NYCC 2009: Costumes, costumes, costumes! Part 3
Because we still have hundreds of photos coming in… including one of my favorites, Elektra interviewing Jughead:
Monthly Archive: February 2009
ComicMix Six: Other BOOM! marketing slogans
You may have seen BOOM! Studios‘s marketing slogan a while back: MARK WAID IS EVIL. 
What you probably didn’t know was that there were other slogans that were considered and rejected…
Happy Valentine’s Day… go to a comic book wedding!
The most romantic comic currently running, Love And Capes, has a special offer– to get drawn into the cover of the upcoming wedding issue. Take it away, Thom:
You might not have been invited to Lois and Clark’s wedding. You probably couldn’t attend Peter and MJ’s wedding (and, if you did, you don’t remember it.). But you can be in attendance for the comic book wedding of the 21st century! The Crusader and Abby are getting married in Love and Capes #12, coming out in December 2009, and you could be there.
Tickets to this wedding are limited and seating is first come, first served. Cost is just $40 per couple or $25 per single. No "crashers" permitted. To be part of this special event, RSVP by sending a photo of yourself, along with your payment, and you will be drawn into the wedding scene cover of Love and Capes #12 and mentioned by name at the end of the book.
To commemorate this special event, and to show our appreciation for the fans of Love and Capes, artist Thom Zahler will be creating a special limited edition 11 x 17 print of the wedding cover. All "attendees" will be sent a signed and numbered print to commorate their attendance at this "super" celebration. Interested attendees can also look for Thom Zahler at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida on Feb. 27-Mar.1 or the Free Comic Book Day event May 2nd at Rogues Gallery Comics in Austin, Texas , where he’ll have his camera ready to snap your photo on site.
If response warrants, an alternate version of the cover illustration (featuring Mark in his tuxedo, rather than his Crusader uniform) will be created to handle the overflow crowd.
Please RSVP by May 25, 2009.
Watchmen video game online
Straight from 1977 and Veidt Industries, it’s the Minutemen video game! Fight as Nite Owl or Silk Spectre against the machinations of Moloch the Mystic! Click through and play, only a virtual quarter!
The Point – February 13th, 2009
It’s Friday the 13th and by mere coincidence, a movie relaunch of the same name hits theaters today. We spend some time comforting one of Jason’s nicer victims, then talk with David Uslan about his line up of projects that include a Bob Layton/David Michelinie movie. And did you know that Jonah Hex now has an on screen villain or that you can see the BSG spin off, CAPRICA, in just a few weeks?
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PREVIEW: ‘Batman: The Brave and the Bold’ with the Bronze Tiger… the Terrible Trio… and Jonah Hex?
Yes, Batman and Jonah Hex. Take a look…
We’ve obtained preview footage of this week’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, airing tonight 6 February 20th on Cartoon Network at 8:00 PM.
This week’s episode "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!" takes Batman back to his origins with Master Wong Fei and the Wudang Temple. Fox, Vulture and Shark join the evil Shadow Clan in an attack on the Temple and kill Master Wong Fei in a battle of flying arrows and martial arts. When the Terrible Trio steals the Wudang Totem and transform into unstoppable mystical creatures, it’s up to Batman and Bronze Tiger to save us all! Take a look…
On This Day: Frank Sinatra founds Image Comics
Well, not quite. But consider:
He was a young hot-shot, insanely popular with the kids. But he was tired of buckling under for the suits who controlled his career and had nearly scuttled it in the past, he wanted more artistic freedom for his own recordings. So he founded Reprise Records, and on this day in 1961, released the first album, Ring-a-Ding-Ding!
One of the label’s founding principles under Sinatra’s leadership was that each artist would have full creative freedom, and at some point complete ownership of their work; including publishing rights. As a result, a lot of other talented creators came on board with Frank, including Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Redd Foxx, Bing Crosby, and Rosemary Clooney. Later on, Reprise would also sign a lot of new talent including The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.
And Frank? He became "The Chairman of the Board" and went on to the most successful times of his career.
Nowadays, Reprise is owned by Warner Bros. Records, which isn’t entirely unlike what DC did with Wildstorm. And for one more comics tie-in, the label is now the home to My Chemical Romance, fronted by Gerard Way, former DC intern and current writer of The Umbrella Academy for Dark Horse, and they’re now releasing the soundtrack for Watchmen. Here’s the picture disc.
As Dean Martin was fond of saying, "It’s Frank’s world; we’re just lucky to be living in it."
So when you hear people talk about creators rights in the industry, just remember who was there first. Who did what he had to do, and saw it through without exemption. He said the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels. The record shows he took the blows… and did it his way.
Midway Games, publisher of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, files for bankruptcy
Storm clouds are indeed on the horizon. Technologizer reports that Midway Games filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy yesterday.
Chairman, President and CEO Matt Booty called the filing “a difficult but necessary decision,” adding that it buys the company time to figure out how to proceed from here. For now, business continues as usual, and Midway has filed several First Day Motions in hopes of keeping it that way as restructuring takes place.
Midway Games Inc., the creator of the Mortal Kombat video-game series, most recently came out with Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
Google Book Settlement Site Is Up; Paying Authors $60 Per Scanned Book
From TechCrunch via Tom Galloway:
Last October, Google signed a $125 million settlement with the Author’s Guild to pay authors for copyrighted works it has scanned and made available on the Web through its Google Book Search project. More than 7 million books have been scanned by Google so far, a large portion of them out of print. Today, the Google Book Settlement site went up, which allows authors and other copyright holders of out-of-print books the ability to submit claims to participate in the settlement.
What do they get? Authors, publishers, and other copyright holders will get a one-time payment of $60 per scanned book (or $5 to $15 for partial works). In return, Google will be able to index the books and display snippets in search results, as well as up to 20% of each book in preview mode. Google will also be able to show ads on these pages and make available for sale digital versions of each book. Authors and copyright holders will receive 63 percent of all advertising and e-commerce revenues associated with their works. With Google Book Search now available on mobile phones, downloaded e-books could become an interesting digital side-business for Google. (But please Google, convert the scanned text into something more easily legible on the screen).
Remember, this settlement is only for the millions of out-of-print books that are making zero revenues for authors and publishers today. So it is not a bad deal all around. Copyright holders have until January 5, 2010 to make a claim.
There don’t seem to be many comics scanned in, but you never know. One wonders how they apply it to periodicals alike magazines and comic books.
ComicMix Quick Picks – February 12, 2009
Today’s collection of items may not be worth a post of their own, but may be of interest:
- Twilight watch: Director Catherine Hardwicke declined a monster payday to direct the sequel New Moon, but she said no because she didn’t want to make the movie under the deadline and budget constraints that would have been placed on her. Edward actor Robert Patterson says he bores people in 2 minutes. And Stephen King says ‘Twilight’ author Stephenie Meyer ‘can’t write’.
- Jennifer de Guzman has had her hours cut 40%. Been there, done that. Courage, Jen. That said, I’m not sure I agree with her Publishers Weekly column, Can Creativity Save Comics from Troubled Times? I think it’s going to take new ways of doing business.
- Surprising stories behind 20 Muppet characters. Pepe the King Prawn’s full name is Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales? Coooool.
- D’Israeli gives this warning to colorists looking back at their works: Be Sure Your Sins Will Find You Out. Been there, too.
- And finally, Russ Rogers sent us this, a little ditty called "Batman’s Song" which, even though the writing pre-dates it, certainly sounds like the Batman’s lament from the Grant Morrison run…
Anything else we missed? Consider this an open thread.
