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Don Newton

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One step closer to the end: DEATH of COPRA issue TWO is officially available to order! It hits the shelves FEB 12th, and your LCS can still get the first one as well (from Image Comics) so ask for it by name.

Oh, and our "guest artist" variant cover features the inimitable Sam McKenzie, whose work I've loved for years. As for our "cover team-up" variant, it stars Malcolm from Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon.

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Come for the Kevin Nowlan cover, stay for the great & awkward panel by Gary Groth, Gil Kane, Howard Chaykin, and Walter Simonson:

GROTH: Mainstream comics are juvenile trash, recycled pap. Artists should do better

KANE: The art’s where the value lies but the stories are still subliterate. It’s the publishers’ fault. They should do better

CHAYKIN: I fall in between you two

SIMONSON: I’m sitting right here, guys

For the record, I’m into what everyone’s saying. Groth as a critic (and competitor) posits diversity in style & ideas; that has played out over time. Kane as a self-critical artist demands the same values of his peers. Chaykin’s American Flagg! leads the charge of making quality product. Simonson had every right to sound as defensive as he did. He was just a dude making a living by writing & drawing THOR. The subject of values seemed too broad to tackle in an hour, especially with one panelist maybe feeling attacked.

All in all, file under: Essential Reading

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I haven't read this article -- "How the great Golden Age Heroes might have appeared if drawn by today's comic standards." -- but C.C. Beck lampooning then-modern comic book styles is hilarious... and unintentionally cool in its own demented way.

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"Purism has such hopeless connotations (from high modernism) that's everything against what makes comics exciting." --Ben Katchor

As somebody who believes in Pure Comics, this is a super compelling angle to me, almost repellant at the same time! Definitely worth unpacking.

Anyway, I'm just now catching up with this talk. Beyond fandom, beyond comics... I completely missed it somehow. Don't make the same mistake. Watch it now: NY Comics Symposium with Gary Groth & Ben Katchor in conversation.

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I keep returning to this Ditko/Byrne essay because of its core tenet: stylization has more range. Though I don't *entirely* agree, I appreciate the discussion and like that it's even being talked about. Plus, this site's attention to detail is something to behold.

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Today marks twelve years since COPRA began. I took two of those years off, so it's been a solid decade of revenge comics. COPRA isn't old enough to join the military, but it can still score a pack of Camel Blue.

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John Sullivan, 1977

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COPRA: The Last Subscription! The limited edition Subscriber Variants are available exclusively via the Copra Press Shop. These are identical to the Image releases, except for the different covers. Supplies are boutique-level rare, so get 'em now while you can.

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COCONUT MEAT SKULL a COPRA Fanzine

9 essays + 11 artists + a new interview & cover by me = COCONUT MEAT SKULL. Now on sale from Wakeup Comics (Plus stickers!) This 92 page Copra Fanzine was amassed & edited by Josh Lambert — I am in awe of his generosity, patience, and vision. And a big thanks to this murderers’ row of contributors.

I’m super flattered by this COPRA fanzine. What a sweet, humbling, surreal thing to witness. I’m touched by every word, every line of art. What a gesture. Thanks to all the participants, and to Josh, who went above and beyond.

Get in touch with Josh / Wakeup Comics if you want a copy!

Art shown above by K. Wroten, Nate McDonough, Lale Westvind, Paul Jon Milne, Tony McMillen, and Luke McDonell / Karl Kesel, respectively.

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DEATH of COPRA is a 4 issue mini-series coming out January 8th from Image Comics. This all-new material is the direct continuation of where the last 45 issues left off. (aka Legacy Numbers 46-49)

The story of COPRA is one of duality: brutal but tender, bombast as defined by human nuance, crafted with a love of comics history while guided by an eye towards the future.

We’re going out, thus, with celebration and revenge in our hearts. Oh, and a bunch of variant covers!

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C A B L E

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Proud to announce CREATING COPRA: the Definitive DIY Guide to Making & Self-Publishing Comics. This book covers everything from inspiration to final production. Practical, idealistic, and everything in between. Pre-Orders are up, so reserve your copy now!

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My collection of drawing Sam Kieth's the MAXX grows every year.

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Originally in Flash Comics #92 (February, 1948), "Riddle Of The Clown" by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert was reprinted in Detective Comics #439 (February-March, 1973).

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I've been dreaming of a Joe Kubert collection featuring his Golden Age Hawkman work for a minute. Very little of it has been reprinted here & there, and good luck finding/affording the original issues. 

Imagine my surprise and sheer delight to discover this 70s fanzine-looking square bound index of Golden Age Joe Kubert comics. The store's sticker described the contents as "surprisingly good reprints" ...and at a glance they were. Even if the reprints weren't great, I probably would've bought this thing for the novelty anyway. Something didn't seem right when I cracked it open, though, the stuff looked a little wobbly, a little off. And yet, it still looked complete. I couldn't figure out what was wrong about it.

Then I read the introduction and couldn't believe what the catch was. I had to read it twice to make sure I understood it correctly. The author, Al Dellinges, had *redrawn* every piece in this book. Dellinges was an obsessive list-making human Xerox machine. I'm not sure what his process was (did he lightbox the original comics or just eyeball it... and what about the lettering??) but he must've owned or had access to all of the Kubert comics from the era. This might be an interesting exercise for a page or two. But 120 pages? That is an unprecedented level of mania. I can appreciate the intense devotion to the subject, trying to catalog all of that delicate data - the brush lines, the style development, the stories -  before it's all completely erased from existence. Dellinges' mission is beautiful, in a way, and it's completely bonkers.

Look closer, dear reader, there's a catalogue page at the end of this book. That means there are more of these types of books. Was this a normal thing back in '78? Joe Kubert was apparently impressed enough with this project that he had Dellinges help out with some TOR material (to what degree, I'm not sure; Dellinges ultimately never really worked in comics.)

As it stands, I'm charmed and confused by this strange artifact. It's like an amateur cover band re-recording an established band's earlier rarities note for note. But hey, I got a Golden Age Joe Kubert book after all. 

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A fuzzy nerd, a tortured soul, a rich pretty boy, a method actor, a warrior goddess, a treacherous space hippie, and literally the son of satan