ComicMix Quick Picks: 8/7/08

ComicMix Quick Picks
August 7, 2008

The collection of posts that may not warrant a full entry of their own. Excelsio — er, onward and upward:

When I saw this bit about Franklin turning 40, I have to admit that wasn’t the Franklin I was thinking of… yes, Franklin Richards is 40 years old too. And people complain about Bart Simpson never aging?

The Skiffy Channel’s top 10 brilliant but cancelled sci-fi shows. Also known as their regular line-up.

Lost in all the San Diego shuffle, MTV of all people have started a comics/movies blog called Splash Page, and have gone so far as to hire former Wizard and DC Comics staffer Casey Seijas. We welcome them to the blogosphere, but would like to remind them that hiring ex-DC and Wizard employees to run a weblog is our shtick.

Paul Levitz interviewed in the Wall Street Journal. Surprise note: yes, he’s another alumni of Frank McCourt’s english classes. I always wondered where Paul picked up the Irish brogue.

Robert Downey Jr. trying to keep his ego in check for Iron Man II:

"Suddenly, for a minute, I felt like everyone needed to take a knee and listen to what I had to say, because I f–kin’ made it, and my way works and all this stuff. Then I go home and I go, ‘Oh my God, what’s happening to me? I gotta get grounded here.’ "

Downey got Tropic cowriter and actor Justin Theroux the gig writing Iron Man 2. Theroux is just crawling out from under the pile of Iron Man comics as we speak.

"I’ve just stopped marinating in all the Iron Man lore that I didn’t know, and I’m sort of firing up the chainsaw and ready to attack it," said Theroux. "You’re writing for Robert Downey Jr., so, at the end of the day, that’s an enormous amount of fun."

Watchmen: Inside the Owlship and Owl Weapons

News
August 7, 2008

On the heels of the latest trailer, a new Watchmen production journal was released with an inside look at Nite Owl II’s ship. You can check out the video here, but don’t ask me why nobody ever refers to it as "Archie."

And over at prop master Rick Gamez’s (Iron Man, Indiana Jones 4) personal site, he has posted pictures of the new Nite Owl weapons that he had a hand in designing for the new film, which may not be from the book, but are still pretty cool.

UPDATE: Looks like the powers that be at WB didn’t like that Gamez had posted pics of the props, so you can check out the pics for yourself here. Enjoy!

ComicMix Radio: Doctor Who Times Three, Four Or More?

Uncategorized
August 7, 2008

whos-6556695 Our exclusive interview with the next Doctor Who head writer, Steven Moffat, continues. we explore his take on bringing back established characters, killing them off and the inevitable hope of another multi-Doctor story plus:

Dabel Brothers taking books into comics
Battlestar:Galactica gets "super sized"
Dan Jurgens can go home again

Christopher Eccleston and Peter Davidson together, could it happen? Find out when you Press the Button!

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via or RSS!

Jack Kamen: 1920-2008

Uncategorized
August 7, 2008

jackkamen-4990797 Mark Evanier reports that Jack Kamen, best known for his work at EC Comics, died yesterday at the age of 88. The cause of death is being reported as cancer.

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1920, Jack Kamen studied at the Art Students League and the Grand Central Art School and actually got his start in sculpture—his first professional job was on the Texas Centenniel.

His illustration career was just beginning when he was called up to the Army in 1942. After World War II, Kamen began drawing comics for Fiction House and Iger Associates, then started working for EC Comics in 1950. He quickly became one of their most prolific artists, particularly on their horror lines though he also worked on crime/suspense and weird science/fantasy books. After EC’s line of comics fell victim to industry censorship in 1954-55, it was Kamen who suggested to the publisher that the company could avoid the newly-imposed Comics Code Authority strictures with a pricier magazine format, which Kamen dubbed "Picto-Fiction" and included titles like his favorite, Psychoanalysis.

Kamen left comics in 1954 and did advertising art and supplemental illustrations for a wide variety of other clients— when Stephen King and George Romero created the horror anthology film Creepshow, an homage to EC’s horror comics, they tapped Kamen to do the artwork. He also illustrated the cover of the graphic novel adaptation.

In recent years, Kamen basked in the spotlight of his sons’ accomplishments. Dean Kamen invented the Segway and the iBOT Mobility System; he recently contributed a foreword about his father published in Gemstone’s Shock SuspenStories Archives volume 2. Another son, Barton, is a doctor who is now the Chief Medical Officer of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Star Wars, James Bond and Daredevil bring top prices at Hollywood Auction

News
August 7, 2008

xxx-9555757 If you wanted that original T.I.E. fighter miniature from Star Wars, you missed your chance. You could have outbid the person who spent $402,500, and it would have been yours. At an auction in Calabasas, CA, on July 31 and August 1 from Profiles in History sold a variety of items for more than $4.1 million.

What else was there?

(more…)

Online Animation: An Olympic Train Wreck?

News
August 7, 2008

Cartoonist / animator / musician Joe Fournier has been doing some sweet stuff online, including this clever black-and-white cartoon about Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics… something about a… train wreck?

Joe’s illustrations have appeared in all sorts of places – Playboy, Forbes, Premiere, and all sorts of newspapers – and he plays a vital role in the burgeoning online animation field. His cartoons have been seen on the Sci-Fi Channel, at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, and the National Gallery of Art.

It’s good stuff. Check him out.

Semi-Controlled Chaos, by John Ostrander

News
August 7, 2008

People are sometimes invited to my house. They’re never invited to my office. Ever. A cluster of clutter bombs go off in there with alarming regularity. My shutting the office off from public view is my tacit admission that the place is a hole.

I have a defense. I’m “creative.” I’m an “artist.” My office space reflects my jumbled creative mind. Actually, as I look around me, it’s maybe reflecting a mind that’s on drugs or needs to be. We don’t have dust bunnies; we have free-range dust buffalo. Herds of them move about in a sort of majestic splendor. They intimidate the cats. Wait, I can hear them rumbling by now. No, hold on – that’s a dump truck rolling down the road.

There are piles of things all over the place. There are boxes piled on boxes in front of bookcases that also have boxes in them. Sections of the floor have not seen daylight in the better part of a decade. Not that I’m sure how much daylight gets in through the windows anyway since they acquired a grayish patina. I’d wash them but I think the tint is baked on.

I have a relative idea of where everything is with two exceptions: stuff relating to my taxes and the take-out menu to my local Chinese restaurant. I know they’re both in here but it’s often a problem to lay my hands on them at the exact moment I need either of them. I don’t know what the linkage is between my taxes and the take-out menu. I’m assuming there is one; why else would these be the only two things that go missing? Currently I’m working on two hypotheses – either the office has eaten them or the cats have stolen them. That’s the most logical explanation I can devise.

There’s a fairly clear path from the door to the corner of the room where my desk is located. The mess sometimes encroaches on the path but I haul out the old machete and hack my way back through and things are fine again – for the time being.

Why is my office in such a state? My defense – in part – is that I’m a freelance writer; I don’t get paid for cleaning up my office and I don’t make enough to hire someone to do it for me. I have enough problems with my deadlines as it is and vacuuming the rug doesn’t help me meet them. Plus – I’m a guy. Like many guys, I have a fairly high DTL – Dirt Tolerance Level. Plus I’ve named some of the dust buffalo. There goes Bob. Howdy-doody, Bob. (more…)

Space Cruiser Yamato/Star Blazers returns

News
August 6, 2008

Michael Pinto, who is a bigger Star Blazers fan than you are, reports on Fanboy.com that Yoshinobu Nishizaki has come to a legal agreement under which he can revive Space Battleship Yamato, better known in this country as Star Blazers.

Here’s the official press release (which is from here and here), quickly translated by Ed Hawkins at spacecruiseryamato.com:

"In 2220 of the Christian Era … A crisis is approaching Earth, it is seen as the expansion of a moving black hole. An operation of immigration as progressed with moving over 300 million people from Earth … The latest transportation fleet is attacked during the immigration effort, yet is counter attacked by Space Battleship Yamato, now commanded by Susumo Kodai (38). Aboard, is daughter Miyuki … Child of Susumo and Yuki."

The animated masterpiece “Space Battleship Yamato”, last seen in theaters 25 years ago, 73-year-old producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki, who worked on that film and the original anime series, declared that he wants his last work to be a new "Yamato" film. He said he hopes to surpass Hayao Miyazaki’s latest effort, "Gake no Ue no Ponyo." To achieve that, Nishizaki has founded Yamato Studio, based in Nerima, Tokyo.

Studio Open general superintendent, Masuda Toshio gave toast to the revival project now that the copyright litigation is over, which was originally announced in July 2004. According to Mr. Nishizaki “This time it’s a fresh start, all is clear.”

In 1999, Mr. Nishizaki was arrested for violating sword and gun laws, who served time and was released December 19th 2007. Meanwhile, reconciliation between Leiji Matsumoto concerning each others work has gave way to allowing each to pursue their own works.

The movie IS currently titled “Fukkatu-hen" which Nishizaki has been planning since the mid 1990s.

Toshio Masuda (81) superintendent of Studio Open, is Chief Director of the Rival Movie. Toshio Masuda (81) has been directing films and TV since 1958, including “Life at the Showa Era” (1968), “Tora! Tora! Tora!” (1970), “Space Battleship Yamato” (1977) and “Arrivederci Yamato” (1978).

Tomonori Kogawa (58) will be Chief animator for the Revival movie. Tomonori Kogawa has animated such works as; “Space Runaway Ideon” (1980), “Aura Battler Dunbine” (1983), “Super Dimensional Cavalry Southern Cross” (1984) and “Heavy Metal L-Gaim” (1984).

Announced for 2009 release.

Quarry Returns For The First Time

News
August 6, 2008

Quarry, the world’s first hit man to star in his own series of novels, is returning to the racks in October courtesy of Ms. Tree / Road To Perdition / Batman / Dick Tracy writer Max Allan Collins.

The "final" Quarry novel, The Last Quarry, was published two years ago by Hard Case Crime to much success – and it provided the basis for the movie The Last Lullaby. So if there’s a last there’s got to be a first, and at long last, this is it: The First Quarry, all underneath a perfectly lurid cover by Ken Laager. It’s the story of Quarry’s first job: infiltrating a college town and eliminating a nasty professor with a thing for his female students.

In addition to his noted comics work, Max Allan Collins has an astonishing number of mystery and private eye novels under his belt – most notably, the Heller series and a whole slew of C.S.I. tie-ins.

Warcraft meets Star Trek?

News
August 6, 2008

Ever want to zip around different M-Class planets causing havoc, flirting with green ladies and punching out some Gorn? Well now that the Star Trek Universe is joining the world of MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) with Star Trek Online, you can! In a press release from developer Cryptic Studios:

Become part of Star Trek®: The Star Trek universe will appear for the first time in a massively multiplayer online game. Everything from the elegant domes of Starfleet Academy to the ancient temples of Vulcan, from the towers of Qo’noS to the Fire Caves of Bajor, from the mysterious Mutara Nebula to the unexplored voids of deep space, all will be represented in stunning 3-D graphics. Immerse yourself in the future of the Trek universe as it moves into the 25th century: a time of shifting alliances and new discoveries.

Adventure in the Final Frontier: Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations in an expanding vast universe. Make contact with alien races, discover resources and uncover mysteries that will change the future of the Star Trek universe.

You Are the Captain: Command your own starship as a Federation Captain or a Klingon Warrior. Outfit it with the systems that you need to make your mark in the galaxy. Customize your ship as you see fit. Recruit, train and mold your crew into an elite force for exploration and combat.

Surface, Shipboard and Deep Space Adventures: Command your vessel in thrilling space battles, or beam down to planets with your away team for face-to-face confrontations. Missions will take you and your friends into space, planetside and even inside starships! Powered by the Cryptic Engine, Star Trek® Online will be developed for both console and PC formats. With customizable ships and characters from the Klingon Empire and United Federation of Planets, ground, space and shipboard gameplay and unique options for player-generated content set in the Star Trek universe, Star Trek Online is the MMOG that allows you to boldly go where no one has gone before!

Gameplay footage and a release date are both set to be revealed at the annual Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas’s Gene Roddenberry Theater on August 10.

(Thanks to Easy Strider for the tip)

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