We at ComicMix didn’t get to too much manga news coming out of San Diego, if only because of the explosion of happenings and announcements coming out of the convention center.
The folks at ComiPress come through in spades, compiling a thorough listing of manga news.
Read up to your heart’s content right here.
The rush of Comic-Con slows to a trickle, with some of the late news including a trailer for the upcoming video game Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, which features an invasion of symbiotes and the apparent Venom-ification of Wolverine.
Watch below.
It went a bit overshadowed amid the madness of Comic-Con, but there was some big news out of New York last week as publisher Harry N. Abrams announced the creation of a new comics imprint, headed by Charles Kochman.
Kochman was recently promoted to be executive editor of the publishing company, and he told Publishers Weekly it was a natural fit to take on more comics.
Kochman will direct the new imprint, which will launch with four new titles: The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle; The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death by Todd Hignite, designed by Jordan Crane with an introduction by acclaimed cartoonist Alison Bechdel; Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster by Craig Yoe; and Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? by Brian Fies, the creator of the award-winning Web comic/book Mom’s Cancer.
Abrams publisher Steve Tager said launching a new imprint “made sense. We’ve published comics and pop culture titles in the past—we’ve sold half a million copies of the Art of Walt Disney—so Charles is building on a history that Abrams already has. But he brings a passion and experience in the category. He’s brought in more graphic novels and launching an imprint just makes sense in this marketplace.” Tager said the imprint will be able to cross-promote with Abrams’s children’s book line, special markets department and internationally—he noted that Kirby: King of Comics, Mark Evanier’s biography of comics artist Jack Kirby, is a bestseller for Abrams U.K. “We’ve been coming to Comic-con for several years now and our education in the category continues,” said Tager. “And our designers and sales reps all love Charlie’s books; he focuses on the little things and that’s what makes his books special.”
It appears the villains of The Dark Knight, the latest installment in the Batman movie franchise, won’t return, as Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent appears to be killed off and Heath Ledger’s untimely death makes it impossible for him to return his version of the Joker.
So, the obvious question becomes "who’s next?"
One blogger at Doomkopf thinks we may have already seen him:
…actor Joshua Harto plays Mr. Reese in “The Dark Knight,” an employee for Wayne Enterprises who comes to the conclusion that Batman is actually Bruce Wayne. Oh, and, it’s not like I’m spoiling anything; everybody and their dog has seen this movie already. He eventually gets targeted by the Joker before he can share his secret, after which he’s summarily pushed out of the movie after Bruce Wayne saves his life and gives him one hell of an evil eye. It’s either a loose end that never got tied up, or it’s a sign that he’ll be back in future movies.
Now, isn’t that kind of like Edward Nigma’s origin? Ex-employee to Wayne Enterprises, grown bitter, and seeking revenge against his former employer? And, ditching the lame “enigma” joke would be a step in the right direction, though another clue presents itself when you think about it for a second. His name in this movie is Mr. Reese. Mysteries. I’d say I might be on to something.
Mr. Reese… Mysteries. Clever.
However, a viral marketing campaign for Dark Knight might indicate the people behind the film were making much-less subtle hints to the Riddler’s whereabouts, as Edward Nashton (an alias of the Riddler) "wrote" a letter to the editor at the Gotham Times Web site.
Sometime tomorrow I’ll post a general gallery of some of the creators, sights and swag that made this year’s San Diego Comic-Con memorable, but for now, here’s yet another gallery of some of the costumes that are such a big part of the Comic-Con scene. As I mentioned with the first and second galleries, you have my apologies for the blurriness of some of the photos — it was a wall-to-wall experience on the show floor and not the most ideal environment for photography.
It’s been over a decade since Robin Hood last rescued the Maid Marian from the forces of the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham. Did they live happily ever after?
Hell no! Drink, religion, and a passle of demons are just a few of the threats that face Robin and the remnants of his Merry Men in this all-new full-length graphic novel from Robert Tinnell and Bo Hampton (Legends of the Dark Knight, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, Moon Knight, The Viking Prince), providing amazing fully painted art at is best!.
The serialization ran for months, and now you can read the entire graphic novel Demons of Sherwood, from the very beginning right here at ComicMix for FREE!
Credits: Robert Tinnell and Bo Hampton (Writers), Bo Hampton (Artist), Bo Hampton (Letterer), Mike Gold (Editor)
Swallow Me Whole
By Nate Powell
Top Shelf, September 2008, $19.95
Ruth and Perry are stepsiblings, somewhere in the South – people say “shoore” for “sure,” biology teachers can’t even say the word “evolution,” and the kids’ slowly-dying, live-in grandmother is called “Memaw.” It also seems to be sometime in the late ‘80s, from the clothes and the music and the hair.
And they’re both – how should I put this? Oh, let’s use the jargon – both are very far from neurotypical. Perry hallucinates a tiny wizard who makes him draw incessantly for “missions.” And Ruth may even be schizophrenic: she hears voices and feels patterns in everything around her, particularly with insect swarms. She has a huge collection of insects in jars in her room; she’s stolen at least some of them from school, but it’s not clear where they all came from. When she finally has a break at school and is taken to the nurse’s office, the school cop immediately assumes she’s high and starts loudly questioning her about drugs – she doesn’t get diagnosed has obsessive-compulsive for several days.
[[[Swallow Me Whole]]] is a slow, swirling, uneasy book, centered mostly on Ruth and her efforts to live in the world – talking to her Memaw, getting a work-study job at the museum, trying not to be swallowed up by the massive swarms of insects that comfort her and that may, or may not, be real. (Don’t decide either way until you get to the end.) It begins with a few short scenes set about five years earlier, when Ruth and Perry are both pre-teens and Memaw’s hospitalization ends with her moving in with them and their parents. From there, it’s hard to say how much time Swallow Me Whole covers, since there are no external markers. They go to school but we don’t see school begin or end for the summer. We don’t see the seasons change. Scenes could be separated by a day or three months. It’s all now; it’s all happening, like life, one thing after another after another.
From a Wired article about the excessive success of this year’s Comic-Con is a little tidbit about the success of comics: Watchmen is now sitting at the top of Amazon’s fiction and literature sales list.
DC has been printing up copies like mad to meet the demand, which is of course churned up by the upcoming Zack Snyder film adaptation.
From the article:
Last week’s release of the movie’s trailer sent sales of a paperback collection of Alan Moore’s original Watchmen comics through the roof. The graphic novel now sits at the top of Amazon.com’s literature and fiction sales list.
"That’s never happened before," said DC’s Levitz. "We literally can’t print enough…. I don’t think we’ve been able to kill any more trees fast enough."
The hit BBC series Doctor Who
Every week, I’ll do my best to go through the most recent episode with a fine-tooth comb (or whatever the “sonic screwdriver” equivalent might be) and call out the highlights, low points, continuity checks and storyline hints I can find to keep in mind for future episodes. I’ll post the review each Monday, so you have ample time to check out the episode once it airs each Friday at 9 PM EST on Sci-Fi Channel before I spoil anything.
Missed a week? Check out the “Doctor Who in Review” archive or check out any of the past editions of this column via the links at the end of this article.
Keep in mind, I’m going to assume readers have already watched the episode when I put fingers to keyboard and come up with the roundup of important plot points. In other words, SPOILER ALERT!
Let’s begin now, shall we?
Season Four, Episode #12: “The Stolen Earth”
Didn’t make it to San Diego for the surprise debut of a rough X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer? Luckily for you, it’s now online.
Watch it below and have your say.
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