It’s the end of the year, so it’s all about the retrospective. It’s been a big year for comics, and it stands to reason that it’s also been a big year for Crave Online’s Comics Channel. While we’re not all that comfortable tooting our own horn, here are ten things that we really liked about our 2013.
Longtime listeners of The Book Report podcast will be aware that Iann “The Fly In The Ointment, The Monkey In the Wrench, The Punky In The Brewster” Robinson had long lamented the unfortunate fact that his isolation in the frozen tundra of Cincinnati, Ohio, has made it impossible to get him to the big conventions. All that changed in October, when he finally went back to his roots in New York City for the NY Comic-Con, and he made the most of it – including this interview with his good buddy, Batman, The Wake and American Vampire writer Scott Snyder. Other interviews he wrangled include Mr. Tim of Our Valued Customers, Justin Jordan of Green Lantern: New Guardians, James Tynion IV of Talon, Ivan Reis of Justice League, Andy Diggle of Control, Kyle Higgins of Nightwing, David Finch of Forever Evil, Greg Pak of Batman/Superman and more.
Conventions are huge business these days – orgies of Hollywood self-promotion, really – but once upon of time, a comic-con was exactly that – a convention of comic book enthusiasts. By showing us life in Artists’ Alley, where independent comic creators ply their trade and try to thrive in a world full of capes and tights, Iann illustrated the diversity and creativity of folks trying to succeed in an artistic medium they love.
Another thing TBR fans are well aware of is that Iann is epically bad with names, and one of the bigger faux pas… faux pases… faux pi?… was his recurring assumption that the artist of Earth 2 was a dude named “Nicolas Scott.” After New York Comic-Con, Iann will never make that mistake again, as Nicola Scott won his heart with flattery in his interview with her. Now if only we could get him to meet Green Arrow artist Andrea Sorrentino so he can remember that’s he’s a dude, too…
Other great interviews we had this year include Mark Waid of Daredevil & Shadow Walk, Amanda Conner of Before Watchmen, Gail Simone of Batgirl, Red Sonja, & The Movement, Sean Murphy of Punk Rock Jesus, Grant Morrison of Multiversity, Geoff Johns of everything DC, Jai Nitz of Dream Thief, Eric Stephenson of Nowhere Men, Dirk Manning of Love Stories To Die For and…
You may have heard of The Fifth Beatle, the lush graphic novel about the life of the Fab Four’s manager Brian Epstein which topped the New York Times Best Seller list and is set to become a major motion picture with director Peyton Reed and full Beatles music rights secured. Before it came out, I had the opportunity to sit down for an in-depth interview with writer Vivek J. Tiwary, a Broadway theatre producer who has been obsessed with the Epstein story for many years. Our conversation covered a lot of lore about the lads from Liverpool, their indelible effect on music and popular culture, and how none of that would have happened if not for Epstein.
Hands down, the most controversial event in comics this year was Superior Spider-Man, where Dr. Octopus killed Peter Parker and took over his body and identity for the whole of 2013. At Wondercon, I had the chance for an extended talk with Dan Slott, the mastermind behind the ballsiest move of the year that paid off so impressively, about his history writing Spider-Man, how this idea came to be, and how he’d been dropping clues about this a hundred issues before it finally happened – not to mention some behind-the-scenes scoop about Marvel’s operations throughout his tenure with the wall-crawler. How will it all finally end? Well, Slott didn’t say, but I came up with a few possible ways to wrap up Superior Spider-Man.
