Category: News

Dabel Bros. to Publish “Dark-Hunter” Manga

  • News
  • August 5, 2008

Dabel Bros. Publishing recently announced plans to adapt bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter novels as manga-style comics, targeting a 2009 release for the adaptations of the first two books in the series, Night Pleasures and Night Embrace.

Joshua Hale Fialkov (Elk’s Run, Cyblade) will script the adaptations, with Claudia Campos providing the art.

From the Sherrilyn Kenyon’s official website:

In the world of the Dark-Hunters nothing is ever as it seems. Life and death both take on a whole knew meaning as this immortal cadre of warriors fight to protect mankind from those creatures and demons who would prey on us.

(via ICv2)

A Billion Dollars Worth Of Respect, by Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • August 5, 2008

You saw the story, posted here on our own beloved website a couple of days ago: comic book movies have earned over a billion United States dollars this summer, despite an iffy economy that may or may not have something to do with those loveable funsters who frolick near the Potomac.

(I’m writing this Sunday evening. A hundred and sixty nine days. Tickticktick… And please excuse the digression.)

So the aspirations of those folk we mentioned last week – to be respectable and accepted and part of the mainstream – has been realized, though only a few of them are still around to enjoy whatever perks this brings.

Check it out. A billion-with-a-B-dollars! Oh sure, we comics guys have not had to hide our shame for quite a while now. There are the postage stamps and gigs at places like the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian and classes taught at major universities and whole sections of bookstores devoted to comics material and if you donate the graphic novels you won’t read again to your local library, they’ll probably be accepted, maybe even with a smile. But in our world, and in most others that I know about, material goods are the emblems of what the citizenry considers success. And that bil will buy a lot of material goods.

Someone – I have no idea who – observed that one of the ways to discern a society’s values is to look at its architecture: in the middle ages, in Europe, the cathedral was the biggest building in the burg. Now? Well, about a mile from where I’m sitting is the biggest, and some would say ugliest, structure in Rockland County and it ain’t a church, amigos, it’s a shopping mall.

(more…)

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at San Diego Comic-Con 2008

  • News
  • August 4, 2008

One of the most popular bootleg videos at comic book conventions before the YouTube era was of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog making fun of geeks waiting in line for Star Wars.

Our favorite foul mouthed puppet set his sites on nerds once again when The Late Show with Conan O’Brien sent him to this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. And this time you don’t have to buy burned copies from a weird guy at a booth with Micronaut figures. I kid. I kid. (Oh, and consider this your official "Not Safe For Work" warning.)
 

 

 

[EDITOR’S NOTE: That’s PvP webcomic creator Scott Kurtz getting the Triumph treatment around three minutes into the video. Owch! -RM]

Brett Ratner Makes “Harbinger” Adaptation a Priority

  • News
  • August 4, 2008

In a Variety article discussing director Brett Ratner’s recent move to Paramount Pictures, the man who helmed X-Men: The Last Stand name-checked an adaptation of Valiant comics’ Harbinger series as one of his first priorities with the new studio. We previously reported on the series being optioned by Paramount back in March.

As producers, Ratner and Stern are teamed with producer Alexandra Milchan on "Harbinger," an adaptation of the Jim Shooter-created comic series published by Valiant Comics.

Ratner said after directing "X-Men: The Last Stand," he was eager to build a superhero franchise from the ground up. The studio will set a writer shortly.

Ratner described Harbinger and his planned Beverly Hills Cop 4 project as "mainstream tentpoles" for the studio.

“The Stand” Trailer Premieres on Marvel.com

Marvel.com recently posted a new video "trailer" for their upcoming five-issue series based on Stephen King’s The Stand. While I’m not sure how I feel about the whole movie-style "trailer" as a promotional tool for comics, the video does show some previously unseen art from the series. I was really impressed with the way the two previous King stories were handled by the Marvel crew (Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born and Dark Tower: The Long Road Home), so I have high hopes for this project.

The Stand: Captain Trips #1, written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa with art by Mike Perkins, goes on sale September 10.

You can also read an interview with Aguirre-Sacasa about the project on Marvel, as well as a video interview with Perkins. Both are fairly standard promotional material, but worth the time for anyone interested in the publisher’s latest collaboration with Stephen King.

Hammer of the Gods 2: Tea Time

  • News
  • August 4, 2008

In today’s brand-new episode of Hammer of the Gods: Back from the Dead, by Michael Oeming and Mark Wheatley, Modi and his crew seek Odin in the mountains of China.  They can feel the power of a god in the very air, but which god is it?  And can anyone understand the words that are coming out of their mouths?

 

Credits: Mike Oeming (Artist), Mike Oeming (Writer), Mark Wheatley (Colorist), Mark Wheatley (Letterer), Mark Wheatley (Writer), John Staton (Colorist)

 

 

Alison Bechdel on ‘State by State’

  • News
  • August 4, 2008

Alison Bechdel, who’s probably best known for her memoir Fun Home, has an essay and art in the upcoming State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America.

She has a note about the project on her blog, and then there’s a new review of it in Publishers Weekly.

From the (pretty brief) review:

Alison Bechdel’s illustrated story about her life after moving to Vermont brilliantly combines personal history with historical fact, as does Charles Bock’s essay on growing up and working in his parent’s Las Vegas pawnshop.

Last Week’s Best: Batman, Wil Wheaton, Earthquakes and Marijuana

  • News
  • August 4, 2008

batman-00-2535110There are a lot of features coming at ComicMix readers these days, so in the interest of making sure you don’t miss the articles everyone’s talking about, here’s a quick rundown of some of last week’s most popular articles posted on the site:

Who Will Be The Next Batman Villain? — This blog post by Van Jensen generated quite a bit of reader response last week, as the comment section filled with people pondering clues that might indicate the identity of the next Batman bad guy in the film franchise.

Interview: Wil Wheaton on Storytelling, Technology and the Internet — Last week’s finale to Chris Ullrich‘s three-part interview with writer/actor/publisher Wil Wheaton was the week’s most-read original feature, providing a testament to the comics cred of the Just a Geek author. The Wheaton interview narrowly edged out Jami Philbrick‘s interview with Geoff Johns about his work on this month’s Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds.

Our Own Private Gotham — According to last week’s traffic, the success of The Dark Knight in theaters is a popular topic here on ComicMix, as readers were all over John Ostrander‘s Batman-focused column. In the column, the veteran comics scribe theorizes that there’s a lot to glean about the popularity of the grim-and-gritty hero given today’s political and cultural climates. On a side note, readers also had a high opinion (pun intended) of the most recent column by veteran comics scribe Dennis O’Neil, in which he opined on marijuana legalization and the greater availability of information about this and other controversial topics for current and future generations.

The Day the Earth Moved — While John Ostrander and Dennis O’Neil’s columns received a heaping helping of readers, it was Michael Davis’ latest column that had the comment crowd chatting. As it so often does, the media mogul’s column received the most comments of any article here on ComicMix that week!

Hammer of the Gods: Back From the Dead #3, by Mike Oeming and Mark Wheatley, was the most popular issue of any ComicMix comic released on the site this week, narrowly edging out Erin Holroyd and Dick Giordano’s White Viper #8.

Review: ‘Batman: The Killing Joke’ Deluxe Edition — Batman mania continued to be a driving force in the week’s traffic, with Van Jensen’s review (originally posted back in March) of the hardcover edition of Batman: The Killing Joke popping up as the most-read review of the week. Everything old is new again, apparently!

ng-kistler_new_god_breakdown-6890502

New Gods Breakdown: An Illustrated Guide to Jack Kirby’s Creations

  • News
  • August 4, 2008

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Back in June, comic book historian Alan Kistler provided ComicMix readers with a Countdown Breakdown, an illustrated guide to the 52-part event that preceded the Final Crisis storyline currently unfolding in the DC Universe. This feature was so popular that we convinced him to flex his creative muscles once again, and provide an analysis of one of the key groups of characters receiving the spotlight in Final Crisis: the Jack Kirby-created New Gods. Where do they fit in and what should you know ng-kistler_new_god_breakdown-6890502about them in order to understand Final Crisis? Read on and find out! -RM]

Well, readers, some of you have no doubt been checking out DC’s crossover Final Crisis. Personally, I’ve been enjoying the heck out of it. But I can understand that some of it might not have as much impact if you’re relatively new to the DC Universe.

For instance, a major part of the crossover revolves around those Jack Kirby creations known as the "New Gods of the Fourth World."

So who are these New Gods? How are they related to the Greek gods who speak to Wonder Woman on a regular basis? What do they have to do with that powerful giant called Gog who’s been appearing in the pages of Justice Society of America? Why does Darkseid say he’s from the “Fourth World,” whereas Gog claims he’s from the “Third World?"

Well, look no further, faithful fans! ComixMix is here to oblige! So, because you folks requested it after seeing our illustrated Countdown Breakdown, here are the New Gods in a nutshell:

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Forward… Into The Past, by Mike Gold

  • News
  • August 4, 2008

Typically, birthdays are a time for self-reflection and so, in this spirit, I am today changing the name of my column to “Brainiac On Banjo.” I have come to accept the likelihood that few, if any other than Mark Waid, got the “Whizzy’s Wazoo” reference. “Brainiac On Banjo” is a bit easier.

In fact, both are titles of APAzines I used to produce. In today’s age of blogging and Twittering and other ways to avoid actual physical contact while maintaining the ability to be instantly obnoxious, APAzines are the buggy whips of comics fandom. They’re still around, although I suspect the average age of the APA participant is over a half-century.

APA stands for “amateur press association” and it’s a holdover from science-fiction fandom from whence comics fandom came. What it is is this: you, as a member of a specific association, write up your fanzine. You write all kinds of stuff: what comics you like, which ones you hated, which movies are great, which comics creator(s) has his head so far up his ass he can get a haircut by swallowing… you know, blogging. You comment on all the other ‘zines in your APA. Said association may or may not be based around a common theme, and said theme may or may not be addressed on every page of your ‘zine. Things tend to wander a bit.

You know, blogging.

APAs require far more work: you mimeograph or photocopy your ‘zine, collate the pages, staple them, mail them off to the Central Mailer (a guy named Norman) who then collates all the other APAs and mails the package out to each member. The roster is usually around 25 or 35 members, so there’s often a waitlist for membership. Waitlisters can participate and might get the overage ‘zines, but there’s no guarantees.

A lot of people were involved in the production of their own APAzines and I had established many of my most enduring and wondrous friendships through this vehicle, including many folks in the media like Richard Pachter and Mike Valerio and folks in comics like Paul Levitz, Kurt Busiak and Carol Kalish. I met my closest buddy, ComicMix’s podcast producer Mike Raub, through a Legion of Super-Heroes themed APA back when Gutenberg was a kid. (more…)

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