Monthly Archive: April 2007

Guy’s Choice Awards to air June 13

  • Uncategorized
  • April 6, 2007

Because men have so little power in modern life, Spike TV will provide them a safe place to express their opinions this year when they present the first-ever Guy’s Choice Awards.  Categories will include Best Asskicker (that’s what it says in the press release), Ballsiest Band, Hottest Girl on the Planet (Saturn Girl is not eligible), Luckiest M.F. (sic, again), Luckiest Bastard, Most Dangerous Man.  They also promise to deliver a prize they call The Brass Balls Award to a legendary action hero.

Unlike any other program ever on television, Spike TV dares to feature what they describe as "unbelievably foxy trophy girls."

If you’re a guy and you never, ever get to have an opinion, vote, run for office, or run a branch of government, you can make yourself feel powerful by voting at www.spiketv.com.  However, you’ll have to wait until May 1.  All this authority goes away when voting closes on June 1.

The official sponsors are American Express, Cingular, Jeep, Pizza Hut, Snickers, Southern Comfort and the U.S. Army. 

Berke Breathed helps police in murder investigation

  • News
  • April 6, 2007

opus-2007-04-01-3902961The Associated Press reports that cartoonist Berkely Breathed is helping police in an unsolved 1979 murder of a young musician.  Authorities believe the killer may have burglarized Breathed’s home when Breathed was a student at the University of Texas in Austin.

The cartoonist’s drawing of the burglary scene will be aired Saturday night on Fox’s America’s Most Wanted. "I had forgotten about it for many years," Breathed said Thursday in a telephone interview. "Once ‘America’s Most Wanted‘ called, I got angry about it all over again."

Cahill, 28, was shot to death April 13, 1979, when he confronted a burglar leaving his apartment with his guitar. The University of Texas dropout worked as a cook, but his main pursuit was a music career.

Driving up to his home with friends, he saw a man walking away with his guitar in its case. He jumped from the car, chased the man and was shot to death in his driveway. The killer escaped and was never identified.

Investigators believe the same person who shot Cahill had just broken into the apartment of a photographer in the same building.

Breathed, who now lives in Southern California, believes he surprised the intruder during the break-in at his Austin home about a week after the shooting. He said the burglar had stacked albums by his door, including Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.

"The house was turned upside down, and it took a few minutes to understand what happened," he said.

Like similar break-ins at the time, the perpetrator seemed to be focused on a few selected items.

"He ended up killing a musician, and he was stealing music as well as photographs and photographic equipment," Breathed said. "There was this odd connection between the music and photographic community."

Happy Birthday, Hijinx

hijinxcomics-4344735In 1982, Mike Gamble opened a comic book store in Willow Glen, California.  Today, owned by Dan Shahin and renamed Hijinx Comics, the store is still open, still selling comics, and still entertaining the community.

Shahin started working at the store in 1986,when he was eleven years old.  Paid in store credit, he sorted baseball cards and filed back issue.  "Back when I first started working comics were 60 cents each and weren’t taxed, and Mike marked them down to 50 cents after a week to make sure they sold. That meant I was earning four comic books an hour to hang out in the greatest store I’d ever seen. I was in kid heaven," said Shahin. "Fast forward 20 years and I’m right back in the place where I was always happiest. I took what I learned from high tech and applied it to comics retailing. It’s the best decision I ever made 

Shahin credits the store’s focus on customer service and broad selection as being the key to getting and retaining new customers in the face of competition from chain bookstores as well as multiple area specialty shops. Hijinx also features a book club program allowing customers to earn store credit for every book they purchase. Hijinx also recently launched www.comicbookshelf.com, a website devoted to reviewing, categorizing and selling graphic novels featuring

free domestic shipping or in-store pickup.

ComicMix applauds any comic book store that survives in today’s tough market, especially one that adapts and prospers.

Movie Auction sets record

  • News
  • April 6, 2007

The auction we told you last Friday (http://comicmix.com//news/2007/03/30/to-do-april-5-buy-superman-oz-props/) is over,and sold more than $2 million in props.  Among the highlights of interest to ComicMix:

— SOLD $ 31,625.00  Lot 376.  Original car from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyland.

— SOLD $ 34,500.00  Lot 384.  Illuminating model of the Nautilus submarine from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

— SOLD $ 23,000.00  Lot 413.  Hero costume w/rocket pack from The Rocketeer.

— SOLD $ 31,625.00  Lot 525.  Yvonne Blake costume sketch of Superman from Superman: The Movie.

— SOLD $115,000.00  Lot 537.  Christopher Reeve hero ‘Superman’ costume from Superman:  The Movie.

— SOLD $ 26,560.00  Lot 545.  Screen-used Kryptonite crystal from   Superman III.

— SOLD $ 63,250.00  Lot 560.  Val Kilmer ‘Batman’ costume from Batman Forever.

— SOLD $ 48,875.00  Lot 561.  Alicia Silverstone ‘Batgirl’ costume from  the Ice Cave battle in Batman Forever.

— SOLD $ 40,250.00  Lot 566.  Wolverine hero claws worn by Hugh Jackman in X2: X-Men United.

— SOLD $ 34,500.00  Lot 591.  Early Leonard Nimoy "Spock" tunic from the first season of Star Trek.

— SOLD $126,500.00  Lot 631.  H.R. Giger Alien creature suit on display from Alien.

— SOLD $ 40,250.00  Lot 640.  Jedi Master stunt fighting lightsaber from SW: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

— SOLD $ 69,000.00  Lot 641.  Golden headpiece of "Staff of Ra" from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Wonder Woman on the radio

Trey Songz will release his second album, Trey Day, June 12, via Songbook/Atlantic Records. The lead single from the album will be “Wonder Woman,” which features production from Danja.  You can get a preview at his website, www.treysongz.com/

MARTHA THOMASES: Why I love the Legion

  • News
  • April 6, 2007

legiona2-3909744

It was in early 1980 when I realized what I geek I had turned into. The night before, I had a dream. My dream was not the inspirational kind like Martin Luther King, Jr., nor the poetic kind that Neil Gaiman would later spin into a career that brings happiness to millions.

I had a geek dream.

In my dream, the Ramones tried out for the Legion of Super-Heroes, and were turned down because Legion rules didn’t allow for more than one person to have the same super-power, which, in this case, was being a Ramone. I no longer remember precisely who turned them down, but I do remember Bouncing Boy suggesting they join the Legion of Substitute Heroes. Joey wanted to, but Dee Dee refused.

Then I woke up.

I read my first Legion story in Jamestown, New York, visiting my grandparents in the late 1950s or early 1960s. I had what must have been an Adventure comic, with a story about the adult Legion of Super-Villains fighting Superman, and the adult Legion of Super-Heroes joining in. My grandparents, while lovely people, were very boring, and I dove into that comic as a way of avoiding Lawrence Welk on television. Luckily, this eight-page story had plenty to mesmerize a young girl. Cosmic King versus Cosmic Man! Lightning Lord versus Lightning Man! Saturn Queen versus Saturn Woman! The villains had regal names while the heroes had descriptive names. Clearly, ego and a class system must be what turned people bad.

Over the next several decades, I read as many Legion stories as I could. I loved the variety of powers these kids had (Matter-Eater Lad!), and that they had a meetings where they could gather and sit behind desks, with title cards that explained their abilities, in case they forgot. (“I’m Invisible Kid, but I don’t know what I do. Oh, here it says on my name-plate. I can turn invisible!”)

But mostly, I loved that they had a clubhouse.

(more…)

Anime on the move

  • Uncategorized
  • April 6, 2007

axpo-8384794Anime conventions are running hot and cold this year.

IVC2 reports that Anime Expo, currently the nation’s largest anime convention with over 40,000 in attendance last year, will be moving back to its original home at the Long Beach (CA) Sports Arena on June 29 through July 2.  A highlight of the show is sure to be the return engagement of "AX Singing Idol" — details can be found at the AX website.  Be sure to pack the sunscreen!

We used the word "currently" up there because Reed Exhibitions, the people who brought you the New York Comic Con, have been busy organizing the first New York Anime Festival, to be held at the Javits Center on December 7 through 9.

nyanime-2315951According to Reed’s press release, the con will "span the complete breadth of anime pop culture including exclusive and extensive screenings, a gala cosplay masquerade, and sessions with the biggest names in anime from Japan, Asia, and America. The event will also explore the Japanese cultural experience with a showcase of both traditional and cutting-edge Japanese cuisine, apparel, and lifestyles." Dress warmly for the late fall!

And if you simply can’t wait until then, particularly if you live in the Northwest US and aren’t all tired out from the Emerald City Con, don’t forget that Sakura-Con 2007 ("the oldest and most well-attended Anime Convention in the Pacific Northwest — non-profit, all ages, all volunteer and ‘for the fans by the fans’") starts tomorrow, April 6, through Sunday the 8th at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle.

sakura-3077187Logos for each of these three conventions are pictured at right.  That’s a lot of anime, but really just a small cross-section of the actual anime con circuit, which is easily as impressive as the mainstream comicon circuit…

When cartoonists gather

  • Uncategorized
  • April 5, 2007

Two good reports on cartoonist meetings, complete with pictures:

Howard Cruse details a get-together in Massachusetts of some Pioneer Valley cartoonists, and Mikhaela Reid talks about the Women, Action and the Media (WAM) conference in Washington DC, where she and fellow cartoonists Stephanie McMillan (who also has a review) and Jen Sorensen presented a "Resistance through Ridicule" panel and slideshow.

Fun fact from Stephanie: "When cartoonists get together, it takes a maximum of about ten minutes for the conversation to turn to Photoshop and/or font programs."

Peabody for Boondocks

  • Uncategorized
  • April 5, 2007

boondocks-5197567Congratulations to Aaron McGruder and company for garnering Peabody award for the Boondocks cartoon episode "The Return of the King!"  The awards committee calls this "An especially daring episode" which "imagines Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reviving from a 32-year ‘coma’ and outraging Americans of all colors and creeds by confronting them with truths that he, at least, still holds to be self-evident."

The full list of 66th Annual Peabody Award recipients can be found here.

Logan’s Run Gets Silver Star

  • Uncategorized
  • April 5, 2007

Joel Silver, who makes movies where things blow up real good, says he’s planning to remake the 1976 science fiction classic, Logan’s Run. 

"I love the original material but I think that version is a bit silly," he told reporters in Barcelona where he was promoting his latest film The Reaping starring Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank.

The original starred Michael York, Peter Ustinov, Farrah Fawcette and Roscoe Lee Browne.  Directed by Michael Anderson, it won an Oscar for its visual effects.

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