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ComicMix QuickPicks – January 10, 2009

Today’s installment of comic-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest…

* New Pooh to view: Here’s a reason to celebrate: "In August, Dutton will publish Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, the first authorized sequel to the Winnie-the-Pooh books in years. The author is David Benedictus, who finally prevailed upon A.A. Milne’s estate to let him write a book. ‘We thought David had a wonderful feel for the material,” a Pooh trustee tells The Wall Street Journal. “No doubt some will say it’s not as good as the original, but it’s very good, and we’re pleased with it.’ " Call it a hunch, but I’ll bet that book isn’t cut in the publishing downturn. (Via The Daily Beast.)

* Space And Time magazine has updated their website.

* If Norse legends are good enough for Neil Gaiman, they’re good enough for J.R.R. Tolkien. HarperCollins has bought the rights to an unpublished work written before The Hobbit, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, edited and introduced by Tolkien’s son Christopher. The work, written when Tolkien was professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University during the ’20s and ’30s, makes available for the first time the author’s extensive retelling in English narrative verse of the epic Norse tales of Sigurd the Völsung and the Fall of the Niflungs. The book is expected for May 2010.

* Barnes & Noble’s holiday sales dropped, though not as badly as expected.

* J. Steven York on the coming publishing apocalypse and electronic saviors.

* Disneyland Shanghai? "Walt Disney Co said today it’s going to submit a joint application report with the Shanghai government to China’s central government to build a new theme park. The company was responding to a Wall Street Journal report saying the joint venture is for a $3.59 billion Shanghai Disneyland to open in 2014 with Disney taking a 43% stake while a holding company owned by the local government keeping 57%."

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.

Tsk, tsk, Valerie…

Not that Valerie D’Orazio (of the new Cloak & Dagger series, reserve your copies now!) found THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO UNLAWFUL CARNAL KNOWLEDGE FOR FANTASY ROLE-PLAYING GAMES "while searching for something completely different."

Not that she wrote it up on Occasional Superheroine.

But that it’s not comics, and it’s not complete. For that, you have to go to What’s New with Phil & Dixie:

Click through to find out the word. I’d tell you myself, but suddenly I am eaten by a grue.

Wizard closes Texas show, postpones Los Angeles

image-254-6300200Hate to say it, but I did predict this back last year, albeit a few days late for ‘08.Straight from Wizard’s press release:

Wizard Entertainment announced today that it has postponed its 2009 Wizard World Los Angeles show slated for March 13-15 and cancelled the Wizard World Texas show  November 6-8 due to the current economic climate.
 
The successful Philadelphia and Chicago shows will go on as planned. Wizard World Philadelphia, featuring Guest of Honor Garth Ennis, is June 19-21 at the Philadelphia Convention Center and Wizard World Chicago, featuring comic legend George Perez, is August 6-9 at the Rosemont Convention Center.

The shoes, they begin to drop…

New Frontiersman goes online, and other ‘Watchmen’ news

In yet another example of print publications migrating online, The New Frontiersman has opened up a web site. It’s bare at the moment, but it’s expected to go live on Monday.

And according to AP, things are progressing on the movie release front:

Attorneys for rival studios fighting over the release of the superhero flick told a federal judge on Friday that they’re having fruitful settlement talks.

Attorneys for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. asked the judge to delay a hearing Friday so those discussions can continue over the weekend.

U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess agreed to continue the hearing but says a trial over whether to block the film’s March release is still set for Jan. 20.

Lou Karasik, who is representing Fox, told Feess that the delay would be "very, very helpful" to settlement discussions he deemed "productive."

Friday’s revelation surprised Feess, who noted that Warner Bros. had been seeking to move up the Jan. 20 trial to next week, citing the film’s marketing campaign and its March 6 release date.

Also, Heidi MacDonald points us to Film Esq., which has the best play-by-play of the legal wranglings going on around Watchmen.

‘Lone Justice’ creators on Mr. Media, previews on Scoop

Continuing our media blitz for our new upcoming series, Lone Justice creators Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley were just interviewed on Mr. Media. Click here to listen to the show.

And Diamond’s Scoop also has an interview with the creators, along with previews of the first installment– just in case you can’t wait for Monday.

Of course, if you want to know about the real creators of Lone Justice, read the Harvey Award nominated EZ STREET.

The Point – January 9th, 2009

010909-5258779Someone leaked the identity of the new Doctor and British Bookies want to know Who, Captain Kirk lands on the internet and Captain Marvel (and Black Adam) land back on the shelf.

And Madballs, too? PRESS THE BUTTON and you’ll Get The Point!

 
 

And be sure to stay on The Point via badgeitunes61x15dark-8361158 or RSS!

 

Watchmanga


Please please please… is there anyone out there who can translate this from Japanese? Because if I can’t, I’m just going to have to assume this is either DC’s last chance to publish a successful manga book, or Warner Brothers’ fallback position if Fox scuttles the release date of the movie. (Hat tip: Mike Sterling.)

‘Twilight’ sequel keeps Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black

Twilight fans can rest easy with news that Taylor Lautner will return to play Jacob Black again in New Moon, Summit Entertainment’s movie sequel to Twilight, according to New Moon director Chris Weitz via Twilight book series author Stephenie Meyer:

My first priority was always what was best for New Moon—what was going to give us the best possible movie. I’m truly thrilled that Taylor was the one who proved to the director, to Summit, and to me that he is the best possible Jacob we could have. And I’m very much looking forward to seeing what he’s going to bring to Jacob’s character this year.

Production starts soon on New Moon, which is set for release November 20, 2009.

In New Moon, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is devastated by the abrupt departure of her vampire love, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) but her spirit is rekindled by her growing friendship with the irresistible Jacob Black.  Suddenly she finds herself drawn into the world of the werewolves, ancestral enemies of the vampires, and finds her loyalties tested.

Marvel stock settlement is finally paid out

ronperelman-1125835Remember the last time comics were in serious economic troubles? Remember when Marvel went bankrupt?

Hard to believe in the days of Marvel movies making money like mad, but it was only twelve years ago that Marvel was bankrupt, in one of the most convoluted financial arrangements in corporate history. No, it’s not even possible to try and distill it all. Go read Comic Wars: Marvel’s Battle For Survival if you want all the details.

Now we hear from Ed Zanger that a piece of it is coming to a close, as stockholders from that time have just been paid a settlement from the shennanigans that went on at the time.

And the other big players in the battle? Well, Carl Icahn just put his 177-foot yacht, the Starfire, up for sale for $37.5 million– while Ron Perelman (right) is trying to sell his for $67 million so he can upgrade. Times are tough all over…

ComicMix QuickPicks – January 8, 2009

cheryl-6284004Today’s installment of comic-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest…

* Heidi MacDonald checks in with comics pros for her annual year end survey: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. The big themes: recession, online comics, comic book movies– and how gangbuster movie sales don’t translate into gangbuster comic sales. (Disclaimer: I’m one of those people included.)

* Asylum Press, having offered free comics for anyone signing up for their online newsletter within the first twelve days of December, has extended their offer. Anyone who signs up at asylumpress@aol.com before Jan. 31 will receive three free comics.

* Brian Cronin says "Comic book writers appear to have more of a presence on the internet than comic book artists." As the webmaster for Peter David’s weblog and all the work I’ve done over here… no kidding.

* Uclick has revealed an all-new mobile Web application for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch at the Macworld Conference & Expo event in San Francisco. By navigating to www.uclick.com on the iPhone and iPod touch, the Safari browser now displays the Uclick archive of 400,000 comic strips, single-panel comics and editorial cartoons. Currently the iPhone-optimized site features comic strips and single-panel cartoons, including Doonesbury, Garfield, Calvin & Hobbes, Close to Home, and many more. Hat tip: Macworld UK.

* Top Shelf’s Leigh Walton and Comic Foundry’s Laura Hudson launched Cereblog, a dual critical analysis of every issue of Cerebus. In the same vein, Tom the Dog has been running weekly retrospectives of every appearance of GrimJack.

* And sadly, Cheryl Holdridge, one of the original "Mickey Mouse Club" Mouseketeers, died January 6th after a two-year battle with cancer. She was 64.

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.