Welcome back to The Rundown, our daily breakdown on comic news stories we missed from the previous day. Have a link to share? Email David at david@multiversitycomics.com. Oh god I hope I don’t mess this up.
-Over on his tumblr, IDW’s CCO and EIC Chris Ryall has posted a whole bevy of “Locke and Key: Alpha” #2 variants by awesome folk like Simon Bisley, Bill Sienkiewicz, Glenn Fabry, Michael Kaluta, Dave Sim (pictured left, my favorite) and Bernie Wrightson.
It’s quite an impressive line-up, but it shouldn’t be any surprise. This is one of the premiere comics on stands right now, and I would go so far as to say that it will go down as one of the best books of all time right alongside comics like “Y The Last Man” and “Sandman” and all those other Vertigo books everyone is talking about all the time. IDW doesn’t get enough credit like Dark Horse and Image does, perhaps because of the amount of licensed comics they put out (which are still good by their own merits), but “Locke & Key” is the definitive horror comic that you have to be reading if you aren’t already.
Look, I know this is a news column. I knew I’d mess it up. But I am so flippin’ excited and scared for the finale of “Locke & Key,” like, woah.
Oh, and want to see series artist Gabriel Rodriguez’s cover? OK, here it is:
loljk!
-In your morning Required Reading, Dennis Culver collected series of tweets into a single tumblr post explaining why, if you are reviewing comics and not talking about the art, you are decidedly doing it wrong:
The art IS the story. Even if you don’t care for the style or don’t think it’s dynamic
The presentation by the artist of the images in sequence is how the story is being told. The art IS the story.
If you get rid of the art and are only left with the balloons, you will have no idea what’s going on. Comics IS art
When a reviewer only credits a writer with the story it is inarguably wrong. That’s just not how the process works.
Chris and I are credited for each others ideas in Edison Rex reviews all the time. Often we’re not sure who did what. If we don’t know how can you?
I think we do OK here at Multiversity. We could always do better. We will continue to strive to, with all of this in mind.
-Here’s something fun. Jon Negroni over on his website, taking pointers from an old Cracked video, explains how all of Pixar’s movies are connected. Turns out they’re about the war between man, animal and machine and how it eventually gets resolved. Lots of time travel and you’ll have to stretch your average beliefs here a bit, but definitely a fun and interesting read. I certainly can’t stop thinking about the door bit — but you’ll get there.
-Are you going to San Diego Comic Con? Do you like to party? My name is Rod, and I like to party. Here’s a list of parties at San Diego Comic Con for you to check out.
-Last, but certainly not least: hey, did you hear about the time JK Rowling wrote a book, published it under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith and didn’t tell anybody? Because that is a thing that happened. Called “The Cuckoo’s Calling”, it’s a “brilliant debut” mystery novel that is promptly sold out on Amazon about a man named Cormon Strike investigating the suicide of a supermodel. Here’s a great review of it from Amazon:
This book is so well written that I suspect that some years down the road we will hear the author’s name is a pseudonym of some famous writer. Lots of description made one feel like another occupant in the scene. You could feel the weather, the tension, the pain, the atmosphere in the gatherings. The Audible version had great accents. It is a wonderful mystery with a surprise ending, and I look forward to more by the same author.
Oh snap!
