As it turns out, the man who wrote Understanding Comics and Making Comics is pretty good at understanding and making the multimedia presentation too. (This isn’t a real surprise– in the mid 90’s, at the initial boom of the World-Wide Web, a lot of web designers and artists had copies of Understanding Comics on their desk, because it helped them get a handle on this new medium and how to communicate in it.)
Here’s Scott McCloud at the TED Conference. Enjoy the lazy Sunday afternoon and enjoy Scott’s speech:
Maybe those guys in the 501st Legion know something we don’t.
Or maybe domain name registration is getting so cheap that it’s not a big deal to register hotchickswithstormtroopers.com. Either way, the site promises to deliever just what the name says.
And isn’t it nice that people can find what they’re looking for– and in this case, do it without violating Godwin’s Law?
While we’re still transcribing the rest of the first massive interview with Chris Claremont, he’s graciously agreed to answer questions about X-Men Forever going forward. So here’s what we’re going to do:
We’re going to collect questions from you from now until Sunday at midnight. Then we’re going to present the best questions to Chris, along with a few of our own. We’ll run the answers on Wednesday.
With X-Men Forever running bi-weekly, this will give you a fix to tide you over between issues. And we may work with Marvel to add some of these questions and answers to trade collections of the book.
Oh, and yes, SPOILERS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS THREAD. If you haven’t read the issue yet, don’t blame us for any spoiled surprises.
Comedy Central has picked up the rights to renew 20th Century Fox Television’s Futurama for 26 new episodes, six years after getting initially canceled by the Fox network. In a recent EW interview with a 20th Century Fox spokesman, they say the DVD sales and reruns have had a “blockbuster” performance: “When we brought back Family Guy
several years ago, everyone said that it was a once in a lifetime thing
— that canceled series stay canceled and cannot be revived,” 20th
Century Fox TV Chairmen Gary Newman and Dana Walden said in a joint
statement. “But Futurama was another series that fans simply
demanded we bring back, and we couldn’t have been happier when Matt and
David agreed that there were many more stories yet to tell.” Both creators David X Cohen and Matt Groening were of course ecstatic about the news, Groening adds “We’re thrilled Futurama is coming back. We now have only 25,766 episodes to make before we catch up with Bender and Fry in the year 3000.”
But as far as Matt’s hope that if Family Guy and Futurama can return from the grave, then Greg The Bunny could come back too– probably not. Dan Milano, the man behind (and under and inside, for that matter) Greg The Bunny was just signed to write the remake of Short Circuit, so he’s going to be busy for a bit.
If you have a Macintosh or a iPhone, yesterday was a high holy day for you, as Apple’s WWDC Keynote Speech was given yesterday, outlining Apple’s hardware and software plans for the next few months. We’ll let other people such as The Unofficial Apple Weblog cover the full release info and instead concentrate on the items that are going to impact comics the most.
Hardware: Sadly, no one’s announced the iPad yet, that long rumored half-tablet, half-netbook. But a new iPhone was announced, to go along with the over 40 million iPhones and iPod touches that have already been sold to date.
While the price on the new iPhone is a bit hefty, what will interest people is the price drop for the old iPhone– the 8GB iPhone 3G will sell alongside the iPhone 3GS for $99 (with contract, obviously). While not the ideal comics reader, it certainly will continue penetration into the market. Even more, as parents upgrade their own iPhones to the newest models, they’re likely to hand their old ones to their kids as it’s a (comparitively) cheaper upgrade.
Software: iPhone 3.0 releases in a week and a half on June 17, free for iPhone users, $9.95 for iTouch users. Biggest changes for comics fans:
The App store now has “in app purchasing”. That’s where you can purchase another app or service from within an app. Obvious usage: You get to the end of issue #1 and then immediately buy #2, or other comics which the publisher has thoughtfully linked for you to buy.
The software will also allow subscriptions to be made on a month-to-month basis. Again, the usage is obvious: subscribe to the latest book, and when it’s ready, it’ll be pushed to your iPhone.
Parental controls have been improved in iPhone 3.0, which will allow for the sale of more adult content. Again, the implications are huge, as hundreds of independent titles that might have fallen afoul of Apple’s occasionally odd policies for content will now be able to be distributed online.
All in all, a pretty productive update. Expect to see products taking advantage of the relaxed restrictions rolling out from comic publishers shortly after June 17.
If you don’t already own an iPhone, will this make you more likely to buy one? If you’re already using it, will this make it more likely that you’ll read comics on your iPhone? Discuss in comments.
From the San Francisco Chronicle via Tom Galloway:
Actress Jennie Garth (Beverly Hills 90210) has an unusual way of
spicing up her marriage to “Twilight” actor Peter Facinelli — she
makes him pretend to be his vampire character.
Facinelli plays Dr. Cullen, the father of Robert Pattinson’s character, in the original film and in upcoming sequel “New Moon.”
And
the actor admits his wife is so fond of the fang-toothed doctor she
makes him constantly roleplay to keep their eight-year marriage steamy.
He
tells the New York Daily News, “She has me dress up like all the time.
She says, ‘Put the doctor’s coat on!’ I’m like, ‘Again?'”
Ooooookay… no wonder he’s so eager to play a doctor again in Nurse Jackie.
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is looking for interns to help with summer operations.
Duties include assisting office and inventory organization, updating
the inventory, and assisting membership and premium fulfillment.
Requirements:
At least 17 years of age
Good organizational skills
Office experience preferred
Proficiency in QuickBooks, Excel, and MSWord
A familiarity with the comic book industry and current trends
Book retail experience helpful
Able to lift 50lbs
If you meet these requirements, please send your resume to fundmgr@cbldf.org. And tell them ComicMix sent you.
So, over the weekend, those of us with somewhat shady connections heard about the comic pirate site Z-Cult FM shutting down– living up to their slogan of “Give Me Comics Or Give me Death”, they’ve died. Rather than admit whether or not I got a copy of the good bye letter, I’ll claim I’m quoting from Comic Related:
Dear Cultist, I have decided that within the next few weeks Z-Cult FM
will be slowly closed down and the server put offline resulting in the
death of Z-Cult FM as we know it. Z-Cult FM was born in 2004 and over
the last 5 years has seen many high and low times. I would like to
thank everyone who was involved over the last 5 years in making Z-Cult
FM what it became. I would personally like to thank all the staff past
and present, all torrenters and supporters of the site. I did start
listing everyone by name but the list was too big and was scared I
would miss someone off. Thanks to everyone who posted and helped out in
any way possible. I would also like to unthank all the people who
during the 5 years have caused trouble for the site such as no-ip,
Marvel, DC Comics, etc etc list goes on….. least you made Z-Cult FM
into a soap opera with many dramas along the way. The future for Z-Cult
FM is currently a sad quiet death and a think about it’s future. If it
does return it will be just as a message board for the members who
still like to use it but we will see what future holds. Thanks, Serj
R.I.P. Z-Cult FM 2004 – 2009
This now brings up the next question: so what? Is this going to make a dent in piracy? I got a note from one of the numerous shady characters I know, and the answer is– probably not.
My first reaction was – doesn’t affect me. I haven’t been to Z-Cult in at least 3 or 4 years. I stopped when it was still big, before they got all of their publicity. Why? Because it was a good place to start and then move on.
What was Z-Cult? Well, for me it was a place where I could find comic torrents to download. I would stop over every few days and see what had been posted. Usually I’d only get the latest comics for that week but sometimes there was something else I wanted. The only problem was that you had to either take the entire torrent or hand pick what you wanted. And if something went wrong, you got what you paid for (in other words, nothing). But as I said, I moved on.
I won’t say where I went or how I got there but eventually I got close to where some high quality scanners hung out. This got me the weeks comics much faster than Z-Cult ever did and also allowed me to get specific files I wanted. Listening to the people there gave me information I didn’t have, including the various troubles Z-Cult was having. But like I said, doesn’t affect me.
There are still things posted to torrent sites and you can find them if you know what to look for. And then there are specialty sites. I get my manga in raw (original scans) and scanlation (scanned with fan translations) formats on one ot two different sites. I read web comics such as Girl Genius from their author’s sites. I’ll even hit the site of a comic company to see what they have that’s nowhere else yet.
And yes, I still buy the comics I like. Sometimes I even get them on a per issue basis rather than in compilations. And if something I download really grabs my attention, I may go out and buy the back issues of it as well.
I don’t know what caused Z-Cult to finally shut down. I also know that there are too many other places to get comics, and there are still lots of people with scanners out there– including comics professionals. And there are still lots of people that want comics that they can conveniently read on their computers– including comics professionals.
Or, to quote the classics, “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”
That will not stop me from giving it a recommendation based on this simple fact: Mark Waid is reading it and learning things about Superman that he didn’t know before. He didn’t think it was possible, and neither did anybody else who has ever met Mark.
As it turns out, the man who wrote Understanding Comics
Via Jackie Estrada:
Maybe those guys in the 501st Legion know something we don’t.
While we’re still transcribing the rest of the first massive interview with Chris Claremont, he’s graciously agreed to answer questions about X-Men Forever going forward. So here’s what we’re going to do:
Matt Raub at the 
If you have a Macintosh or a iPhone, yesterday was a high holy day for you, as Apple’s WWDC Keynote Speech was given yesterday, outlining Apple’s hardware and software plans for the next few months. We’ll let other people such as 
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is looking for interns to help with summer operations. 
So, over the weekend, those of us with somewhat shady connections heard about the comic pirate site Z-Cult FM shutting down– living up to their slogan of “Give Me Comics Or Give me Death”, they’ve died. Rather than admit whether or not I got a copy of the good bye letter, I’ll claim I’m quoting from 
I have not yet read 
