Author: Mike Raub

Todd McFarlane recently announced that he’s returning to Spawn, the comic that helped build his empire. In a few months he, along with Image co-founder Whilce Portacio, return to the series and we’ve got the details, plus:

— Viper brings back The Killer Tomatoes

— Patsy Walker gets her soot in the Marvel Universe

— This week’s stellar list of new comics and DVDs

Just press the button and cool off!

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No matter what turns up on the big screen next week, The Incredible Hulk will be action-packed. That’s the promise we got from director Louis Leterrier, plus:

— William Messner-Loebs goes Boom!

— The Hulk producer acquired more comics

— Baseball cards go digital, but how do we get the gum?

And are you shocked? More sellouts at Marvel. Get the scoop now by pressing the button!

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Direct from Book Expo 2008 in LA, one of the biggest questions on the floor actually involves The Incredible Hulk movie set to open in just under two weeks. Will Marvel Studios hit another homer or end up batting .500 at the end of the summer? We begin our coverage with a frank talk with the movie’s producer, Gale Anne Hurd, plus:

• More on Devil’s Due Publishing and a preview of their newest series

• Disney gets back into comics

• Clear the bookshelves for some amazing works from Joe Simon

And we manage to do a Hulk story without a reference to Lou Ferrigno – honest? Press the button and you’ll see!

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For the first time ever, there is no new original Star Trek series on television, but your favorite characters are alive and well in book form. Discover what’s been going on with the Next Gen crew, DS9 and more, plus:

— Marvel unveils two new, hard-to-get treasures

— Famous Monsters is back!

— "Dial H For"??

You just want to kill time before the three-day weekend – so  press the button!

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This day began like the others all have, here at my computer. I heard the familiar startup sound of my Mac, saw the comforting image of my wallpaper and then opened up my e-mail.

Spam… joke… spam…. annoying forward… reminder on work I need to do… spam…

And then a pile of e-mails in a row –  all on the death of Rory Root.

Rory wasn’t a writer, an artist or editor, yet I am certain he brought more comics into people’s lives than a lot of folks who hold those titles. Rory was a retailer – a comic book guy with a store in Berkley, California. And he was one of the best.

Over the days to come, you will read a lot of things about Rory and the way he loved the industry. Wonderful tribute sites are already taking shape here and here. Still, I welcome the chance to briefly share my little “Rory Story” here on ComicMix.

Although we hadn’t seen much of each other in the past few years, Rory was still my friend. In my comic retailing days, we grew close as part of a network of like-minded store owners that went by a number of organizational titles. No matter what the reason, we had to get together, and it was great. We shared ideas, bitched about all the things we hated and longed for the days when comics would finally get the mainstream attention they deserved. Most of all, though, we argued. Nothing malicious, just the good-natured, free-thinking debate of which Rory was a master. Rory could take a side and beat you down with it, then take your side and beat you down with that one as well, all while holding this enormous urn of coffee that was seemingly never empty. It gave him great joy to be right in these exchanges, and usually he was.

Today, I am re-running so many of those matches in my head and I even remember one (just one) where I think I came out on top.

Then again, I bet Rory had it planned that way.

Here’s hoping that coffee cup is still full and hot, old buddy.