Just in case you didn’t get enough advertising concerning the upcoming Ultimatum crossover, Marvel.com has released a trailer for it.
"They killed his children. They called his species a disease. They thought they were the ultimate race. Now he will have his retribution."
Over at The Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon has asked readers to let him know how they would answer the question, "What’s Watchmen about?" It’s a nice feature, as I believe Watchmen to be one of those projects that has been held in high regard by comics fans for so long that it’s difficult to think outside of our comics fishbowl and explain why it’s such an important story to someone with little knowledge of the industry.
Here’s the answer I gave Tom, which I came up with pretty quickly due to having been asked that same question by someone yesterday:
Watchmen examines the relationship between superheroes and society and the ways in which this relationship changes over time given a variety of real-world factors. What would happen when the shine wears off and things like politics, economics, racism and the knowledge of one’s own abilities far and beyond that of everyone else come to the surface? The story examines all of this by way of a noir-style murder mystery in which one of the former "superheroes" investigates the mysterious death of a former member of the superteam "The Watchmen."
That was my three-sentence answer that skips over so much of what makes Watchmen great to comics fans, but is most likely to hook newcomers to the comics scene. In this case, it seemed to work, as the person I told this to called me up an hour later to say he’d watched the trailer again and now definitely wants to see the film.
You can read more responses over at The Comics Reporter, but feel free to add your own to the comment thread here or email Spurgeon (via the link provided in his post) in order to have your answer added to the feature.
Imagine if comic books had trailers like movies and TV shows to build up buzz and get mainstream audiences excited. Now imagine no more! DC Comics released a movie-style trailer for the new weekly comic Trinity. Starring Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, the series is being written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by Mark Bagley. Check out the video for yourself below.
A lot of folks asked about the trailer we were showing at the booth at San Diego for EZ Street, so we’re posting it for everyone who couldn’t make it this year– or who couldn’t hear it over the crowds.
This is also a good place to remind people that EZ Street is nominated for the Harvey Awards this year, and that the deadline is this Friday. So if you’re a comics pro who’s eligible to vote and hasn’t yet, we’d like to remind you to vote and to keep EZ Street in mind when filling out your ballot.
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.
Newsarama recently posted a first-issue preview of Welcome to Hoxford, the latest series by writer/artist Ben Templesmith. He’s one of the best there is these days when it comes to crafting scary stories that not only tell a tale, but make you feel it, too. Feel free to check out a few issues of Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse
Here’s how IDW describes the series:
PREVIEW INTENDED FOR MATURE AUDIENCES — IDW has provided Newsarama with an exclusive preview of this month’s Welcome to Hoxford #1 – Ben Templesmith (writer & artist & covers) – Acclaimed writer/artist Ben Templesmith (Wormwood Gentleman Corpse) creates his newest horrific comic book right here! In the debut issue of Welcome to Hoxford, Raymond Delgado isn’t welcome at all. Rather, he’s the newest inmate at the Hoxford Correctional Facility and Mental Institution. He has no hope of release, parole, rehabilitation, or decent conversation. On a good day, he’ll tell you he’s Zeus and only bite your arm off. Literally. On a bad day, you won’t have time to scream to the prison guard for help. But Dr Jessica Ainley, his doctor for five years, wants to help Ray and can’t understand why the newly privatized, corporately run prison, won’t give her access to her patients. And why are people always transferred into Hoxford, but no records show anyone ever transferring back out…? Full Color · 32 pages · $3.99 * AUGUST 2008
As the solicit text indicates, the series is fairly graphic (and so are the preview pages) — so consider yourself warned.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is out in theaters in November, and the first trailer is now online. Watch it below.
Also, I just saw the documentary Jesus Camp last night. Did you know that Harry Potter is a warlock and he’s evil? Talk about subtle. I didn’t pick that up from the books at all.
DC’s not alone in its efforts to branch into direct-to-DVD animation, and Marvel showed off a preview of its next project at Comic-Con.
That would be Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow
Boom! Studios has announced they’ll be publishing comic book adaptations of Pixar cartoon properties, with the first announced being an Incredibles project.
The news comes as an early announcement from Comic-Con International, which is just getting underway. Boom EiC Mark Waid will be writing the Incredibles
"Today, American comic books are aimed primarily at an older readership. Comics produced for an upcoming generation of readers are scarce – and BOOM! Studios aims to do something about that," said Waid. "There will be comics for kids again!"
To commemorate this historic partnership, BOOM! will be releasing a special preview book featuring sneak previews of upcoming projects using the characters from TOY STORY
According to the release, these won’t be straight adaptations, but rather all-new stories set in the world of various Pixar films.
Boom also is going to be doing a Muppets book, Waid told CBR.
It was also announced Wednesday night that Waid will be writing "The Muppet Show." Given the Muppets’ long and varied history in television and film, CBR asked Waid about the particular form this series would take. He was able to reveal that the first thing to appear would be a four-issue miniseries, but future series are "something that’s more in flux." "We’re talking about doing a couple one-shots that could be collected into a trade paperback, we’re talking about doing series that are based on ‘The Muppet Show
Half of the four-day schedule for San Diego’s Comic-Con International 2008 is up and running.
Here’s Thursday. Here’s Sunday.
Obviously, much cool stuff to choose from. Too much cool stuff, in fact. Makes me almost not sad that I won’t make it this year (watch out 2009!).
While we’re on the subject, Variety has a retrospective of the early days of Comic-Con, when film people had little idea how to relate to comics fans.
Although it was more than 30 years ago, for example, I keenly recall a preview of the 1978 feature "Superman
Gradually, the studios started to wise up, hiring publicists specifically trained to handle Comic-Con’s savvy but easily riled audience. When Ridley Scott’s space-horror film "Alien
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