Category: News

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Grindhouse genre comics

3696_2_1-8829927Greg Hatcher has an incredibly fun essay up about what he calls grindhouse comics: comics that are so heavily steeped in the pulp traditions that they make your teeth ache. Think Blade before he went Hollywood, and then dial it down a bit:

And it was a pretty easy leap, talking amongst fans, to start kicking around the idea of grindhouse comics. But here we ran into a little bit of a snag. Because, really, to be fair, from their beginnings on up through the early 70’s, they’re ALL “grindhouse” comics. That’s just the way it was….

The short version — for the sake of boiling it down to something that I can use here, I’d narrow the definition of ‘grindhouse comics’ to the comics I thought of in my youth as the B list. Comics that were, y’know, just okay. These were the books that I knew I could walk in on any time, that I knew would achieve a base level of entertainment that I would enjoy.

But I would not ever worry about missing an issue of one of these titles. They’d be there waiting for me when I got around to them again and nothing would change: they’d still be fun, continuity-free, amusing ways to kill half an hour. They have that Roger Corman vibe, that cheerful sense of, yeah, this is just something dumb and completely without social merit. We know it. So let’s all stop thinking about Art and just have a good time. Floor it.

Truthfully they were what I read in between issues of the books I REALLY liked. Used to be, when your favorite book was hung up because the writer was taking too long to craft his brilliant epic or the artist was late AGAIN, we just bought something else and read that instead. I did, anyway. You get a hanker on for a comic book, you want a comic book, damn it. (Nowadays I think the alternative impulse buy’s gotten to be too expensive a proposition for most of us; we end up just taking to the internet and bitching about late books instead.)

Go take a look at the article to see what he’s talking about, and you might get a better idea as to why everybody is trying to remake those kinds of books today, from Astro City’s Dark Age to Waid & Perez’s Brave and Bold, which Hatcher points to as Exhibit A of a grindhouse book — which makes sense, as it’s a double feature and all.

Our idea of a great grindhouse comic: Revenge Of The Prowler.

Artwork copyright Price, Snyder III and Truman. All Rights Reserved.

Sin City video games

sincitymarvwhite200-2773492Red Mile Entertainment has cut an exclusive worldwide licensing deal to develop and publish video games based on the Sin City graphic novels by Frank Miller. 

“Taking Sin City into the world of video games is very exciting – games offer a whole new way to bring audiences into Sin City,” said Frank Miller. “The Red Mile team has impressed me with its dedication to creating Sin City video games that will remain true to Sin City as I’ve always seen it.”

Red Mile is best known for their “Heroes of the Pacific” game, and are currently working on games based on MTV’s show Jackass. The financial terms of the deal were not announced.

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CBS credits Kyle Baker for Ghost Chimp M.D.

ghostchimp-3015220We noted back on Monday that Craig Ferguson had been touting on CBS’s Late Late Show had been pushing a show called Ghost Chimp, M.D. — a show that seemed to be exactly like an idea that Kyle Baker had developed for CBS back in the 90’s, and wrote up for an article in Vibe magazine.

But now we are happy to report that Kyle Baker has now been credited by CBS with, in Kyle’s words, THE WORST IDEA OF ALL TIME and all is right with the world again. Watch for yourself:

Ghost Chimp M.D. © Kyle Baker. All rights reserved.

 

JOHN OSTRANDER: That’s A (TV) Wrap Part 1

ostrander100-7854594It’s May which means, out in TV-land, it’s the final sweeps period of the season. Yeah, a few of the final shows have yet to air but I might as well look back on what I liked/disliked over the past season. This may not be what you watched, liked or disliked but, hey, it’s my column.

Battlestar Galactica. I finally succumbed and started looking in on the series. I’d been afraid that it would be too dense at this point, that there was too much backstory, to be accessible to late viewers like myself but I found I was able to pick things up as I went. Yes, it would be better if I knew more of the backstory and I plan on picking up the DVDs but I’ve gotten into the series. I’m not certain why finding Earth is such a good idea for these people or why so much of their culture seems to be very post-1940’s American culture but I’m willing to hang in and find out. Yes, I liked it overall.

Boston Legal. A tip of the hat to ComicMix head inmate Mike Gold for getting me to watch this series. Mary and I started watching late last season and it’s become one of our favorites. I was resistant because I’m not really a big David E. Kelley fan but this show causes me to laugh out loud. It makes brilliant use of some old pros – James Spader, Rene Aubenjois, Candace Bergen, and the simply amazing William Shatner – as it talks about current issues, goes consistently over the top, touches the heart and simply entertains me more than almost any other show in a given week.

Deadwood. Big fan of this show and I can’t tell you how pissed off I am that HBO didn’t let it continue. Yeah, they talked about two movies to finish it up but a) that’s not the same and b) I haven’t heard that those are actually going forward. Creator David Milch had said that the concept was the advance of civilization as seen through the focus of the town of Deadwood, South Dakota, originally a boom camp for the gold found in the hills nearby. Real historical figures intermingled with totally fictional creations much the same way real history was mingled with a lot of inventive writing (and serious profanity). It’s not a technique unknown to me; I did the much the same thing when I wrote my historical graphic novel The Kents. The show boasted some fine performances topped by Ian McShane’s incendiary Al Swearingen.

All that said, I have to confess that Season 3 turned out to be a disappointment to me. The through line was the gradual take-over of the town by George Hearst (given a dynamite performance by Gerald McRaney). Hearst was an actual historical figure, the farther of William Randolph Hearst who, in turn, was a model for Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, and that was both the attraction and the problem. The actual Hearst himself never visited Deadwood, so far as my researches showed, although he did wind up owning several big mines there.

The problem in Season 3, for me, was that it was headed for an almost apocalyptic showdown between Hearst and his men versus the citizens of the town who, although usually at violent odds with one another, were brought together by a common threat. The season built in tension to what should have been a staggering climax and then – Hearst simply decides to leave town. Go on to his next location. The tension dribbles away.

(more…)

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Happy Anniversary, Mickey’s voice!

karnivalkidmickey-1205451Seventy-eight years ago today, Mickey Mosue uttered his first words, "Hot Dog!", in the short The Karnival Kid. Although it was Mickey’s ninth short, it was the first in which he actually spoke.

Mickey’s voice, of course, was that of his creator, Walt Disney.

Ostrander scores with Suicide

3385_2_01-2172640Our old pal John Ostrander, along with our old pals Luke McDonnell and Karl Kesel, are getting DC’s phonebook treatment as Showcase Presents The Suicide Squad is about to pop up on their schedule – just in time for John’s brand-new Suicide Squad mini-series.

If this event looks to you like a ComicMix staff meeting, you wouldn’t be far off the mark. Suicide Squad was written by our columnist/contributor Mr. Ostrander and it was edited by our columnist/contributor Mr. Greenberger. And the series was a spin-off from the classic Legends mini-series edited by columnist/EIC Mr. Yours Truly.

Pretty cool, John. It’s rather rare for DC to run material from the past 20 years in their Showcase Presents series!

The helfy tome will be out the first week in November.

Artwork copyright DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. Artwork by Howard Chaykin. John Ostrander did not contribute to this item, and no animals were harmed in its production, although one committed– aw, you guessed.

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Party with Harry Potter

hp7front-8264934Today, Scholastic announced a contest to celebrate the publicationof the seventh — and last — Harry Potter book.  Seven US fans will be selected to win a great prize — round-trip airfare for two to London, three nights there in a hotel, and a seat at the midnight launch of the book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, with a reading by author J. K. Rowling.

You have to be younger than 21 to enter. 

The "Moonlight Signing" takes place at the Natural HIstory Museum.  Only 1700 fans will be allowed to attend the signing.  The contest winners will be among the 500 people allowed to attend the reading.

Eligible to enter?  Go to http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter and fill out an entry form, or print your name, home address and phone number and send it to:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Sweepstakes

Scholastic Inc.

557 Broadway

New York, NY  10012

Your entry must be received by June 15, 2007, and you’ll know if you’ve won by June 21, 2007.  If you do, please let us know and send us a report about the event. 

ELAYNE RIGGS: The wounded animal

elayne200-4313096In the past week or so we’ve seen Toon-a-MILFs.  We’ve observed Frank Miller seemingly becoming Dave Sim before our eyes (Val D’Orazio has a good play-by-play on that).  We’ve had previews of covers for all-ages comics featuring tentacle porn.  And of course we’ve been subjected to the infamous “comiquette” of MJ Watson looking as though she’s just waiting to be, um, MILFed by lonely fanboys, copious discussion of which has made it as far as the NY Post and Toronto Star, and which is still going strong in the cultural and feminist blogosphere (more about that later). Is it any wonder that this spring a young (and not-so-young) woman’s fancy turns to enraged frustration?

Sure, on the face of it, the subject matter of these fascinating and insightful discussions isn’t as life-and-death urgent as any number of real life atrocities happening to women around the world.  (No culture warriors actually make that claim, by the way, contrary to implications by “concern trolls” that their priorities are skewed, as if one cannot simultaneously fight against sexism in both geopolitical and cultural venues.)  But it’s reflective of an attitude by half the population towards the other half that may finally, bit by bit, be going the way of the dinosaur, and it’s worth examining.

It’s been my empirical experience that cultural leaps forward often come from a situation where it’s “darkest before the dawn.”  Sometimes the most egregious and outlandish examples of pop culture sexism occur at the point at which women are making significant strides in convincing the media corporations (now, with actual women employees!) to move beyond the boys’ club mentality.  But this same point harbors much danger, like a wounded animal, as many men act from a misplaced sense of pride or fear and dig in their heels more stubbornly than before. (more…)

Hail and farewell, Johnny Carson

It was fifteen years ago tonight that Johnny Carson took his final bow as the host of the Tonight Show. We mention this so that Mark Evanier doesn’t have to.

Okay, so the clip’s from the day before. Sue us. Here’s something from the final show, Johnny’s final words to us all:

"And so it has come to this: I, uh… am one of the lucky people in the world; I found something I always wanted to do, and I have enjoyed every single minute of it. I want to thank the gentlemen who’ve shared this stage with me for thirty years, Mr. Ed McMahon… Mr. Doc Severinsen… and… you people watching, I can only tell you that it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you—and I hope when I find something that I want to do, and I think you would like, and come back, that you’ll be as gracious in inviting me into your home as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt good night."

Joker runs wild on the World Wide Web

michael_jackson_joker-2840081As a follow up to our earlier story, the original website where we got a look at Heath Ledger as the Joker, http://ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com has been torn apart, and the only thing that remains is an error that comes up and says "Page Not Found". Pretty standard, right? Think again!

Just for kicks, check out the site and hit control-A (or command-A for all of you Mac users). The Joker seems to have left his mark, even without his face. This fun new marketing technique used to promote 2008’s The Dark Knight seems to keep turbo-geeks like myself filled with wonderment, and I can’t wait to see what’s next to pop up from our friends over at Warner Bros.

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