Category: News

NYCC 2009: New manga releases from Del Rey

  • News
  • February 10, 2009

Del Rey presented its new manga and manga-related releases at New York Comic Con this weekend.

This fall will be the 20th Anniversary of the superstar shojo manga studio CLAMP. To commemorate the occasion, Del Rey will be releasing the xxxHolic Official Guide, featuring everything you need to know about the manga series xxxHolic, of which Del Rey has released the English translations of the first 12 volumes so far.

The official fan book will include character profiles, an index to the witch Yuko’s wardrobe (did you know one of the members of CLAMP is also a kimono designer?) and a complete key to the crossovers between xxxHolic and CLAMP’s other manga series brought to you by Del Rey, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. The format of the xxxHolic guide will be similar to that of the previously-released Genshiken guide.

Speaking of Tsubasa, Del Rey will also be releasing an oversized full-color art book this fall, Tsubasa: Album de Reproductions, featuring covers of all the Tsubasa manga, as well as art bever before published in the US and an additional manga feature.

CLAMP in America by Shaenon Garrity is an original project also hitting the stores this fall. Garrity edits manga for Viz Comics, as well as writing original webcomics and manga-related blogs such as All the Comics in the World for comixology.com and the Overloooked Manga Festival. CLAMP in America is a chronicle of the rise in popularity of CLAMP’s work in the US and their role in building the fan base for anime and manga in this country. It includes interviews with editors and creators and will also feature 300 pieces of art. (more…)

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ComicMix Quick Picks – February 10, 2009

  • News
  • February 10, 2009

spidercakes-5477225A collection of news items that have come in over the last few days while we’ve been recovering from NYCC.

  • KC Carlson is also recovering, but from a mini-stroke instead of con crud. Get well soon, big guy.
  • Brett Ratner directing Youngblood, according to Variety. So if you love what he did with X-Men 3… and Rob Liefeld continues one heck of a lucky streak.
  • Denys Cowan alerted me to the existence of a Rich Johnston for the win:
    Daniel Dae Kim, better known as Jin off of “Lost”, also attending the New York Comic Convention this weekend, in his capacity of being in “Lost,” “24,” “Enterprise,” “Angel,” “Hulk,” “Crusade” and all that. But he also wanted to walk around the show, buy comics, meet creators etc, without getting mobbed. So someone found him a “V For Vendetta” mask, letting Daniel walk around untouched for hours.
    As I start looking through all my photos…
  • And finally, Spider-Man cake wrecks. (Hat tip: Lisa Sullivan.)

Anything else we missed? Consider this an open thread.

Coraline… the Musical?

  • News
  • February 10, 2009

Not content with having a Newbury Award, the the top-debuting, wide-release, stop-motion film in movie history, and throngs of adoring fans dressed in black, now Neil Gaiman is trying for a Obie Award.

Coraline the musical goes into previews on May 7 at the Lucille Lortel Theater, off-Broadway in Greenwich Village, where it will run through June 20. The book is by David Greenspan and music and lyrics by Stephin Merritt, and directed by Leigh Silverman.

Casting will be– unconventional, to say the least. 9-year-old Coraline will be played by 55-year-old actress Jayne Houdyshell, with the Other Mother played by David Greenspan. (Cross-dressing in Greenwich Village? That never happens…)

ComicMix At Two

  • News
  • February 10, 2009
Well, today ComicMix turns two years old. It’s a tad bittersweet, as the advertising cutbacks that have decimated other media outlets have had their impact upon this young site as well. So – as you’ve no doubt noticed – we’ve hunkered down for the long haul. We ain’t going to give in to this economy; we’re up for the fight.

I’m glad to report that, lately, we’ve made some truly significant progress. We’ll be making a major announcement soon, with a touch of luck – meaning the lawyers and number crunchers do what they do in a timely fashion. Most of the folks who’s been working with us and hanging in there are aware of the broad strokes, and there’s been some Twittering and blogging and such, but you’ll get the full story right here as soon as it’s finished.

I’m told we’re getting significantly closer to the launch of the long-awaited Phase Three improvements and additions. This, too, is exciting stuff and has taken an enormous amount of energy from our Tech Team. We all want to get it right the first time, to the extent that’s technically possible.

So hang in there. You’ll be seeing the fruits of these labors very soon. As always, we want to thank all the writers and artists and tech folks who have been part of ComicMix, and we thank you, our worldwide audience, for your continued interest and support. 

The Point – February 9th, 2009

We are back and barely unpacked from New York ComicCon 2009 and we brought you some surprises already starting with the coolest Comic iPhone app so far, plus DC revives The Doom Patrol yet again,  Mike Gold talks comic economics plus The Five Cool Things in comic shops this week. Not enough? Then wait until you meet The Great Cat!

PRESS THE BUTTON to Get The Point!
 

 

And be sure to stay on The Point via badgeitunes61x15dark-7194961 or RSS!

 

 

NYCC 2009: Day 3, late

  • News
  • February 9, 2009

Yowza! Another con comes to a close, and a lot of hi’s from the usual gang of idiots, renewals of acquanitances (hi Cooch!), the continuted con conversations– you know, the ones which you pick up again as soon as you see the person you haven’t seen since the last convention, and so on.

We’ll have a lot of detailed reports from our Mix of folks soon, but here are my fast general impressions:

  • Very successful, on a number of levels. The con has worked out all the problems related to size, and even though this is the biggest yet, they seem to have knocked out the bugs and ran very smoothly. There were no particular problems that aren’t encountered by any other con its size and location (the usual like convention center food, bad wi-fi, nothing within easy walking distance, etc.). Sellout crowds, very well attended panels, yet still movable for the most part.

  • Most of the publishers and vendors I talked to were very happy with their traffic and sales. Scott Kurtz sold out of everything by the end of Saturday. Everything. One can only imaging what Sunday would have brought with a kid filled crowd.

  • Lots of costumes, which is a sign of a certain level of growth and maturity for a con, if not necessarily for the con-goers. We’ll have photos up this week.

  • Paper and digital continue to share their uneasy alliance. Most publishers realize they now can’t survive without both components, and are trying to figure out how to make that work.

  • I expected the entire con to be nothing but Watchmen, and was happy to be proven wrong. On the other hand, the crowd for Dave Gibbons at Titan Books at the end of the con was nothing short of insane, as you can see from the picture above– the line was five deep, as you can see in the photo. There are a lot of people eager for this movie, and not from places you might expect.

Hopefully, over the next few days, I’ll be ahead of the curve enough to get some real analysis done. On the other hand, since I still haven’t gotten around to doing my 2009 preview… oh well. Hope springs eternal– which, come to think of it, seems to be the overall theme of the convention.

X-Men Forever: What was the Marvel Universe like in 1991?

  • News
  • February 8, 2009

In light of the annoucement of X-Men Forever and Chris Claremont‘s intention to continue exactly where X-Men #3 left off in 1991, we thought it would be a good idea to remind ourselves what the state of the Marvel Universe was in 1991– before Stamford, the Super-Hero Registration Act, and Skrulls. Here’s all you need to know:

 

X-MEN:

Charles Xavier is adjusting to having lost the use of his legs again recently. The X-Men have recently reformed into two teams, with Cyclops leading the blue strike force and Storm leading the gold strike force. Gambit has just joined and is still a mystery to the others.

During the gold strike force’s latest mission, they investigated the recent death of the Hellions and have recruited the time-traveling Bishop. At this time, Bishop is still unaware who the “X-traitor” will turn out to be. Much of the world still thinks the X-Men are dead and it’s possible they are still invisible to technology (due to a spell cast by Roma).

During their latest mission, the blue strike force met the newly formed Acolytes and witnessed the apparent death of Magneto (at the hands of his Acolyte Cortez) on Asteroid M, which has just been destroyed.

X-FORCE:

Cable is still leading this team, which has only recently formed, and at this point in time all we know about the white-haired mutant is that he and Stryfe are identical to each other and that he apparently did some military missions in ‘Nam where he met Chord of the New Warriors. He also has an unclear history with Wolverine. G.W. Bridge of SHIELD is investigating Cable since he believes that Cable is also running Stryfe’s organization the Mutant Liberation Front.

As of yet, there has  been no revelations about Cannonball being an “Ex-Ternal” and there has been no revelation that Domino is actually Copycat while the real Domino is a captive of Mr. Tolliver.

X-FACTOR:

X-Factor has just replaced “Freedom Force” as the government’s mutant counter-terrorist team. Havok is in charge and is very green as a leader, still concerned about living up to his brother’s example. Wolfsbane cannot really turn to human form at this point, stuck between her half-lupine form and full lupine form.

EXCALIBUR:

The London based team still includes Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde in its ranks. At this point, half the team’s adventures seem to involve parallel realities and alternate timelines. Lockheed the Dragon has recently been revealed to be a sentient member of a telepathic race (though only we readers know that) and is recovering from injuries. At this point in time, Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde have not seen their X-Men teammates since the events of the team’s apparent death.

WOLVERINE:

Wolverine is still wearing the brown and tan uniform. In his own series, as 1991 closes, Wolverine has only just discovered the Weapon X facility and realized that some of his memories are false implants based loosely on real memories. He also now has the first inkling that he and Sabretooth are not related but perhaps used to work together for some kind of government unit. He has not yet learned about Team X, the group he was part of with John Wraith and Maverick.

AND NOW, THE REST OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE… (more…)

NYCC 2009: Day 2, late

  • News
  • February 8, 2009

The Javits Convention Center has the worst wi-fi I have ever encountered. It’s gotten much much worse from last year, and I didn’t think that was possible. As a result, we’ve had no chance to blog from the floor or the panels. But rest assured, we’re collecting a lot of information, weird stories, and other fun things, and we’ll get them up as fast as we can.

In the meantime– hey, Captain Bananaman’s back! And as always, he knows what current trends in comics have appeal.

Does he look a little jaundiced to you?

Chris Claremont returns to write X-Men, forever

  • News
  • February 6, 2009

The Cubs win the World Series. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston get back together. Chris Claremont writes the X-Men again. One of those things, at last, has happened.

Chris Claremont, the writer of the X-Men for 16 years, from Uncanny X-Men #94 to X-Men #3, is returning to the characters that he made famous. Starting in May, Chris Claremont will be writing X-Men Forever, a new bi-weekly series that literally continues from where he left off. No really– right where he left off. X-Men Forever will create a fork in Marvel continuity, continuing the series the way he wanted. Artwork will be by Tom Grummett. The series will premiere in May, with preview issues in March and April.

Chris is also working on an original X-Men graphic novel with artwork by Milo Manera.

ComicMix will be running an in-depth interview with Chris Claremont shortly, which will explain where’s he’s going with it. In the meantime, leave your comments and questions for Chris here.

Welcome back to the X-Men, Chris– hope you survive the experience!

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