had to face was winning us over. This was always going to be his most difficult test, but fortunately, he nails it. Bendis deftly breathes fresh air into Spidey’s story, ironically by his bumping him off. Miles helps out considerably though, and it’s hard to imagine readers being anything but enamoured by how delightfully pleasant he is. Heck, this kid could have had been drawn with plaid for a face and still been a winner.

And what is everyone else reading?

Katrina Baczynski - I am a big fan of Philippa Rice’s Soppy series, Jen Lee’s ThunderPaw and Alex Schubert’s Blobby Boys. Also enjoying a long-term subscription from publisher kuš! (Latvia).

Reza Farazmand - I like Gunshow, Nedroid, Achewood (webcomics) and too many others to name. One on-going story comic that I’ve been enjoying recently is Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona.

Josceline Fenton - The ones that spring to mind first are Sakana, Cucumber Quest, TJ & Amal, Blindsprings, Vattu and The Fox Sister (webcomics). I’m more of a trade paperback person, which makes reading on-goings a little delayed for me, but I’ve been reading Saga and I’m looking forward to the Bee & Puppycat comic.

Adam Norfolk - I’ve been a huge fan of Saga since the very first issue, It’s just a perfect comic and I’ve just started reading the new series Undertow, which is an interesting take on the Atlantis mythology with some amazing art.

Matthew Gibbs - I love the new Ms. Marvel and am still enjoying The Superior Foes of Spider-Man, then there’s Sex Criminals which is amazing and I also recently reread Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson’s Happy! on the train home.

Jasper Van Looveren-Baines – Junji Ito – Uzumaki, Charles Burns – Black Hole, Rasl, Everything We Miss, Fatale, Hellboy and Electric Ant.

FANPICKSUltimate Comics: Spider-Man Volume 1

‘Donald Glover for Spider-Man’ cried 2010’s internet. Sony’s response: ‘But isn’t he kind of black?’

Sam Russell Illustration by Rae Valters