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Star Trek setting licensing phasers on stun

  • News
  • January 30, 2009

As Yogurt the wise teaches us, "Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs-the T-shirt, Spaceballs-the Coloring Book, Spaceballs-the Lunch box, Spaceballs-the Breakfast Cereal, Spaceballs-the Flame Thrower." CBS has learned their lessons well, one could even say it’s a paramount lesson.

CBS Consumer Products has cranked its Star Trek licensing up to 11 in preparation of the new Star Trek movie, which will debut on May 8th.  In addition to the IDW comics tying the movie to Next Generation continuity, the Pocket book publishing license, and the previously announced Star Trek Barbie Dolls, Mattel has also acquired the rights to create radio-controlled flying vehicles for its Tyco subsidiary, a Star Trek Scene-It DVD movie/TV game, and a 20Q Star Trek Trivia Game. (Bob Greenberger’s on our team, we take on all challengers.)

 

Other game tie-ins include a Star Trek-branded Monopoly edition from USAopoly, and co-branded games for UNO, Scrabble ("Ferengi" is a 61 point word, "Klingon" is 62– no ruling on whether words from their languages count), Phase Ten, All About Trivia, and a Magic 8 Ball. If only the good Kirk from "The Enemy Within" had one.

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Has the world hit ‘Peak Anime’?

  • News
  • January 30, 2009

anime-shock-8634149Disturbing if true: ICV2 has an article entitled, simply, Worldwide Anime Market Shrinking. In a lecture by TV Tokyo’s Keisuke Iwata, he noted that due to market saturation, illegal downloading, the worldwide recession, and the rising yen, “It is easy to imagine the global marketplace shrinking from 2010 onward." According to Iwata there may be little or no growth potential for anime sales outside of Japan and that the industry “may have to go back to the way it was in the past — back to selling Japanese animation only to the Japanese marketplace."

And with a market already glutted and the massive lead time and resources required to create anime, we should expect to see big crashes. Imagi Studios already had to get bridge financing to complete production of Astro Boy.

Anime News Network has reported that the total revenue of the Japanese anime industry rose rapidly from 2003 when it was estimated at 167.4 billion yen (about $1.9 billion), peaked in 2006 at $258.8 billion yen (about $2.9 billion) and then fell to 236.9 billion yen in 2007.  Figures for 2008 aren’t available yet, but given the financial distress of many anime producers, another decline is a foregone conclusion.

Also note that Iwata’s market factors of market saturation, illegal downloading, and the worldwide recession apply equally to comics.

PREVIEW: ‘Batman: The Brave and the Bold’ with the Atom, Aquaman, Plastic Man and the Elongated Man!

  • News
  • January 29, 2009

We’ve obtained preview footage of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, “Journey to the Center of the Bat!” airing this Friday, January 30 on Cartoon Network at 8:00 PM.

This week Batman’s life hangs in the balance when he is poisoned by Chemo, who is under the control of the evil Brain.  The Atom races to the rescue with Aquaman by shrinking down and entering Batman’s bloodstream.  While Aquaman and the Atom battle the infection deep inside Batman’s body, Batman struggles to end Chemo’s rampage and defeat the Brain!  This week’s teaser features Elongated Man and Plastic Man teaming up to derail a bank heist and capture the criminal Baby Face. Take a look… (more…)

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Nathan Fillion: On voicing Steve Trevor

  • Uncategorized
  • January 29, 2009

nathan-fillion-andrea-romano300-7323573Nathan Fillion, star of Joss Whedon’s “Firefly” and “Serenity,” will do double duty this March as the voice of Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman, the next entry in the series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies due on March 3, 2009, with a preview showing at the New York Comic Con, and is also taking the title role in “Castle”, premiering on March 7th on ABC, which features Fillion as a hugely popular mystery/horror writer who helps police solve crimes– think "Murder She Wrote" with Stephen King, but nowhere near as stiff.

Fillion, a fan favorite as Captain Mal Reynolds, as well as Captain Hammer in “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” found time away from the grasp of DC Voice Director Andrea Romano (right) and his unrelenting Halo addiction to chat.

QUESTION: Can you describe the challenges of bringing Steve Trevor to life?

NATHAN FILLION: The challenge I find is just trying to use my natural voice and trying not to put on too much of a voice.  I tried to just keep it nice and easy and relaxed. He’s a little bit wry, he’s a little bit dry. I can do that. And a couple of times I actually slipped in a little bit of a southern accent. 

Steve Trevor is not a complex guy.  He’s got a façade up, he’s got a defense up, but he drops it a little bit because he does care about Diana.  I like that he’s got a bit of an arc, he’s got something to learn.  I think that’s what makes a good character and a good story.

(more…)

Tomb Raider returning to the big screen?

  • News
  • January 29, 2009

Lara Croft may be returning to the big screen in a continuation of the Tomb Raider franchise. Warner Bros. and producer Dan Lin are in early development of a project with Ian Livingstone of gaming publisher Eidos as co-producer. No word if Angelina Jolie will return to the role of Ms. Croft, or if they’ll recast the part.

Tomb Raider has been licensed as a Top Cow comic since 1997.

Fight the downturn! Here’s how…

  • News
  • January 28, 2009

Yes, we know it’s getting ugly out there. If Robot 6 has a daily roundup called Food Or Comics, and we’re covering stuff that they’re missing, it’s just outright brutal.

So what to do about it? Kristine Kathryn Rusch, award-winning author and editor, posted the following to an email list regarding the shutdown of Realms Of Fantasy:

If you’re really worried about the magazines, subscribe to them.  If you already have a subscription, give a few gift subscriptions.  If you can afford it, ask if the magazine has lifetime subscription rates and buy one. Or purchase a five year subscription.

In this economy, an upturn in subscriptions will help any magazine.  If everyone on this list bought a subscription, either as a gift or for themselves, that would seriously help. 

If you read the information on Realms, it’s pretty clear that the downturn in the fourth quarter hit Sovereign Media hard.  Apparently, they rely heavily on newsstand sales.    This is one area where the digests have already suffered, so their losses in the fourth quarter won’t be as severe as other companies.  However, they’ll see a trickle downward of subscriptions as renewals don’t come in at the usual pace. 

So they have time—provided that people continue to renew or subscribe anew.

Just a thought in all the gloom and doom.

That’s good advice in general. If you are in a position to do so, subscribe to your favorite comics. If your local store has a pull list or subscription list, take advantage of it– if they know they’ll have some set income coming in, that will help them budget.

If there are online comics or websites you like, drop some cash in the tip jar.

If you’re downloading comics, buy paper editions as well. It’ll be good practice when MinuteMan loses his job and stops buying and scanning the comic that you were reading.

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Review: ‘Ghost World: Special Edition’ by Daniel Clowes with Terry Zwigoff

  • Uncategorized
  • January 28, 2009

ghost-world-special-1528298Ghost World: the Special Edition
Graphic novel by Daniel Clowes; Screenplay by Daniel Clowes and Terry Zwigoff
Fantagraphics, October 2008, $39.99

Ten years after the first collection of [[[Ghost World]]] and seven after the movie version of the same story (and, not coincidentally, the screenplay book), Dan Clowes’s most famous and best-known story has gotten the big fat hardcover treatment – and I’m sure that the fact that his story of suburban ennui and aimlessness follows dozens of stories of spandex-clad punching bags into basically the same format and sales channel is an irony not lost on Clowes. (Though I should point out that this big fancy hardcover is not nearly as expensive and laded with gewgaws as most of those “absolute” and “essential” and “ultimate” books – all those books that name themselves, and lavish on themselves production designs, reminiscent of high end sex toys; shiny and sleek and oversized and, all too clichéd often, in jet-black. Clowes’s book has reasonable proportions, and a price quite reasonable for an art book of its size.)

This “Special Edition” collects the graphic novel [[[Ghost World]]], by Clowes, and the screenplay, by Clowes and Terry Zwigoff. It also adds in a forty-eight-page section of miscellany – box art from odd ancillary products, covers from old [[[Eightball]]] issues when Ghost World was being serialized, foreign covers, miscellaneous art related to the movie, and a few sketches and pages of original art. Up front is a new introduction by Clowes, and a two-page story that may, or may not, show a glimpse of Enid and Rebecca’s lives now. Those are pleasant, but the real core of Ghost World is the story, and this book gives both versions of it equal weight.

(more…)

ComicMix QuickPicks – January 27, 2009

  • Uncategorized
  • January 28, 2009

Here is today’s list of comic-related news items that might not generate a post of their own, but may be of interest…

andthenbuffystakededward-7168747* The last holdout in publishing has gotten nailed: Harper Collins announced that they’re offering early retirment packages to employees over age 55 and with at least five years experience. The offers went out this morning and the company would like to here back by February 3 from those who are interested in the buyout. Spokesperson Erin Crumb wouldn’t disclose how many positions HC is looking to cut, but a large number of packages are reported to have been prepared.

* And the shoes keep dropping: Realms of Fantasy magazine is shutting down. Thanks to SF Scope for the tip.

* And for that matter: Village Voice Media is suspending all of its syndicated cartoons, including the popular "This Modern World" By Tom Tomorrow (a.k.a. Dan Perkins). The affected cartoonists lose readers in (deep breath) Dallas, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Nashville, Orange County, Kansas City, Denver, Seattle, and New York. He’s covering it, along with the other cartoonists affected.

* On the bright side, Christopher Reeve’s dream is starting to come true: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the way for the first-ever human trial of a medical treatment derived from embryonic stem cells.

* And finally, a link to the shirt of the day, for all the Buffy The Vampire Slayer fans who are just a little bit tired of Twilight and their sparkly vampires. (Thanks, Teresa.)

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.

Compare and contrast…

  • News
  • January 28, 2009

From Salon:

A Wall Street retiree wearing a red latex bodysuit and a black hood is strapped to a table…. Talking to Daniel Bergner in his new book, "The Other Side of Desire," the man compares his masochistic ecstasy to having onion skins stripped off his psyche.

"Is this a weird way to deal with life?" he asks Bergner at one point. "Consider the man who bought Mark McGwire’s seventieth home-run ball for three million dollars. Who’s weirder?"

Let’s see, who bought that home-run ball? Oh yeah… Todd McFarlane.

No doubt about it. Todd’s much weirder.

And this quote comes on the day when Neil Gaiman wins the Newbery. Hey, does Neil own Todd’s balls yet?

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