Category: News

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Grand Slam: Sci-Fi Summit Report – BSG, James Marsters, Smallville and Star Trek

  • News
  • April 16, 2008

2-spocks-3-tm-4439241It was an important weekend for science-fiction fans this past April 11-13 in Burbank, CA,  as past, present and future celebrities of the genre gathered for the Grand Slam: Sci-Fi Summit, an annual, weekend-long convention for fans of science-fiction movies and television that attracts some of sci-fi’s most beloved creators and celebrities.

The guest list at this year’s summit included Zachary Quinto (Heroes), Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek), Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation), Thomas Dekker (John Conner on Terminator: The Sara Conner Chronicles), Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica) and James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Torchwood), as well as the reunion of Hercules stars Kevin Sorbo and Michael Hurst, and a panel featuring members of the cast of Smallville.

ComicMix was there throughout the weekend’s festivities and has the following breakdown of the highlights, featuring images from the events and a pair of comprehensive reports from the James Marsters and Star Trek panels. A gallery of full-size images from the show is posted at the end of each article.

On Saturday, actress Grace Park, who plays Lt. Sharon “Boomer” Valerii on Battlestar Galactica, answered some questions from fans about the fourth and final season of the hit Sci-Fi Channel series.

“We only have seven episodes left to shoot,” the actress explained. She went on to say that for legal reasons, a Battlestar Galactica movie with this cast of actors and characters would not be possible. “I don’t think there is going to be anything else that we do together, this is the end.” (more…)

The Bronx is Up and My Battery’s Down, by Elayne Riggs

  • News
  • April 16, 2008

As you probably know, except for the LA-based Michael Davis, every ComicMix columnist lives in the NY-NJ-CT metropolitan area. The famous magazine cover at right chides our perspective as somewhat skewed, but in reality I think New York City and its surrounding suburbs offer a pretty good microcosm of modern civilization. Not for nothing are we the melting pot of the world.

The thing is, for a relatively small island, Manhattan is so much bigger than most people can cover, either on foot or in the media. Leaving aside for a moment the vast array of cultures inhabiting the "outer" boroughs (our northeast Bronx neighborhood seems to be a mix of mostly Jews and Irish but it appears to be diversifying at last), there’s just so much within NYC (the way many of us in the boroughs abbreviate New York, New York) itself that you can hardly take it all in. Manhattan never ceases to fascinate me, and I’ve been lucky enough to see a lot of it these past few months while searching for a job.

Job search hours tend to be peculiar, because you’re usually coming into or leaving The City while other people around you are either on holiday or working. So I see the passing parade in a different way than I would if I were cooped up in an office for the better part of eight ours, only coming out to commute with the masses. And I’ve been able to pretend I’m sightseeing at the same time, revisiting old haunts as well as traveling to areas I never had the time or inclination to check out when I actually worked in NYC. (more…)

ComicMix Radio: Uncle Sam Says Pay Up Or Else!

It’s Tax Day – like no one else has reminded you of that. After the pain of filing, drown your sorrows with an amazing stack of new comics and DVDs, which we preview, then get set to go with us to The Big Apple for the New York Comic Con – all weekend and all FREE here at ComicMix, plus:

— Adams draws Ali – but it isn’t Neal

— Tori Amos picks her comic favorites

— Batman:Gotham Knight to premiere at Wizard World Chicago

—  It’s your LAST chance to win  an exclusive Graham Crackers Comics variant  by e-mailing us at: podcast [at] comicmix.com …then great ready for our GRAND PRIZE drawing this week!

Just like filing online –  Press The Button and your pop culture refund comes right back at you!

 

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-4404397 or RSS!

‘Batman: Gotham Knight’ Trailer Posted

  • News
  • April 15, 2008

A trailer just came online for this summer’s Batman: Gotham Knight, the animated DVD accompanying the Dark Knight release. It’ll be released on July 8.

In short, it looks amazing, with some intense action and very slick animation. But don’t take my word for it, watch for yourself.


(via Blog@)

Happy Birthday: Leonardo da Vinci

  • News
  • April 15, 2008

Born in Vinci, Florence, Italy in 1452, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was the illegitimate son of a local notary and a peasant girl. He showed an early talent for art, and at the age of 14 he was apprenticed to the renowned Florentine painter Verrocchio.

In 1472, at the age of 20, Leonardo qualified as a master with the Guild of St. Luke and his father set him up in his own workshop. Lorenzo de Medici was so impressed by the young artist that in 1482 he sent Leonardo to serve Ludovico il Moro, the Duke of Milan.

Leonardo remained there until 1499, when he fled to Venice to escape a French invasion. He returned to Florence the following year, and continued to travel between and work among those three cities and more for the rest of his life.

Leonardo da Vinci is considered the examplar of the Renaissance man: a brilliant painter and sculptor but also a talented mathematician and scientist and a renowned scholar. Several of his works, like the Mona Lisa, are still considered among the greatest masterpieces of all time.

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Jon Sable, Freelance: Holiday Blow Up

  • News
  • April 15, 2008

08-7534009In today’s brand new episode of Mike Grell’s Jon Sable, Freelance: Ashes of Eden, Sable and Maggie the Cat have to find Bashira and the bomb before Rockefeller Center explodes.  

The GPS shows them where she is — but will they stop her in time?

Credits: Glenn Hauman (Colorist), Glenn Hauman (Assistant Editor), John Workman (Letterer), Mike Gold (Editor), Mike Grell (Artist), Mike Grell (Writer), Shannon Weaver (Colorist)

More: Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden

 

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‘Incredible Hulk’ Poster Revealed

  • News
  • April 15, 2008

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The Incredible Hulk is looking to be the green-headed stepchild of the summer movie season.

Everyone is going gaga over The Dark Knight and Iron Man, while no one is paying any attention to the Hulk’s film. Is it because of the negative opinion of Ang Lee’s Hulk? Is it because no one really cares about the character, or is the film just being lost in a season of box office megahits?

The general apathy around the film is only increased by the fact that the film’s very first poster was released today. Keep in mind the film is set to be released on June 13.

The poster is definitely evocative of the classic Incredible Hulk TV show, but will that be enough to get people in theaters?

Head over to IGN to see the full sized version of the green goliath’s one sheet for yourself.

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Interview: Zak Penn on The Grand, X-Men Fans and Co-Writing Hulk

  • News
  • April 15, 2008

ctonymark-com[UPDATE: After posting this interview, a representative of Zak Penn contacted ComicMix to state that Penn is not attached to a Captain America film at this time, despite the timing of his response during this interview (and our accurate transcription of the interview as it occurred). -RM]

In Hollywood, where "overnight success" can often take many years, writer/director Zak Penn is one of those exceptions that proves the rule. Rocketing to A-list screenwriter status right out of college with his first script, Last Action Hero, Penn has had a varied and successful career during the intervening years.

Since his first sale, Penn has written or contributed to screenplays for films such as Inspector Gadget, X-Men 2, X-Men: Last Stand, The Mask of Zorro, Men In Black, Fantastic Four and the soon-to-be-released Incredible Hulk. In addition to writing, Penn has also taken turns behind the camera and directed two films. His latest directing effort, the improv comedy The Grand, opened last month in Los Angeles and New York — with a wider release to come later this month. 

Recently, ComicMix caught up with the talented Mr. Penn to get all the latest news on The Grand, Incredible Hulk, X-Men, as well as his thoughts on dealing with fan reaction to his work and the comic book movie he really wants to make someday.

COMICMIX: Zak, thanks for taking the time to talk. How are you doing?

ZAK PENN: Good, man. Hectic as usual.

CMix: You’ve got a movie you directed that’s just come out in L.A. and New York and opening wider this month. Tell us a little about it.

ZP: The Grand is an improvisational ensemble comedy, set against the backdrop of a World Series Of Poker-type tournament.  It’s basically Woody Harrelson, David Cross, Richard Kind, Chris Parnell, Cheryl Hines, Dennis Farina, Ray Romano, Werner Herzog, Gabe Kaplan . . .

CMix: So, a bunch of unknowns, then…

ZP: Yeah, a bunch of nobodies. [Laughs] And Gabe Kaplan and Werner together… So good. I did it like I did my last movie, using an outline and just [improvising] off of it. We shot it and it premiered at Tribeca last year and now its out and expanding to 20 cities this month.

CMix: That’s great. So as a screenwriter, obviously you’ve written a lot of movies, so why improv?  Why not write a script?

ZP: I think it kind of forces me to get away from the stuff that I do, you know? I’ve kind of gotten used to writing in a certain style and falling back on certain types of scenes and this forces me out of it. I can’t do those things.  So I think part of it is to kind of create a new discipline for myself to get something different done.

One of the things I liked about this movie is, I never would have written this script.  If I sat down, I wouldn’t have thought of going in the same directions this movie does, so it’s new to me and fresh to me. It’s almost like having an entire cast of co-writers.

CMix: Because you’re creating it as you go along, basically, with all of your actors?

ZP: Yeah.
 
CMix: Did you get into screenwriting with a plan to direct someday?

(more…)

The Shadow’s Web, by Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • April 15, 2008

With the kind permission of Anthony Tollin and Mike Gold, this week’s column is an adaptation and condensation of an introduction I’m writing for a forthcoming edition of Mr. Tollin’s repackaging of the original Shadow novels. No formal recommended reading this time, but the volume in which the much longer version of what’s below will appear – Shadow #19 – will be on sale in the latter half of June.

Let us, for just a little while, indulge our wish that the great mythic and fictional heroes did and do exist. We are told – and remember, we’re in believer mode – that a diligent historian named Maxwell Grant was privy to the life and thoughts of a mystery man who, though he was probably born Kent Allard often assumed the identity of Lamont Cranston, one of those gentlemen of wealth and leisure who seemed to proliferate in the 30s, the years of the Great Depression, and become almost extinct after World War Two. We are assured that many years ago, while traveling in the Orient, that he acquired certain extraordinary skills – they might even be termed “powers” – and that these aided him in the activities of another of his personae, the relentless and dreaded nemesis of crime known only as The Shadow.

Now, let us entertain a hypothesis. It’s possible, perhaps even probable, that our eastern sojourner, during his investigations, came across reference to Indra’s Net, perhaps while thumbing through a yellowing old volume he found in a bookshop located in a winding Calcutta alleyway. (Would the book have been written in Hindi? Likely. Would Mr. Allard have mastered enough of that language to read it? Again, likely.) Being the ever-curious investigator he had to have been in his salad days, Mr. Allard would have made further inquiries regarding this “Indra’s Net.”

Here is what he might have learned:

In Svarga, the realm of the god Indra, there is a network of gems arranged in such a manner that if a person looks at one of them he sees all the others reflected in it.

(more…)

‘Star Blazers’ Superfans Interviewed

  • News
  • April 14, 2008

ComicMix pals Michael Pinto and Brian Cirulnick were recently interviewed by the crew at StarBlazers.com, the official website of the Star Blazers animated series, and the conversation is an interesting read even if you’re someone who’s (gasp) not very familiar with the series — like me, for instance.

Along with running the show over at Anime.com and Fanboy.com, Pinto and Cirulnick were also the creators of the first official Star Blazers fan organization and the very first Star Blazers fan film, respectively. How’s that for fanboy cred, eh?

In the interview, Pinto and Cirulnick discuss the ins and outs of the superfan scene, the evolution of fan organizations through the years and how a mutual obsession admiration for a series can turn into a career.

Here, Pinto discusses the "duping parties" that made it possible for American anime fans to get their fix:

I hate to say it but in the early 80s most of our fan activity was trading video tapes from Japan. It’s funny that people talk about illegal downloads as something new, but without tape-trading, anime fandom would never have gotten started in the United States. People would have pen pals from Japan send them tapes and they would makes copies of those for other friends. Being an analogue medium, the quality of the tapes got pretty bad pretty quickly. Most of my early anime memories were of 5th generation VHS tapes, chock-full of static, noise distortion and tracking issues. At many conventions we’d have tape-duping parties where we would daisy-chain VHS decks together to make copies. These sessions would run an entire weekend and were the only source of anime for many fans.

 

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