Author: Van Jensen

Could Gisele and Friends Make Comics Too Cool?

  • News
  • July 14, 2008

Writing in the Scotsman (which has become one heck of a paper for comics coverage, if only for regular appearances of Mark Millar’s nonsense), Stephen McGinty reflects on more than 20 years of buying comics in Glasgow, and he looks forward to the medium’s potential oversaturation.

Flicking through this month’s edition of Vogue (the American edition, much classier), I came upon the pictures from a recent fashion bash in New York which was styled on a superhero theme and had supermodels and fashion writers extolling the virtues of their favourite comic-book character. When Anna Wintour starts regaling us about superheroes it’s time for the backlash to begin. The comic book should never be too cool. It’s at its best when mocked and derided and will only topple off any pedestal on to which it is raised. The brilliance of the spotlight focused on comics will lead to burn-out. Comics thrive best in the shadows to which, I hope, they will soon return.

In case you’re curious about the event, which was a superhero-themed ball at the Met, the New York Times covered it well. Here’s a classic exchange (and one that makes me think supermodels being interested in superheroes isn’t all bad:

Then Gisele Bündchen (in Versace), passed by, saying, “I want to take that Wonder Woman costume down and wear it right now, but it would probably be too revealing.” Her escort, Tom Brady (in Tom Ford), quickly commented, “I want her to wear the Wonder Woman outfit.”

Zombie: ‘Werewolf Women of the SS’ Comic Coming

  • News
  • July 14, 2008

l_f7d551d6b0f7c0cdf13985b802522f07-1546089After the Grindhouse doubleheader films came out in theater, one of the big questions was whether any of the movie trailers for fake films would lead to real movies.

There’s no Machete on the way yet, but at least one of the properties will be expanded. Just not into a movie.

Cinematical reports that Werewolf Women of the SS, Rob Zombie’s contributed trailer, will be made into a comic book series. Zombie broke the news himself on his MySpace page:

Werewolf Women of the SS is back! This time it’s back as a comic book series! The wacky exploits of Commandant Hess, Lt. Boorman, Von Strasser Eva and Gretchen Krupp, Fu Manchu and even Hiltler will be coming you way. Everything you ever wanted to know about Project Pure Wolf but were afraid to ask!

No word on a publisher yet. Zombie previously worked with Dark Horse on The Nail and IDW on Bigfoot.

Marvel’s Tom Brevoort Disses DC

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  • July 14, 2008

Safe to say there isn’t a lot of love lost between Marvel and DC these days, with that writers’ spat over Secret Invasion and Final Crisis, then rumors that DC pulled out of an awards ceremony over a Marvel joke.

Now over at Marvel’s Cup o’ Joe column at MySpace, editor Tom Brevoort has gone straight middle school on the other New York comics giant. In addition to previewing some Secret Invasion pages, Brevoort writes:

I want to announce that I’m not at all interested in replacing Dan DiDio at DC after he is booted three weeks ago, and I haven’t taken many secret, high-powered meetings with key DC and Warner’s executives, who’ve long admired my great success with Civil War and Secret Invasion and New Avengers and so forth. Dan’s doing an excellent job over there, and I’m sure I couldn’t raise their market share by 10%, 15% or 20%. Despite the fact that many top-selling, exclusive Marvel creators have called me up in response to the rumblings to let me know that they’d love to work on a DC project for me if I was running things over there and begging me to consider it, I’m not remotely intrigued by the possibility. If called, I will not answer; if I answer, I will not parley; if I parley, I will not accept the job; and if I accept the job, I will not work very hard. So there’s no truth to the wildfire speculation that links me at the hip to that position, and makes me the obvious next choice to sit in that chair. Just to make that all perfectly clear.

Ouch. I’m sure it’s all in good fun for Brevoort or Marvel, but that has to sting for DC, which has had some serious struggles lately. And, as someone who was at Heroes Con watching DiDio as those rumors came to a head, let’s just say he didn’t look like a happy guy.

Are Marvel and DC still playing softball against each other? If so, this year I’d watch out for the cleats.

‘Hellboy 2’ Tops Box Office

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  • July 14, 2008

hellboy2poster5-8184300More good news on the comic book movie front, as Hellboy 2: The Golden Army is reportedly tops at the box office, with a $35.9 million haul.

Variety says that well outpaces 2002’s Hellboy, the first teamup between director Guillermo del Toro and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. The second film didn’t face much competition, and next week brings the heavy hitter The Dark Knight, but it’s still a good (and better than expected) take.

Universal said the successful opening of the aggressively marketed “Golden Army” both cements the “Hellboy” film franchise, based on the Dark Horse Comics character, and continues the studio’s winning streak at the summer box office.

“This is an incredible result. No other studio wanted to do this, but Universal had the wherewithal to do it. You had a very talented filmmaker, plus a great marketing campaign that created a huge demand,” said U prexy of distribution Nikki Rocco.

“Golden Army’s” audience breakdown intrigued competing studios. Of Friday’s audience, 69% were male, while a sizeable 58% were over the age of 25, pointing to del Toro’s draw. A full 10% were over the age of 50, while 34% were 35 and older.

Sounds like a third film is possible, depending on how ticket sales hold up.

I finally got to see it Sunday, with a moderately full theater. Lots of good laughs, but overall it was pretty uneven, mainly because of some weaknesses in the script.

Full San Diego Comic-Con Programming Online

  • News
  • July 14, 2008

comic_con_logo-5300575Comic-Con International has posted the full schedule for the upcoming extravaganza in San Diego, and it’s overwhelming as expected.

Here’s Friday. And here’s Saturday.

Featured guests and exhibits are way too long to list, but Heidi MacDonald over at The Beat does a good job of breaking down the highlights.

Those two days, by the way, are already sold out, and Thursday’s tickets are just about gone. Get those comfortable walking shoes ready.

And while you’re there, keep an eye out for some of our ComicMix crew, who’ll be reporting on all the big news, and, if we’re lucky, keeping another running tally on slave Leia sightings.

Comic-Con 2008 Programming

comic_con_logo-4267202Half of the four-day schedule for San Diego’s Comic-Con International 2008 is up and running.

Here’s Thursday. Here’s Sunday.

Obviously, much cool stuff to choose from. Too much cool stuff, in fact. Makes me almost not sad that I won’t make it this year (watch out 2009!).

While we’re on the subject, Variety has a retrospective of the early days of Comic-Con, when film people had little idea how to relate to comics fans.

Although it was more than 30 years ago, for example, I keenly recall a preview of the 1978 feature “Superman,” where the studio rep described the campy villain Lex Luthor, played by Gene Hackman, as a real-estate mogul, not a master criminal. He was practically hooted off the stage.

Gradually, the studios started to wise up, hiring publicists specifically trained to handle Comic-Con’s savvy but easily riled audience. When Ridley Scott’s space-horror film “Alien” was showcased — using little more than a slide show of surrealist H.R. Giger’s jaw-dropping conceptual art — the crowd was blown away.

Del Toro’s ‘Hellboy 2’ Diary

  • News
  • July 13, 2008

hellboy2poster5-4157023Over at the New York Times, reviewer A.O. Scott takes an almost apologetically positive stance on Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Among the many things he compliments is director Guillermo del Toro’s extensive use of puppets in lieu of CGI.

It’s one of the things I’ve long loved about del Toro’s movies, an appreciation driven into overdrive by the extra DVD wih the first Hellboy movie that explained how the puppets were made.

As part of the Times’ coverage of the new flick, they have extensive excerpts from del Toro’s production diary, as well as audio of del Toro himself explaining the entries.

And of course, don’t forget to check out the multitude of Hellboy 2 coverage right here at ComicMix.

DC and Warner Talk Movies

Warner Bros. is apparently looking to emulate the success Marvel has had making its own movies, such as Iron Man and Incredible Hulk.

Variety is reporting some Warner honchos held meetings with people at DC Comics to try to develop a better pipeline from page to screen.

Warners has never had such a strategy, and there have long been complaints the studio has been slow to exploit a potential treasure trove of franchises. And while the studio is basking in critical love for “The Dark Knight,” it has watched studio rivals rake in big bucks from Marvel Comics characters, and Marvel itself get into the tentpole business.

While it’s assumed there will be another Batman pic, there’s been no formal announcement. And Warners has no movies based on the classic DC universe to preview at this year’s Comic-Con.

Few details are coming out, aside from this official statement: "We’re constantly looking at how best to exploit the DC Comics characters and properties." Exploit?

Now, if only someone from Warners would talk to DC about straightening out their comic book line.

26 Cartoonists Dustin Harbin Met and Liked

  • News
  • July 12, 2008

Dustin Harbin continues to both surprise and amaze.

The Heroes are Hard to Find comics shop employee is also THE GUY when it comes to Heroes Con, seeming to be everywhere at once, making sure everything was just right. He also donned one sweet white suit for the nightly bar crawl, but that’s neither here nor there.

Now he’s showing off both his love of cartooning and his art chops on his blog, with the following image "26 cartoonists which I have recently met and liked." And there’s a larger version on Dustin’s Flickr page.

New ‘Conan’ Poster Muscles Up

  • News
  • July 12, 2008

conan_teaser-2943753There’s a new Conan movie on the way, supposedly headed to theaters next year.

Granted, there’s no director, no cast and no crew (so far as IMDB knows), but there is the image at right.

IMP Awards has the first poster for the film, and it looks about exactly like what you’d expect it to look like. Big, muscly guy with a sword.

Maybe it’ll be a shot-for-shot remake, like the Gus van Sant Psycho.

Since we’re on the topic already, what actors would you like to see cast as the sword-wielding Cimmerian?

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