Category: News

Official ‘Hellboy II’ Poster Revealed

When it comes to comic book movies this summer, most of the attention has been focused on Iron Man and The Dark Knight. What about the man with the big red fist?

Hellboy II: The Golden Army hits theaters on July 11 and has the potential to be the best of the lot. After all, Academy Award nominated director Guillermo del Toro is at the helm of the picture and it stars Ron Perlman. Everyone loves Ron Perlman, right?

The marketing machine for the upcoming sequel is starting to kick into gear, beginning with the release of the official one-sheet poster you’re sure to see in the multiplex soon. Sure, it’s not as cool as the Drew Struzan poster, but nothing is. Struzan posters are just too awesome for the common man. Besides, this official poster has everything you need to know about the film: there’s a red guy with a big fist and a gun. Enough said.

For a look at the full sized poster, visit Superhero Hype and judge for yourself how cool Hellboy’s leather pants are.

(And if you haven’t done so already, check out our ComicMix TV interviews with del Toro and cast of Hellboy II: The Golden Army)

ComicMix Columns for the Week Ending May 18, 2008

According to The Google, today marks the anniversary of the birth of Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School of Design, whose influence can still be felt daily by urban workers every time they look up at a skyscraper featuring way too much glass.  Meanwhile, here’s what our designer columnists have created for you this past week:

Sure to keep your eyes from glazing over!

Random Video: Tokyo’s Robot Hotel

I’m not quite sure what to make of this video of the Tokyo Grand Guardian Hotel, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to book a room there any time soon. Although, come San Diego Comic-Con time, I might think differently.

 


 

 

(via Sean T. Collins)

 

Women In Comics – Etta Hulme, by Michael H. Price

hulme-red-rabbit-02-7958746During 1992–1993, my newspaper-of-record became a sponsor of a traveling exhibition of art tracing the centuried history of editorial-opinion cartooning in Texas. Curators Maury Forman and Bob Calvert, seeking to preserve the display as a book, enlisted me to edit their program notes into manuscript form. The finished result, Cartooning Texas (Texas A&M University Press; 1993), has outlived the exhibition by a good many years – but of course could use an update by now.

One timely offshoot was that our expo-opening ceremonies involved such working cartoonists as Ben Sargent, of the Austin American-Statesman, and Etta Parks Hulme, of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, in panel discussions and sketch-demonstration sessions that served to bring the exhibition into the here-and-now. Or the there-and-then, as it were. Etta and I officed within shouting distance of one another at the Star-Telegram, and I had been pressing the Powers That Did Be for a couple of years about devoting a Telegram-spinoff book to her cartoons.

The leverage of the exhibition proved sufficient, if only just, to encourage a Hulme book from the Star-Telegram. More of a pamphlet, actually, but it rounded up a fairly generous selection of ’toons, with a page for each piece. I had suggested that we call the thing Ettatorials, but the newspaper’s marketing office preferred UnforgETTAbly Etta. (more…)

ComicMix Radio: Neal Adams and Batman – Finally!

Over a year ago, we broke the news of a new Batman project drawn by Neal Adams. Now the day when you will actually get to see this is coming closer, and there have been a few changes along the way. Neal brings us up to date, plus:

— David Finch gives us the scoop on Ultimatums

— Zen comes to Devils Due

— Where’s my copy of Powers? We’ve got the latest ship dates and more

Put on your cowl and press the button!

 

 

 

Happy Birthday: Dave Sim

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1956, David Victor “Dave” Sim dropped out of high school to pursue a career in comic books.

In the 1970s he worked on a fanzine, The Now and Then Times (Now and Then Books was the comic book store Sim had worked at for his first job) and then another called Comic Art News and Reviews. He worked for several other fanzines, wrote a newspaper strip, and produced several small-press comics.

In 1977, Sim began self-publishing Cerebus, a black-and-white comic about a dark medieval world and a cynical and violent aardvark (originally parodied on Conan the Barbarian). In 2004 Sim completed his planned 300-issue run of Cerebus.

In 2006, he began an online comic biography of the Canadian actress Siu Ta. He is now working on two new projects, a Holocaust book called Judenhass and a women’s fashion comic book called glamorpuss.

Sim won an Eisner Award in 1994, a Harvey Award in 1992, a Kirby in 1985 and 1987, and several other accolades. He is considered by many to be the king of independent comics, having produced the longest-running independent comic of all time.

UDON’s Street Fighter Tribute: Nice, But Worth the Price?

Remember when we told you that comic publisher UDON was working on a 20th Anniversary art book for the popular Street Fighter franchise? Well, UDON’s website is taking preorders on Street Fighter Tribute and gave some details on the book.

By far the most surprising aspect of the title is its $80 price tag. Even though it’s a 320-page hardcover, you can expect most fans’ jaws to drop at such a steep price. If you don’t mind the cost, the rest of the book should be pretty appealing.

Street Fighter Tribute measures 8.25 x 11.25 inches and features work by UDON regulars Arnold Tsang, Alvin Lee, Omar Dgan, Jeff "Chamba" Cruz and Joe Ng, as well as comic celebs like Adam Hughes and J. Scott Campbell.

Even Gabe from Penny-Arcade.com is in there, representing  the webcomic side of the industry.

Sample artwork is provided after the jump: (more…)

Fundraiser Update: DC/Warner Bros. Cancer Charity Fiasco, Gene Colan News

It seems as if DC/Warner Bros. have relented a smidge in their decision to shut down a set of auctions benefitting a childhood cancer charity… but only a smidge. Actually, it’s more like a half-smidge. Or possibly a micro-smidge. Anyways…

Thomas Denton reported on his blog this week that DC/Warner Bros. has allowed him to reactivate one of the charity auctions the company had previously shut down. After noticing that the auction had been reinstated on eBay, Denton claims that he sent a letter to DC/Warner Bros. (which he’s posted on his site) asking if this meant he could reactivate all of the aborted auctions.

One of DC/WB’s anti-piracy department representatives responded, telling Denton, "We made a [sic] exemption for the item that was relisted."

Denton writes that he’s currently investigating whether it will be feasible/worthwhile to relist the piece, a Paul Salvi illustration pictured here, but reminds readers that he still has a number of impressive, non-DC properties available on eBay.

In other news, Cliff Meth recently reported on his website that he has spoken with unnamed "executives at Marvel" who "offered Adrienne [wife of suffering artist Gene Colan] and I some of the many things that they plan to do for the Colans to provide immediate and long-term relief." However, Meth offers no further details about the arrangement.

We reported earlier this week on the various ways the industry has rallied to support legendary illustrator Gene Colan as his family struggles to pay for mounting medical costs related to his kidney failure.

Spider-Man 4 and 5 to be Filmed Together?

Cinematical is boasting quite the scoop today, reporting that one of their industry insiders confirmed that Zodiac writer James Vanderbilt has turned in a script for Spider-Man 4 that will stretch over multiple films. Negotiations regarding the script are still going on, so there’s no certainty that Vanderbilt’s two-part story arc will end up on the big screen.

From Cinematical:

… according to our source, "his story arc has encompassed two films, making Spider-Man 5 shootable at the same time. The studio saw dollar signs and is in the process of reworking his deal to snatch up the story arc."

Sure, everyone’s happy now… but wait until they hear the working titles for the films: Spider-Man 4: Brand New Day and Spider-Man 5: The Clone Saga.

sigh

 

Vogue, by Martha Thomases

There is a special exhibition at the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Musuem of Art called Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. I haven’t been able to go yet, but according to the exhibit’s web site, the show features costumes designed around these groups:

•The Patriotic Body (Wonder Woman, Captain America)

•The Virile Body (they cite The Hulk and The Thing, which sort of creeps me out)

•The Graphic Body (Superman and other characters with logos)

•The Paradoxical Body (Catwoman and other hyper-sexualized heroines)

•The Armored Body (Iron Man, Steel)

•The Aerodynamic Body (The Flash)

• The Mutant Body (they cite Rogue)

• The Post-Modern Body (Ghost Rider, Punisher).

The show and its parties are sponsored by Conde Nast, DC and Marvel, and Giorgio Armani. The opening night was extremely glamorous, with attendance from stars like George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Tilda Swinton, and the Olsen Twins. Heidi has written great stuff about it at The Beat and the Fug Girls are all over it.

Some of these groupings I understand, and some seem to be redundant (really, is Rogue that much different from Catwoman in the way she’s presented in this show?). However, none of them seem to consider superhero garb the way I did, when I was considering being a superheroine.

It’s true that I was designing my costume when I was eight years old, when fashion was not my foremost concern, nor did I need to worry about where I was going to keep my breasts at that time. I wanted something that would allow me to hide in the shadows, mysteriously, even while showing off my beautiful blonde hair (I had a few blonde cousins, and thought all I needed was more time in the sun to achieve the same golden tresses). Midnight blue, I thought, was the perfect color, at least among those choices in my Crayola box.

(more…)

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