THE WORLD AND HIS WIFE

More talk about Lady Killer, including an interview with Joëlle over at Dynamic Forces.

We also got a great advance review from the awesome folks at Rock! Shock! Pop!

There’s a fairly wicked sense of humor behind everything that happens here, not just in the opening ‘hit’ but in the way that Josie is so easily able to get her husband (the bread winner) off her scent but maybe not her old German mother-in-law. It will be interesting to see how that part of the story plays out. There are a few good hooks tossed out in this debut issue that should keep readers interested and wanting to stick with the story to see how it ends – Jones and Rich are in fine form here. There’s a lot of wit and weird creativity but at the same time it feels ‘right’ for the era in which it is set, what with some sexism on the part of the few male characters that have appeared so far.

Read the entire Rock! Shock! Pop! review here.

You can also read a joint interview with us at Comicosity.

Finally, if you follow the Lady Killer tumblr, you've already scene our first awesome cosplay. That's our friend Bardot posing as Josie. We hope she starts a trend. Don't be afraid to submit your own take on the character. Do it right, in fact, and folks might be afraid of you!

Current Soundtrack: new Madonna tracks

FOR I HAVE WALKED A SINFUL ROAD

NOW IN THEATERS...

* Foxcatcher, a barely simmering drama with Steve Carell and Channing Tatum.

* Level Five, the first U.S. release of Chris Marker's 1997 avant-garde take on the then-new internet.

* Why Don't You Play in Hell, a crazy fun new action comedy from Japan.

Plus, your last chance Christmas movies.

And hey, I really dug Sin City: A Dame to Kill For on DVD.

Current Soundtrack: Christina Aguilera, Back to Basics

BUT WE DON'T KNOW WHERE WE'VE BEEN

NOW IN THEATERS...

* The Barefoot Bandit Documentary, unraveling the story of an internet sensation who liked to steal airplanes.

* Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon on a hike to find peace and self-awareness.

If you want to go watch some TV commercials you've probably never seen, there's also this year's British Arrow Awards.

This is going up too late for the Portland screening of 5 Broken Cameras, but last I checked, you could watch it on Netflix.

Likewise, this gathering of Christmas movies, but there are some good choices in here for possible home viewing. That said, Portland does have a chance this week to see Home Alone and A Christmas Story in repertory. 

Current Soundtrack: Fresh Air episode with the author of a new Richard Pryor biograpy

GET THIS LOOK: LADY KILLER

So, this time for real, this is our last day for preorders before setting the print run on Lady Killer #1, so call your retailer now if you haven't already. Give them the Diamond Order code NOV140021.

Today we released the fully designed covers for the first four issues, including the never-before-seen #4 cover, which you can see in its "raw" form below. In addition to the line work by Joëlle Jones and the coloring by Laura Allred, Kat Larson at Dark Horse is working with us to make each cover another vintage ad parody.

You can see #1 and #4, as well as preview the book and read a new interview with Joëlle over at Comic Vine.

The covers for #2 and #3 are at the Beat.

Thanks, as ever, for supporting this book. We're putting everything we have into it, and we hope it shows.

Current Soundtrack: Playlist of Neptunes productions over on Spotify

KEEP WATCH

Wow, this Comics Alliance write-up of Lady Killer is really amazing. 

Annnnnd...they have a full preview of the book's opening sequence. Please check it out.

Followers of Jones’ cartooning and illustration will recognize her fondness for period imagery. Her Tumblr routinely features artwork that calls back to the vintage fashion and pin-up illustrations of mid-century America, and her and Rich’s graphic novel You Have Killed Me dives head-on into the period with more of a straightforward noir approach. But Jones has also demonstrated a penchant for action, particularly in her recent work on Adventures of Superman and the awesomely violent Viking fantasy series Helheim.

With Lady Killer, Jones found a way to synthesize both of her artistic strengths to magnificent effect in a first issue that I had the chance to read. The book is at once adorable, funny, sexy and savage. It’s Americana viewed in a funhouse mirror that calls special attention to details like wallpaper, furniture, the contents of a kitchen cabinet, the way clothes hug a body, and the way a knife sticks out of a corpse. It will be obvious to anyone who reads Lady Killer that Jones relished drawing every page.

In other comics news, the Outhousers give a really swell write-up to The Double Life of Miranda Turner #4.

George Kambadais designs echo Batman The Animated Series, with his clean line work and simple coloring. The sepia toned flashbacks separate them from the present time and when the two time lines are side by side, they’re easy to follow. The panel of Miranda seeing Lindy’s ghost for the first time is genius use of using dialogue to have the reader’s eye create its own sense of motion in a single panel. A small, yet smart design comes from letterer Crank! using blue speech bubbles for Lindy echoing her blue ghost nature. 

 

This issue is the darkest so far of the short series, but retains the humor and playfulness of previous issues. The mystery is unfolding smoothly, as Miranda gets one step closer to finding her sister’s killer. The Double Life of Miranda Turner is well worth the $0.99 price tag on Comixology, especially if Rich and Kambadais can get this book back on a regular schedule.

In regards to that scheduling, The Double Life of Miranda Turner #5 is set for a January 7 release, the same day as Lady Killer #1 and the day after the first digital chapter of Ares & Aphrodite: Love Wars. So never you fear!

Current Soundtrack: Wu-Tang Clan, A Better Tomorrow

SORRY, SHE'S MINE

Broken Frontier not only has several kind words to say about Lady Killer, but they also have some cool process drawings we haven't shared anywhere.

Lady Killer is a true work of love for Joëlle Jones and it shows. Although she’s penciled some of Jamie S. Rich’s scripts before – the Oni graphic novels 12 Reasons Why I Love Her and You Have Killed Me – she’s very much in the driver’s seat on this one.

Inspired by 1960s romance and pulp culture and the works of artists like Pete Howley and Robert E. McGinnis, Lady Killer is a book where the creative fun just leaps off the pages. In our opinion, it’s Jones’s best work to date and another fine example of what great comics originate when a creator gets to do their thing.

Check out the whole shebang here.

Meanwhile, over on the Lady Killer tumblr, anyone remember this throwback Thursday?

Current Soundtrack: The Small Faces, Ogden's Nut Gone Flake

HOW I WAS MADE

Did you get your copy of The Double Life of Miranda Turner #4 from Comixology today?

You might also want to stop by the Robot 6 tumblr, as they have an exclusive look at the creative process, seeing the stages of a story page from my script to George Kambadais' final colors. Give it a look. 

Current Soundtrack: The Magic Numbers, Alias

APRIL COME SHE WILL

Comics Should Be Good have been really swell to my books lately. Their four-part write-up of Joëlle's work, their review of Lady Killer, and now their "Flippin' through Previews" column has chosen Ares & Aphrodite: Love Wars as one of their top choices from the new Diamond catalogue.

Jamie S. Rich is a sucker for romances, so on page 358 we find Ares & Aphrodite, a new graphic novel by him and Megan Levens from Oni. Like a lot of romantic comedies, it sounds painful on the surface – there’s a bet between an attractive divorce lawyer and a cute wedding planner (no points for guessing which is the male and which is the female) and there’s a wedding to plan, confound it! Yes, it sounds fluffy, but Rich really good at writing romances, and Levens is a pretty good artist, so I’m checking this out. (15 April)

Read all of their picks now.

Current Soundtrack: The Colbert Report (December 1, 2014 episode)

DRESS IT UP, BETTER HAVE IT ALL

Today is the final order cut-off for Lady Killer #1. I hope you got your orders in! From here, Dark Horse sets the print run.

As a bit of a last push, Joëlle Jones had a chat with Hannah Means Shannon over at Bleeding Cool.

Read the whole thing right here.

JJ: I came up with the idea for Lady Killer three years ago but my schedule never had any free time to work on it. So there was a sort of long incubation period. The ads came out of that waiting period because I wanted to do something on the project. When I finally scraped away some free time, the first thing I did was write out a rough script for issue one. Then I finally got to start drawing the thing! When the art was finalized, that’s when I brought Jamie [S. Rich] in. He gave the dialogue some pizzazz and sparkle and then we sent it off to Laura [Allred]. Laura went to town with the colors and I absolutely adore what she’s done!

Current Soundtrack: Bob Dylan & the Band, The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series, vol. 11

GREAT DAY FOR A MURDER

Preview the fourth issue of my Monkeybrain title The Double Life of Miranda Turner, co-created with artist George Kambadais.

At long last, it can be revealed: the events of the night Lindy Turner was killed. With a new clue to go on, Miranda and her sister relive the evening that led to the Cat's murder.

Preorder the digital-only comic now in advance of its Wednesday release.

Click on the image to scroll through.

Current Soundtrack: Digster UK's Best of 2014 playlist on Spotify

BLACK FRIDAY THRU CYBER MONDAY, 20% OFF EVERYTHING

Black Friday through Cyber Monday, everything in my web store is 20% off. Enter the code TURKEY at checkout.

http://confessions123.com/shop/

All books, as ever, come signed, including personalizations if you want. I will also ship items as gifts.

This code should also work on Natalie Nourigat art.

Azealia Banks in the holiday spirit.

Current Soundtrack: Zero 7, Simple Science

NOTHING LEFT (TO SAY)

NOW IN THEATERS...

Another slow week for movies, but you may keep your eye out for Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Language 3D if difficult and muddled cinematic assaults are your kind of thing (sometimes it's mine).

Portlanders have a few short-run indie and revival options. Two different theaters are showing varied work from Gus Van Sant, with a one-off Mala Noche screening and a week of Good Will Hunting. 

Those maybe looking for some kind of enlightenment through documentaries can learn about farm worker rights and the pricing scams of big box stores via Food Chains or the effects of the practice of polygamy in Bali with Bitter Honey.

Or if you can get your hands on it, track down Sam Peckinpah's The Killer Elite with James Caan and Robert Duvall. I reviewed the Twilight Time Blu-ray.

Jean-Luc Godard

Current Soundtrack: Shady XV/Eminem vs. DJ Whoo Kid: Shady Classics

WE'RE ALL MAD HERE

More Madman in Your Face 3D Special pin-ups, this time by Sean Murphy, Paolo Leandri, Ian Bertram, Emma Rios, Clive Goodyer, Matthew Allison, and Andrew Robinson.

The book goes on sale tomorrow--Wednesday, November 26, just in time for Thanksgiving.

Not convinced you need this? Here is an early review from Rock! Shock! Pop! that praises the 3D especially: 

So the two main stories in this issue will obviously be pretty familiar to long time Madman readers but seeing them in 3D really does make a huge difference here. The 3D effects work incredibly well in both stories (at least in digital format, which is what we’ve been given to review) and those old school red and blue glasses (physical copies will include a special pair of Madman 3D glasses) definitely bring out a lot of depth and dimensionality that obviously just can’t be there in the regular versions. Christian LeBlanc has done a phenomenal job here, ensuring that the obvious things like flying fists or zipping spaceships come at you the way you’d expect them to. Maybe more impressive though is how he brings out a lot of the background details into the foreground just enough to keep your eyes moving from one panel to the next to see what’s going to ‘move’ in the story. It’s pretty wild stuff and whole lot of fun to read and to look at. 

And we are also amongst the picks of the week for a couple of different sites:

* IGN: "It would be easy to dismiss the 3D element as a silly gimmick. But considering that Allred is one of the most talented artists in the business, would he bothered with a 3D special if he didn't feel there was a great story to be told?"

* Yahoo: "Do you like 3D comics? Let’s be honest, this is a bit of a novelty. I’m a sucker for 3D mainly because my father collected them. It might be none to some that I’m also a huge Mike Allred/Madman fan. The idea of a 3D Madman comic is fitting for the character."

Hell, just look what a great fashion accessory the 3D glasses are!