Author: Rick Marshall

Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #2 – Hot Prophecies

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, we’ll have our best Who-philes go through the most recent episode with a fine-tooth comb (or whatever the "sonic screwdriver" equivalent might be) and call out all of the continuity checks, names dropped and storyline hints we can find to keep in mind for future episodes. We’ll post our analysis 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 reading our review.

Missed a week? Readers can view past "Doctor Who in Review" features via the links at the end of this article.

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

Let’s begin now, shall we?

Season Four, Episode #2: "The Fires of Pompeii" (more…)

Video: Iron Man and Batman in ‘Hi, I’m a Marvel… and I’m a DC’

A little while ago, we told you about the "ItsJustSomeRandomGuy" panel at New York Comic Con featuring the popular YouTube filmmaker and his series of action-figure films based on Marvel and DC characters.

Late last week, his latest film hit the InterWebs — just in time for the debut of Iron Man in theaters (you can read the ComicMix reviews of the film here and here). While RandomGuy’s series has been sort of hit-or-miss for me up to this point, this one’s a keeper.

This time around, Iron Man and Batman address some of the similarities between their origins and their upcoming films.

 

 

On a side note, here’s hoping ItsJustSomeRandomGuy can finally replace that weird "Thorbuster" Iron Man figure now that Ol’ Shellhead has line of movie-based figures hitting shelves.

CBLDF Interview With Charles Brownstein

With the recent resolution of the Gordon Lee case, in which a comic shop owner was arrested for accidentally giving a copy of a Free Comic Book Day  title that contained male nudity to a child, there’s been quite a bit of attention on the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and their significant financial support for Lee during the trial.

Tom Spurgeon of The Comics Reporter has posted a lengthy, comprehensive interview with Charles Brownstein, the executive director of the CBLDF, that touches upon the Lee case, its impact on the comics industry and the group’s other current and future projects.

As always, Spurgeon conducts a great interview that really gives you all you could ever want to know about the group and why there’s a genuine need for it. In this excerpt, Brownstein discusses the group’s ability to wage future legal battles, given the expenses incurred by the Lee case, and what types of legal issues are most worrisome to CBLDF:

What really makes me lose sleep is the prospect of getting a case under the PROTECT Act’s horrifying provisions equating drawings of teen and juvenile sexuality with actual child pornography. I’ve seen a couple of convictions for anime and manga that was ruled to be child porn. These were dirty people who also had real child porn, and who deserved their convictions for that material, not for repugnant art. There’s a difference between photographic evidence of a crime and drawings.

Those are the cases where we really need the community to stay firm in their support of the First Amendment. I think a lot of the content in the sexually oriented manga is pretty repugnant, but it’s lines on paper. The thing that raises my ire about PROTECT and the current slate of child pornography laws is that in attempting to create stronger resources against sexual predators, they create categories of thought crime. Child pornography is photographic evidence of a crime. To lower that bar to include dirty drawings and uncomfortable, if not repugnant, ideas muddies the waters in a way that disrespects the severity of the crime, and the victims of it.

For the full interview — which I highly recommend reading — head over to The Comics Reporter.

‘LitGraphic’ and the Comic Arts Festival at Norman Rockwell Museum

Okay, I’ll admit that I have yet to check out The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. While this might not seem like such an egregious sin at first, consider the fact that I lived less than an hour away from the museum for nearly five years and, well… there’s really no excuse.

That’s why I was happy to see some PR cross my desk for a Comic Arts Festival happening this weekend at the museum in celebration of their ongoing "LitGraphic: The World of the Graphic Novel" exhibit.

Here’s all of the relevant info:

Comic Arts Festival at the Norman Rockwell Museum

Saturday, May 3 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Join us for an exciting day of workshops, lectures, book signings, and conversation with noted comic artists and historians in celebration of LitGraphic: The World of the Graphic Novel. 

Artists Howard Cruse, Marc Hempel, Jack Purcell, R. Sikoryak, Lauren Weinstein, and Mark Wheatley will be with us to discuss their work, lead drawing demonstrations, and inspire the creation of comics of your own. Comic art collector Scott Eder, graphic novel historian Robin Brenner, and author/art critic David A. Berona will offer insights into the evolution of the field and the current comics marketplace. Be a part of our wet ink sessions and mini comic exchange! Refreshments will be served, and lunches will be available for purchase.

As the press release mentioned, our own ComicMix comic artist Mark Wheatley (EZ Street) will be among the noted guests in attendance at the show. While that should be more than enough reason to check it out, I also hear that the museum is actually quite a nice place… but I’m hoping to confirm that for myself this weekend.

You can find out more information about the festival, including a full schedule of events and contact information, on the schedule of current exhibits at the Norman Rockwell Museum website.

ROFLCon Reports Around the InterWebs

After the brain drain of New York Comic Con, I couldn’t bring myself to pack up and head to Boston for ROFLCon — and now I’m kicking myself for not making the trip.

Apparently, gathering together "a bunch of super famous internet memes, some brainy academics and a big audience" in Cambridge, MA, makes for a pretty good time.

On the comics side of things, the Dumbrella crew, Randall Munroe of XKCD, Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics and other assorted webcomics creators made an appearance at the show, and were joined by the likes of "Tron Guy" and the "Chuck Norris Facts" creators. It was pretty much a Who’s Who of Internet celebrities, and there was a good chance that if you’ve ever sent a link to a funny video or website, someone in attendance at ROFLCon had a hand in creating it. From what I’ve gleaned from various reports and Twitterings, it was beautifully unpredictable.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, neither Chuck Norris nor Rick Astley were sighted anywhere near the event.

If you want to find out what you missed, here are a few sites to check out:

Whitney Matheson of Pop Candy has a nice "Reflections on ROFLCon" write-up of the event, and the requisite picture of herself with Tron Guy.

Tron Guy makes a cameo in a ROFLCon-inspired edition of Overcompensating as Jeffrey Rowland explains why punching Drew Curtis of Fark in the groin whenever possible is absolutely justified.

Oh, and some radio thing called NPR had a few reports, too. Actually, they had one of my favorite descriptions of the event thus far:

If ROFL Con were real life, this would be Elvis sitting next to Double Elvis sitting next to the wheel.

Heck, even BBC was there. sigh

Next year, screw New York Comic Con — it’s ROFLCon or bust.

The Flash Returns… in the Pages of NY Daily News?

  • News
  • April 30, 2008

New York City’s Daily News played spoiler to comics fans today, announcing the return of a familiar face behind a red-and-gold mask in this week’s DC Universe #0. Which of the scarlet speedsters is returning, you ask? Well, we’re posting that bit of info after the jump, lest we find ourselves forcibly evicted from ComicMix HQ by torch-wielding, spoiler-phobic crowds of angry fanboys and fangirls.

However, there’s something else about the Daily News article that has us smiling. In addition to seeking comment about the latest superhero resurrection from noted writers Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns, noted comics historian and regular ComicMix contributor Alan Kistler was also tapped for some perspective on the character’s grand return to the DCU.

Now, for the big reveal… and some big questions: (more…)

A Tale of Two Trailers: ‘Batman’ and ‘The Dark Knight’ Compared?

  • News
  • April 29, 2008

In case you haven’t seen the most recent Dark Knight Internet meme to hit Instant Message clients, blogs, Twitter, humor sites and just about every user-generated link farm around (I know it crossed my computer screen at least 20 times today), let ComicMix be the latest site to post the "Dark Knight/Batman Trailer Split-Screen" video — but with a twist. For those who haven’t heard about it yet, the video was passed around by many InterWebs users who claimed it was a split-screen comparison of the eerie similarities between the trailers for the 1989 Tim Burton Batman film and the upcoming Christopher Nolan film, The Dark Knight.

 

 

Despite the video’s sudden popularity today (with quite a few people linking to the video via the College Humor website — which also seemed to frame it as a comparison of the two trailers), this video has been around since late 2007, and was created by YouTube user VaportrailFilms after the Dark Knight trailer was released. As many Digg.com users have pointed out, this is also not a magical moment of synchronicity in the vein of Dark Side of the Moon and Wizard of Oz, either. In fact, it’s actually a "mash-up" of the Tim Burton film and the Dark Knight trailer — made up of bits and pieces sampled from the 1989 film and arranged for the best possible match.

So, while I hate to burst a good online conspiracy bubble, that’s not the original Batman trailer in the video, folks. It is, however, the product of some very nice video editing skills.

But I have to admit, the version that used the 1966 Batman film is more my cup of tea.

 

Rene Engström on SPX and the ‘Anders Loves Maria’ Tour

  • Uncategorized
  • April 29, 2008

alm-02-2001-8730269A while back, I spoke with Anders Loves Maria creator Rene Engström about her webcomic and where she finds inspiration for the popular series. Yesterday, Engström provided a little more insight regarding her creative inpirations by posting a video tour of the Gamla Stan neighborhood in Stockholm, Sweden, where many of the stories in ALM are set.

Regular readers of the series will recognize many of the buildings, statues and other landmarks Engström has used as a backdrop for stories, including the monument where Anders and Bjorn recently had a heart-to-heart of sorts. For anyone not familiar with the strip, well… you’ll probably find it interesting, too — and for more than just the beautiful Stockholm scenery. After all, one of the most popular questions posed to comic creators tends to be “Where do you get your inspiration?”

Thanks to Engström, fans of ALM now have an answer.

Also of note: Engström has posted a recap of the Small Press Expo held this past weekend in Stockholm, as well as a few photos from the show. Apparently, confusion among event organizers when it comes to the webcomic side of the industry is a common occurrence, no matter where your show is held.

Mind you they did seem very unorganised when it came to booking a table (you couldn’t), and they really had no clue what to do with webcartoonists. At one point they were trying to push me into this locked, out of the way, media room, but I refused that idea and stole a spare table and set myself up right near the entrance to the con. Which was good and bad. Good because of the traffic, but bad because everyone thought I was the information desk. “No I don’t know where the toilets are, thank you very much, please read my webcomic.”

Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #1 – New Companions, Old Feelings

The hit BBC series Doctor Who kicked off its fourth season on the Sci-Fi Channel this weekend, so there’s no better time than the present to kick off an episode-by-episode analysis of the reinvigorated science-fiction classic here on ComicMix.

Every week, we’ll have our best Who-philes go through the most recent episode with a fine-tooth comb (or whatever the "sonic screwdriver" equivalent might be) and call out all of the continuity checks, names dropped and storyline hints we can find to keep in mind for future episodes. We’ll post our analysis the following Monday, so you have ample time to check out the episode when it airs each Saturday at 9 PM EST on Sci-Fi Channel.

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

Let’s begin now, shall we?

Season Four, Episode #1: "Partners in Crime" (more…)

Michael Chabon, Guillermo del Toro Among Nebula Award Winners

  • Uncategorized
  • April 27, 2008

The Science-Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America announced their annual Nebula Award winners this weekend in Austin, TX. The non-profit association honors writers of speculative fiction each year with the awards, and this year’s list of winners included some familiar names and series to fans of comics and science-fiction/fantasy:

Novel: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon

Novella: "Fountain of Age" by Nancy Kress

Novelette: "The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate" by Ted Chiang

Short Story: "Always" by Karen Joy Fowler

Script: Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

The group also held its annual election, which I probably wouldn’t report on here were it not for some of the intriguing write-in candidates for the positions. Spiro Agnew as Vice President, eh?

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