Watchmen video game online
Straight from 1977 and Veidt Industries, it’s the Minutemen video game! Fight as Nite Owl or Silk Spectre against the machinations of Moloch the Mystic! Click through and play, only a virtual quarter!
The Mix : What are people talking about today?
The Point – February 13th, 2009
It’s Friday the 13th and by mere coincidence, a movie relaunch of the same name hits theaters today. We spend some time comforting one of Jason’s nicer victims, then talk with David Uslan about his line up of projects that include a Bob Layton/David Michelinie movie. And did you know that Jonah Hex now has an on screen villain or that you can see the BSG spin off, CAPRICA, in just a few weeks?
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PREVIEW: ‘Batman: The Brave and the Bold’ with the Bronze Tiger… the Terrible Trio… and Jonah Hex?
Yes, Batman and Jonah Hex. Take a look…
We’ve obtained preview footage of this week’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, airing tonight 6 February 20th on Cartoon Network at 8:00 PM.
This week’s episode "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!" takes Batman back to his origins with Master Wong Fei and the Wudang Temple. Fox, Vulture and Shark join the evil Shadow Clan in an attack on the Temple and kill Master Wong Fei in a battle of flying arrows and martial arts. When the Terrible Trio steals the Wudang Totem and transform into unstoppable mystical creatures, it’s up to Batman and Bronze Tiger to save us all! Take a look…
On This Day: Frank Sinatra founds Image Comics
Well, not quite. But consider:
He was a young hot-shot, insanely popular with the kids. But he was tired of buckling under for the suits who controlled his career and had nearly scuttled it in the past, he wanted more artistic freedom for his own recordings. So he founded Reprise Records, and on this day in 1961, released the first album, Ring-a-Ding-Ding!
One of the label’s founding principles under Sinatra’s leadership was that each artist would have full creative freedom, and at some point complete ownership of their work; including publishing rights. As a result, a lot of other talented creators came on board with Frank, including Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Redd Foxx, Bing Crosby, and Rosemary Clooney. Later on, Reprise would also sign a lot of new talent including The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.
And Frank? He became "The Chairman of the Board" and went on to the most successful times of his career.
Nowadays, Reprise is owned by Warner Bros. Records, which isn’t entirely unlike what DC did with Wildstorm. And for one more comics tie-in, the label is now the home to My Chemical Romance, fronted by Gerard Way, former DC intern and current writer of The Umbrella Academy for Dark Horse, and they’re now releasing the soundtrack for Watchmen. Here’s the picture disc.
As Dean Martin was fond of saying, "It’s Frank’s world; we’re just lucky to be living in it."
So when you hear people talk about creators rights in the industry, just remember who was there first. Who did what he had to do, and saw it through without exemption. He said the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels. The record shows he took the blows… and did it his way.
Midway Games, publisher of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, files for bankruptcy
Storm clouds are indeed on the horizon. Technologizer reports that Midway Games filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy yesterday.
Chairman, President and CEO Matt Booty called the filing “a difficult but necessary decision,” adding that it buys the company time to figure out how to proceed from here. For now, business continues as usual, and Midway has filed several First Day Motions in hopes of keeping it that way as restructuring takes place.
Midway Games Inc., the creator of the Mortal Kombat video-game series, most recently came out with Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
Google Book Settlement Site Is Up; Paying Authors $60 Per Scanned Book
From TechCrunch via Tom Galloway:
Last October, Google signed a $125 million settlement with the Author’s Guild to pay authors for copyrighted works it has scanned and made available on the Web through its Google Book Search project. More than 7 million books have been scanned by Google so far, a large portion of them out of print. Today, the Google Book Settlement site went up, which allows authors and other copyright holders of out-of-print books the ability to submit claims to participate in the settlement.
What do they get? Authors, publishers, and other copyright holders will get a one-time payment of $60 per scanned book (or $5 to $15 for partial works). In return, Google will be able to index the books and display snippets in search results, as well as up to 20% of each book in preview mode. Google will also be able to show ads on these pages and make available for sale digital versions of each book. Authors and copyright holders will receive 63 percent of all advertising and e-commerce revenues associated with their works. With Google Book Search now available on mobile phones, downloaded e-books could become an interesting digital side-business for Google. (But please Google, convert the scanned text into something more easily legible on the screen).
Remember, this settlement is only for the millions of out-of-print books that are making zero revenues for authors and publishers today. So it is not a bad deal all around. Copyright holders have until January 5, 2010 to make a claim.
There don’t seem to be many comics scanned in, but you never know. One wonders how they apply it to periodicals alike magazines and comic books.
ComicMix Quick Picks – February 12, 2009
Today’s collection of items may not be worth a post of their own, but may be of interest:
- Twilight watch: Director Catherine Hardwicke declined a monster payday to direct the sequel New Moon, but she said no because she didn’t want to make the movie under the deadline and budget constraints that would have been placed on her. Edward actor Robert Patterson says he bores people in 2 minutes. And Stephen King says ‘Twilight’ author Stephenie Meyer ‘can’t write’.
- Jennifer de Guzman has had her hours cut 40%. Been there, done that. Courage, Jen. That said, I’m not sure I agree with her Publishers Weekly column, Can Creativity Save Comics from Troubled Times? I think it’s going to take new ways of doing business.
- Surprising stories behind 20 Muppet characters. Pepe the King Prawn’s full name is Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales? Coooool.
- D’Israeli gives this warning to colorists looking back at their works: Be Sure Your Sins Will Find You Out. Been there, too.
- And finally, Russ Rogers sent us this, a little ditty called "Batman’s Song" which, even though the writing pre-dates it, certainly sounds like the Batman’s lament from the Grant Morrison run…
Anything else we missed? Consider this an open thread.
NYCC 2009: Costumes, costumes, costumes! Part 2
And even more! Let’s go cosplay crazy, starting with two sides of the American superhero…
Batman sequel on hold until 2011
According to E! Online, a sequel to The Dark Knight is two years away. At least.
Director Christopher Nolan has inked a deal with Warner Bros. to helm Inception, based on his own screenplay. The sci-fi action film “set within the architecture of the mind” aims to begin shooting this summer and hit theaters in summer 2010, according to the studio.
This probably shouldn’t surprise anyone, though. It was three years between Batman Begins, and last year’s The Dark Knight. In between, Nolan made The Prestige, starring Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as rival magicians.
The only potential problem, of course, is if they want to do another Terminator sequel for 2011, which would keep Bale’s schedule very filled and could conceivable dilute the impact of each film in theaters.
NYCC 2009: Intellectual Property Primer
One of the concerns for comic book creators is is protecting their rights. In support of that, New York Comic-Con had a panel on Saturday called "Intellectual Property 101", put on by three lawyers in the entertainment business. Thomas A. Crowell, Sheafe B. Walker, and Walter-Michael Lee, attorneys specializing in entertainment law and intellectual property, gave an overview and answered questions from the audience.
Several forms of rights are involved. The first is copyright. Under current copyright law, a work is copyrighted automatically upon creation. In the United States, copyrights are valid for the life of the creator plus 70 years. In "work for hire contracts", copyrights may be for 95 or 120 years.
There is no requirement have anything special in the work such as a copyright symbol, or to register it to have a copyright. However, registration of copyright was strongly recommended. Copyright registration establishes a formal legal record of a copyright’s existance, dating from when registration was made, and gives you greater ability to collect damages if the copyright is infringed. The "poor man’s copyright" practice of mailing yourself a copy of your work to establish copyright was dismissed as obsolete and not doing anything useful.
Copyright registration can be handled on line by going to http://www.copyright.gov/register, or using paper forms. The Copyright Office encourages online registration, and charges less for it. Online registration has a $35 fee, whereas paper forms will cost $45. You will need to provide contact information for the copyright holder, a copy of the work being copyrighted, and the fee.
In answer to a question, it was stated that you could use one copyright registration to copyright an entire series, as in a continuing comic book. There was no requirment for a sperate filing and fee for each issue. It is also possible, though rare, to get a copyright on a work in progress that is not yet completed.
Partnerships and work-for-hire agreements present special challenges. (more…)
