Author: Mike Gold

Disney No Longer Adventures

Disney No Longer Adventures

  • News
  • August 23, 2007

One of the very few entry portals to the world of comics is coming to an end.

Disney Adventures, the monthly supermarket digest magazine containing a huge chunk of original Disney-related comic strips, will be ending its 17 year run with its November issue. This comes despite an increase of ad pages and a circulation of 1,200,000 copies – making Disney Adventures one of the highest circulation comics magazines in America.

Disney has had some success with their occasional comics-only Comics Zone editions, and one hopes this might continue. The publisher says they will be adding a new title or two to their line-up.

There are very, very few ways young readers come across comics; outside of Disney Adventures, only the sundry Archie digests come to mind. Once again, we’re left wondering how the next generation of Americas are going to discover the comics form.

Perhaps… the Internet?

TV REVIEW: Flash Gordon

TV REVIEW: Flash Gordon

Okay, I’ll get this over with real fast. Sci-Fi Channel’s new Flash Gordon show really sucks. I sat through the 90-minute pilot, and I sat through the next episode. No more. Life is too short.

Here’s the first tip-off: Flash Gordon creator Alex Raymond is not in the opening credits. Hell, he got better (far better) treatment in that campy movie from 1980. Say what you will about that movie, compared to this waste of time that movie was [[[Citizen Kane in Outer Space]]].

Second tip-off: No rocketships. Rocketships are not “dated.” In fact, we launched one into space with a whole bunch of people in it right when this show debuted. Doing Flash Gordon without rocketships is like doing The Lone Ranger without horses. Hi-yo, moccasins!

Third tip-off: They only refer to Dr. Zarkov by name once in the 90-minute pilot and once in the subsequent episode. That’s crazy. Dr. Zarkov is to Flash Gordon what Dr. Watson is to [[[Sherlock Holmes]]].

Mind you, if there were a real Hans Zarkov, he’d sue. The real Zarkov was a genius; this guy is a bumbling fool. The real Zarkov was driven mad by the fact that he could save the Earth from destruction but had no way to do it; once Flash appeared on the scene and they got to Mongo (in their rocketship!) he got better.

Fourth tip-off: No longer merciless, Ming is a dick. He’s about as threatening as [[[Garfield]]] after a place of lasagna. I understand they wanted to update the character – these guys should have taken a cue from the way Russell Davies updated The Master on Doctor Who. Ming wouldn’t even make it as a member of George Bush’s cabinet, and from the first (and for me, only) 150 minutes of the series, he’s not even that competent. Plus, he looks about seven weeks older than his daughter.

So here’s my question. Why the hell did these people pay King Features for the license? They could have saved themselves a bundle and called this limp and lame pile of fly-feed “Bill Jones.”

If you’re a fan of Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon or of the 1930s serials, avoid this teevee waste like Chinese toothpaste.

Artwork copyright King Features Syndicate, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

You’re kidding: Joan Collins???

You’re kidding: Joan Collins???

  • News
  • August 20, 2007

As the next season of Doctor Who is prepping up for shooting, casting information is flowing fast and furious. London’s News of the World reveals Joan Collins, of Dynasty and Star Trek fame, will be playing arch-villain The Rani.

The Rani appeared in the classic series twice, first with Colin Baker in "The Mark of the Rani" and later with Sylvester McCoy in "Time and the Rani." She was played by Kate O’Mara who, coincidentially, played Joan Collins’ younger sister in Dynasty.

The Rani marks the third Gallifreyan to survive obilvion by the Daleks. The News of the World calls Collins’ Rani as "Alexis Colby with a sonic screwdriver."

No word yet on when Series Four is expected to start, but it is likely it won’t begin until late April or May, after Series Two of Torchwood has completed its run.

The Dark Knight Senator

The Dark Knight Senator

  • News
  • August 20, 2007

Long-time Batman fan Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont will be appearing in next year’s movie The Dark Knight.

This isn’t the first time the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has been involved with the character, having done voice acting on the Batman cartoons and having written the preface for The Dark Knight Archives Volume One (his piece was ghost-edited, by the way, by ComicMix’s editor-in-chief). His compensation will be donated to charity.

No word on whether Leahy’s been signed to any sequels.

MIKE GOLD: Comic Conned-Out

MIKE GOLD: Comic Conned-Out

  • News
  • August 20, 2007

A whole bunch of us ComicMixers have been attending various and sundry comic book conventions over the past half-year, and, having just come back from Chicago Wizard World, I’ve got a few observations.

For the record, we attended Comic Con in New York, Comic Con in Pittsburgh, I-Con in Stony Brook, New York, Heroes in Charlotte, North Carolina, MoCCA in NYC, the Big Apple Con in NYC, Comic-Con in San Diego, and Wizard World in Chicago. We also did the annual Book Fair and the Licensing Show, both in Manhattan. We’ve got at least three more shows coming up: the Baltimore Comic Con, another Big Apple show in Manhattan, and Mid-Ohio Con in the middle of Ohio.

MOST INTERESTING SIGHT: Scalpers hawking one-day passes at the San Diego Comic-Con. Just like at sports events and concerts. Pretty amazing. I wonder if SDCC saw many counterfeits? I wonder if I could trade my pass for two tickets to The Police?

BEST COSTUME: This is a close call, and sadly I don’t know the name of the winner. But he dressed up as Adam Strange in a costume so on-model Murphy Anderson would have swooned. Take a look; he’s the guy with the ray guns.

BEST PRESENCE OF COSTUMED FANS: I-Con, in Long Island. Damn near everybody was in a costume. Some furry, which confuses some people. But if you’re looking for the thrill of being surrounded by hundreds of costumed college students, many of whom are armed, I-Con won’t let you down.

BEST EXPOSITORY MOMENT: When Adriane Nash explained the concept and activities of “furries” to Michael Davis while at dinner in Chicago. ‘Nuff said.

BEST REUNIONS: Len Wein and I are old friends, but for some reason we haven’t been in contact for a while. A sweet, gentle, funny, talented man, Len will be visiting Munden’s Bar sometime soon. Len and I got together at Michael Davis’s SDCC dinner party, which was my second favorite meal of the convention season thus far (and it was a close second). Also, and equally, Mindy Newell, at MoCCA. Mindy used to write comics; Mindy should be writing comics. Or something. A great talent, a wonderful human being. Hiya, Mindy!

BEST MEAL: The post-Wizard World decompress at Chicago’s Gulliver’s Restaurant, the only place I can get genuine Italian beef with barbecue sauce along with the Italian beef goo. ComicMixers Adriane Nash, Mike Raub, Kai Connelly, Andrew Pepoy, and Chris Burnham joined my wife Linda and me, along with artist Reilly Brown and writer, professor and fellow Gulliver’s habituater Len Strazewski.

(more…)

Big Doctor Who Crossover Next Season?

Big Doctor Who Crossover Next Season?

  • News
  • August 19, 2007

According to Outpost Gallifrey, at a convention in New Zealand the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, stated Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor, is going to appear in a multiple Doctor episode this coming season. He did not say that he, McCoy, would be appearing, nor did he say that any of the other surviving Doctors (other than David Tennant, of course) would be in attendance.

As usualy, the BBC has no comment. The original series offered at least three shows where previous incarnations of the Doctor popped up to help save – and/or confuse – the day.

Thanks to our pal Lisa Sullivan for the lead.

MIKE GOLD: Get a life? Why?

MIKE GOLD: Get a life? Why?

  • News
  • August 13, 2007

It would be silly if I didn’t enjoy being a comics and popular culture mini-mogel. It’s fun to have movie stars call you up; that just happened. Getting into movie screenings is swell. People give you cool stuff. I’ve been friends with Will Eisner and Dick Sprang, and Dick Giordano was at my birthday party last week. I get to work with my closest friends, with people I respect, and with folks with whom I am in awe. Coupled with my fantastic, loving family, I live out Randy Newman’s great song from 1983: My Life is Good.

Of course, Newman’s a bit sarcastic, but then again, so am I. But I prefer to think of me as edgy. Randy, on the other hand, writes songs for Disney movies. We all have our outlets.

And comics is one of mine. A big one. It’s been the thread that’s run through my entire life. I learned how to read by trying to decipher Pogo and Li’l Abner on the comics page of the Chicago Daily News. I left broadcasting in 1976 to work for DC Comics, and I’ve never looked back. It’s how I met my wife and daughter (figure that one out).

So now that I’ve turned 57, I once again find myself in the middle of another “summer” comics convention season. In the past couple months we ComicMix folk have been to, oh, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Long Island, San Diego, Chicago, four or five different shows in New York City, and probably a couple I’m temporarily forgetting. I’ve still got Tarrytown NY, Baltimore MD, and Columbus Ohio to go this year, along with at least one other show in Manhattan. And one thought has been clattering against my brainpan for the last several weeks:

I’m really getting too old for all this.

Right now, I want to go see The Simpsons Movie and Sicko and the Bourne Whatever, and I want to sit down with a stack of comic books as tall as Glenn Hauman and just chill out and read ‘em.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. I’m whining. There’s a difference.

I love ComicMix, I love seeing old friends at these here conventions, and I truly enjoy meeting comics fans. But, right now, I don’t think we’ve got a show scheduled for October (I refuse to check) and, damn it, I’m going to go trick-or-treating and I’m going to go to a couple hockey games with my daughter.

You see, my life IS good.

Mike Gold is editor-in-chief of ComicMix.

Gandhi Does Davros

Gandhi Does Davros

  • News
  • August 12, 2007

The London Sun reports Oscar winning Sir Ben Kingsley is in "final" negotiations to join Doctor Who this coming season to play Davros, the man behind (and later inside) The Daleks.

Kingsley’s credits include Schlindler’s List, Twelfth Night, and Gandhi, for which he won the Oscar.

WW-CHICAGO: The Big Wiener

WW-CHICAGO: The Big Wiener

  • News
  • August 10, 2007

Perhaps the coolest event in Chicago at the start of this year’s Wizard World involved costumed characters and big cars, but it wasn’t at the convention center. It was downtown, right in front of the offices of the Chicago Tribune.

Yes, Li’l Oscar got a ticket.

Illegal parking. $50.00 fine. Damn, how many quarters would it take to feed the meters?

Matt Smith of Chicago’s Streets and Sanitation Department told the Tribune they could have towed the big weiner.  "We have access to tow trucks that could have handled a Polish sausage, not just a hot dog." Ah, but would they tow an Italian Beef sandwich?

Thanks to the Tribune’s Charlie Meyerson for the lead, and thanks to Jamie Brockett for the joke. Photograph copyright 2007 Chicago Tribune, All Rights Reserved. With mustard and onions. The author is about to jump on an airplane and fly to Chicago for one of those fantastic Italian Beef sandwichs, and, oh, some sort of convention.

 

Green Arrow Meets Voltron?

Green Arrow Meets Voltron?

  • News
  • August 10, 2007

Ha! Make you look!

Mark Gordon, the man who’s making the Green Arrow and Masters of the Universe movies, is also hard at work bringing Voltron to the big screen. Gordon’s the exec behind such stuff as Grey’s Anatomy, Saving Private Ryan, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  Fox’s New Regency hopes to squeeze a new franchise out of the deal. Justin Marks (Fast Forward, The Unbroken) is writing.

Hmmmm. Do you think Transformers‘ success had anything to do with it? Two more Transformers movies are in the works.

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