AWA Comics - New Company with JMS as part of Creative Council

[Jan]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/20/arts/awa-comic-books-publisher.html

Partial quotes:

To help shape the comics, the publisher has a creative council, which includes the screenwriter and director Reginald Hudlin, the novelists Margaret Stohl and Gregg Hurwitz, the comic book writer Garth Ennisand J. Michael Straczynski, a screenwriter and co-creator of Netflixs Sense8.

Straczynski took a sabbatical from comics about three years ago, but kept busy working on multiple projects: an autobiography, a novel and a screenplay, adapting his Rising Stars comic book series for MGM. I was open to returning to comics if the project was something challenging, so when Bill and Axel approached me about creating an entirely new, cohesive, shared comic-book universe, the prospect was too much fun to resist, he wrote in an email. Straczynski has developed the origin point of AWAs superheroes.

[Ubik]

This looks like yet another set up making comics with the express aim of selling them on as films or tv shows. I am starting to really dislike this model. It doesn't produce art, it produces the product deemed most 'saleable'. Hard pass on this publisher. Looks awful.

[Jan]

This looks like yet another set up making comics with the express aim of selling them on as films or tv shows. I am starting to really dislike this model. It doesn't produce art, it produces the product deemed most 'saleable'. Hard pass on this publisher. Looks awful.

Curious why you say that? I didn't get any impression of a multi-media outlook at all?

[Jan]

This answers the main question I had.

[Ubik]

Curious why you say that? I didn't get any impression of a multi-media outlook at all?

I could be totally wrong, but the tone of the article was what tipped me off. Mentioning franchises and Netflix acquisition of Mark Miller's IP, it just seemed to have that kind of tone. I might be reading into it, but I think this is now often a consideration when designing new 'properties'.

I guess I'm just really not that interested in superhero comics anymore, even if you totally subvert the genre (arguably already done to death and done better in the late 80s), it's still largely derivative. If anything was to bring JMS back to comics, I would have hoped it was something more personal and inventive. I'd rather see him do the much touted 'Alone' than generic superhero stuff.

[Triple F]

I could be totally wrong, but the tone of the article was what tipped me off. Mentioning franchises and Netflix acquisition of Mark Miller's IP, it just seemed to have that kind of tone. I might be reading into it, but I think this is now often a consideration when designing new 'properties'.

In this day I think it's pretty much a given that's what the hope is.You're not the only one who see's a streaming series in this lot's future. Bleeding Cool has been keeping an eye on this for quite a while before the news "broke". This is just one of their articles from 2018 on who is involved, where the financing is coming from, etc.

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/08...-artisans-inc/

Expect some kind of comics publisher that is pitched as an IP farm, a place to create ideas independent of medium, some big familiar names hired, with comic book pages positioned as acting as storyboards, and an aim of eventually selling off to Amazon Prime, Hulu or the like...

[Ubik]

In this day I think it's pretty much a given that's what the hope is.You're not the only one who see's a streaming series in this lot's future. Bleeding Cool has been keeping an eye on this for quite a while before the news "broke". This is just one of their articles from 2018 on who is involved, where the financing is coming from, etc.

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/08...-artisans-inc/

Oh great, Rupert Murdoch connections too. This looks like a total garbage fire. I will do my best to withhold judgement until i see some comics, but not inspired by this.

[Jan]

I asked JMS if there would be an AWA panel at SDCC and he said:

No, the first formal AWA panel will be in NY.

Which likely means NYCC in October.

[Ubik]

The Peter Milligan comic looks good from what I am seeing online. His past work has been excellent. Having seen a bit more content, there's some interesting stuff.

https://www.awastudios.net/portfolio/american-ronin/

[Jan]

From JMS last night:

J. Michael Straczynski

@straczynski
That feeling of satisfaction when you finish writing the last chapter of a 6 issue miniseries that launches an entirely new universe of characters and situations no one's touched before, the cover looks great AND you get the first full lettered issue. Much fun.
@axelalonsomarv

LOVE this cover! Can't wait to find out what it means.

[Looney]

That is a pretty awesome cover.

[Jan]

Re-actifvating this thread since this article seems to expand on the original announcement:

https://variety.com/2022/biz/news/kosinski-hudlin-kalogridis-hurwitz-straczynski-awa-studios-1235438160/

AWA Studios has enlisted Reginald Hudlin, Gregg Hurwitz, Laeta Kalogridis, Joseph Kosinski, Al Madrigal and J. Michael Straczynski to serve on the company’s Creative Council. The council’s charter is for those established players to use their experience and their connections to help AWA writer and graphic artists “unleash the full potential of their characters and stories, providing a diversity of contemporary storytelling perspectives and putting projects in the best position to be scaled across the entertainment ecosystem,” per AWA.

[G'Quan]

BTW while we're talking AWA, head to their website: https://awastudios.net and sign up for their newsletter (bottom of the page) and you'll get a free digital comic each week. This week's (Absolutionist) was pretty good. Of their other non-JMS titles, I can also highly recommend Not All Robots.

[Jan]

BTW while we're talking AWA, head to their website: https://awastudios.net and sign up for their newsletter (bottom of the page) and you'll get a free digital comic each week. This week's (Absolutionist) was pretty good. Of their other non-JMS titles, I can also highly recommend Not All Robots.

And as part of this week's newsletter, a fun little interview with JMS:

https://awastudios.net/creator-of-the-month-j-michael-straczynski/

[Jan]

JMS' comic Moths Home is available free online ! This is a stunningly beautiful and touching mini-series in the Reborns universe. You don't need a lot of familiarity with Reborns to enjoy this book:
https://globalcomix.com/c/moths/chapters/en/1/1?utm_source=moths&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=a wanewsletter031423