Author: Rick Marshall

The Dark Knight’s Leading Ladies?

  • News
  • July 16, 2008

catwoman-00-2124140With The Dark Knight looming large this week, Cinematical’s resident "geek beat" writer Elisabeth Rappe recently put together a list of the ladies she’d like to see introduced in the new Batman film franchise. Among her thoughtful reflections on potential leading ladies for Gotham’s favorite superhero are Catwoman ("she needs to be redeemed from that awful Halle Berry film"), Poison Ivy ("Nolan could revise her into a true eco-terrorist, a scientist who takes ‘green living’ a little too seriously") and the suggestion with the most potential, in my opinion, Talia al-Ghul:

Talia al-Ghul is another potential villain for Batman to take on – but her role in the comics is never so clear cut. She is continuously torn between loyalty to her father and her love for Batman. This complex relationship seems ideal for Nolan’s world, and Ra’s al Ghul’s apparent death in Batman Begins would lend an added dimension. Bonus points if they actually went so far as to bless the union, if you get what I mean.

Head over to Cinematical for the full list of Gotham City Gals.

Interview: Garth Ennis on ‘Crossed’

  • News
  • July 16, 2008

crossed0-00-2536991No stranger to pushing the boundaries of storytelling in the comics world, Garth Ennis has routinely shocked and awed readers of such titles as Preacher, The Boys, Punisher and recently, The Chronicles of Wormwood. In early August, Ennis looks to repeat that success with Crossed, a story that promises to be a "horrifically visceral exploration of the pure evil that humans are truly capable of indulging." The series will be published by Avatar Press — also no stranger to testing the limits of mature-themed projects — with art provided by Ennis’ former collaborator on Wormwood, Jacen Burrows.

According to the solicit text for the series:

Imagine, for a moment, the worst crimes against humanity. Picture the cruelest affronts to decency. Conjure your darkest nightmares… and then realize it could all be so much worse. When civilization crumbles in one terrifying moment; when people are gleefully breaking into unthinkable acts of violence all around you; when everyone you love has died screaming in agony: What do you do? There is no help. There is no hope. There is no escape. There are only the Crossed. Certain to be the most depraved and corrupt book of the year, this one is not for the faint of heart!

With the prologue issue of Crossed (#0) hitting shelves immediately after this year’s San Diego Comic-Con International, I posed a few questions to Ennis about the origins of the series, his thoughts on pushing the boundaries in today’s comics scene and what really shocks him these days.

COMICMIX: What sparked the idea for Crossed, Garth?

GARTH ENNIS: I had a dream that I thought was going to be about zombies attacking a house full of victims, but it turned out they weren’t zombies at all. They were simply people, grinning with psychotic glee at the thought of what they were going to do to the occupants of the house — which wasn’t going to be anything nice. Then I woke up.

Thanks again, subconscious self.

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San Diego Comic-Con: Everything You Need To Know And Then Some

  • News
  • July 15, 2008

comic_con_logo-6878829We’ve already posted several round-ups of where you can find information about tickets, programming and other concerns related to this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego next weekend, and while I’ve been considering the idea of some sort of official guide to the show, I might be better off just directing you to the exhaustive "Guide to Visiting and Enjoying Comic-Con International" posted by Tom Spurgeon in May.

Sure, the article was published more than a month ago, but much of what it details holds true now — and if you’re like me, you’ve avoided thinking about anything related to "Nerd Prom" until you absoluely have to do so. It’s well worth the time it takes to read through the article, and offers up the sort of wisdom that only years upon years of attending the show tend to produce.

Among the topics Spurgeon addresses in his guide are "What to Prepare in Advance" and "Ways to Maximize Your Hotel Experience," as well as tips about the local transit service, notable sights and services, and a metric crap-ton of other helpful hints.

From "Eighteen Random Observations About San Diego Hotels":

The trend downtown is towards 1) boutique hotels that cost an arm and a leg with features to match, and 2) big-name luxury hotels that can ramp up their room prices to those levels. Soon, no one without a major film development deal will be able to afford a downtown hotel, and all the comics people will stay in a tent city north of the zoo, burning old copies of Star Comics to keep warm at night and staging gladiator-style fights between inkers vs. colorists for entertainment.

If you’re headed to San Diego, this is pretty much required reading, folks. Do yourself a favor and give it a read.

The Dark Knight: 11 Must-Read Batman Stories

  • News
  • July 15, 2008

A few months back, we posted a reading list for anyone who wants to catch up on the Batman mythos before checking out The Dark Knight. With the release of the blockbuster Batman Begins sequel looming, we wanted to call out that reading list one more time, just in case you missed it the first time around.

Our "11 Batman Stories to Read Before Watching The Dark Knight" feature rounds up some of the most important Batman stories to occur in the period leading up the events of The Dark Knight, according to our comic book historian Alan Kistler’s perceived timeline of the Batman mythos. We explain why each story is important, provide a general synopisis of what occurs and call out any special notes for fans of the character who want to learn more about DC’s famous hero.

Here’s an excerpt:

batman-yearone-7796244Batman: Year One – It all starts here in this story by Frank Miller (Sin City) and David Mazuchelli (DAREDEVIL: Born Again). After years of learning how to be a detective and training in the martial arts and ninjitsu in the Far East, Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City to begin his war on crime. Learn how he first met a young Lt. James Gordon (who would later become the famous commissioner of the GCPD) and hot-shot District Attorney Harvey Dent, as they all try to free their city from a corrupt police department and fight against the mobster known as Carmine “The Roman” Falcone.

This comic also features the reason Bruce Wayne chose a bat as his symbol and his first encounter with Catwoman. The end of this story leads directly into another item on our reading list, BATMAN: The Man Who Laughs.

Batman and the Monster Men – In Year One, you might notice a large gap of time that passes between November and December. This story, written and drawn by Grendel’s Matt Wagner, takes place during that gap and reimagines one of Batman’s earliest stories from the Golden Age of Comics. Meet Bruce Wayne’s early girlfriend, Julie Madison, and watch his first encounter with the sociopathic Professor Hugo Strange. This story also introduces the proto-version of the Batmobile.

So be sure to check out our list of The Dark Knight Must-Read Stories if you haven’t done so already and keep an eye here on ComicMix throughout the week for more on The Dark Knight, which hits theaters July 18.

 

Interview: Joss Whedon on ‘Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog’

  • Uncategorized
  • July 15, 2008

horrible-00-00-6763795Creator Joss Whedon is no stranger to innovation and odds-defying creative success, having launched a massively popular television series out of a panned film, reinvented and reinvigorated various comic book properties, and transitioned a cancelled television project into a well-received feature film. With this week’s debut of his three-part musicial series Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, he looks to break new ground once again, as the project he conceived during the recent Writers Guild strike and created with "friends and family" hits the Internet and looks to test a new model for online distribution of creative projects.

Starting on Tuesday, July 15, the first 10-minute episode of Doctor Horrible, starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day, will be posted on drhorrible.com. Subsequent episodes will be posted on July 17 and July 19, and remain free to view until midnight on July 20. At that time, all of the episodes will be taken down until the DVD of the series is released at a later date. Whedon promises to let fans know more about the DVD release and his grand experiment in distribution during the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con convention, during which he’ll screen the complete series one more time for attendees.

I was recently given the chance to have a short conversation with Whedon about Doctor Horrible, the impetus for this new project and his experience working with one of my favorite actors, Neil Patrick Harris.

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Dean Haspiel and the ‘Street Code’ Preview

  • News
  • July 14, 2008

Over at Whitney Matheson’s Pop Candy blog, there’s a preview of Dean Haspiel’s upcoming semi-autobiographical webcomic Street Code. I’ve always been a fan of Haspiel’s work, ever since I first encountered a Billy Dogma story published by the act-i-vate webcomics collective.

From Matheson’s post about the preview:

"I felt that it was the right time to take what I learned drawing other people’s lives the past few years and revisit drawing my own," he told me.

The story follows Jack, a New Yorker who relocates from Alphabet City to Brooklyn, "where most everything he stumbles upon is not as it seems."

What I find most interesting about this project is that Haspiel is publishing it on DC’s controversial Zuda Comics webcomic imprint. Haspiel’s sensibilities have always struck me as more indie-aligned despite his work with some of the larger publishers, so it will be interesting to see how he’ll fare in this heavily scrutinized publishing model.

Street Code kicks off July 18.

Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #10 – Midnight

The hit BBC series Doctor Who is now in its fourth season on the Sci-Fi Channel, and since we’re all big fans here at ComicMix, we’ve decided to kick off an episode-by-episode analysis of the reinvigorated science-fiction classic.

Every week, I’ll do my best to go through the most recent episode with a fine-tooth comb (or whatever the “sonic screwdriver” equivalent might be) and call out the highlights, low points, continuity checks and storyline hints I can find to keep in mind for future episodes. I’ll post the review each Monday, so you have ample time to check out the episode once it airs each Friday at 9 PM EST on Sci-Fi Channel before I spoil anything.

Missed a week? Check out the “Doctor Who in Review” archive or check out any of the past editions of this column via the links at the end of this article.

Keep in mind, I’m going to assume readers have already watched the episode when I put fingers to keyboard and come up with the roundup of important plot points. In other words, SPOILER ALERT!

Let’s begin now, shall we?

Season Four, Episode #10: “Midnight”

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The Origin of Image Comics?

  • News
  • July 12, 2008

Part of me really just wants to post the image here and leave it at that, but there probably should be some explanation. Over at the San Diego Reader, former Rock n’ Roll Comics co-creator Jay Allen Sanford has put together an illustrated history of the "The Birth of Image Comics" as part of a recurring feature spotlighting some of the local comics talent in the run-up to San Diego Comic-Con. Seen below is Sanford’s interpretation of the reaction from Stan Lee when Rob Liefeld decided to break from Marvel.

See? The explanation wasn’t nearly as entertaining as the illustration now, was it?

Also in this edition of the Reader’s "Local Comic Publishers History" lesson:

  • The Birth of Image Comics
  • Pacific Comics: The inside story of a legendary local comic book company (including a history of indie comics and the Creator’s Rights revolution)
  • RIP Dave Stevens, famous former neighbor who created the Rocketeer
  • Don’t Fear the Funnies: A history of censorship in comics
  • The New Kids On The Block VS Revolutionary Comics – illustrated by Superman/Supergirl artist Stuart Immonen

Webcomic News Roundup: Goats Goes Big, Webcomics.com For Sale

  • News
  • July 11, 2008

By far, the biggest item of note this week was announced today, as one of the longest-running webcomics in the ‘Tubes will now be collected in a series of 150-page Goats tomes. If you want to know the whole scoop, you can read my interview with Goats creator Jon Rosenberg here on ComicMix, as well as Gary Tyrell’s mustachioed Q&A stylings over on Fleen.

Here’s an excerpt from Tyrrell’s interview:

Q: Any of your other material — earlier strips, the tantalizingly incomplete Patent Pending and Worlds of Peril, your minicomics (including the long hoped-for Operating Thetan III) — that might now see print as a result of this deal? 

A: Anything is possible, but a lot of the projects you mentioned were ended for good reason. Patent Pending needs to be completely rethought and redone if I ever decide to work on it again, it would have made a better novel than comic I suspect. The Worlds of Peril comics were the inspiration for a lot of what makes up The Infinite Pendergast Cycle, I like to think that it’s the story of what takes place in the aftermath of Goats proper. It’s not canon, though, so don’t be reading too much into that.

The first minicomic is going to be reworked slightly to serve at the intro chapter for Infinite Typewriters. The second one could theoretically be included as an extra in one of the other volumes. I don’t have any plans to produce OT3 at this time but if I can fix some of the plot issues I could see it appearing in the future in some form, either as a standalone or as an arc of Goats.

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Heroes Con Video Wrap-Up

  • Uncategorized
  • July 11, 2008

Sure, everyone’s mind is on the looming behemoth over on the West Coast, but I can’t help but direct your attention back to one of the more recent shows with this collection of video from Heroes Con last month.

Tom Spurgeon has all 11 clips over at The Comics Reporter, as well as a rundown of what you’re likely to find in them (though he’s not making any promises).

It’s worth keeping in mind that this convention occurred during the height of activity on the "Dan DiDio is being fired" rumor mill, and the first clip (which I’ve embedded here) features Spurgeon’s opening query of DiDio during the "State of the Industry" panel, asking him simply, "How was your week?" (Hint: It occurs around the 5:00 mark.)

 

 

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