Monthly Archive: August 2007

A superhero wedding in St. Louis

  • News
  • August 2, 2007

Look, okay, I knew that when I wrote the first Jewish/Klingon wedding ceremony I knew that very shortly thereafter, some couple was going to use it in their own wedding– it’s just the way we are. So I’m happy to see this:

weddingsuperhero-4831367

Congratulations to Jonathan Wagner and Brigitte Flannery.  The happy couple received a Marvel-themed ceremony from the St. Louis Science Center on Friday, July 20. Here’s hoping the Black Panther doesn’t find out that Storm a) married someone else, and b) is white. And let’s not even talk about the Spider-Man clone…

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: The Professor’s Daughter

professor-6501047

According to their publisher, First Second, Sfar and Guibert have had very complicated careers. Both of them write and draw, separately and together, so they each have individual works, and they each have illustrated the other’s scripts. The Professor’s Daughter – originally published in France in 1997 – was their first collaboration and their first notable success. It’s just now made it to the USA, trailing some later works by Sfar (such as The Rabbi’s Cat, which attracted a lot of favorable attention two years ago) and by both of them (the children’s series Sardine in Outer Space).

The Professor’s Daughter is album-length – 64 pages, plus some sketches and background materials as an appendix – but has a small trim size, about 5” x 8”. It’s a generally handsome book, with French flaps, cleanly white pages, and sizable margins.

The story begins without any exposition: a young woman is going out for a walk with a walking, talking mummy. We quickly learn that she is Lillian, the professor’s daughter of the title, that he is the Pharaoh Imhotep IV (and the property of her father), and that it is sometime late in the reign of Queen Victoria. We never do learn why Imhotep is mobile and active now – or why he wasn’t in the past – that’s the premise, and we have to take it for granted. (more…)

Snoopy and Jessica Simpson?

Midweek on The Big ComicMix Broadcast gives you some suggestions to beat summer boredom. We have new games to play and some films to create, we’ll tell you all about the return of  Snoopy and fill you in on all the new Heroes stuff. And while we’re at it,  we preview a book that would make a great read for your vacation, briefly recap the Eisner Awards and bitch about Jessica Simpson.

Press The Button and take a 11 minute vacation on us!

Superman Meets Superboy

  • Uncategorized
  • August 2, 2007

dean-cain-superman_1123181055-8343266Dean Cain, teevee’s second on-going Superman and the fourth in the cape, will be guest-starring on Smallville in the role of the murderous Dr. Curtis Knox.

Previous Smallville guest-stars included Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder (both, of course, from the Warner Bros. movie series) and Wonder Woman‘s Lynda Carter. The former star of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman will appear in the fourth episode of the season seven, according to Variety.

Fabulous Baker Girl!

  • News
  • August 2, 2007

the-new-baker-coverWe’re thrilled to pass on the news that the newest Baker is a girl, born this morning at 7:53 AM.  She is 8 lbs 13 oz, 21 inches long.   Everyone at ComicMix says congrats to Liz and Kyle, Lillian, Isaac and Jackie.

Artwork copyright Kyle Baker. All Rights Reserved.

McFarlane Toys doing action figures for Gaiman movie?

  • News
  • August 2, 2007

beowulf-4179285You gotta be kidding me:

"Seems that McFarlane Toys has the license to do toys based on the upcoming Beowulf movie. Y’know, the one co-written by Neil Gaiman. Who’s involved in litigation to get Todd McFarlane to pay the court ordered damages for ripping off his creations and the like (don’t even ask about Miracleman). Which McFarlane avoided by declaring bankruptcy, but still operating various other companies."

Mixing our mythological metaphors for a moment, I have to wonder if this is a Trojan horse so that Neil’s lawyer can get a very close look at McFarlane’s books…

All This Stuff Happened…

  • News
  • August 2, 2007

crowded-6476515

Greg Rucka has some post-Comic-Con thoughts, mostly about how crowded it was. How about this: next year, just rope off the whole city of San Diego, and use the streets for aisles. Brilliant, right!

Publishers Weekly has a whole load of Comic-Con wrap-up today: photos, general news, manga news, movie news, and even more.

The amazing, never-before seen reunion of the seven Image founders at Comic-Con is, like everything else in the world, now up on YouTube.

The Beat reports on the Scribe awards – for the downtrodden refuseniks of literature, the media tie-in writers – which were awarded for the first time at Comic-Con this year.

Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog has found the greatest movie title ever: Yo-Yo Girl Cop. Not only is it about a female cop who wields a battle yo-yo, it’s actually the sequel to something.

Greg Burgas of Comics Should Be Good finally files his San Diego report.

Jog of The Savage Critics brings the love for one of my favorite comics of all time, the first series of Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill’s Marshal Law.

If you ever wondered where Stepford Wives come from…Alma Alexander discovered the website of a photo retoucher who fixes up kids’ pageant photos – such as this example of turning a perfectly cute baby into a creepy doll-like object.

(more…)

JOHN OSTRANDER: Pros and Cons

  • News
  • August 2, 2007

ostrander100-7982546Well, seeing as last weekend was Spam Diego, I suppose it’s time to do my Convention wrap-up.

Not that I was at SD. Not this year. But I’ve been to quite a few over the years. In fact, I’ve been at any number of comic conventions, both as a fan and as a professional. Actually, always as a fan and, for the past 25 years, as a professional as well. But something can happen and I can turn back into a drooly mouthed fan boy at a moment’s notice. Some cases in point:

During my early years in the biz, my sometimes partner in crime and often evil twin Timothy Truman and I were at a Con together. Will Eisner was in attendance and neither Tim nor I could summon up the nerve to go say hello to him. We finally got on the courtesy bus taking us from the hotel out to the airport as said convention ended and the only other passenger was – Will Eisner. So he strikes up a conversation with us and we had a really great trip out to the airport. Will got off the shuttle first and Tim and I looked at each other and decided we were such idiots because we could have spent the entire weekend with him.

I think I’ve told the story elsewhere how at a Chicago Con I had to get Julie Schwartz (who I already knew and was a legend himself) to get me to introduce me to Jack Kirby because I was completely and utterly incapable of doing it myself because this was the goddam KING of comics, goddamit!

Likewise, at a San Diego Con, I had to get Murphy Anderson (another legend who I already knew) to introduce me to John Broome, the legendary writer. Mr. Broome, on being introduced, gives me the eye, looks me up and down and said, with mock severity, “Ah, the competition, eh?” No, Mr. Broome, I’d have to be in your league first.

Yes, there are others who can make me like that and, no, I’m NOT telling you who they are.

I’ve also met any number of friends at conventions. I think Michael Davis has talked about our first meeting; I know he wound up in the suite with Mike Grell and myself (and a few others) as Iron Mike watched the first episode of the Jon Sable, Freelance TV series that wound up being on for about two minutes one season. The TV show hasn’t lasted but I’m glad to say that my relationship with Michael has.

Another friend met at a Con was Aussie writer, Dave DeVries, who we designated “that mad Australian” as a result of that weekend. We keep in touch still and he’s a good mate. Dave’s also been a pal and a bane to Brother Grell and has one of the best bar stories about him I’ve ever heard. Dave, if you see this, get on the comment line and tell it. Or maybe we can get Grell to do it.

(more…)

The New Lara Croft Lowdown

  • Uncategorized
  • August 1, 2007

gametap_sixpointharness_image-2336826While at SDCC last week, I sat down with Ricardo Sanchez, VP of Content for Gametap and creator of Gametap TV’s Re/Visioned series, and writer Gail Simone (Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey) to learn a little more about what the gaming site had in store for fans with their re-interpretation of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

For those unfamiliar with Gametap.com, it’s a PC gaming site that has both free ad supported and a subscription service. With their biggest coup having made the 10th Anniversary Tomb Raider game available to subscribers for download the same day it was out in stores. Owned by Turner and a sister company to the Cartoon Network, they’re taking advantage of their position by trying to be a gaming lifestyle site, rather than just a place to play and download games. Part of that move is Gametap TV, an Internet broadcast channel that was launched with A Day in the Extra Life series.

Gametap decided to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Lara Croft in several ways, the aforementioned game launch, a retrospective documentary that is available for viewing on the site and a ten episode run launching the Re/Visioned series with a wishlist of great artists and writers, including Peter Chung, Jim Lee, Warren Ellis and Gail Simone. Actress Minnie Driver will be voicing Lara for all the episodes.

There will be seven different Lara stories in total, starting with the three part “Keys to the Kingdom” by Peter Chung (Aeon Flux) which is already up on the site, along with the Brian Puludo / David Alvarez comedic episode “Revenge of the Aztec Mummy.” The very thought of an Aztec mummy was so humorous (or, perhaps, ludicrous) to Warren Ellis he couldn’t help himself from fits of laughter during the SDCC Gametap panel. Ellis’ story is a two-parter entitled “Angel Spit” (art by Cully Hamner) which was screened at SDCC and should be up this week.

I was curious as to how a writer goes about taking a character people know from an established game and tells a compelling new story. In our sit-down I posed that question to Gail Simone, who said her take was to “decide what character traits Lara would have in place” if she “dialed her back” to her preteen years. Simone’s story places a 12-year old Croft in boarding school. From there the “story wrote itself.”

(more…)

The Two Rays

  • News
  • August 1, 2007

ray-bradbury-5271820Sometimes you write the article, sometimes the article writes you.

 

You’ve seen it a million times.  The head table, on a dais, faces the audience.  The honored guests take the stage to applause.  The microphones are adjusted, name cards arranged, the host begins the program.

 

But when the greatest living science fiction writer is the guest, the gods are aware and send us a message, lest we begin to imagine that we are in charge of the agenda.

 

Ray Bradbury is in a wheelchair these days.  The Comic-Con arranged for a nifty, new-looking wheelchair elevator to be at the end of the stage.  Ray’s people wheeled him across the front of the stage to a round of applause.  They wheeled him into the elevator, a glass box (waist high, if you’re standing, if you’re sitting, it’s up to your neck) on a lifting platform, glittering, unmarked by fingerprint or key scratch or any marks of human inhabitation.  It was also innocent of any rehearsal, the hallmark of every smooth use of any stagecraft more complicated than a hat.

 

If it was President Roosevelt, two guys would’ve lifted him and his chair the two or three feet from floor to the stage.  It might have taken an extra guy, Comic-Con folks not usually bringing Secret Service beef to the table.  But we have modern technology—no sweat, no strain.

 

In 2007, still without our silver jumpsuits, faced with an untried, miniature elevator, Ray sat there a prisoner, his unfailing good nature in no danger from this silly snag, for ten minutes.  They fiddled with the lock, they looked concerned, they did their impression of Wile E. Coyote in the moments between realizing the scheme has misfired and feeling the faint breeze that announces the arriving boulder.  They moved the platform up an inch, they moved it down three inches.  They did these things for ten minutes with no help sought or offered from any authority.  Finally, they blundered upon the right sequence of actions and the gleaming glass and steel doorway opened and Ray Bradbury was freed from The Crystal Prison of the Festival of Fans.

(more…)

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks