ComicMix TV at NYCC: The Fanboys… They Are Among Us
It’s Sunday at New York Comic Con, and we’re starting to get a little punchy around the ComicMix HQ. Case in point: This short video we put together yesterday…
Monthly Archive: April 2008
Happy Birthday: John Ostrander
Born in 1949, ComicMix creator/columnist John Ostrander loved comics from early on but initially followed a different love: religion. Raised Roman Catholic, Ostrander wanted to become a priest and attended a year of seminary before deciding it wasn’t right for him. Instead he turned to acting.
Ostrander was part of a Chicago theater company in the early ’80s, and in addition to acting he co-wrote a play called Bloody Bess with William J. Norris. ComicMix Editor-in-Chief Mike Gold was starting First Comics at the time and had seen and liked the play—he knew Ostrander was a big comics fan and invited him to try his hand at writing comics. Ostrander wrote several stories for First’s Warp series before creating the character of GrimJack.
By the time First Comics closed in 1991, Ostrander was working for other comic companies as well, and he continued to do so. He has written The Spectre, Firestorm, Justice League of America, and Wasteland for DC, X-Men, Heroes for Hire, and The Punisher for Marvel, Lady Death for Chaos!, Eternal Warrior for Valiant, Star Wars: Republic for Dark Horse, and many many others. Ostrander has also written audio plays and short stories, and he currently writes for ComicMix, producing both a regular column and new issues of GrimJack and Munden’s Bar.
ComicMix Radio at NYCC: Orson Scott Card on Marvel and ‘Enders Game’
Science-fiction novelist Orson Scott Card is back in familiar territory as he brings Enders Game to Marvel with two distinct (yet similar) series. We get the full story from Orson exclusively from the floor of the NY Comic Con in this edition of ComicMix Radio.
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ComicMix Columns for the Week Ending April 21, 2008
Welcome to all New York Comic Con attendees discovering ComicMix via our coverage and con presence! Do stop by Conference Room 10 (mid-level by the bathrooms and Kinko’s sign) to say, "hi," pass along news tidbits and so forth! In the meantime, as Rick Marshall mentioned in Friday’s "The Changing Face of Online Journalism" panel, one of the things that makes any comics site standout is its unique columnists, of which we have many. Here’s what we’ve written for you this past week:
- Mike Gold – Whizzy’s Wazoo #62: DC’s Killing Fields
- Dennis O’Neill – The Four-Color Answer #61: The Shadow’s Web
- Me – It’s All Good #61: The Bronx is Up and My Battery’s Down
- John Ostrander – Tales From The O-zone #62: Other Than Myself
- Michael Davis – Straight, No Chaser #62: New York, New York
- Andrew Wheeler – Manga Friday #25: Plight of the Themeless
- Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise #53: Is Ma Kent Old?
- Michael H. Price – Forgotten Horrors #53: Prowling for "Sh! The Octopus"
Oh, and happy Passover! Rumor has it that Danny Fingeroth will have chocolate macaroons at the "Disguised as Clark Kent" panel at noon today…
NYCC: The New ‘Dark Knight’ Trailer
It was Day 2 at New York Comic Con and fans were practically jumping out of their seats with excitement as DC Comics Prez. Paul Levitz announced they would be getting to see, for the first time anywhere, the brand-spankin-new trailer for Batman: The Dark Knight. Unfortunately, Levitz told us we can’t tell you what happened in it, who appears in it or pretty much describe it in any way, shape or form on penalty of severe punishment.
However, here at ComicMix, we have no fear — plus, other sites like Wizard Online have already posted info on the trailer — so we’re going to give you at least something to make you wish you’d been here at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York to see it.
What we can tell you is that it contained footage not seen before featuring several characters that have not appeared in past trailers for the film. Also, it has a lot of action, fights, bad guys, good guys, politicians and several things explode in extra cool ways. Plus, there’s a certain white-faced bad guy who makes several more appearances in this new trailer and we also get to hear him speak a lot more as well.
All in all, a very nice addition to the current lineup of trailers and other info for the movie.
As soon as we can give you more details about the film and the trailer itself — which is scheduled to be released in about two weeks — we’ll bring it to you.
Batman: The Dark Knight is set to hit theaters July 18.
Prowling for “Sh! The Octopus,” by Michael H. Price
In his frank and provocative “Writing under the Influence” commentary at ComicMix, John Ostrander speaks of imitation as “the starting point for what you eventually become” as a storyteller: “Nothing is created in a vacuum,” John avers.
Writing may often seem the loneliest of professions – and certainly so, if one lacks a reality-check communion with one’s customers and kindred souls in the racket – but who has the time to wallow in loneliness when besieged by the insistent Muses of Narrative Influence? Derivative thinking can make for an ideal springboard, given an ability to narrow the onrush of influences and a willingness to seek new tangents of thought and deed.
I have spent the past several months – with a stretch yet ahead – on a 20-years-after return to a comic-book series called Prowler for ComicMix, starting with a digital-media remastering of the original Eclipse Comics stories (1987-1988), moving into a short-stack file of unproduced scripts and raw-material ideas from that period, and settling in at length with a new novel-length Prowler yarn that will tie up some raveled plot-threads from the Eclipse episodes and then head off in other directions.
The reunion of the primary creative team (Timothy Truman, John K. Snyder III, and Yrs. Trly.) re-summons the influences with which we had sought to develop 4Winds Studios’ 10 Prowler books as a Mulligan Stew of such persistent interests as ancient Hebraic Law and American frontier vigilantism; the Deep Southern blues and gospel-music traditions as a response to repressive social and economic conditions; the now-horrific, now-heroic irrationalities of Depression-era pulp fiction; and the bizarre extravagances of Old Hollywood’s low-budget horror-movie factories.
Tim Truman and John Snyder had defined two vigilante Prowler figures, each representing a distinct generation of indignant humanity, by the time I signed on with the project, late in 1986. While Truman and I were sharing a bookstore tour to promote our respective titles at Eclipse – Tim, with Scout and Airboy, and my ownself with the movie-history book Forgotten Horrors – Tim came up with the idea of twisting the plots of some of those 1930s-period Forgotten Horrors titles to accommodate the early-day exploits of the Prowler. (more…)
NYCC Photo Gallery: Costumes, Costumes and More Costumes…
After a mediocre Friday, the costumed crowd made their presence known Saturday at New York Comic Con. All of the standards were there, including Supermen, Slave Leias and Stormtroopers, but the convention soup was spiced up a bit by the addition of a few great, original takes on the standards, like the "Mr. Freeze" seen in the gallery below.
A special bit of comic cred goes out to "Superwoman" (also pictured in the gallery below) from Grant Morrison’s All Star Superman
NYCC: Steve Gerber Memorial
The memorial panel for the late great writer Steve Gerber was about as eclectic as he was. The panel began with a slideshow tribute to Steve’s work, set to the tune of the Beatles’ “Revolution.” Moderator Mark Evanier and Steve’s friends and relatives made sure Gerber’s spirit was as much in attendance as it could possibly be — his ashes were present on the panel table:
Mark even made a joke about how appropriate it was that the box bearing the ashes had gotten a little cracked.
Gerber may have had a cracked sense of humor, but what emerged from the anecdotes told about him by those who knew him well and those he inspired was his tremendous generosity. Mark recalled an incident when the two of them had heard a scream coming from outside, and in the few seconds Mark began to act on that sound Steve was already outside hoping to help the situation. While the noise turned out to be a false alarm, Mark pointed out how it was indicative of Steve’s “immediate compassion for a stranger.” (more…)
NYCC News: ‘Call of Duty’ Trading Card Game?
Activision’s Call of Duty videogame series is, right now, the most popular game series on the market with Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat. What’s made the military shooter the #1 played online game for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC is the frantic, multiplayer action.
At the New York Comic Con, Upper Deck is introducing a trading card game based on it. But in a unique twist, they’re trying to capture the adrenaline pumping action of the game by adding a real time mechanic. In most card games, you make a move and wait for your opponent to take his turn. No more. You don’t wait. You keep laying strategic cards. If you snooze, you lose. That actually sounds pretty cool. We’d like to see that in action. We’d also like to pity the poor tournament judges.
Check out the official site at CODcardgame.com. Dismissed!
NYCC: Neil Gaiman – Bringing Fans Together For CBLDF
I’ve been fortunate to see Neil Gaiman read many times over the years. He does an amazing job and it adds to his work if you can hear his voice narrating in your head. This year Reed Exhibitions added “Ultimate Experiences” to their lineup, events with separate tickets that allow access to superstar creators. Gaiman’s event was a benefit for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
The program was kicked off with an introduction by actor Bill Hader, who credited much of his success in entertainment to Gaiman’s work — from the quasi-mystical presence of Gaiman’s work while he was auditioning for Saturday Night Live to the conversation about Sandman he had with Seth Rogen that led to him being cast in Superbad. [By the way, if Mr. Rogen is reading this, I’ve slept in Gaiman’s basement and would love to appear in your next film.]
Gaiman began the reading by announcing that all charges against Gordon Lee had been dropped, ending the almost four-year legal battle. He then read some older work, including a piece that had been out of his regular rotation for 10 years and “The Day the Saucers Landed."
Gaiman also provided an excellent Q&A session, telling funny anecdotes including his childhood plan to become a writer by kidnapping writers and having them write for him. He also revealed stories such as his entrance into being a comics reader and rounded out the event by helping a pair of readers get dates. (One of the questions during the session asked if he could get the number of a girl dressed as Delirium.) The show closed with a reading of the third chapter of his new book, The Graveyard Book, the first time this chapter has ever been read.
The real treat about the reading was that I was able to peer-pressure a friend of mine who was not a Gaiman fan into attending. He was put off by the legions of adoring fans, mostly girls, who lavish hyperbole-laden praise upon Mr. Gaiman. However, we assured him the money was going to a good cause and that it would not be excruciatingly boring. He came out of the reading ready to buy Good Omens and American Gods — such is the power of hearing Gaiman read.
