As part of iGoogle sponsoring the wi-fi at San Diego this year, they’ve also introduced a wide variety of comics themes that you can use to customize your iGoogle page– everything from Superman to Daniel Clowes (although, suprisingly, no Silver Surfer or Iron Man, and the web-slinger is Spider-Woman).
And they’ve noted the occasion by putting a Jim Lee logo on the Google home page today. Jim noted, “It will be the single most viewed image I have ever drawn!”
This is the line outside Hall H to see Twilight previews and cast members– the estimates are about 1200 overnight campers, from what I hear. And like all vampires, they will be up late. Let’s see if they all sparkle first thing in the morning… (Photo hat tip: Vaneta Rogers.)
Here it comes, folks… hope you’re ready. We can already see some of what Marvel is going to be pushing hard this year, particularly with principal photography just finishing… (Hat tip: Ryan Penagos.)
Let’s get the disclaimer out of the way first: Yes, ComicMix is publishing lots of stuff with IDW Publishing. Doesn’t matter, The Hunter
would still be on the short list for the best book of the year if it came out from Chick Publications.
I’ve had a preview copy of the entire book for a few months now, and I’ve held off on reviewing it because I didn’t want to tease you, even though previews of the first pages were up and about. You just would have wanted more. I certainly did.
The backstory is simple: it’s an adaptation of The Hunter by Donald Westlake, writing as Richard Stark. It’s the first novel featuring his protaganist Parker. In this book he’s been betrayed by his wife and fellow criminals in the aftermath of a heist, and he hammers his way through New York circa 1962 to get revenge. A lot of it. With guns and fists and… you get the idea.
The book’s been adapted into film a number of times with varying degrees of quality, the two best known adaptions are [[[Point Blank]]] with Lee Marvin:
…and [[[Payback]]] with Mel Gibson:
(And before you ask, [[[The Hunter]]] with Steve McQueen has nothing to do with this book.) But this may be the closest adaptation of the source material, as evidenced by the fact that this is the first adaption that Westlake let use the name Parker.
It’s certainly faithful in (duo) tone. This is the time period Darwyn Cooke was born to draw, in the same way that Dave Stevens was born to draw the era of the Rocketeer. The book feels like 1962, and yet modern at the same time. If you know Cooke’s other projects– New Frontier, Selina’s Big Score, the Batman animated series, you don’t need the sell, if you don’t, picture here a blend of Jack Cole and Bernie Kriegstein, and you’ve almost got it. This book is clean and compact and accessible in ways that no other comic has, and should take the mainstream by storm. The preview almost makes reviewing redundant, let’s just say that Cooke keeps control of the pace all the way through.
I got my review copy early that I was able to call IDW and natter at them about a few production glitches, if the book hadn’t gone to press yet. When they said it hadn’t, I told them to save time in the future and just print “Eisner nominee” on the cover now.
The nice folks releasing the Coraline DVD today (based on the award winning book by Neil Gaiman, doncha know) have given us a free copy of the DVD to give to a ComicMix reader.
As we’re too dang busy between now and San Diego to grade essays on “why I should get the free DVD of Coraline“, we’ll just make it simple: Comment in this thread, using a real email address when you log in (because that’s how we’ll contact you if you win). Contest open only to people living in the United States. Don’t forget to check out the film’s current site.
In the meantime, here’s a little clip from the DVD extras…
I’ve enjoyed many a Jamba Juice so I was disappointed to learn that their current marketing campaign features a blatant ripoff of David Rees’s detournement classic Get Your War On.
Rees, of course, is appropriating free stock images but the Jamba Juice
campaign is not doing the same thing. They are appropriating what Rees does with those images,
right down to the way he renders his word balloons. I have no idea how
the case would hold up in intellectual property court and Rees says on his website he’s not interested in legal action (only a boycott). But it’s plain as day: Jamba Juice ripped him off.
Through the miracle of modern googling I learned that the marketing agency behind the Jamba Juice “Summer Bliss is Back” campaign is an LA shop called Neighbor. Their unintentionally hilarious website
positions themselves as paragons of crunchy, earthy, green, do-gooder,
one-world decency. According to their manifesto: “You get conscious,
inspired, ethical, engaged, genuine, positive and purpose-driven work
that grows your business and your people all the while making the world
a better place.” Ad man, heal thyself.
The worst part of it is that people are going to think that David Rees endorses this stuff.
It’s that time of year again, the time when San Diego Comic-Con goers, grizzled veterans and fresh faced newbies alike, are reading Tom Spurgeon’s 100 tip list and seeing if they forgot anything. Tom’s list is long enough this year to qualify for a novella, but is either the most or second-most useful piece of reading for the con, right up there with the program schedule.
That said, Tom missed a few tips:
Keep your cell phone on vibrate. At all times. You may not be able to hear it ring on the main exhibit hall floor or any late night bars, and you will disrupt a panel if it rings there. Better: when possible, text a message instead of calling– again, because ambient sound levels where you are may be too high to hear anything or because they should be very low.
When asking a question at a panel, if it’s too long to put in a Twitter message, it may be too long to ask. Consider rephrasing.
And you have no excuse for not having a business card. No matter who you are. They’re cheap, easy and quick to get. You don’t have to go crazy on one, but you do have to have something. You never know when you’ll need one– buying a drink for a Playboy Playmate, for example. At worse, buy blank cards and prepare to write your name a lot– but write a few in advance, for speed’s sake.
Award-winning science fiction writer (and SF Scope contributor) Michael A. Burstein and wife Nomi Burstein welcomed two twin children,
their first, to their family today.
The twins are fraternal, and both are girls. The first baby was born at 9:20AM, weighed 5 pounds 8 ounces, and is 17″ long. The second baby was born at 9:21AM,
weighed 5 pounds 3 ounces, and is 19″ long. The twins were delivered by
C-section at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. The attending
physician was Dr. Rafik Mansour. The delivery was originally scheduled
for this Thursday, but was moved up for medical reasons.
As befits a science-fiction couple, the Bursteins are banking the babies’ cord blood for the blood’s stem cells.
Per Modern Orthodox Jewish custom, the babies will not be named
until the parents attend a Torah service at their synagogue,
Kadimah-Toras Moshe in Brighton, which is currently planned for
Saturday 25 July.
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As part of iGoogle sponsoring the wi-fi at San Diego this year, they’ve also introduced a wide variety of comics themes that you can use to customize your iGoogle page– everything from Superman to Daniel Clowes (although, suprisingly, no Silver Surfer or Iron Man, and the web-slinger is Spider-Woman).
Let’s get the disclaimer out of the way first: Yes, ComicMix is publishing lots of stuff with IDW Publishing. Doesn’t matter, 
The nice folks releasing the 
This 
It’s that time of year again, the time when San Diego Comic-Con goers, grizzled veterans and fresh faced newbies alike, are reading 
Mazel tov! Reprinting the 
