Author: Glenn Hauman

The 2009 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees

The 2009 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees

  • News
  • April 8, 2009

The nominations for the best of the year are finalized. Ballots with this year’s nominees will be going out in mid-April to comics creators, editors, publishers, and retailers. A downloadable pdf of the ballot will also be available online, and a special website has been set up for online voting. The results in all categories will be announced in a gala awards ceremony on the evening of Friday, July 24 at Comic-Con International. More information about the Eisner Awards can be found by clicking here.

Congratulations to Simone & Ajax creator Andrew Pepoy on his nominations for Best Short Story and Best Continuing Series, and to all the other nominees!

Here’s the full list of nominees…

(more…)

Len Wein house fire

Len Wein house fire

  • News
  • April 7, 2009

Harlan Ellison just posted the following on his website:

Monday, April 6 2009 11:55:36 EXTREMELY BAD NEWS

 Len Wein called this morning. More than half of his house burned down earlier today. Len and Chris Valada and Chris’s son, Michael, got out okay, but their beloved dog, Sheba, ran back inside and is gone. In addition to both bedrooms, the bathroom, and much of the office, what was burned first was the original art for the first Wolverine story, the cover of GIANT X-MEN #1 and other art pieces worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Susan and I will be over there as soon as I pick up my car today, and as soon as I’ve met the dental appointment we have scheduled. This is a major catastrophe for one of my oldest and closest friends. Like your Host, Len is a lifetime freelancer and, even though he remains a star of the comics world, even though he created Wolverine and Storm–among other characters–he goes from day to day earning a freelancer’s living, as do I… and these are frightening economic times for those of us out there, to paraphrase Arthur Miller, “on a few words and a shoeshine.”

As bad as the news is, we’re relieved to hear that Len, Christine and Michael are okay. We’ll pass along whatever additional information that we can.

Lone Justice: Hard Times!

Lone Justice: Hard Times!

  • News
  • April 6, 2009

Lone Justice #13His life of privilege is over! With or without the mask, Lone Justice is a man down on his luck – and the streets are mean! Read the latest installment of Lone Justice: Crash! from Mark Wheatley and Robert Tinnell now — or start from the beginning!

Eight, no, NINE reasons not to download Wolverine

Eight, no, NINE reasons not to download Wolverine

  • News
  • April 6, 2009

New York magazine shows us 8 Reasons Not to Download Wolverine, but they forgot a biggie– it could get you fired. At least, if you’re stupid enough to wite a review of it, and then post the review for FoxNews.com, sister company for 20th Century Fox, the company that’s putting out the movie that’s just been pilfered.

You ask, quite logically, who could be that dumb? Ladies and gentlemen, say hello– and good bye– to Roger Friedman. Since FoxNews.com has pulled the article, we rely on Nikki Finke for the play-by-play:

"Fox 411" freelance columnist Roger Friedman wrote what I’m told his bosses felt was a blatant promotion of piracy on his Fox News web outlet. Besides writing a review from watching the purloined print of Wolverine, Friedman posted, “I did find the whole top 10 [movies in theaters], plus TV shows, commercials, videos, everything, all streaming away. It took really less than seconds to start playing it all right onto my computer. I could have downloaded all of it but really, who has the time or the room? Later tonight I may finally catch up with Paul Rudd in I Love You, Man. It’s so much easier than going out in the rain!” I’m told that Fox News’ actions were swift and severe. First, Roger Ailes, who overseas Fox News, deleted the offending post after he was contacted by 20th Century Fox about it. And then Ailes fired Friedman as a freelance Fox News entertainment writer. I hear the move was done with the full support of News Corp. "He promoted piracy. He basically suggested that viewing a stolen film is OK, which is absolutely intolerable. So we fired him," a source told me Saturday. "Fox News acted promptly on all fronts."

 

We’re off to I-Con 28

  • News
  • April 3, 2009

We’re on the road again this weekend, this time to I-Con 28, which is all over Suffolk Country this weekend (no, it’s not at Stony Brook Univeristy this year, major repairs going on, don’t ask) and various ComicMix folks will be out in force.

And many many more friendly folks– David Mack, Keith DeCandido, Peter David, Larry Hama, Jeness Crawford, Bob Rozakis, Greg Pak, Jane Yolen, Holly Black, the list goes on and on and on.

I-Con is home to one of the wider spectrums of fans, from anime to science and technology, and generally draws about six thousand people a year and is never the same from year to year. So if you’ve never been there, give it a shot. Tell them we sent you.

April Fools Day 2009 Round-Up, part 2

April Fools Day 2009 Round-Up, part 2

  • News
  • April 3, 2009

Oh my lord, how did I miss the work at TÖRdötCÖM?

Either let us drag you willingly into the future, or be impaled upon the shiny, metallic spikes of our awesomeness. We will bludgeon all resistance with our second generation Kindles and Sony PRC 505s, slicing and dicing holdouts and naysayers with our sleek, sexy MacBook Airs. Now bow before our awesome new lögö. Note the umlaut—it’s totally Spinal Tap, “but way cooler,” according to our latest focus group, a culturally diverse assortment of popular sixth graders (twelve-year-olds being widely recognized as the eternal harbingers of Cool).

It must be understood that we’re not cutting ties with the geek community—rather, we like to think of ourselves as ultra-modern alchemists, painstakingly turning geek into chic. We would never attempt to trivialize the concerns of fandom. At least the fandom we care about—the kind that hangs out at the Apple Store, and look like those kids from Twilight. Young, pasty, sexy, tech-savvy, secret vampires…yes, that pretty much sums up our new target audience.

Where do we start?

 

‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ workprint hits Internet a month before release

‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ workprint hits Internet a month before release

  • News
  • April 2, 2009

And now, all the stories that we couldn’t run yesterday because people would think it’s another prank. I don’t blame them, I barely believe this one myself.

The statement from 20th Century Fox says it all:

"Last night, a stolen, incomplete and early version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was posted illegally on a website. It was without many effects, had missing and unedited scenes and temporary sound and music. We immediately contacted the appropriate legal authorities and had it removed. We forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it. The source of the initial leak and any subsequent postings will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law – the courts have handed down significant criminal sentences for such acts in the past. The FBI and the MPAA also are actively investigating this crime. We are encouraged by the support of fansites condemning this illegal posting and pointing out that such theft undermines the enormous efforts of the filmmakers and actors, and above all, hurts the fans of the film."

The economic impact cannot be underestimated here, both to Fox and to Marvel, which had pegged May as the month to publish alternate Wolverine covers on every single title. We can assume that word-of-mouth attendance on the film’s opening weekend is going to be hurt. Remember that this was probably going to be Fox’s major money maker for the year– now they have to hope that nobody leaks Night At The Museum 2 or the next Ice Age film.

Between this and a bad batch of Slumdog Millionaire DVDs released without the special features advertised on the box, Fox is not having a good week.

April Fools Day 2009 Round-Up

April Fools Day 2009 Round-Up

  • News
  • April 2, 2009

Yep, it was that time of year again. The highlights:

And of course, we have our contributions:

Amazingly, one of those five articles is true. You’ll find out which in less than a month.

Did we miss any? What were your favorites?

April Fool’s Day Editorial Process, Part 1: Sonic Disruptors

April Fool’s Day Editorial Process, Part 1: Sonic Disruptors

  • News
  • April 2, 2009

Just to prove that we have some editorial process around here, this was a conversation between Mike Gold and myself on a potential article:

GH: So, I want to run a story on April Fool’s Day… ComicMix to publish the complete Sonic Disruptors, including the unpublished last issues.

MG: Don’t do it.

GH: Aw, why not? You’ve even got unpublished art…

MG: Yeah, but Baron might believe it.

GH: …point taken.

Dollar comics

Dollar comics

  • News
  • April 2, 2009

Over on his Marvel blog, Tom Brevoort asks:

If you were given the power to make a single change at Marvel to make things better, what would it be? This can involve story, creators, personnel, direction, anything–but you only get one. What would it be?

Here’s mine: for one month, every issue Marvel publishes has a price tag of $1. All ages, Marvel Knights, Icon titles, the works.  If you really want to make it useful, try it around October, when people can buy extra copies to give them out at Halloween.

In that vein, Challengers Comics is throwing a party this Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at 5 pm.  As a way to say thank you to their customers and the city that gave them a home, Challengers is having a party complete with food and drink to celebrate the one year anniversary of the store officially opening.  In addition to the party, all back issues will be $1.00.  The store encourages all interested to swing by and say “hello” or simply search the back issue bins for great deals. Challengers is located at 1845 N. Western Ave #2R, Chicago IL 60647 — and they have a loyal, loyal following at that store.

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