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Wildstorm’s “World’s End” Relaunch Examined

  • News
  • August 18, 2008

Over at io9, the website’s resident comics expert Graeme McMillan has put together a nice analysis of the events leading up to the current "World’s End" relaunch of DC’s Wildstorm line. I was pleasantly surprised by the recent issues #1 of Wildcats and The Authority — mainly because I’ve been a fan of both these series for quite a while and been both terribly excited and subsequently disappointed by prior attempts at re-establishing the universe around each series.

The new Wildstorm status quo places its superheroes in a world ravaged by events that they share much of the blame for, and this dynamic provides the opportunity for stories that have always been relegated to one-shot or "What If?" status elsewhere. So, I guess you can color me intrigued.

Here, McMillan provides a quick assessment of recent Wildstorm history:

This isn’t the first time that the Wildstorm line has gone all out for change; in 2003, their Coup D’Tat series had the Authority depose the US Government and set themselves up as dictators of the United States, before they realized that they couldn’t be bothered with all the paperwork. But with fans still hurting about 2006’s failed Worldstorm relaunch (which died when Grant Morrison’s core two series Wildcats and The Authority disappeared after one and two issues, respectively), will even the end of the world get them interested in checking out the series again?

Like McMillan, I’m impressed with the decision to change the Wildstorm Universe so dramatically — and I’m also hoping there isn’t a deus ex machina in the works at this point. For more on the new Wildstorm U and some thoughts from creators on why it was necessary, head over to io9.

Hammer of the Gods 2: Runes

  • News
  • August 18, 2008

In today’s brand-new episode of Hammer of the Gods 2: Back from the Dead by  Mike Oeming and Mark Wheatley, Modi explains the ways of his people, including in his tale the sacrifices Odin made for wisdom.  But what of the sacrifices one makes for love?

 

Credits: Mike Oeming (Artist), Mike Oeming (Writer), Mark Wheatley (Colorist), Mark Wheatley (Letterer), Mark Wheatley (Writer), John Staton (Colorist)

 

Final Crisis and the Supergirl Cover Critique

  • News
  • August 18, 2008

Over at The Beat, Heidi MacDonald ignited quite the debate (to the tune of more than 50 comments, last I checked) when she posted a cover image from the third issue of Final Crisis, featuring a midriff-and-miniskirt Supergirl looking very uncertain about something, and headlined "Math is hard."

The post has prompted readers to weigh in on everything from Barbie dolls and Olympic uniforms to what the popularity of the post might mean for the industry and its fans. In fact, there’s all sorts of meta-analysis going on over there, folks — so if that’s your thing, hop on over and check it out.

Here are some of my favorite comments from the thread, though:

stan p. Says:

hey Beat—do you really find this cover problematic as opposed to, say, the grotesquely ultra-violent KICK ASS, which you promote below with none of your snark? just curious how this works with you…

Kate Willaert Says:

“not half as hard as superheroing with an exposed midriff.”

I’d say, not half as hard as superheroing in a skirt, when one of your main powers is flight. ;-)

Lea Hernandez Says:

Will you guys be quiet? Can’t you see the nice girl is ordering pizza using Wonder Woman’s invisible phone? She’ll never decide on a crust with all the racket around here.

Head over to The Beat to add your own thoughts to the discussion… IF YOU DARE!

‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ Game Announced

  • News
  • August 18, 2008

ComicMix recently commented on the lack of a Batman tie-in game for The Dark Knight movie. Well, we’ve got some follow-up news for you.

According to the Associated Press, it turns out that EA did indeed have developer Pandemic Studios working on a Dark Knight — a fact that ComicMix deduced from online (Dark Knight) detective work months ago. In an informal red carpet interview, Gary Oldman had told cable television’s G4 that he had worked on The Dark Knight game. But development halted at some point before the movie’s release. Basically, EA (and most other media watchers) didn’t think that The Dark Knight was going to be as big as it turned out to be.

Whether or not a game based on The Dark Knight ever gets made, Game Informer magazine has announced a new Batman game in their upcoming September issue: Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Published by Eidos Interactive and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Batman: Arkham Asylum promises to be as dark and gritty as last year’s critical hit Bioshock. Co-written by Paul Dini, the game story is of a prison transfer gone awry and ending with the Joker set loose in halls of Gotham’s infamous asylum for the criminally insane. When the lunatic’s set loose, it’s up to Batman to go in and restore order.

The September issue of Game Informer goes on sale August 18th with two variant covers; one of Batman at the gates of Arkham and one of the Joker in a straight jacket.

Girls Talk: Wall-E, by Lillian Baker and Martha Thomases

  • News
  • August 18, 2008

Even though the newest Pixar feature has been in wide release since the spring, we just got around to seeing it together. Here’s what we thought. The film is about a deserted Earth, abandoned by humans when it got too polluted. Robots were left to clean it up, and only one is still working, the title character, Wall-E.

MT: My husband says that one way to tell an animated movie is good is to see how much it relies upon dialogue for exposition. A really good cartoon doesn’t need words to tell a story. Wall-E, for the first chunk, used hardly any dialogue, just some television news to explain the set-up.

LB: Wall-E has a cockroach friend in this movie. Lots of movies seem to have cockroaches these days, like the movie we reviewed last, Enchanted.

MT: Do you think that’s realistic?

LB: Yeah, I think it could happen. Not the robots trying to take over the spaceship or anything. I don’t think robots can malfunction that badly.

MT: Wall-E is the only robot still working on Earth, and he gets swept away to a spaceship that has people on it when he falls for a robot, Eva, sent to see if there is any plant life on Earth. (more…)

Spoof Soars, Bat Drops, Clones Sink

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  • August 18, 2008

The Dark Knight surpassed Star Wars twice this weekend.  First, it firmly grabbed second place on the All Time Box Office charts with a total now estimated at $471,493,000.  Its weekend take of $16,790,000 also surpassed the debut of the CGI-animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars which managed a so-so $15,505,000.  The film received mixed reviews and little in the way of anticipatory buzz so its performance over the next week or two will be telling.

It appears, though, it’s time again for more diverting fare as the actor spoof Tropic Thunder nabbed the top spot with a weekend gross of $26,000,000, and a total of $37,033,000 since its Wednesday opening. The other comedy, Pineapple Express, is holding on with another $10,000,000 for the second weekend.  Its total now stands at $62,932,000 but will reach profitability far faster than Tropic given that it cost one-third of Tropic’s $90,000,000 to produce.

20th-Century Fox, which has had a miserable summer, finally got some good news when Mirrors opened with $11,125,000, exceeding studio estimates by 10%.

Universal’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor continues to wrap up bucks for the pyramids. The film brought in $8,609,0; its total now stands at $86,649,000.  While it will likely crack $100 million, this is not what the studio had expected.

(more…)

Review: ‘Flight, Vol. 5’ edited by Kazu Kibuishi

 flight-51-4889565Flight, Volume Five
Edited by Kazu Kibuishi
Villard/Random House, July 2008, $25.00

As always, the stories in the annual [[[Flight]]] volume are gorgeous and fun, created by a group of artists who worked on storyboards and other art for animated movies, and Flight is easily the most visually diverse of the new breed of mass-market comics anthologies.

But I can’t help but think that most of these stories are square watermelons – the products of creators trained and taught to run their imaginations down narrow channels to produce upbeat, kid-friendly stories with defined beats and clear morals. Nearly every story in Flight 5 could be seen as the treatment for a big-budget “family” animated movie, and many of them feel explicitly like the first scene or two of such a movie. Even once these guys – and all but two of them are guys, which some people may find notable – have been given the freedom of Flight, they continue to tell stories in that one, confined mode, like so many victims of Stockholm syndrome unwilling to leave their own prisons.

The stories are each well-told, but, as they pile up one after another, the number of naïf protagonists learning about the world (often under mortal peril) become just more variations on the same theme. There’s the fox-like world-saver of Michael Gagne’s “[[[The Broken Path]]],” the anthropomorphic fox-man of Reagan Lodge’s “[[[The Dragon]]],” the self-consciously ironic Bigdome of Paul Rivoche’s “[[[Flowers for Mama]]],” Dave Roman’s series of folks who could all be “The Chosen One,” the probably-delusional child Princess of Pluto in Svetlana Chmakova’s “On the Importance of Space Travel,” and – the youngest and most obvious lesson-telling of all of these – boy hero of Richard Pose’s “Beisbol 2.”

(more…)

The Real World, by Mike Gold

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  • August 18, 2008

In an environment where we debate the finer techniques of villains who travel the galaxy to gobble up planets for lunch, the awesome realities of day-to-day life have a habit of intruding upon our vocations and hobbies. Sometimes, the intrusion of reality shatters us completely.

Last Thursday night, 20 year-old Robbie Greenberger lost his struggle with leukemia, surrounded by his family. That’s a real-world horror of incalculable proportion; as we all know – yet, from time to time, must ignore – that sort of thing happens somewhere to somebody every minute of the day. And there’s no villain afoot to acknowledge our outrage.

Robbie was the son of Robert and Debi Greenberger and brother of Kate. For a long time, Bob was an editor and administrator at DC Comics and at Marvel, and an occasional comics writer. He’s also written a ton of Star Trek novels and stories and is editor of the Famous Monsters of Filmland website. Bob is also part of the ComicMix crew: he’s been involved in behind-the-scenes activities for quite some time (you’ll be seeing the fruits of these labors anon), and he’s contributed nearly 50 articles and columns to our site. He’s a real pro.

I remember when Deb went into labor with Robbie. The father-to-be showed up at DC’s offices, ready for work. I asked him if… well, if he was crazy. No, Bob just wanted something to do while waiting, and he had deadline stuff to clear off. He politely asked if it was okay if he were to leave early to join his wife at the hospital.

Unfortunately, I also remember working with Bob on Thursday. I knew the family was at the hospital with Robbie 24/7, doing what they could, giving Robbie comfort. Through Wi-Fi and cell phone, Bob was able to keep busy and meet his deadlines. There’s a strength there that would put a super-hero to shame.

I don’t know how Bob, Debi and Kate will be able to deal with this. There’s a saying that a parent losing his or her child is life’s greatest tragedy; by definition, you really can’t compare. Life has no “11” on the dial; we all max out at “10.”

But the Greenberger family is not alone, not by any stretch of the imagination. Our love and our support will always be with them.

Contributions in Robbie’s memory may be made to The Tommy Fund for Childhood Cancer, Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, 20 York Street, New Haven, CT 06511-3202.

Mike Gold is editor-in-chief of ComicMix, and is proud to have shared many a credits box with Bob Greenberger.

ComicMix Columns & Features for the Week Ending August 17, 2008

  • News
  • August 17, 2008

You know, it’s not like the Olympics broadcasters on NBC get paid to talk for a living or anything.  I actually heard one of them exclaim, after Michael Phelps won his record-breaking eighth gold of these 8-8-08 Games, "This has never happened before, and may never happen before!"  I immediately looked around for a TARDIS.  Then again, I keep confusing "Citius, Altius, Fortius" ("Faster, Higher, Stronger") with the opening from the Six Million Dollar Man ("better… faster… stronger") anyway, so there you are.  Meanwhile, ComicMix columnists have been jumping some hurdles of our own for  you:

How can geeks be this into international competition?  Well, when else are you gonna see dressage and badminton and water polo and trampoline?  At least, in between the endless bouts of beach volleyball?

Amazon Now Selling Comic Subscriptions

  • News
  • August 17, 2008

Maybe some bean counter finally tallied up all those comic book trade paperback sales. But Amazon.com, the world’s largest online retailer of, well, just about everything is now offering comic book subscriptions. Not for collected editions, but the regular old monthly books that some call “floppies.”

Is this a direct attack against your local comic store? Hardly. Amazon has been offering magazine subscriptions for years now. Adding comics to the mix is just an expansion of that business.

The offerings from Amazon are for the more mainstream, monthly comics. Not the best-sellers only found in direct market shops, like Secret Invasion, but titles more likely to appeal to the “My son really liked the Dark Knight movie, so let me get him a subscription to Batman” set.

It’s true that this could potentially take some casual market dollars out of dealers’ hands, but today’s shared universe, interconnected comics might have those readers seeking out stores for more titles. And think of the benefit to readers who live nowhere near a comic shop.

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