It may be Groundhog Day but we won’t be repeating anything here. There’s a new Guest Of Honor headed to NY ComicCon, Five Cool Things waiting in the comic shop this week and just enough time for the director of FANBOYS to tell you more reasons why you have to see this film.
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He’s gone from presenting his take on Spider-Man, the X-Men and the rest of the Marvel Universe to, well, his take on the creation of the universe, according to the New Jersey Star-Ledger:
Each morning before sunrise, for the last three years, the Rutgers and Harvard Law School graduate has labored over the Bible, specifically the Book of Genesis in Hebrew, the language in which it was first written.
His goal is to write an English translation of Genesis that is truer to the Hebrew text than are widely used English translations like the famed King James Version. He already has completed the first chapter, available online and in his book "Genesis Rejuvenated."
By presenting alternative English definitions for Hebrew words to those chosen by KJV translators in 1611, he hopes that his internet-accessible "Freeware Bible," as he calls his translation, will show readers that widely accepted Bible translations are inherently imperfect.
He acknowledges that this would be a gargantuan task even for a team of learned Bible scholars, let alone a man like himself without any formal theological training. And he knows that news of his endeavor will baffle comic-book fans who associate him more with Spider-Man and Wolverine than with Adam and Eve.
You can find the book at freewarebible.com. The illustration of Spider-Man’s Greatest Bible Stories was just too tempting to pass up. Sorry.
We understand that there will be a big football game today in Tampa. But if you’re like me, what you’re really looking forward to are the new movie trailers that premiere during the time outs.
We already know there will be an ad for Monsters vs. Aliens, as there’s been a big push to get the 3D glasses into people’s hands. More than 125 million pairs of glasses are being distributed for free at stores nationwide at SoBe displays, they may still be available at your local supermarket. (If you want to know more about the 3D, Wired has a write up.)
Off the top of my head, I expect to see ads for Star Trek, Transformers, G.I. Joe (all licensees of IDW, which should make them happy), Angels and Demons (the sequel to The DaVinci Code), The Year One, Race To Witch Mountain and Pixar’s Up. Budget cutbacks seem to indicate that there will be no ads from Fox or Warner Brothers, so we probably won’t be seeing ads for Watchmen, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Terminator: Salvation, or James Cameron’s Avatar.
What do you think will be appearing? What did you think of what actually aired? Consider this an open thread for discussion.
Oh, and by the way– Steelers by 10, Bud Light by 3.
We’re getting zombie outbreaks all over the place. First, we have this news footage from Austin, Texas:
From Amazon, we have reports of zombie invasions in Netherfield Park:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance – Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!
And just for completism, we have Zombie Tales, Volume 1 from Boom! Studios. Boy, wouldn’t that look nice in the ComicMix reader…?
Stop worrying about Super Bowl and let’s deal with more pressing issues like why is LOST looking backwards? Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet) and Michael Emerson (Ben) give us their perspective. MAD Magazine is slowing down (and Mike Gold isn’t happy) – but on the bright side, TORCHWOOD hits NYCon and today we get music from WATCHMEN
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As Yogurt the wise teaches us, "Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs-the T-shirt, Spaceballs-the Coloring Book, Spaceballs-the Lunch box, Spaceballs-the Breakfast Cereal, Spaceballs-the Flame Thrower." CBS has learned their lessons well, one could even say it’s a paramount lesson.
CBS Consumer Products has cranked its Star Trek licensing up to 11 in preparation of the new Star Trek movie, which will debut on May 8th. In addition to the IDW comics tying the movie to Next Generation continuity, the Pocket book publishing license, and the previously announced Star Trek Barbie Dolls, Mattel has also acquired the rights to create radio-controlled flying vehicles for its Tyco subsidiary, a Star Trek Scene-It DVD movie/TV game, and a 20Q Star Trek Trivia Game. (Bob Greenberger’s on our team, we take on all challengers.)
Other game tie-ins include a Star Trek-branded Monopoly edition from USAopoly, and co-branded games for UNO, Scrabble ("Ferengi" is a 61 point word, "Klingon" is 62– no ruling on whether words from their languages count), Phase Ten, All About Trivia, and a Magic 8 Ball. If only the good Kirk from "The Enemy Within" had one.
Disturbing if true: ICV2 has an article entitled, simply, Worldwide Anime Market Shrinking. In a lecture by TV Tokyo’s Keisuke Iwata, he noted that due to market saturation, illegal downloading, the worldwide recession, and the rising yen, “It is easy to imagine the global marketplace shrinking from 2010 onward." According to Iwata there may be little or no growth potential for anime sales outside of Japan and that the industry “may have to go back to the way it was in the past — back to selling Japanese animation only to the Japanese marketplace."
And with a market already glutted and the massive lead time and resources required to create anime, we should expect to see big crashes. Imagi Studios already had to get bridge financing to complete production of Astro Boy.
Anime News Network has reported that the total revenue of the Japanese anime industry rose rapidly from 2003 when it was estimated at 167.4 billion yen (about $1.9 billion), peaked in 2006 at $258.8 billion yen (about $2.9 billion) and then fell to 236.9 billion yen in 2007. Figures for 2008 aren’t available yet, but given the financial distress of many anime producers, another decline is a foregone conclusion.
Also note that Iwata’s market factors of market saturation, illegal downloading, and the worldwide recession apply equally to comics.
We’ve obtained preview footage of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, “Journey to the Center of the Bat!” airing this Friday, January 30 on Cartoon Network at 8:00 PM.
This week Batman’s life hangs in the balance when he is poisoned by Chemo, who is under the control of the evil Brain. The Atom races to the rescue with Aquaman by shrinking down and entering Batman’s bloodstream. While Aquaman and the Atom battle the infection deep inside Batman’s body, Batman struggles to end Chemo’s rampage and defeat the Brain! This week’s teaser features Elongated Man and Plastic Man teaming up to derail a bank heist and capture the criminal Baby Face. Take a look… (more…)
Lara Croft may be returning to the big screen in a continuation of the Tomb Raider franchise. Warner Bros. and producer Dan Lin are in early development of a project with Ian Livingstone of gaming publisher Eidos as co-producer. No word if Angelina Jolie will return to the role of Ms. Croft, or if they’ll recast the part.
Tomb Raider has been licensed as a Top Cow comic since 1997.
Really, it’s not the end of the world. We’re just taking some functions offline and turning comments off for a few hours while we do some necessary techincal upgrades. We should be up and running fine in the morning. See you all then.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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