Monthly Archive: September 2007

Variety reports that New Regency has acquired the film rights to the illustrated novel Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, drawn by Mike Mignola and written by Christopher Golden.

David Goyer, himself no stranger to the world of graphic storytelling, is slated to direct, and Golden and Mignola will be writing the screenplay.

The graphic novel published by Bantam "tells the story of the awakening of supreme evil on Earth. Lord Henry Baltimore is bitten by a demonic vampire bat on a WWI battlefield. The plague destroys his family, and Baltimore creates a team to hunt and fight the Red King, the embodiment of all evil."

Great to see that movies based on comic book properties are continuing to get greenlit, especially those properties not necessarily oriented towards tights and flights.

Terrors lurk in the American South and they burst through the screen in Fishhead, the new graphic series from artist Mark Evan Walker, writer Michael H. Price and Larry Shell, appearing on ComicMix.com every week starting Monday, October 8th.

Like a combination of All the Kings Men and Saw, Fishhead is adapted from the early work of classic early 20th century horror writer Irwin S. Cobb.  This is the story of a man born with a surprising resemblance to a catfish, and living in the Big Splayfoot Swamp during the Great Depression.  With his freakish appearance, he is the subject of much speculation.  Men fear him and fish seem defend him.  And, one day, he is picked up by a traveling circus and taken for display to the rest of the world. 

Michael H. Price is best known amongst the Gothic-terrors enthusiasts for his Forgotten Horrors series of movie-genre encyclopedias and, with frequent collaborator John Wooley, a chronic-to-acute Forgotten Horrors column in Fangoria magazine. Price’s outcroppings on the comics scene have included The Prowler and Spider series of the 1980s and ’90s, with Timothy Truman’s 4Winds Studios; the Carnival of Souls graphic novel (Midnight Marquee Press; 2006); and appearances in such anthology titles as Heavy Metal and The Big Book of Unexplained Phenomena. A long-running collaborative relationship with Robert Crumb has yielded several stage-play versions of R. Crumb Comix (1985–2006) and two original-cast record albums.   Price is Associate Editor of The Business Press, a board-room journal, founding President of the Fort Worth Film Festival, Inc., L.L.C., and a noted Texas musician.  His latest album is Waiting for Slusgot.  Michael also writes a weekly column for ComicMix.

Postmodern pulp-fiction artist Mark Evan Walker works as a commercial illustrator in the magazine, newspaper, and advertising fields; and as a theatrical set designer, muralist, editorial cartoonist, and storytelling author. A steady contributor to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Walker has illustrated more than seventy-five pulp-thriller stories. In the theatrical realm, he has designed and painted more than 400 stage productions and serves as a stage-setting mentor to some of the Southwest’s more prestigious college-preparatory schools. He and Mike Price have recently completed a short-story collection called What You See May Shock You, being prepped at Midnight Marquee Press of Baltimore. Walker and Price first worked together during 1998–99 on the Southern-Fried Homicide series of crime-and-horror comics from Cremo Studios and Larry Shell’s Shel-Tone Publications.

In Fishhhead, Price and Walker combine issues of race, class and economics with zombies and circus freaks. Kidnappings and crime involve slapstick humor, homicidal apes, moonshine and ancient, unspeakable curses, for a series that will have readers laughing through their goosebumps.

Here’s what they have to say about their latest graphic novel project.

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This is the weekend!  The fourth annual Stumptown Comics Fest will be held tomorrow and Sunday at the Lloyd Center Doubletree Hotel in absolutely gorgeous Portland, Oregon!  Portland is a virtual hotbed of cartooning creativity, and the convention attracts lots of out-of-town luminaries as well, most of whom will receive spotlights during the show’s events.  This also marks the first year Stumptown will be holding an awards ceremony, which will recognize achievements in art, writing, design, DIY, small press and debut work.  It looks to be very much the Northwest’s version of SPX or MoCCA or APE, some great workshops and even parties lined up.  We’re totally jealous of you folks in Portland!

According to our friends at ICv2, Geneon Entertainment has cancelled all of their anime releases scheduled to ship after November 6th, citing high costs, declining sales, continued illegal downloading and the collapse of its sales and marketing agreement with ADV. This leaves continuing series such as Hellsing Ultimate, Karin, Kyo Kara Maoh, Shonen Onmyoji, Black Lagoon Second Barrage, Law of Ueki, Story of Saiunkoku, When They Cry, and Rozen Maiden Traumend twisting in the wind.

Geneon was the third-largest anime distributor player in the States, after FUNimation and ADV.