Category: News

ComicMix catchup

  • News
  • February 26, 2007

We at ComicMix are dedicated to bringing you as much stuff as we can, but we also know that means sometimes you miss things.  We know you want tagging and site feed and comments and that’s all coming down the pike real soon, but in the meantime here’s your handy-dandy guide to the second round of entries by our regular columnists. 

Look for Mike every Monday (in fact, his latest should be right below), Denny on Tuesday, me on Wednesday, John on Thursday, and Michael on Friday, and guest features on the weekend.  For those of you who, like me, grew up with the Marvel superhero cartoons in the ’60s, that means Mike = Captain America, Denny = the Hulk, me = Iron Man, John = Thor, and Michael = Namor.  (Hey, don’t knock it, that’s how I first discovered that Thursday was named after Thor!)

We also gave you a special "mother and child reunion" pair of featured columns this past weekend:

And our latest podcasts, hosted by Mellifluous Mike Raub, continue:

Happy reading and listening!

 

Mike Gold: True Convention Thrills!

  • News
  • February 26, 2007

mikegold100-2736036Great Caesar’s Ghost, my first comic convention actually was 38 and one-half years ago. I thought about that a lot this past weekend. I recall hearing about 300 people attended that show; we were completely astonished by the huge turnout.

It was one of the late Phil Seuling’s first Fourth of July shows in New York, and he established the standard by which I measure all comic book conventions. I helped run the Chicago Comicon for ten years, and I tried to hold us to that same standard. Phil’s shows were absolutely great, and of course they grew in size and importance with the times. (more…)

Abrams to direct Trek XI — official?

  • News
  • February 26, 2007

After more rumor that what the smoke monster is on Lost, J.J. Abrams will direct the Star Trek XI movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Abrams had already said that he was writing the script and producing the movie for Paramount, which is re-launching the Gene Rodenberry franchise with this the 11th Star Trek feature film. 

According to an oft-repeated yet not quite officially confirmed story,the movie is a prequel, taking place prior to the time represented in the original Star Trek TV series when both James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock are at the Starfleet Academy. William Shatner had stated he was approached for a cameo.

The film is set for release November 26, 2008, just in time for the 40th anniversary of the cancellation of the original series.

Cartoon characters invade classic paintings

  • News
  • February 25, 2007

dancinghippodegas-4236127Worth1000 is running one of their periodic Photoshop contests. This time, the contestants are asked to update an old painting, placing a cartoon character in the original work.

Pictured at right, we present The Dancing Hippo by Degas. Soundtrack, of course, by Allan Sherman.

Writers take on JLA movie

  • News
  • February 25, 2007

jla1turner-8308610Via Sci-Fi Wire, Variety reports that Warner Brothers has hired husband and wife team Kieran and Michele Mulroney to write the script for its hoped-for Justice League of America movie. It’s the first major action the studio has taken on the project, the trade paper reported. The studio isn’t saying which heroes may be included in the film.

Development of the film is complicated by the fact that Warner has already revived its Batman and Superman film franchises, with Christian Bale’s Batman Begins and the upcoming The Dark Knight and Brandon Routh’s Superman Returns and its upcoming sequel. The studio is also developing a Wonder Woman film.

shaw_crewman-7865638Kieran and Michele Mulroney wrote the screenplay for the horror film Mirrors, which is in pre-production with Kiefer Sutherland attached. Kieran is also an actor, with credits in Enterprise, Seinfeld, and Star Trek: The Next Generation, among others.

NYCC – Panel reviews

  • News
  • February 25, 2007

During the most crowded day of a comics convention (or even on the other days), it’s never a bad idea to take in some panels.  The best conventions offer a wide variety of programs in comfortable and intimate settings that you just can’t duplicate at a booth or exhibition hall.  They represent just about any interest and subculture related to comics and other "geek-centric" entertainment, and create a participatory and egalitarian feel among panelists and attendees.

This NYCC saw a diversity of topics to please everyone from moviegoers to Japanophiles to old-school aficionados to the creators of tomorrow.  One of the best things about it was the implicit acknowledgement that about as many women as men were expected to take in the programming.  At least four panels so far have dealt with women in comics (real women storytellers as opposed to fictional women characters), and yet other panels having nothing to do with that topic featured female panelists as a matter of routine.  This is the very type of situation advocacy groups like Friends of Lulu hoped to work toward for so many years, and it’s a real privilege to see it come to fruition.

olympus-digital-camera-12

Here’s a photo from a Friday panel.  Some thoughts on it and a couple other panels attended so far: (more…)

Courting justice with editorial cartoons

  • News
  • February 25, 2007

960-1386709Mikhaela Reid is working on what she calls an "alternate reality cartoon" series for Lambda Legal (a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work) imagining what life might be like in a world where courts did not uphold Constitutional law.  Life Without Fair Courts is also running in The Advocate magazine, which is sponsoring the series along with Prism Comics, a nonprofit organization that supports LGBT comics, creators, and readers.

The educational endeavor also features a nationwide contest to find the best representation of what the artists’ own lives would look like without fair courts. Prizes include exposure in The Advocate and donated shopping sprees from Diamond Comics Distributors. Contest judges include Reid, Joan Hilty, Phil Jimenez and George Stoll (The Advocate’s Art Director) for The Advocate. Submissions to the contest will be accepted through March 15.

Let’s hope all entries remain in the realm of fiction!

NYCC – Minx for teens

  • News
  • February 25, 2007

plainjanescover-1882898At the first-ever panel for DC’s Minx line, editor Shelly Bond (described by Marketing Director Gayley Carillo as "the mastermind" behind the imprint) talked about the inception of her quest to bring interesting modern stories to a whole new demographic.

About 3-4 years ago, Bond was in a bookstore and noticed a number of teenaged girls crowding around the manga section. That’s when she became determined to seek out creators from all different areas to write and draw "edgy, evocative and fearless" stories that would appeal specifically to today’s teen readers.

Part of that appeal, Minx hopes, will be inherent in the surface form of the imprint, like the trade dress and price point.  Each book will be 176 pages, with color covers and interiors done in black and white and greytones.  Each will feature a free preview of another book in the line.  And each will cost under $10.  

(more…)

metronome-9364260

Performance art comics?

  • News
  • February 25, 2007

metronome-9364260Metronome  is described as "a 64-page graphic novel by Véronique Tanaka: a ‘silent,’ erotically-charged visual poem, an experimental non-linear story using a palette of iconic ligne clair images. Symbolism, visual puns and trompe l’oeil conspire in a visual mantra that could be described as ‘existential manga’ if it wasn’t for the fact that there is a very human and elegantly-structured tale providing a solid foundation to the cutting-edge storytelling." 

The graphic novel will be published next year by NBM, but it’s available to view as a 17-minute animated (actually, still-shots) movie on this site if you fork over the equivalent of about four bucks.  I confess I didn’t last more than a minute and a half, two minutes tops.  Not only did I see no storytelling, but it seemed to have all the earmarks of a pretentious performance art piece worthy of the likes of a young Yoko Ono. 

If Grapefruit were a graphic novel-imagined-as-an-animated movie, it might look something like this.  Only without the grapefruit, and with a lava lamp, a fly, a piano, and a metronome, among other things.

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