Author: Mike Gold

From England, With Postage

  • News
  • January 5, 2008

 44324854_bond_stamps_416-1318608

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of spy-turned-writer Ian Fleming, this Tuesday the British post office will be issuing a half-dozen "extra-long" stamps featuring reproductions of various James Bond books.

Royal Mail will be issuing other stamps honoring popular culture throughout the year, including a set commemorating the Hammer horror movies this summer.

Can Judge Dredd be far behind? More important, can Royal Mail cough up Brian Bolland’s cover rate?

 

Simone and Andrew In Snoopy Land

  • News
  • January 4, 2008

Simone and Ajax‘s daddy Andrew Pepoy did an interview at the Schulz Museum (yep, that Schulz!) and the good folks at www.comicscoasttocoast.com have it up in their latest podcast. This is your opportunity to hear Andrew the way we here at ComicMix do: actually speaking words from his mouth to your ears. It’s quite remarkable.

And since I have your attention, I should point out Andrew’s hard at work at his all-new full color Simone and Ajax graphic novel… soon to debut right here at ComicMix!

Law and Order Over There

  • News
  • January 3, 2008

Just when you thought Law and Order was wearing out its welcome, it turns out there are plans for a fourth – no, make it fifth (one flopped) series. But, according to The Hollywood Reporter, it ain’t gonna be set or filmed in New York City.

Kudos Film and Television, producers of the brilliant British shows Hustle and Life On Mars, is in negotiations with NBC Universal and Wolf Films to do a series presently called Law & Order: London. It would emulate the format employed by all those NBC shows.
 
This wouldn’t be a first for Dick Wolf. There are Russian versions of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (a.k.a. The Sex Show) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The latter program also appears in its own unique French version.

Torchwood Two Sports James Marsters, Freema Agyeman

  • News
  • January 3, 2008

Torchwood, the more adult brother to Doctor Who, will be returning to the airwaves on Wednesday, January 16th for another 13 episode run.

To the BBC in the United Kingdom, of course. Its North American debuts will happen… later.

Buffy’s James Marsters (well, also Smallville’s James Marsters and Without A Trace’s James Marsters) is set to become the series’ main villain, a rogue Time Agent named Captain (!) John Hart. As promised, Freema Agyeman will drop by for several episodes mid-season in her role as The Doctor’s companion Martha Jones. After her Torchwood stint, Martha will be returning to Doctor Who to team up with several other companions, present and past. And Torchwood star John Barrowman is expected to be around for the finale to next season’s Doctor Who as well.

But first, Captain Jack must survive Captain John, as well as a slew of other menaces as they "visit" such times as World War I and the 51th Century.

 

Sure Hope Lex Luthor Doesn’t Read This

  • News
  • January 2, 2008

According to BBC News, a new mineral matching the configuration of Kryptonite has been discovered in Serbia.

The crystals aren’t green – it’s white and, according to London mineralogist Chris Stanley, it is harmless. Kal-El could not be reached for comment. Hmmmm.

Mining researchers discovered the unusual mineral and could not match it with anything known previously to science. When Dr. Stanley unravelled the mineral’s chemical make-up, he discovered the unique formula was already referenced in literary fiction. I guess there are fanboys everywhere.

"Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral’s chemical formula – sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide – and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luthor from a museum in the film Superman Returns," Stanley told the BBC.

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Yeah, Robert Burns got it right…

  • News
  • January 1, 2008

No doubt you’ve seen the awesome (and I mean that in the traditional sense of the word) response to John Ostrander’s column last week in tribute to our friend Paul (Zeus) Grant. As of this writing, there have been 78 responses to John’s piece — quite a lot for an upstart operation such as ours. Lots of good people: old friends, folks I haven’t heard from in a while, industry professionals, fellow comics fans. Damn, what a turnout.

Paul would have been pleased. Well, not with the "his death" part – we all could have done without that. But as one of the very first comic fans to understand, appreciate and act upon the relationship between the Internet and comics fandom, he was the grandfather of this project, as well as the many, many others to be found online. So it is most fitting that this genuine outpouring of love, this virtual wake we’ve been having, is being done in honor of him.  Coming at the end of the year, at the moment of auld lang syne... how fitting. And how grounding.

Comics fandom was founded, in part, to honor the first generation of writers and artists who had no choice but to survive the humiliating travails of Fredrick Wertham and the funny book burnings of the late 40s and 50s. Most of those folks are gone now, but most of them knew the respect that we have for their work. They knew their names would live on. They might not have seen efforts such as the Grand Comic Book Database, but they saw their names in the fanzines, the comics history books, and on the autograph pads at decades of conventions.

And now we’re losing the first generation of comics fans. Jerry Bails died about 13 months ago, Paul this past month. Others of our founding fathers and mothers passed previously, of course, but now it’s becoming clear that we must honor those who got the ball rolling, in mimeo-zines all the way up to the Internet.

John did a swell job last week honoring those who put it all together. Thanks, bro.

*  *  *  *  *

Seeing as how I’m filling in for Denny, I want to honor this time-slot with a RECOMMENDED READING offering. But, unlike Mr. O’Neil, I’m going to recommend a comic book — a mini-series one-third done that will no doubt be anthologized: Kyle Baker’s take on Iraq War II, Special Forces, from Image Comics. Perhaps the most important comic on the racks right now.

The Happy Optimist, by Mike Gold

  • News
  • December 31, 2007

 

As I write these words on the final Friday of 2007, I’m already tired of all the “best of” lists on all the media, so I’m going to go in the other direction and point my antennae towards the future. Chipper li’l guy that I am, here’s some of the reasons why I’m looking forward to 2008.
 
• Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in the Iron Man movie. I can’t think of a better casting choice, except maybe for Howard Chaykin – and I’m not sure Chaykin could pull off the moustache thing. Downey’s got the right look, the right attitude… we’ll see if he gets the right screenplay.
 
• The inauguration of ComicMix: Phase Three and ComicMix: Phase Four. Actually, Brian tells us Phase Four might be ready before Phase Three. If so, we’ll probably rename Phase Four Phase Three. I went to school for this, you know.
 
• The end of Campaign 2008. Maybe we’ll get somebody worthy of the job. There’s a better chance of that if we all go out and vote at least once. I suspect I’ll be voting twice, as I once registered in Chicago.
 
• The most amazing and astonishing Munden’s Bar story ever told. With luck, we’ll have it done in 2008. It’ll be worth the wait.
 

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Tumbleweeds Tumbles Its Last

  • News
  • December 30, 2007

Tom Ryan’s Tumbleweeds ends its 42 year run in the newspapers today, at the request of the artist.

The always entertaining big-foot western strip launched an animated teevee series, a musical and a theme-park, as well as appearing in hundreds of newspapers throughout the years. Ryan continues a trend of creators retiring their strips at the end of their careers instead of allowing the syndicates to turn their creations over to others, transforming their work into minor family annuities.

Letterman Settles With WGA

  • News
  • December 28, 2007

david-letterman-28416-3472247Next Wednesday, The Late Show With David Letterman will become the first television show back on the air with its full writing staff. Letterman’s Worldwide Pants company, producers of both The Late Show and The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, successfully negotiated a new contract with the Writers Guild of America.

Whereas other talk shows will be returning to the air – Jay Leno the same day, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert the following Monday – Letterman and Ferguson will be allowed to use opening monologues and the continuing bits such as The Top 10 list that have constituted a large part of their appeal. Leno and the rest will not be able to use recurring segments and will have to ad-lib their shows until they, too, reach a settlement.

Letterman followed a strategy employed by his mentor (and, later, his writer) Johnny Carson back during the 1988 strike. The WGA is likely to use deal-points agreed to as a template for further negotiations.

To prove the studios still don’t understand a damn thing, they released a statement today that striking writers have "lost" the battle because they now lost more in salary and benefits than they hoped to gain from negotiations. In my opinion, with such a limited and asinine view of the situation the WGA strike will likely drag on for a while.

Der Fuhrer Vas A Timelord?

  • News
  • December 25, 2007

Ever say something that seemed funny to you but wasn’t quite… right?

According to the London Daily Post,  at a screening of today’s Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned," Doctor Who executive producer Russell T. Davies suggested Adolf Hitler might have been a timelord.

For a few, the line was funny. But for most, perhaps recalling Hitler’s V-2 bombings of their nation and the thousands and thousands of their countrymen killed, it was too soon. When asked who could have played the role, Davies responded tongue-in-cheek: "Hitler. He  was stern and strong. He would be great."

Oops.

Current Who David Tennant appeared "slightly stunned" and declined to answer the same question.

 

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