“Yeah, trust me babe. The Avengers need me. I’m a star! Simon? Theodore? Come on. They’re just like Tigra and Ant-Man… worthless filler getting in the way of the main attraction.”
“That’s right, toots. It’ll be me, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America. We’ll be ‘The Fantastic Four’!”
“Now, what number do we start with? I called Brother Voodoo, and told him I love you. Singing…Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, fing-fang-walla-walla-bing-bang-foom.”
Graylight
By Naomi Nowak
NBM ComicsLit, 144 pages, $12.95
[[[Graylight]]] is a wispy story surrounded with lovely, ethereal artwork, but utterly fails to create characters or situations with enough clarity to maintain your interest. The attractive Swedish artist hails from Sweden and developed her style as she discovered comics and began producing graphic novels, influenced by European albums and [[[Manga]]].
She received excellent notices for her first two offerings and this third book, released this month through NBM’s ComicsLit imprint, is said to be aimed at women 16 to 24.
It’s attractive and certainly a quick read but everything is sketchy. A woman has a son, Edmund, sees her mate walk away, and then she becomes a reclusive and famous author. Erik, middling journalist arrives in town to seek her out for a profile but first encounters Sasha, a woman who claims to be collecting geological samples but clearly has been drawn to the area for other reasons. She’s been there long enough to develop relationships with the locals and has a demonstrated habit of stealing. When she accompanies the journalist, the woman is offended that permission wasn’t obtained before hand and is rude. The younger woman leaves but not before stealing a book. Over the next few weeks, the handsome son stalks her in the hopes of retrieving his mother’s book.
So, we have several triangles going: the two women and the son; the two men and the woman. Toss in some witchcraft and you have the makings of something interesting.
Nowak’s pastels and art are lovely to look upon and her page compositions are interesting to study. Somewhere along the way, though, she needs to stop and learn storytelling, both in words and pictures. Her characters are underdeveloped and the exact motivations for the reclusive mother/witch are murky at best. Who Sasha is and what she really wants is left up in the air.
The story is sparse and the dialogue does nothing to help the reader. In fact, her characters need more distinctive voices to help make them more identifiable. While lovely to look at it, its misty look and feel is easily forgotten because you care nothing for the people and the situation. The book has no substance and can be easily dismissed. If you like Nowak’s art, then check this out, otherwise, wait until she has something to say.
“I don’t know why you invited me here. I just want to be the best Pokémon Master I can be! With my pal Picachu, Bulbasaur, and Lickatongue I just know I can defeat all the gym trainers in the land. According to my Pokadex, my next battle is against Victor in the Latveria battlezone!”
“Since I’m here though, I would be interested in trading. How about Charizard for Falcon?”
Paramount Pictures has gone out of their way to announce Mission: Impossible 4 — what feels like a rushed project, coming out in just over a year.
The film is being described as a reboot, without J.J. Abrams behind the camera and will most likely introduce agents to take over the franchise. It also arrives during a packed May 2011 which already has scheduled Thor (5/6), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (5/20), and The Hangover 2 (5/26).
HOLLYWOOD, CA (February 9, 2010) – Paramount Pictures announced today that it is making “Mission Impossible IV.” The film, which will be produced by Tom Cruise, J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot Productions and will star Cruise, will be released Memorial Day weekend 2011.
“Tom and J.J. are great talents and we are excited to be working with them to re-launch this legendary franchise,” said Paramount Pictures Chairman & CEO Brad Grey.
Screenwriters Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec are attached to write the script, from an original idea by Cruise and Abrams.
The studio, Cruise and Abrams are in now the process of identifying a director for the film.
Abrams’s last project with Paramount was “Star Trek,” which he produced and directed. The film grossed $385 million globally. Cruise’s “Mission Impossible” franchise has grossed over 1.4 billion globally.
“Mission Impossible IV” will be co-financed by David Ellison’s Skydance Productions.
“Hi there. Fenton Crackshell here. Don’t let these feathers fool you. While it looks like I’m nothing but your average lightning fast bean-counter, I assure you, I am so much more. Thanks to my friend Prof. Gyro Gearloose, I’m the most well equipped Duck around!”
“Folks familiar with my work might think I only work for the private sector, but I happen to have plenty of experience working with heroic vigilantes as well!”
“I look forward to working alongside the Avengers to protect Duckberg from the likes of Flintheart Glomgold, the Beagle Boys, and Ultron.”
It’s official. Disney CEO Bob Iger gave analysts a peek at what the company is planning around the iPad during a conference call yesterday discussing their 1Q10 financials. He mentioned that native iPad apps are being developed for Marvel Comics content.
As to his feelings on the iPad, Iger said:
“We find that iPad has a lot of potential, we think it’s a really
compelling device. We think it could be a game changer in terms of
enabling us to create essentially new forms of content. Obviously it
will be a great device to play games on and to watch videos because of
the clarity of the screen. But the interactivity that it will allow on
a portable device with such a high quality screen is going to enable us
to really start developing products that is different than the product
that you typically see on an internet connected computer or on a
television set.”
(And yes, I called this one early. Easiest prediction I ever made.)
Boy, it’s been a long three years. And that’s not even counting the months of prep beforehand. But on this day in 2007, ComicMix went live. (We were supposed to debut the day before, but went down for a few hours because of a previously undiscovered security hole. We went back up the next day, and we’ve been moving along ever since.)
Over three hundred and fifty comics installments and seven thousand posts later, we’re still at it.
There are a lot of people we’d like to thank– the hundreds of contributors and the thousands of commenters, our tech providers at CrowdFusion, our print partners at IDW, all the press people who’ve covered us and interviewed us, the wide and varied sources who feed us tips and stories both on and off the record, everybody who’s ever linked to us or retweeted a post.
Through the heartache and ulcers, the many many many late nights, and all the things that go along with creating in some of the most vibrant art forms ever created, we’re still at it. We don’t know what tomorrow may bring… but we’re glad you’ve been here for the ride.
Thank you for supporting us. We try to be worthy of your attention and your commerce.
“Finally a universe free of homages! Hi guys, Mark Grayson here, and I’m sure glad to accept this invitation to join the Avengers. I just hope you’re not controlled by the government. I’ve had issues with them in the past. I looked through your previous roster, and it seems like you’re pretty alien friendly too. That’s a good feeling.”
“My buddy Robert didn’t want me to come over here. He said things would be “too easy…”. He said I should stick to playing in my own sandbox (whatever that means…). But he says a lot of stuff that I swear I’ve heard before.”
“Meh. Never mind all that. Show me where I should start punching!”
Scottish super-scribe Mark Millar has teamed up once again with Dynamic Forces to auction off a piece of comicdom. Just as he had auctioned off the name of the titular hero before on his creator-owned / Marvel published Kick-Ass, Millar again gave fans the opportunity (last week) to lend their name to his newly penned Nemesis‘ heroic main character via auction. With $8,400 raised and donated to his brothers school (a school for handicapped children, who are raising money to purchase a new school bus), Mark wants to help finish the job he’s started with another auction. This time though, the name won’t be for a hero… it’ll be for the secret identity of the title character from Nemesis, that being the book’s titular ‘first’ super villain!
Millar is both excited at the prospect of raising more money for his brother’s school, and truly appreciative at the outpouring of the fans’ hard earned cash.
“Can I just say a huge thank you to everyone who participated in the
first auction,” said Mark Millar. “The kids and staff at my brother’s
school were delighted and the $8,400 raised means a quarter of their
target has been reached already. I had chosen a good secret identity
for Nemesis himself, but it seems almost selfish not to auction this
now too and possibly reach the halfway line the kids need for this bus.
I’m amazed how much cash was raised the first time around, but am
hoping the auction to name the TITLE character raises even more. Dave
Lizewski loves the fact he’s the lead in the Kick-Ass comic, movie and
upcoming video-game and I’m hoping whoever wins this new auction is
equally delighted. A huge thanks to them for finding the cash in these
difficult times.”
Be sure to dig deep, and bid on your chance by visiting the auction.
“You know what? I’m sick of the DCU. Since being told I was “the Last Green Lantern”… I’ve had my first girlfriend chopped up and left in my fridge. I absorbed a gigantic amount of energy and toyed with godhood. I re-lit the central power battery and brought back the Guardians. I became the “Torch Bearer” after my second girlfriend exploded in space. I even let the cry baby Hal-fans take Earth back as his home sector; Now, I play second fiddle as an ‘Honor Guard Green Lantern’ with Guy. Guy friggen’ Gardner people.”
“I’m going back to New York, and joining a team and universe where I might stand a chance of being noticed. Soon, I’ll join the ranks of such memorable team members like Black Knight, Two-Gun Kid, Darkhawk and Slapstick!”
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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