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Herge's Fantastic Four, as drawn by Dustin Weaver

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And there are a whole bunch of great reviews of Colleen’s work in the KING SIZE SPIDER-MAN SUMMER SPECIAL, where she has two stories, both written by Paul Tobin.
Comics Bulletin | The ISB | Scans Daily | Every Day is Like Wednesday | Savage Critic | Shazhmmm

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Of course working with Paul is as natural to me as breathing air. He was my first writer and he’s either written or helped me write pretty much every comic I’ve done up until the beginning of my time working for Marvel. He knows what I like to draw, but he never lets me get lazy by staying in my comfort zone! Sometimes he’ll write a challenging scene for me to force me to push myself. My whole style has developed with his writing, and when I read his scripts I can see what the comic should look like in my head.

Parker writes like an artist because, you know, he is one; he’ll give me minimalist panel descriptions and let me intuit what he’s after. I think he writes a little more loosely for me than he would for an artist who doesn’t sit three feet away from him every day—our desks in Periscope Studio, where we each do most of our work, are separated by Parker’s orange metal bookcase full of Essential trades and Prince Valiant volumes. If I ever get stuck on a panel design I can swivel my chair and ask him what he wants, and usually he’ll just grab a piece of paper and sketch it out for me.

We’re all really fortunate in that we have set up a whole culture of collaboration for ourselves here in Portland. Not only do I work closely with Paul and Parker, they’ve also worked with each other—co-writing for What If? and the Free Comic Book Day Marvel Adventures Iron Man, and now they’re writing side-by-side stories in the upcoming Age of the Sentry mini. They both work regularly with other Periscope members, too: Paul does Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four with David Hahn, Parker has an issue of X-Men: First Class drawn by Karl Kesel coming up, his run on Virgin Comic’s Gamekeeper series was drawn by Ron Randall and Ron Chan, and he’s writing a spelunking thriller for Steve Lieber. It feels like we’re keeping it all in the family, which helps us all stay motivated and happy!

Read the whole interview!

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Colleen Coover and Jeff Parker have two back-up shorts in X-men: First Class #9

David Hahn and Colleen’s husband Paul Tobin begin their run of stories in Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #33

Elsewhere, our wonderful assistant Sarah Burini has posted a Wondercon report. It’s in German, but the pictures are fun.

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Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin got married on Saturday in a cermony in Laurelhurst park in Portland. Paul Guinan and James Ratcliffe have put up photo-sets. I’m not sure whether to be proud or sad that several comics news sites scooped us on this story.

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Colleen first made a big splash with her Eros Comix title Small Favors, widely regarded as one of the most enjoyable adult comics available anywhere. From there, she moved to Oni Pres, where she and Root Nibot created Banana Sunday, an all-ages comic about the high-school adventures of Kirby Stienberg and her three talking apes.

Here’s a recent interview with Colleen at what appears to be a gorilla-centric German website. And you can download a pdf preview of Banana Sunday at the publisher’s site

Colleen’s currently hard at work on Freckled Face, Bony Knees, And Other Things Known About Annah. I’ll try to get the okay to run some pics from it when I get the chance. In the meantime, go take a look at her portfolio and see just how much she rules.

Do we get letters? We get letters.

Kieron Dwyer writes:

“Just wanted to spread the word about my friend (and maybe yours) Shannon Wheeler, whose world premiere of Too Much Coffee Man Opera opens this weekend here in Portland, at Brunish Hall. It might surprise you to know that it’s the first opera based on a comic book! All the basic info is on http://www.tmcm.com/opera and you can hear a sample there.

The dates are Friday and Saturday nights, Sept 29-30, and its selling quickly, as I hear it. Where can Shannon take TMCM from here? Only time will tell. Tickets available on Ticketmaster as well as at the box office”

And Indigo Kelliegh writes:

“I just finished updating both the Exhibitors List and Floor Map pages
at the site, http://www.stumptowncomics.com. All you exhibitors should now
have table numbers listed after your names, and you can find your table with the handy, downloadable Map! “

Checking things out, it looks like I’m at table 69, between Dennis Culver and the great Sean Bieri, who’s coming all the way from Hamtramck, Michigan, where cartoonists rule with an iron heel. Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett will be at tables 73 and 74. And Colleen Coover will be at table 90 with her partner Paul Tobin/aka Root Nibot. I’m sure other Mercury members will put in an appearance, too. Keep your eyes open for middle-aged men pushing strollers.

More raves for Jeff Parker, a man in serious danger of being noticed by his publisher:
Comic Book Revolution | The ISB | Comic Pants | Maniacal fans at CBR | Steve Reads | Johnny Bacardi | Poormojo.

Let’s end things on a different note than usual. Forget comics for a moment and listen to Myron Cope, the voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers taking time out from a broadcast to discuss giant green macaws.

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