Category: News

WW-CHICAGO: Marvel Still Civil

  • News
  • August 12, 2007

Wild Weather on the East Coast Friday stranded most of the Mondo Marvel panelists in New York (hmmm… wonder how ComicMix‘s E.I.C. made it out that evening), leaving Joe Quesada and C. B. Cebuliski to fend for themselves while sharing with the crowd images and news from upcoming Marvel projects.

One other panelist, Rob Liefeld, who was there to talk about his new Killraven series. Apparently thought up at a bar in San Diego last year, Liefeld and Rob Kirkman will be bringing us an all-new take on the charactertarting fresh and looking to integrate Killraven into the Marvel Universe of the future – a world where our heroes are gone but their artifacts remain, one piece of art had Killraven holding Captain America’s shield. Look for the book in mid-2008. Reminding us that the creators of comics were and are comics fans themselves, Liefeld took some time to talk about his love for the character (and his DC counter-part Kamandi) during his childhood, you could hear the 11 year old Rob coming through loud and clear.

Luke Cage is back in his tiara and yellow shirt now that writer/artist (and Cartoon Network legend) Genny Tartakovsky has gotten a hold of him. The new artist on Punisher War Journal is Corey Walker. Doing his first work for Marvel, Tan Eng Huat (Doom Patrol) will be the artist on the mini-series Silver Surfer: In Thy Name, to be written by Simon Spurrier (2000 A.D.). I wonder if that news blows the ending of the current Silver Surfer mini.

Up next for Paul Jenkins will be a limited series drawn by Paul Guluay called Penance: Relentless about “the most hated man in America.”

Quesada and Cebuliski also said there are some big shake ups (an end?) coming to the Ultimates Universe by year’s end, and we’ll be seeing the "real" Nick Fury back in action next year.

Getting wind of what’s been happening

  • News
  • August 12, 2007

Once again we’re away from Second City comic book happenings here in the First City, but at least we can all share Chicago nickname puns as well as the Perseid meteor showers this evening from pretty much wherever we live.  That, and the ComicMix columns from this past week:

As you might expect, Mellifluous Mike Raub is in attendance at WizWorld Chicago, meaning more Big ComicMix Broadcasts than usual:

The interesting thing about many vacations is how much you want to do at the beginning and how little you’ve done at the end.  Mine has gone according to plan in terms of reading (see my column linked above) but not writing.  Ah well, maybe next time…

MICHAEL H. PRICE: Can’t Get Enough of B.T.K.

  • News
  • August 12, 2007

price-brown-100-7714236You just can’t live in Texas if you don’t have a lot of soul, as Doug Sahm would have it. No, and you can’t live in Arizona if you don’t have a sense of Yuma.

But we were talking about Texas, where you also just can’t live without an immersion in the lore of Billy the Kid. Folklore and pop-fiction, that is, as opposed to factual knowledge or even perceived truth. By the time of the post-middle 20th century, such mis-familiarity had so thoroughly outstripped the facts in the case of this most notorious badman that most of the B.T.K. legendry bombarding the youth of America – and not merely the Texas / New Mexico Plains region – came not from Texas, but rather from Texas as filtered through the movies and the comic books.

billy-the-kid-toby-1950-1-2-4677122For years on end, my most vivid images of Billy the Kid came from Toby Press’ Billy the Kid Adventure Magazine (29 issues, spanning 1950 – 1955 and boasting efforts by the likes of Al Williamson, Frank Frazetta, and Harvey Kurtzman) and from the after-school telecasts of an extensive run of low-budget movies starring, by turns, Bob Steele and Buster Crabbe. At a turning-point for such awareness, while visiting Northwest Texas’ Panhandle–Plains Historical Museum with the folks, I noticed a display containing this document:

Tascosa Texas

Thursday Oct 26th

1878

Know all persons by these presents that I do hereby sell and diliver [sic] to Henry F. Hoyt one Sorrel Horse Branded BB on left hip and other indistinct Branded on Shoulders, for the Sum of Seventy five $ dollars, in hand received.

[Signed] W.H. Bonney

Witness

Jos. E. Masters

Geo. J. Howard

“You know who wrote that, don’t you?” asked my Dad. “Your teevee-cowboy hero, Billy the Kid – that’s who. Billy Bonney.

“Except he wasn’t any teevee hero,” Dad continued. “More of a juvenile-delinquent punk, if you ask me.”

“They had juvenile delinquents in 1878?” I asked in reply, missing the point altogether. I was sufficiently flabbergasted by the revelation that Billy the Kid had been a Real Guy – or that the movies and the comic-book series (both loosely conceived and dense with internal contradictions) could claim a basis in fact – to find myself at a loss for words as to this larger issue.

The right words would occur to me later. My father had heard at first hand some harsh accounts of Billy’s dealings, via a Depression-era acquaintance with Elizabeth “Frenchy” McCormick (ca. 1852–1941), last survivor of the long-abandoned frontier settlement known as Tascosa. So Dad and I had plenty to discuss – my Hollywood-and-funnybooks perception, vs. Dad’s owlhoot-punk opinions. (more…)

WW-CHICAGO: Big ComicMix Broadcast for Day 2

magellan-3887627Day Two at Wizard World has presented us with a lot of cool stuff to bring you on the Big ComicMix Broadcast— starting with an adorable lady who is putting her heart and soul into her love of comics and producing her own work completely on her own. Then Battlestar: Galactica‘s Richard Hatch unveils his newest passion project, The Great War of Magellan , and we give you a chance to work with him on the development of the concept!  Then there’s a tip on how you can be your own comic book star – and a trip back to when there was a group on the charts whose front man was doing the pirate things a long time before Johnny Depp!

Ready to work with Richard? Then PRESS THE BUTTON!

 

 

MARTHA THOMASES: Hot Fun in the Summertime

  • News
  • August 11, 2007

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.  Fish are jumpin, and the cotton is high.  Or so I’m told.  Living in a major metropolitan area in the twenty-first century, I have to take such things on faith.

This summer, the fun times for someone like me are largely political.  The presidential election is over a year away.  The first primaries are six months away.  Nothing is going to be decided any time soon, so I can pretend it will all turn out for the best. 

I spent the summer I was 15 going “clean for Gene,” campaigning for Eugene McCarthy, who was running against Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic nomination on an anti-war platform.  Four years later, I ran as an alternate delegate for George McGovern. Four years ago, I nearly got arrested outside the Republican convention up the street from here.  Presidential campaigns are fun!

Which is not to say they couldn’t be much more fun.  The problem is that presidential candidates tend to be politicians.  They spend all their time hustling campaign funds, writing policy, and meeting the public.  They go on the Sunday morning news shows and show how serious they are.  They go on Oprah or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to show they’re regular folks who can take a joke.

They don’t save the world from alien invasions.  They don’t even fight crime.

Presidential campaigns would be a lot more fun if, instead of Republicans versus Democrats, it was Marvel versus DC.   For example debates between:

 

Captain America and Superman on immigration reform.

Luke Cage and John (Green Lantern) Stewart on affirmative action.

Thor and Wonder Woman about the separation of Church and State.

Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne on the inheritance tax.

Storm and Aquaman on global warming.

The Punisher and Batman on prison reform.

Professor X and Green Arrow on family values.

The Avengers and the Justice League on national security.

(more…)

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WW-CHICAGO: Three to the fourth power!

stampsmarvel250-4325020Today the Big ComicMix Broadcast is at Wizard World Chicago, where the US Post Office kicked off the way by unveiling the Marvel Stamp Collection, plus the debut of the Ultimate Spider-Man Project from the Hero Initiative which was unleashed here as well. DC dropped a few news bombs which we cover and then there’s a new Venom series to talk about from Marvel and so much more.

PRESS THE BUTTON now so we can dish!

 

 

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WW-CHICAGO: The Big Wiener

  • News
  • August 10, 2007

Perhaps the coolest event in Chicago at the start of this year’s Wizard World involved costumed characters and big cars, but it wasn’t at the convention center. It was downtown, right in front of the offices of the Chicago Tribune.

Yes, Li’l Oscar got a ticket.

lil-oscar-ticketed-6360817

Illegal parking. $50.00 fine. Damn, how many quarters would it take to feed the meters?

Matt Smith of Chicago’s Streets and Sanitation Department told the Tribune they could have towed the big weiner.  "We have access to tow trucks that could have handled a Polish sausage, not just a hot dog." Ah, but would they tow an Italian Beef sandwich?

Thanks to the Tribune’s Charlie Meyerson for the lead, and thanks to Jamie Brockett for the joke. Photograph copyright 2007 Chicago Tribune, All Rights Reserved. With mustard and onions. The author is about to jump on an airplane and fly to Chicago for one of those fantastic Italian Beef sandwichs, and, oh, some sort of convention.

 

Giant Lego Man: Threat or Menace?

  • News
  • August 10, 2007

 

 

 lego-7918767Baffling News Story of the Day: Dutch children discover and befriend a giant Lego man in the sea. AOL claims that he’s “smiling,” but I’m more familiar with the standard Lego faces than they are – that, my friend, is a smirk, which means this story is not yet done. (Hey, I just had a thought — any chance that this guy is the monster from the secret "Cloverfield" movie?)

Comics Reporter reaches way back to review 1967’s Marvel Collector’s Item Classics #13.

Neil Gaiman talks to NPR about Stardust (you’ll have to listen to it, not read it).

Comics Alliance interviews Eddie Campbell.

Sequential Tart interviews Gail Simone about her plans for Wonder Woman.

USA Today has a graphic novel roundup.

The Ephemerist thinks that Garfield is the new Nancy. When I see Jim Davis drawing three lasagna pans in the background, then I’ll worry.

Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog reviews Nick Abadzis’s graphic novel Laika. (Which I’ve just read; look for a review here in a few days, Gawd willing and the creek don’t rise.)

Comics Should Be Good’s latest Reason to Love Comics: Fin Fang Foom, baby!

Ralph’s Comic Corner of Ventura, CA was recently robbed. But it’s not as bad as it would have been – the robbers “walked by actual cash money to steal Spawn and Witchblade.”

Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing thinks Brian Talbot’s Alice in Sunderland is the “single weirdest graphic novel [he’s] ever enjoyed.” I smell a pull-quote for the second edition!

Dana of Comic Fodder reviews her usual weekly batch of Marvel comics. (more…)

sexist-disney-rejection01-2084722

MICHAEL DAVIS: You’ll never work in this town again

  • News
  • August 10, 2007
sexist-disney-rejection01-2084722
 
What you see posted above instead of my picture is an actual Walt Disney Company rejection letter from 1938. When I found this on line I freaked the heck out. I mean look at it! It says, in affect, “Look here, bitch you can’t work here because you’re a girl!”

Before you start marching on Disney, remember this was a vastly different time in America. It’s fair to say that me writing that I dated white women would have been just cause for me to fear for my life in 1938 in some parts of America. We have sure come a long way!

Or… (Place ominous music here) have we?

There are still people in this country who think that women and other minorities are not equal.

It’s the year 2007 and the ERA has not been pasted. The Equal Rights Amendment, first proposed in 1923, is still not part of the U.S. Constitution.

What is up with that?

It’s the year 2007 and there are only 35 states that say that women are equal. So how far have we come?  I know from experience that there still exists racism in this country. Statistics prove that sexism still exists. The “glass ceiling” is a frequent topic for documentaries and ‘special reports’ on news programs.

This Disney letter got me wondering if sexism and racism are real factors in the entertainment world. I have been on hundreds of TV pitches and never felt it was a factor. I, like a lot of black people have a sort of radar sense when it comes to discrimination.

No, I am not the sort of person (but I do know black people like this) who blame everything on being black. Have you heard any of these? They did not hire me because I’m Black. They won’t rent to me because I’m Black. They think I’m darker than them because I’m Black.

Now replace “black” with “woman” and tell me have you heard these? They did not hire me because I’m a woman. They won’t promote me because I’m a woman. They think I’m female because I’m a woman.

I used to think that some deals of mine were killed because I was black. I realized that it was not because I was black, it was because some people in positions of power did not like me.

 

sexist-disney-rejection02-2007809

(more…)

WW-CHICAGO: The Big ComicMix Broadcast Hits Chicago!

drew-and-mike-5512873The ComicMix staff has landed at Wizard World Chicago just in time for tonite’s exclusive Preview Party. But even before the doors open, Wizard World Director of Communications Drew Seldin (on the left; I’m the other guy) gives a sneak peek of the weekend. Plus The Big ComicMix Broadcast showcases a new "relationship comic" that you can see on line right now, and gives you a quick trip back to when a west coast band made noise by covering The Monkees!

Come On To The Con – all you have to do is PRESS THE BUTTON!

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