How Did We Miss the 25th Anniversary of Rob Liefeld's Levi Commercial (Weekend Pattering for Friday, February 3rd)

Previously on Panel Patter

• Graphic Nonfiction: Sarah Glidden Explains Sanctuary Cities (Rob M.)
• Riding the Rails with Roger Langride in The Iron Dutchess (Scott C.)
• Best Shots: Kamandi Challenge #1 (Scott C. @ Newsarama)
• The Honor Roll: Dept H. #10 (James K. @ Comicosity)

The Social Panel Patter

In case you never look elsewhere around the site, we're very social creatures here at Panel Patter.  Here's some quick links to where to find us.

• Panel Patter'sTwitter
• Panel Patter's Facebook Page
• Rob M.'s Twitter
• James K.'s Twitter (someday James has to explain the origin of his Twitter handle to me.)
• Scott C.'s Twitter

Cover of the Next Week

I don't know if Matteo Scalera gets enough credit for his covers.  Here's his fun cover from next week's Black Science #28.  

Interviews

** Jimmy Palmiotti Guides Us From Eternity to New York City (Comics Alliance)-- I haven't actually had a chance to read this interview between Palmiotti and Steve Morris yet but if there's anyone who knows where the bodies of the comic industry are buried, I think it's Palmiotti.  His and Justin Gray's Jonah Hex series ranks up there with Gotham Central as one of the best series that DC has published in the 21st century.

Our long-time plan for Jonah was to write the character forever, or until it got cancelled, which it finally did. It is sad really, because all of the trade books of the original series of 70 issues we wrote are out of print, and there aren’t plans for any collections. I find this especially sad because they feature some of the greatest artists in comics. The movie and its misfire destroyed the character in print, and with All Star Western we did everything possible to try to get new readers to appreciate the genre and character… but it didn’t work out. One day DC will figure out Jonah Hex and Tallulah Black will make the greatest HBO or Netflix series ever, and maybe this time they will pull us into the project on a consulting level.

This and That

** Before You Watch Riverdale, Read the Best Non-Archie Archie Story: Criminal: The Last of the Innocents (Paste)-- I forgot all about The Last of the Innocent's homages to old Archie comics.  Now I want to go back and reread Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' book as a sequel to Mark Waid's current Archie work.

But the most jaw-dropping Archie mashup, featuring the most mayhem and death, is no Archie comic at all: it’s the sixth arc of writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips’ crime classic Criminal. In “The Last of the Innocent,” (which is also on sale at comiXology right now) Brubaker and Philips answer the question: “What if Archie Andrews was the biggest scumbag in the world?” They also deconstruct all of the Archie characters, showing the hidden toxicity beneath the wholesome surface. This is the Archie equivalent of Watchmen (at least until the Archie Meets Rorschach one-shot).

** How Jodorowsky and Ladrönn’s Comics Sequel to Cult Movie ‘El Topo’ Further Broadens the Mind (Broken Frontier)-- Always link to Jodorowsky.  Actually, this is a book that I can't wait for the English translation of.

Readers only familiar with Ladrönn’s US art on titles like Marvel’s Cable and Image Comics’ Hip Flask will notice that he has taken an almost evolutionary leap to the point where this is almost unrecognizable as being the work of the same artist. His realistic approach coupled with his cinematographic storytelling is simply stunning. It’s a piece of art that one can gawk at for hours on end and is almost too beautiful to look at. Unfortunately it misses the mark in terms of visceral impact in the El Topo universe. The roughness of the visuals of the movie, the harsh setting and ingrained crumminess is exchanged for an inherent beauty and love for the scenery of the Californian deserts and Mexican borderlands. Luckily, Ladrönn revels in the violence and bizarre characters Jodorowsky comes up with, which lends some balance to the grand splendour of Ladrönn’s landscapes.

** Spanish Fever (The Comics Journal)-- Sometimes Panel Patterer Rob Kirby reviews the anthology Spanish Fever at TCJ.

In his introduction, Eddie Campbell notes that the new Spanish comics all share the importance of authorial voice, i.e., that they feature characters that are pure expressions of the authors, beholden to no meddling publishers or corporations. Garcia’s forward to the collection extrapolates on this theme, offering a mini-history of Spain’s comics leading to its current artistic renaissance amid the country’s current economic crisis.

Current Mood

You know how they say that if you remember 1991, that means that you really weren't there. I don't ever remember seeing this commercial before the wonders of the internet.