Monthly Archive: July 2007

In Memoriam: Fred Saberhagen (1930-2007)

In Memoriam: Fred Saberhagen (1930-2007)

Frederick Thomas Saberhagen is reported to have died at his home in Albuquerque, NM on the afternoon of Friday, June 29th, after a two-year battle with cancer.

Fred Saberhagen was best known for the long series of novels and stories about the implacable life-destroying thinking machines known as the Bersekers; the series began with the collection Berserker (1967) and ran for nearly two dozen books in the years since. The Berserkers typified the central SFnal conflict of Humanity versus the coldness of the universe, and Saberhagen rang dozens of changes on that idea, always championing the impulse of life to go on and thrive against all odds. He also wrote many other science fiction novels and stories, beginning in 1961, when Galaxy published his debut story, "Volume PAA-PYX."

Saberhagen’s fantasy work was centered around the long "Book of Swords" series, which began as a trilogy in the early 1980s and extended into a further eight-novel "Book of Lost Swords" sequence, a connection to his earlier Empire of the East trilogy, and a new series begun with 2006’s Ardneh’s Sword. Saberhagen was quoted at the time as wanting to try a fantasy series with a large number of magical objects — the twelve swords — since most such series had only one or two powerful items.

Saberhagen’s horror novels were also notable, with his The Dracula Tape (1975) being a then-modern, very atmospheric retelling of the events of Bram Stoker’s Dracula from the point-of-view of the Count, in his own words. The series continued for another nine books, including The Holmes-Dracula File (1978), in which Dracula encounters Sherlock Holmes.

(more…)

BOOK REVIEW: Drawing Comics Is Easy (Except…)

BOOK REVIEW: Drawing Comics Is Easy (Except…)

Reviewed by Lillian Baker, age 8

I started making comics when I was three. When I was six, I made copies and started to sell them at soccer. Last year, when I was seven, I sold them at my dad’s table at the New York ComicCon. Alexa Kitchen wrote and drew her new book when she was seven, too. She’s nine now.

She is a talented girl. I can tell because I read a lot of her books. She makes up really really really good stories. I see that she gets inspired by Calvin and Hobbes a lot. She talks to her doll dog. His name is Kora 2. Other characters are Lucy, who is the girl on the cover, and Denis the cat.

It’s a book about drawing, not just funny cartoons. It’s very funny, though.

Alexa is a very nice girl.

Drawing Comics is Easy (Except When It’s Hard), by Alexa Kitchen, age 7
Published by DKP
$19.95
www.alexakitchen.com

The Doctor’s New Companion?

The Doctor’s New Companion?

And, again I state, there’s a spoiler or two here.

British media are reporting the new companion next season on Doctor Who will be played by Tom Ellis, who was the handsome Doctor Thomas Milligan on the season finale, The Last of the Time Lords. Ellis is perhaps best known for playing the handsome Doctor Oliver Cousins on the long-running (except by Doctor Who standards) soap opera and PBS money-sucker Eastenders.

The BBC has not confirmed these reports, several of which ran this morning on the BBC. Freema Agyema’s character of Martha Jones will be appearing on three episodes of the adult Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, and will be rejoining the Doctor Who cast mid-season. We don’t know if the new companion will stay around, but it certainly wouldn’t be the first time (is that a pun?) there were two companions. Or even three.

We also don’t know if Ellis would be repeating his Doctor Milligan role; we recall that Martha Jones was revealed to be the identical cousin to the character Freema Agyeman played in the previous season.

 

 

DC toy license goes to Mattel

DC toy license goes to Mattel

Warner Bros. Consumer Products has awarded Mattel, Inc., the master toy license for the complete DC Comics Universe of characters and properties.  In addition to the rights to existing DC Comics characters/animation/movies, the multi-year pact provides Mattel with the rights to produce toys based on future DC Universe film and animation projects that are developed and produced during the term of the agreement.  Mattel will support the DC Universe characters across all of its key brands including Hot Wheels, Radica, Fisher-Price, Tyco and Mattel Games. 

The financial terms of the deal were not released, and there’s no word how this will impact the DC Direct brand.

Me, I’m waiting for the Wonder Woman merchandise to start showing up in American Girl stores.

An iPhone Odyssey: My voyage to technological supremacy

(An editorial note: ComicMixers have no doubt noticed our intrepid crew tends to share certain fannish predilections. Among these is a lust for Apple technology. No less than five of us either ordered or purchased iPhones the day the thing came out. This is the first review; we’ll probably be referencing our experiences in the future. Now we can easily text message each other while getting our Doctor Who fix.)

I decided last week that I needed to have an iPhone. The hype had finally gotten to me, the slick GUI, the web features, all of it. This was further enhanced by my awful experiences dealing with Verizon Wireless and my Motorola RAZR breaking during normal use more than once.

It was no surprise that I reached to Apple in a time of need. Every computer I have ever used on a consistent basis has been an Apple from my parents’ Macintosh SE back in the late 80s to my current MacBook Pro. The thing I believe sets Apple apart from other companies is the concern they have for user experience. This is reflected everywhere from their more elegant operating system to their excellent customer service. The only serious problem I ever had with Apple was my parents’ Power Mac 8100, which had a power supply problem they were unable to diagnose, and plagued the machine for over a year.

The Internet was abuzz with rumors and speculation about how difficult or not difficult it would be to get an iPhone on the first day. I firmly believed I could wait at either Apple Store location in Manhattan and get an iPhone with no problem. However, I thought that waiting outside all day in the heat would be decidedly unpleasant. I turned my attention to Garden City’s Roosevelt Field Mall. It’s an upscale mall with an Apple Store and is the tenth largest mall in the country in terms of space. Certainly they would have room to enclose the line in comfortable air conditioning.

I could not have been more wrong. Standing in line at Roosevelt Field was largely a nightmare. The line was entirely outside on their southern parking garage structure with the overwhelming majority of the line on the top level of the structure, exposed to the elements. The heat and sun exposure got to me, leaving me with moderate sunburn; I was far from alone in that. To treat customers lined up to purchase a $500 item like that is ridiculous. They had space inside and they refused to use it to accommodate us. Mall security defended themselves by saying this was the same way they treated people lining up for the Playstation 3 but those lines were overwhelmingly eBay scalpers.

At 6 PM the lines were gradually let into the store and by 7 I was on my way back to Manhattan with an 8 GB iPhone. The Apple Store had plenty and I believe that one can still walk into any Apple Store in the area and buy one as we speak. Was it stupid to wait in line all afternoon for a product with a seemingly low scarcity factor? Probably, but sometimes it’s fun to be the first person you know to have something cool. I was ready to activate my phone through iTunes and be on my way.

Activation was, unfortunately, another arduous process. The AT&T server seemingly buckled under the strain of all the Mac addicts and stories of long struggles to activate were prevalent. It took my phone nine hours to activate. The iPhone will do nothing until activated so I had a $600 brick until 6:30 Saturday morning.

At that point I could use all of its fantastic abilities except for receiving calls. I was playing around with all of the wonderful iPhone features but every time someone called me I had to dig around in my bag for my old RAZR to answer the call. My number was not transferred to my iPhone until about 11:30 AM Sunday. It’s unclear whether this was a problem with AT&T or Verizon, but it was another inconvenience in a weekend filled with them. Everyone but Apple really screwed up this process and I can’t help but wonder if Apple doesn’t need to be more vigilant in choosing their partners including the malls they choose to put stores in and their cell phone network.

The iPhone, incidentally, is wonderful once it works. I urge everyone in need of a device that does all these things to go buy one as soon as possible. I hear they’re still plentiful at Apple retail locations, although AT&T owned stores by and large sold out Friday night.

We have the P.O.W.E.R.

We have the P.O.W.E.R.

The new networking organization P.O.W.E.R. in Comics has issued a call to "group action: a list of recommended independent comics/graphic novels we like, created by women and minorites. These should be comics/graphic novels that are still in print and readily available."

The lists would be published on various members blogs and sent to newspapers and various websites, as well as passed on to comic book stores, libraries and bookstores along with the suggestion "that they dedicate an endcap or display to these great independent comics and comic creators for the week of Independence Day."

Read more about this P.O.W.E.R. of Independence at the P.O.W.E.R. in Comics site. Founder Lisa Lopacinski has already received lots of comments with list-starters; why not join in with your own suggestions?

Tyrese Gibson wants Luke Cage

Fresh from the set of Transformers, Tyrese Gibson sat down with the boys over at IGN and spilled his guts on how much he wants the titular role of Marvel’s Luke Cage big-screen project.

"We’ll see, man," he says. "You know, they’re doing the rewrites on it right now. I have not officially signed on to be a part of it, but they have me in mind, so I’m honored."

Having third billing in Transformers may be a big deal, but Tyrese told us that he’d have to step it up even more for Cage. "I’m gonna have to get my body at 199.99 percent," he says. "The Luke Cage fans are out there. I see the emails and the blogs — they want the best for the character. Hopefully, I’ll be that guy… if the script is right."

Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios President of Production, recently indicated that the movie rights to Luke Cage have went back to the studio after Sony couldn’t commit to a "decent" script.

"We never got a script on Luke Cage while it was at Sony that did it justice from our point of view or [director] John [Singleton]’s point of view," Feige says. "The rights since have reverted back to Marvel, but I would love to do a Luke Cage movie — again, looking for ways to continue Marvel movies with fresh content and different points of view. I think Luke Cage would absolutely fit into that."

Of course, we’ll have all the latest as news develops on this project right here at ComicMix.

Luke Cage art copyright Marvel Characters. All RIghts Reserved. Tyrese Gibson copyright Tyrese Gibson.

MIKE GOLD: My All-Time Favorite Comic Book Cover

MIKE GOLD: My All-Time Favorite Comic Book Cover

They don’t draw comic book covers like this any more. And, well, that might be a good thing.

These days, we’re in a phase where covers are particularly boring. When it comes to the great American staple, the heroic fantasy comic, most are over art directed and too posh for their own good. Few actually have anything to do with the story inside; they are simply generic poster shots. When I stare at the big Wall-O-Comics at most shops, my eyes quickly glaze over. They generate little enthusiasm and manage to completely ignore the sense of wonder that makes comics magic. At best, I walk away from the Wall thinking “gee, that Captain America cover sure would make a swell statue.”

Yes, I still use the word “swell.” I’m trying to bring it back.

Look at a few of the really great covers. If you’re at all interested in the genre, how can you pass ‘em up? They are exciting, intriguing and most of all, they appeal to the sense of wonder.

 

Yeah, they’re all ancient. But don’t try to tell me they’re childish. Putting on a mask and fighting crime and/or evil as the result of some event that wouldn’t even cut it in Greek tragedy is childish. We’re simply negotiating the price.

However, some covers were simply wonderfully absurd. They are so far over the top you’ve just got to check them out. In fact, there are so many of them that there’s an entire website devoted to the topic, run by cartoonist Scott Shaw!. It’s called Oddball Comics and you’ve got to check it out. He’s got about a trillion such covers there. But I don’t know if he’s got my all-time favorite comic book cover.

 

(more…)

Ratatouille, Die Hard on top

Ratatouille, Die Hard on top

Box Office Mojo reports that Ratatouille is the top-grossing film this weekend, as expected, with grosses of more than $47 million.  This beats Live Free or Die Hard, which earned a tad over $33 million.

"But wait," you say.  "Die Hard 4 opened on Wednesday.  Didn’t the real fans go then, driving up the gross?"

Well, I certainly went on Wednesday.  However, even with a jump start, the total gross thus far is a mere $48.178 million. 

Other films in the top ten are (in order) Evan Almighty, 1408, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Knocked Up, Ocean’s 13, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Sicko and Evening.  I find it interesting that, on average per-theater earnings, Ratatouille is tops with $11,986, while Sicko is second with $10,204, ahead of Bruce Willis at $9,727.

Spider-Man 3, with a ranking of 12, has a per-theater average of only $985.

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks