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San Diego Comic-Con: But enough about me… by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • July 26, 2008

Being the conscientious sort, I thought about writing my column early in the week so it would be finished before I had to leave for San Diego. That way, I’d have one less thing to worry about what with the packing, the schlepping, the hob-nobbing, the drinking.

At the same time, because I feel a responsibility to you, my readers, I thought you might appreciate my keen insights into the event that has come to define not only comics fandom, but also pop culture in America in the early parts of the 21st century.

Eventually, I decided my responsibilities as a journalist were more important than my personal desire for efficiency. (Also, I ran out of time before I left.) As I write this, the first full day of the show has ended, and the evening’s parties lie ahead.

What have we learned?

For starters, Wednesday night, which used to be the Preview night, primarily (it seemed) so exhibitors could check out the show, is now so crowded with people that it makes Times Square look like the dark side of the moon. Getting to a restroom was impossible, much less getting across the floor.

And while television and movie and game and toy folk have used the show for ages to promote fantasy, science fiction and action-adventure stories to fans, this year such distinctions are irrelevant. The Office has a booth. There are giant posters promoting Dexter everywhere. I think both of these shows are great, but they have nothing to do with comics.
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Overheard at San Diego 2008, part 3: Warlord, Milestone, and S&M

  • News
  • July 26, 2008

manchesterhyatt-5228242Look, I’m not all that inconspicuous– I’m 6’6 with bushy hair and a ComicMix t-shirt. If you keep saying interesting things within earshot of me, it’s not my fault. (Okay, I have lots of spies and moles out there too, but that’s still no excuse.) So if you’re a famous comics writer who’s looking to hire a dominatrix while you’re in town, just use Google like the rest of us, okay?

First, the things where I’m completely removing the sources except that I heard them at the Manchester Hyatt, but expect to hear them confirmed at DC Nation panels before the weekend is through:

  • Mike Grell (Jon Sable Freelance) will be returning to his most famous creation at DC, The Warlord, in time for the character’s 35th anniversary. This from a Mike Grell panel on Friday from Mike Gold, who commented, "I haven’t worked for DC for years, what are they going to do to me for telling?"
     
  • Milestone is coming back, and will be (pardon the choice of words) integrated into the mainstream DC universe. How they’ll do this exactly is unclear, and we won’t commit potential spoilers by speculating… but there are a couple of ways they could do so.

And with those out of the way, back to the other tidbits overheard…

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SDCC: ‘The Brave and the Bold’ Trailer

Warner Bros. wasn’t all about Watchmen at San Diego on Friday. They also showed off the trailer to the upcoming The Brave and the Bold animated series.

It’s a pretty funky cartoon, from appearances, with a score that harks back to the Adam West days. Watch it below.

SDCC Interview: Jamie Chung Talks ‘Samurai Girl’

  • Uncategorized
  • July 26, 2008

jamiesamuarigirl-8874526In a few short years actress Jamie Chung has began to establish herself as one of the most sought-after young actresses working in Hollywood. From her first apperance as a cast member of MTV’s Real World San Diego through appearances on Days of Our Lives, Veronica Mars and CSI: New York, Jamie’s career continues to advance into bigger and more challenging roles.

More recently, Jamie is co-starring as Chi Chi in the Dragonball feature film based on the hugely popular media franchise and will be starring in ABC Family’s mini-series Samurai Girl, which debuts in September, as the title character Heaven. We caught up with Jamie recently at the San Diego Comic-Con to talk with her a bit about Samurai Girl, her character and how she feels naked without a sword.

COMICMIX: Hi Jamie, thanks for talking to us.

JAMIE CHUNG: Sure, my pleasure.

CMix: So, tell us a bit about your character in Samuari Girl.

JC: Sure. She’s a 19 year old girl named Heaven who’s adopted by one of the wealthiest families in Japan. During some tragic events she ends up finding out her family is influenced by the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia.

In an effort to find out how involved her family is with the mafia, she also discovers that she’s a part of some ancient prophecy which leads her to question who she really is and makes her go a journey of self-discovery to find out the truth about herself and where she comes from.

 

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Image Founders ‘United’ for Comic Series

  • Uncategorized
  • July 26, 2008

It’s been a big week for Image, which started early on Comic-Con with the revelation that Robert Kirkman is joining the publisher as a partner.

Friday brought word that all the Image founders (minus Jim Lee) will be joining together on a six-issue miniseries called Image United. They’ll be providing art, while the story comes from Kirkman.

The artists are: Erik Larsen, Rob Liefeld, Todd MacFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Jim Valentino and Marc Silvestri.

Comic Book Resources caught up with Kirkman, who explained a bit about the project (which scores an amazing 100 on the Probable-Delayometer):

It’ll be a six-issue series. It’s not going to focus on individual characters in the issues. It’s going to be an all-encompassing, grand, epic crossover featuring all the characters together – intermingling and working together and fighting together. It’s going to have the unprecedented art team of all the Image founders minus Jim Lee, and it’s going to have every creator drawing their own characters, so it’s going to be a hodge podge of different art on every page where all of the Savage Dragon figures are going to be drawn by Erik Larsen and all of the Youngblood characters are going to be drawn by Rob Liefeld. Every time Spawn appears, he’ll be drawn by Todd McFarlane and so on and so on. It’s going to be a unique reading experience, and we’re very excited about that.

ComicMix Radio: Kevin Smith And The Greatest American Hero

As things heat up at Comic Con ’08, The Big Announcements come fast and furious. We don’t just report them, we let you share the exact moment in time when they happen, like:

    * Kevin Smith wowing the DC Nation with news on his Batman project
    * William Katt bringing The Greatest American Hero back into comics
    * Mortal Kombat Vs DC – just who are the players?

And yes, that was comedian Margaret Cho seen on the con floor? Yes, and she’s joins us here, too so Press The Button

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-9137326 or RSS!

 

ComicMix Six: Six Groups of People to Kick Out of San Diego Comic-Con

[EDITOR’S NOTE: As San Diego Comic-Con gets crazier and crazier, so does the mood of some of our ComicMix contributors. Case in point, the following ComicMix Six list that appeared in the queue earlier today from contributor Arthur Tebbel, who I’ve only managed to glimpse as he sprints from one panel to the next throughout the weekend. Here, Arthur offers up his thoughts on the six groups that he could do without at this year’s Comic-Con. -RM]

THE SECURITY STAFF: The assembled masses at any comic book convention are probably too meek to takeover a Starbucks, so why do we need what appears to be thousands of volunteer security guards to give us conflicting information and, most importantly, prevent me from being where I need to be to do my job.If these guys got drunk on as little liquor as they do power they would be in the emergency room after two beers.

STORMTROOPERS: Thank God we aren’t trying to run a Death Star, because we would be dramatically overstaffed.How did we get to the point where people go through all this trouble to express themselves in exactly the same way as everyone else?We respect the effort but… no, actually we don’t respect the effort.Try harder.

PEOPLE WHO BRING BABIES TO A PANEL DISCUSSION: Your baby won’t appreciate the discussion and, thanks to them, now I won’t either.Hire a babysitter; the convention will even look after your kid for you.If your child is too precious to part with for even an hour, go to the park instead.

PEOPLE WHO START THEIR PANEL QUESTIONS WITH “I DON’T READ/WATCH [PANEL TOPIC], BUT…”: These questions are always embarrassingly bad.What happened?Do you have some compulsion that makes you go up to any open microphone?Next year, we will most certainly go to a Battlestar Galactica panel and ask, “I don’t watch Battlestar Galactica but why aren’t there more tits in it?”

JESUS FREAKS: Okay, these guys weren’t in the convention exactly — but I could really do without people telling me how much I’m going to hell for my choice in media.Furthermore, this inspires legions of fanboys to trot out the same tired comebacks about how much they worship Satan or some such.No you don’t, Hell doesn’t have a basement you could live in.

ABOUT 20% OF THE ATTENDEES: Sometime before the show begins they need to assemble all of the con-goers for that day and someone (we’ll volunteer, in fact) will walk through the crowd and eliminate 20 percent of the people.These people will have their money cheerfully refunded and they can try again next year.Next, we’ll do this for the exhibitors.

Want more ComicMix Six? Check out the ComicMix Six Archive for previous editions of CM6.

SDCC Interview: Rick Geary on “Blanche” and Dark Horse Comics Collection

  • News
  • July 25, 2008

Among the many projects on Dark Horse Comics’ long list of San Diego Comic-Con announcements this year is an upcoming collection of the well-received Blanche stories created by well-known Gumby and Classics Illustrated artist Rick Geary.

Originally published in 1992 by Dark Horse, Geary’s Blanche Goes to New York first introduced readers to Blanche Womack, the character whose adventures would pair Geary’s already highly regarded and artistic talents with original stories of his own plotting. Only three Blanche stories saw print in the decade that followed, with the last — Blanche Goes to Paris — released in 2001 by Headless Shakespeare Press.

The hardcover collection of Blanche stories published by Dark Horse will feature an all-new introductory comic by Geary, as well as the previously published trio of Blanche Goes to New York, Blanche Goes to Hollywood and Blanche Goes to Paris. The project is currently scheduled for an early-2009 release.

I recently had the opportunity to ask Geary about Blanche, the series’ place in his greater body of work and what’s next for his favorite heroine.

COMICMIX: For readers who might not be familiar with Blanche, can you provide a little background on the character and her adventures?

RICK GEARY: Blanche is a young woman from a small town in Kansas who tours the world as a concert pianist during the early decades of the 20th century.

In the first story she goes to New York (in 1907, as a piano student in Greenwich Village), in the second to Hollywood (in 1915, as the musical director for a film studio) and the third to Paris (in 1921, as the director of an avant garde musical production).

In the stories, she deals with various intrigues and challenges, some of a supernatural origin, and interacts with historical figures like D.W. Griffith, Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway. The character of Blanche is based ever so loosely on my grandmother, who taught piano in her small Kansas town and, as a young woman, studied in New York. From these facts I let my imagination fabricate her outlandish adventures. (more…)

Overheard at San Diego 2008, part 2

  • Uncategorized
  • July 25, 2008

Continuing our shameless eavesdropping, ComicMix presents the stuff that you missed while you were trying to get into the party last night…

"Alfred is the new Batman."
—overheard at the DC Nation panel

"Steven Moffat and Neil Gaiman are ‘going on a date’."
—from somewhere around Hall H, further speculation that Neil may write an episode of Doctor Who

"What happened to me? What happened to my life? I used to have a career…"
—artist who was real big in the 90’s

"I’ve only heard blissful things this year. Everything is going fine."
—Bill Willingham

me-and-the-devil-blues-6413812

Manga Friday: ‘Me and the Devil Blues’

  • Uncategorized
  • July 25, 2008

me-and-the-devil-blues-6413812It’s unofficially been Blues & Jazz week here in my reviews – and, if you’re wondering how Erotic Comics fit in there, you don’t know what the word “Jazz” means. So, for Manga Friday, here’s the first book in a series that retells the life of blues legend Robert Johnson from a very different perspective.

Me and the Devil Blues, Vol. 1
By Akira Hiaramoto
Del Rey Manga, July 2008, $19.95

If you know anything about Robert Johnson – the archetypal bluesman, who came out of nowhere to record 24 songs and then die young – it’s that he sold his soul to the devil, one night at a Mississippi crossroads, to get his amazing ability to play and sing. Is it true? Well, it’s a damn good story, and that’s what matters most.

Speaking of damn good stories, Akira Hiramoto weaves one here, drawing from the legends and few known facts of Johnson’s life and bringing in careful research on the rural Mississippi of the ‘30s, plus his own speculation and fiction. In a life as full of holes and mysteries as Johnson’s, the only way to tell a story is to make it up.

Hiramoto starts his story in 1929 with a young man called RJ, who works on a plantation, dreams of becoming a bluesman (though he’s not very good at singing or guitar playing), is harried by his domineering sister Bessie, and loved by his pregnant wife Virginia. He sneaks off to the local juke joint just about every night, to drink, talk with his friends, and hear the blues. He keeps trying to play, but never gets far – he really is lousy. The traveling bluesman Son House tries to explain to RJ what the blues is, but RJ doesn’t quite get it.

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