Author: Rick Marshall

Interview: Jeffrey Brown on ‘Sulk’ and the ‘Incredible Change-Bots’ Toys

  • Uncategorized
  • July 21, 2008

jeffrey-brown-00-9928571There’s a lot to like about the contradictions surrounding award-winning writer/artist Jeffrey Brown (I Am Going to be Small). His intensely personal work isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when considering properties destined to become action figures, but that didn’t stop Devil’s Due Publishing from licensing the characters from Brown’s Incredible Change-Bots series for their new "Pop" line of collectible toys — the first of which is scheduled for an August release.

In contrast, the work of Brown and several of his peers recently became the focus of an exhibit in the Galerie Anne Barrault in Paris, France. The exhibit, titled "Midwest," promises to explore "the American Midwest, a huge, flat, agricultural area around Chicago, stretching over several states, swept by the winds, dotted with the Great Lakes."

I recently had the chance to speak with the soft-spoken Brown about the Incredible Change-Bots toy deal, as well his upcoming projects and the overseas exhibit of his work.

COMICMIX: How did Change-Bots get connected with Devil’s Due, Jeff?

JEFFREY BROWN: Tim Seeley happens to live around the corner from me and we shop at the same local comic shop. Sam Wells happened to be a groomsman in a wedding that my girlfriend and I were attending, so I met him there.

So I knew all of these people at Devil’s Due. They had the Change-Bots book sitting around, and came to me with the idea.

(more…)

Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #11 – Turn Left

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 #11: "Turn Left" (more…)

Chess Boxing and Comics

  • News
  • July 21, 2008

Time Magazine recently turned the spotlight on a sport that’s worth noting here for two reasons: First, it sounds so bizarre that it could have been ripped off the pages of a comic book; and second, it was pulled from the pages of a comic book.

Welcome to the world of "Chess Boxing," folks.

The chess-boxing combo traces its roots back to a 1992 comic book, titled The Nikopol Trilogy, in which the men of the future box on a chessboard floor. The image inspired Dutch artist Iepe Rubingh to hold — and compete in — the first official chess-boxing bout in Amsterdam in 2003.

According to Time, chess-boxing competitors "alternate between three-minute rounds of boxing and four-minute rounds of speed chess,  with one-minute breaks in between to get the gloves off and hunker down at the chess table." Victories are earned via knockouts, checkmates, or referee decisions.

The current Chess Boxing champion is a19-year-old Russian math student — which makes it that much more interesting, as far as I’m concerned.

Video: Batman Needs to Calm Down With the ‘Dark Knight’ Stuff

  • News
  • July 20, 2008

Leave it to the folks at Cracked.com to create a Dark Knight-inspired video that includes Jim Gordon telling Batman, "You’ve apprehended 13 people over the past week for loitering and 12 of them were hauled into the station with poop in their pants. Actual poop!"

And it just gets getter (or worse, depending on your perspective) from there:

 

Webcomic News Roundup: Perry Bible Fellowship and BoaSas Go Global!

  • News
  • July 18, 2008

While preparation for San Diego Comic-Con has been keeping most webcomic creators busy these days, there’s still a lot of news popping up that has nothing to do with how many boxes of t-shirts have been shipped to the West Coast. Here are some of the highlights:

Jill-of-all-trades comics journalist Laura Hudson recently conducted a really, really spectacular interview with Perry Bible Fellowship creator Nicholas Gurewitch for Publisher’s Weekly. In the interview, Gurewitch reveals some details about a potential BBC project involving PBF:

I‘ll be adapting a couple of the strips for the pilot, and I just got the news the other day that they wanted to make it longer because they liked the 12-minute treatment I sent. They want to make it a 30-minute pilot. I’m actually working with a British television company, Endemol Entertainment. A number of people there had ordered some prints from me, and apparently someone brought them into the office. It became known amongst them that they really liked the comic, and [making the pilot] was just a decision that came about organically because of that. They all realized they liked the strip, and said, “Why don’t we do a show?”

In more international news, Steven L. Cloud has left the country! The Boy on a Stick and Slither creator officially embarked on his globe-trotting "Mongol Rally" charity event this week. Once everything gets underway, Cloud has promised that you’ll be able to follow the adventure via Twitter. Be sure to check out my interview with Cloud for his thoughts on the event, and this Google Map showing the route they plan to take. (more…)

SDCC ’08: PopCandy Looms Large

  • News
  • July 18, 2008

While keeping a running tally of all the events of note at this year’s Comic-Con International is a job best left to the professionals, I can’t help but draw attention to one event that caught my eye — mainly because of its outstanding promotional art.

Check out the poster for Saturday evening’s PopCandy Meetup, painted by USA Today illustrator Keith Simmons, and based on the original art from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman:

I’ll certainly be there with one or more other members of the ComicMix crew, so if you’re interested in dropping by, here are all of the details. Be sure to RSVP ahead of time, as PopCandy’s Whitney Matheson has promised one-of-a-kind giveaways to everyone who does so.

Watchmen Movie Trailer Image Gallery

  • News
  • July 17, 2008

When the Watchmen movie trailer hit the ‘Tubes today, word traveled pretty quickly. Of course, so did the orders to take it down on various sites, making it difficult for some fans to find out what all the fuss was about. To that end, here’s a collection of screenshots from various scenes that appeared during the trailer, so you can talk amongst yourselves about this first glimpse at the much-anticipated adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel.

Here are a few images to whet your appetite, presented in order of their appearance in the trailer, but be sure to view the full gallery after the jump:

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watchmen2-00-3398114

 

(more…)

‘Watchmen’ Trailer Debuts

  • News
  • July 17, 2008

The headline pretty much says it all, as the trailer for the much-anticipated adaptation of Alan Moore and David Gibbons’ groundbreaking graphic novel Watchmen was released on Empire Online today. The Empire Online video is down, but the trailer has found its way to YouTube, of course. (As various verisons get posted and taken down, I’ll try to keep this thread updated with any that are still available. Be sure to check out our Watchmen trailer image gallery, too!)

 


 

(via a tip from UglyHill)

 

UPDATE: Well, you knew that was bound to happen. The YouTube video has been taken down, and the Empire Online page remains in a state of 404 Error. Here’s hoping you were able to catch the trailer while it was floating around — it was impressive, to say the least.

UPDATE: Thanks to another astute ComicMix fan, we’ve tracked down the trailer elsewhere on the ‘Tubes and embedded it after the jump. (Thanks, RJ, Jr.!) (more…)

Interview: Jeph Jacques on ‘Questionable Content’

  • News
  • July 17, 2008

questionablecontent1-00x-3293550Now approaching its fifth year on the World Wide Internets, Questionable Content has gone through quite a few changes since its beginnings as an indie-rock webcomic that chronicled the life, loves and culture criticisms of "music nerds" Marten, Faye and a surrounding cast of characters (which also included Marten’s troublemaking, sentient "AnthroPC," Pintsize).

These days, the cast has expanded singificantly to include fan-favorite characters such as Marten’s obsessive-compulsive neighbor, Hannelore, and the relationships between major and minor characters have been explored, dismissed, or in the case of Marten and the "Coffee of Doom" owner Dora, bloomed into long-term (by webcomic standards, at least) plot points. While drama has managed to carve a niche for itself in the world of QC, Jacques has similarly carved out a name for himself among the top-tier creators in the webcomic scene.

After wandering through the QC archives a bit, I was struck by the differences in those first strips posted back in August 2003 and today’s QC. Both the art and the focus of the series have shifted dramatically in the last few years — much moreso than many of the strips on my radar. With that in mind, I recently took the opportunity to pick Jacques’ brain about the origins and development of the series and the nature of "indie cred."

COMICMIX: I’m familiar with the area QC is based on, so I think it would be interesting to hear your take on the setting for the series and how it compares to its real-world counterpart…

JEPH JACQUES: For those not In The Know™, QC is set in Northampton, Massachusetts, a smallish town in the western end of the state, home to Smith College. Northampton is a Very Fancy Town that likes to pretend it is actually a chunk of Manhattan that somehow got carried two hours due north (possibly via Hipster Albatross).

The QC version of Northampton corresponds roughly, at best, with its real-world counterpart. Many of the streets are the same (almost all the outdoor backgrounds are taken from real-life photographs) but there are differences. Coffee of Doom, for instance, exists on some bizarre meta-street that does not actually exist in the real world. The exact location of Marten’s apartment building is similarly a mystery. Basically, I use the actual town layout when it’s convenient, but break the rules whenever it suits me.

As for the cultural setting, from what I can tell Northampton is primarily young, liberal, Caucasian, and college-educated, and the cast of QC essentially reflects that. (more…)

Heath Ledger, The Joker and the ‘Dark Knight’ Audio

  • News
  • July 17, 2008

Back in January, after the untimely death of actor Heath Ledger, we posted audio from an interview we had conducted with Ledger as part of a special edition of ComicMix Radio. In the interview, Ledger discussed his reasons for taking the role of The Joker in the Batman Begins sequel, as well as his thoughts on how best to prepare for the role. With the release ofThe Dark Knight fast approaching and Ledger’s passing certainly looming large over the project, we thought the interview might be worth another listen for ComicMix fans.

With that in mind, we present (or re-present, in this case) the ComicMix Radio interview with Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight.

joker1-00-7352421

For more on The Dark Knight, make sure you don’t miss our special Dark Knight-themed edition of ComicMix Six, featuring The Joker’s Greatest Victories,  as well as our recent list of Must-Read Batman Stories to get you caught up with the Dark Knight.

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