PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #96
04 April 1999
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
CONFUSING CREDITS
The tale of confusing credits from a couple of issues ago seems to get more
and more complicated. It's beyond the point where you can't tell what a
person does from the credit anymore and has progressed to the point where
they blatantly don't do what the credit says they do. Does that make
sense?
How about stories of background artists drawing the background and
everything else -- save for the characters' faces? Maybe one in
particular, who is too busy making Hollywood deals to bother drawing his
own book? So he gets the lackeys to do it. He spots out the page and
gives it to the "background assistants" to draw. Their names, which
rightfully belong on the cover, don't go there because their names wouldn't
sell the book. It's bait and switch, smoke and mirrors, etc. etc.
Folks, I'm not talking about Rob Liefeld here. Yes, Marat Mychaels ghosted
an issue of X-FORCE, but Marvel editorial was afraid of a sales slippage
without Rob attached to the book as artist. Besides which, that would also
have made the books returnable. Rob's been open about this since that
time.
But this other "creator" I'm talking about today lays out a page at a time,
and leaves the rest of the work to the people who don't get their own
office space. The bullpen draws the comics; those with offices pull down
the checks.
I'm not naming names here. I have no proof or evidence or corroboration on
this story. But if this is true, then I hope someone would speak up about
it. Or just set the record straight. What do the background assistant
artists at [studio name deleted] actually do? So anyone who would care to
enlighten me and my readers -- either anonymously or openly -- feel free to
drop me a line at augie@nic.com. I'll be looking into this where and how
I can on my own.
I'd like to think that it's only a matter of time before a system such as
this would get exposed. There'd have to be an ex-employee with a grudge or
something, right? No, instead we have an insular "community" which doesn't
like to expose some of the ugly truths. There are no investigative
reporters in comics today, save maybe Richard Johnston. And Wizard
wouldn't cover something like this for fear of losing a major advertiser
and magazine-seller.
PREVIEWS
I haven't spent much time in this column lately going over PREVIEWS.
I think we shall see what madness it inspires this month:
Not even an Alan Davis cover is getting me interested in the JSA. I read
James Robinson's THE GOLDEN AGE. That's enough for me. It was OK, but
nothing to rev up my engines. I skipped the JSA event this past month,
too.
DARK HORSE is flogging a dead horse. They're doing "Maverick" to band
together some of their top-name creators. I guess they didn't learn much
from "Legends," eh?
Wildstorm is soliciting for a DARKCHYLDE SUMMER SWIMSUIT SPECTACULAR,
marking the first such special in which the starring character will be
wearing more clothes than she often does in her regular series.
Jim Lee continues to learn from his Cliffhanger protegees how to package
and repackage what little work he does, as a third collection of DIVINE
RIGHT hits the shelves, containing two stories with extra 'f' words added
in.
More worthy of your money is "STORMWATCH: CHANGE OR DIE," collecting
a bunch of Warren Ellis' great stories.
Further proof that the comics industry is dying: Even Todd McFarlane needs
to publish three unnecessary spin-off series in order to keep his empire
afloat.
ARIA #6 is solicited. I almost lost control of my bladder from laughing so
hard when I saw that. I bet ya we'll be lucky to see the third issue
by June.
MONSTER FIGHTERS INC. #2 is solicited. I have nothing witty to say here.
I just like to publicize J. Torres' work.
Speaking of which, Tim Levins is drawing BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES #15 in
June! Whoo-hoo! Now let's get back to THE COPYBOOK TALES, OK, guys?
TELLOS, Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo's fantasy series, looks a hell of a
lot more interesting than BATTLE CHASERS. And I have a better feeling that
they'll put out more than 5 issues in their first year.
Marvel prints the black and white artwork by George Perez and Al Vey
(presumably) from a few pages of AVENGERS #19. I didn't think it possible,
but Firestar's face looks even more ridiculous in black and white than
color.
That new BLACK WIDOW is cute. . . However, I also acknowledge the fact
that she's a figment of someone's pen and ink imagination. This, I
believe, separates me from a lot of fans you find on the Internet lurking
in dark corners.
Doug Braithwaite's CAPTAIN AMERICA: SENTINEL OF LIBERTY #12 cover makes me
long for Rob Liefeld's anatomically-correct CapAm.
WIZARD interviews JMS for its 95th issue! Whoo-hoo! They also include an
offer for another comic based on a weak wrestler-based character. I long
for the day when this pornography is taken back off the air. Did anyone
else see that ESPN special about wrestling?
The cover to THE COVEN: DARK ORIGINS #1 features a woman who is able to
move the upper part of her body without any attachment to its lower half.
BTW, don't blame Rob Liefeld for the lateness of ALAN MOORE'S AWESOME
UNIVERSE HANDBOOK. It's strictly a printing press mix-up. Not Awesome's
fault. GLORY #0 is still Awesome's fault, however.
The Buffy photo covers are worth more than the pen-and-ink covers. I don't
get it. All those photos are seen countless times on the Internet and in
the newspapers and. . . I don't know. ::shakes head::
-Augie
P.S. Pipeline Commentary and Review will soon be changing URLs...
Announcement coming soon!
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