Category: News

The Hunger Games Special Features Spotlighted

  • News
  • July 11, 2012

The news about Philip Seymour Hoffman being expertly cast in Catching Fire reminds us that we’re just over a month away from the frenzy that will be the Blu-ray release of The Hunger Games. Lionsgate will be releasing the box office smash on Blu-ray, DVD, On Demand, and Digital Download on August 18, 2012 at 12:01 A.M.

In addition to the Jennifer Lawrence-starring adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ young adult novel, the release will come with a host of special features. To learn more, check out this Official Special Features Trailer.

Play the 8 Degrees of Margaret

  • News
  • July 11, 2012

As you can tell from Sunday’s review, we really enjoyed Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret, now available in a Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack. 20th Century Home Entertainment has released  a brand new, interactive infographic linking the vast ensemble cast of Margaret to each other in other films and projects.

This 8 Degrees of Margaret chart reflects the many connections among the characters in the movie and the overlapping film projects they have worked on, and is a fun brain teaser for any film buff. Also, hover your mouse over the chart to see star pop-ups highlighting extra facts about those starring in Margaret.

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Enter Stan Lee’s World of Heroes

  • News
  • July 11, 2012

stan-lee-pbs-3575133As if Stan Lee wasn’t busy enough, he’s apparently been involved in digital content development, the full scope of which will be revealed tomorrow during a panel discussion at Comic-Con International. The breakdown of properties, though, was released in advance of the formal announcement and since one of our pals is involved, we wanted to make sure you didn’t miss this news.

Vuguru and POW! Entertainment unveil the premium YouTube channel Stan Lee’s World of Heroes at a panel in Room 6BCF at 11:45 a.m. with a panel including Mark Hamill, Adrianne Curry, Peter David, Jace Hall, Bonnie Burton and America Young. The programming schedule includes:

  • Stan Lee’s Super Model (scripted action comedy) – From Stan Lee, two aspiring models Bree and Sera and blogger friend Lizzie, are accidentally exposed to a mysterious serum that grants them super powers. Their newfound powers wreak havoc on their quest to become top models and pull them into a world of danger and intrigue. From Executive Producer Heath Corson (Aim High) and writer Taryn O’Neill (BlackBoxTV)
  • Head Cases (scripted comedy) – You know those classic superhero battles where good and evil clash in epic fashion? This isn’t one of those. Set at the local bar frequented by super powered heroes and villains, the comedy Head Cases is what happens before, after, and in between those battles. From Peter David (Babylon 5, Ben 10, The Incredible Hulk) and Producer David M. Uslan.
  • Bad Days (animated parody) – From Junaid Chundrigar (creator of the animated viral sensation Disassembled, Bad Days) shows us heroes and villains on their worst days. Whether Green Lantern is wasting time with an emerald Yo-Yo or Batman has locked himself out of the Batmobile, Bad Days lets viewers laugh at epic super failure.
  • FanWars (courtroom reality) – Who is the most intelligent Super Villain of all time? FanWars gives opinionated fans (is there another kind?) a chance to discuss the most pressing issues in the World of Heroes. Producer and host Jace Hall (The Jace Hall Show, V, The Morning After) and a panel of celebrity experts pit fan against fan as they debate topics from comic books, superheroes, and science fiction.
  • Stan Lee’s Academy of Heroes (makeover reality) – From producer Jon Kroll (Amazing Race, Blade), the series takes real life aspiring heroes from across the country and gives them the mentoring and training they need to take their fight for good to the next level.
  • Stan’s Rants (opinion) – this weekly series features the spirit of the classic Stan’s Soap Box comic column, which explores the inner workings of the unique mind of Stan Lee. From behind his desk, Stan, tongue firmly in cheek, explains his thoughts on pop culture, upcoming films, the general state of the world and more, in this weekly series.

 

Tom Baker To Don The Scarf Once More?

  • News
  • July 10, 2012

If this is true, the hearts of well over a million Doctor Who fans worldwide are about to beat just a little bit faster.

According to Slice of Scifi, Tom Baker will once again put on his mile-long multicolored scarf to reprise his role as the fourth Doctor in a 50th anniversary episode of the show, teaming up with eleventh Doctor Matt Smith. This is according to “a source close to the show.” Hmmm…

When Baker left the show back in 1981 as the series’ longest-running lead (a record held to this day), he said he wanted to put the part behind him. He was the only living Doctor who didn’t return for the 20th anniversary story, The Five Doctors. However, recently Baker came back to the role in a number of original full-cast audio adventures produced both by the BBC and by Big Finish Audio. The BBC episodes were set in contemporary time, and all co-starred other Doctor Who actors who had worked with Baker.

Is this the truth or is some well-placed hoser just jerking us around? Personally, I wouldn’t put the latter past show runner Steven Moffat – that seems to fit his whimsical public personna. But doing so would pretty much ruin the chances of Baker’s return to celebrate the 50th anniversary, and the BBC has confirmed they, and Steven, have “big plans.”

I hate to say it, but… only time will tell.

 

 

 

‘Buck Rogers’ returns with Howard Chaykin

  • News
  • July 10, 2012

Anthony Warde seems to have Buster Crabbe at a...

Howard Chaykin will revive Buck Rogers. The veteran cartoonist has been announced as writer and artist on a new Hermes Press comic book series.

Best known for its reprints – including some of the legendary pulp hero – the publisher has promised an “all new take” on the character by the American Flagg! creator.

“When [Hermes publisher Dan Herman] casually asked me whether I had any interest in reviving Buck Rogers, my reaction was first physical – genuine goose bumps – followed by complete delight at the thought of paying back a concept that was so utterly seminal in my thinking about our medium and our field,” said Chaykin.

The science fiction hero first appeared in Armageddon 2419 AD in the pages of the August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories, written by Philip Francis Nowlan.

The comic will be unveiled at the “Buck Rogers, Past, Present and Future” panel at 6pm on Friday, July 13 at San Diego Comic-Con International.

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MoCCA closes their Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art

  • News
  • July 10, 2012

mocca_logo-4525362The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) announced yesterday via a press release that they will be closing its physical location effective immediately.

The SoHo museum, currently at 594 Broadway, New York City’s only cultural institution dedicated specifically to celebrating the comics medium, recently celebrated its tenth anniversary.  While the physical space is closing, plans are afoot to continue MoCCA in a new incarnation.  An announcement of MoCCA’s future arrangements will be forthcoming by the end of July.

Current memberships will be honored at the new venue, as will table renewals for MoCCA Fest 2013.

MoCCA’s website has been scrubbed of all previously upcoming events.

New York’s Forbidden Planet moving to bigger space

  • News
  • July 10, 2012

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Long rumored to be moving (perhaps due to the giant FOR RENT sign on the building), Forbidden Planet, one of NYC’s longest-running comics shops, is moving a few doors down the street to larger digs, according to manager Jeff Ayers. The new location, 832 Broadway (between 13th and 12th Streets), provides 3400 sq. feet of space for comics, toys and games, and it’s the largest of the three spaces the store has held on that same block over the years.

“This expansion has been necessary for some time now, and will allow us to provide our customers with even more product selection and depth, while streamlining the store’s layout to one convenient floor,” said Ayers in a statement.

The new store opens Tuesday, July 24th 2012 in a “soft launch,” but there will be a bigger launch party later. The olde shoppe closes on Sunday, July 22nd.

The olde shoppe had a nice corner location but definitely was a bit cramped and narrow…we’ll look forward to checking out the new space.

The new building:
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Locus Awards for 2012

locus-5591989I think I have too many RSS feeds in my reader; I keep getting behind and then leaving things unread to deal with “later” — but then there’s too much new stuff I haven’t even looked at, which pushes “later” much further than I’d like.

That’s all prologue to the fact that these awards came out some time ago, and, if I’m going to blog about them at all, I should do it more quickly. Nevertheless, here’s what’s happened recently in award-land:

Locus Awards for 2012
Locus magazine, the newspaper of the skiffy field, has polled its frighteningly well-read readers yet again, and these are their choices for the best of the year past:

  • Science Fiction Novel: [[[Embassytown]]], China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
  • Fantasy Novel: [[[A Dance with Dragons]]], George R.R. Martin (Bantam; Harper Voyager UK)
  • First Novel: [[[The Night Circus]]], Erin Morgenstern (Doubleday)
  • Young Adult Book: [[[The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making]]], Catherynne M. Valente (Feiwel and Friends)
  • Novella: Silently and Very Fast, Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA; Clarkesworld)
  • Novelette: “White Lines on a Green Field”, Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean Fall ’11)
  • Short Story: “The Case of Death and Honey”, Neil Gaiman (A Study in Sherlock)
  • Anthology: The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-eighth Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed. (St. Martin’s Griffin)
  • Collection: The Bible Repairman and Other Stories, Tim Powers (Tachyon)
  • Non-fiction: [[[Evaporating Genres: Essays on Fantastic Literature]]], Gary K. Wolfe (Wesleyan)
  • Art Books: [[[Spectrum 18: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art]]], Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner (Underwood)
  • Artist: Shaun Tan
  • Editor: Ellen Datlow
  • Magazine: Asimov’s
  • Publisher: Tor

Congratulations to all of the winners, and especially to Catherynne M. Valente, for a very impressive three wins in one year.

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SDCC: CBLDF’s Comic-Con Welcome Party!

sdcc-cbldfs-comic-con-welcome-party-9487935Kick off Comic-Con with the greatest stars in comics to celebrate 20 Years of Image Comics and the power of free expression at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s Comic-Con Welcome Party! Starting at 8:00 PM on Thursday, July 12 at the Westgate Hotel, the CBLDF Comic-Con Welcome Party is jam-packed with amazing people and cool stuff! This party is sponsored by Image Comics, TFAW.Com, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, & Threadless!


Experience Creativity with Image Comics greats including: Ales Kot, Amanda Conner, Ben McCool, Ben Templesmith, Brandon Seifert, Charles Soule, Chris Giarrusso, Cory Walker, Dan Brereton, Darick Robertson, Deborah Vankin, Dexter Weeks, Dirk Manning, Edwin Huang,Eric Shanower, Eric Stephenson, Erik Larsen, Gerry Duggan, Glen Brunswick, Jim Mahfood, Jim McCann, Jim Valentino, Jim Zub, Jimmy Palmiotti, Joe Keatinge, John Layman, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Joshua Williamson, Kody Chamberlain, Kurtis Wiebe, Mark Poulton,Matt Hawkins, Michael Moreci, Moritat, Nate Bellegarde, Nathan Edmondson, Phil Noto, Richard Starkings, Ron Marz, S. Steven Struble, Scott Tuft, Sina Grace, Steve Seeley, and many more!

revival-cover-low-res-195x300-1364256Get The Exclusive Goods: Free gift bag, featuring a CBLDF party exclusive edition of Revival #1 by Tim Seeley & Mike Norton from Image Comics, and other special thank yous from CBLDF supporters including Valiant and Threadless!

See The World Premiere of “The Day The Saucers Came:” Be the first to see the latest Comics-On Tees from Threadless featuring Neil Gaiman’s “The Day The Saucers Came,” featuring artwork by John Cassaday, Brandon Graham & Ben Templesmith at a special fashion show! Get your tees straight from the source at the party!

Smell Awesome At The Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Trading Post: BPAL will make their only Comic-Con appearance at the party, setting up a one-night only display of fragrances, including the world premiere of new fragrances based on Neil Gaiman’s Coraline!

Check Out The Amazing Items In CBLDF’s Comic-Con Auction, sponsored by TFAW.Com & Valiant Comics: Check out all the amazing original art up for grabs at Saturday’s CBLDF Comic-Con Auction live!

Come support Free Speech and experience the best of Comic-Con at the CBLDF Comic-Con Welcome Party Thursday at the Westgate Hotel, 1055 Second Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101 from 8 PM to 11 PM! This party is FREE for CBLDF Members. Non-Members, suggested $10 – $20 donation at the door, please.

ABOUT IMAGE COMICS
Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.

ABOUT THREADLESS
We’re awesome people from all over the world who make mind-blowing art. Our process starts when a great idea is born in an artist’s mind. (That could be you, that could even be your grannie!) The artist submits their idea to our site, where our community of 1.5 million debates, discusses, and votes on that idea. If the idea gets a really good score, we make it into a tee, tote, hoody, or tube sock. (That last one isn’t true… yet.) Then, as long as folks keep buying that product, we keep rewarding that artist with loadsa money, prizes, and exposure. So people who buy from us support great artists and their great ideas. Neat, huh? Join us at Threadless.com. Threadless ~ Make Great Together.

ABOUT THINGS FROM ANOTHER WORLD
Founded in 1979, Things From Another World is the premier retailer of comics, toys, collectibles, and pop-culture geek goodness, both in Portland, Oregon and online at http://www.TFAW.com.

ABOUT BLACK PHOENIX ALCHEMY LAB
We specialize in formulating body and household blends with a dark, romantic Gothic tone. Our scents run the aesthetic gamut of magickal, pagan and mythological blends, Renaissance, Medieval and Victorian formulas, and horror / Gothic-themed scents. By utilizing our knowledge of homeopathy and aromatherapy, the conceptual theories of hermetic alchemy, and the aesthetic artistry of perfumery, we have mastered the art of encapsulating allegorical ideas into singular olfactory experiences. We are the first of our kind, and have over fifteen years of practical experience in the field. Our expertise shows.

We pride ourselves on the artistry of our products, and our skill in their creation. All of our products are hand-blended here in our laboratory. Integrity and dedication is vitally important to us, and we do our best to provide the best possible product and slavishly good service to all our clients.

ABOUT THE COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics art form and its community of retailers, creators, publishers, librarians, and readers. The CBLDF provides legal referrals, representation, advice, assistance, and education in furtherance of these goals.

Comics sales for first half of 2012 18% ahead of last year

The Diamond Comic Distributors sales report for the middle of the comics year always hits right before Comic Con International: San Diego, which itself is about the future of the business; we see where we’ve been right before we see where we’re going. Last year, the industry arrived in San Diego with the first half of 2011 off 8% versus the year before; this year, orders by Direct Market comics shops in North America are up more than 18% year-to-date. It’s quite the turnaround. Retailers have already ordered more material through June — nearly $223 million in retail dollars— than they did in last year through July.

Marvel’s Avengers Vs. X-Men #6 led the charts, with four DC Before Watchmen debut issues landing in fifth through eight place. Click to see the preliminary top sellers for June. June 2011 was a five-week month versus four shipping weeks for June 2012, and the beats were a little smaller than we’ve seen — but periodical units and dollars were still up double-digits. All the comics in the Top 10 were priced at $3.99.

On the trade paperback side, the release of Walking Dead Vol. 16: A Larger World both topped the charts. There was a slight year-to-year drop in graphic novel units, but not dollars — suggesting that maybe with the DC hardcovers and a new Walking Dead release priced higher than some of the earlier backlist releases, the average price for each graphic novel ordered increased some.

thewalkingdeadvolume16-4197495Retailers appear to have ordered $40.5 million in comic books and trade paperbacks from Diamond in the month, a sum that brings the second quarter orders to more than $20 million higher than the same three-month period last year. For the year to date, all Direct Market sales are more than $34 million ahead of the first half of 2011.

But the comparison observers may be more interested in isn’t between the first six months of this year and the first six months of 2011 — but rather, with the last six months, which included the DC reboot. Direct Market orders were $224.92 million from July 2011 to December 2011 — so even with the reboot titles reaching double-digit issue numbers, the market is down less than 1% from that blockbuster six-month period. The reasons are several: Marvel has Avengers Vs. X-Men on the playing field, and graphic novels are rebounding with the DC hardcovers and Walking Dead. But the fact we can compare at all is significant, because the second half of the year has outperformed the previous first half every year for the last 10 years — and by an average of 10%.

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