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The Weakly Haul, by Elayne Riggs

Apologies to Van Jensen (now with correct surname spelling!) for sort-of swiping his title, but as I’m pretty weak after hauling my body back and forth this past few workdays, I thought it appropriate.

First off, it must be said, I love my new job. My primary boss is amusing, intelligent and nice, my coworkers are terrific and friendly, the salary is good and the benefits outstanding. In a few months my health insurance premiums will drop by hundreds of dollars as I transition from my old job’s bennies to the new one’s, and the PTO (Paid Time Off) allotment is more than generous. Between my job and Rob’s current and future assignments, we might even be able to afford to visit England again next year, and perhaps some more out-of-town conventions. I miss going to Heroes Con! (Heck, Mid-Ohio is even a possibility this year; I dare to dream!) So all is more than copacetic in the Riggs Residence now. Right?

Maybe it’s because I was raised Jewish, I don’t seem to be able to function without kvetching about something. And that something is, as I suspected it would be, my commute. (more…)

Cover for James Bond GN and ‘Quantum of Solace’ Trailer Debut

silverfin_graphic_novel_full_wm-8121647Fans of the James Bond franchise have a lot to look forward to this fall, as the first ever Bond graphic novel, Silverfin, will be coming out and, of course, Daniel Craig returns as Bond in The Quantum of Solace.

On the graphic novel front, Bond site Commander Bond has some previews of the art and the cover, seen at right. There’s also a little information on the story, right here.

Puffin Books have released the official blurb for the forthcoming graphic novel adaptation of Charlie Higson’s SilverFin. Adapted from Higson’s debut Young James Bond adventure by artist Kev Walker and featuring more than 300 full color illustrations, the SilverFin graphic novel is slated for release on 2 October 2008 in the UK.

The blurb follows: It’s James Bond’s first day at Eton, and already he’s met his first enemy. This is the start of an adventure that will take him from the school playing fields to the remote shores of Loch Silverfin and a terrifying discovery that threatens to unleash a new breed of warfare.

Meanwhile, the Bond central site, 007, has the trailer for Quantum of Solace. It looks like another more cerebral Bond film, hewing a bit closer to the novels.

There’s also a reference that can’t help but conjure up the Bourne films, as Bond apparently goes rogue and M calls out: “Find Bond!”

‘300’ Sequel in the Works. Wha?

Those who got red in the face over the historical discrepancies of Frank Miller’s 300 and the massively successful film adaptation might have more to grumble about, as reports are airing that a sequel is in the works.

You might be thinking that almost all the 300 Spartans died at the graphic novel and film’s conclusion, and that such a lack of protagonists would be a major obstacle for a sequel. Apparently not, writes Cinema Blend.

This morning Variety is confirming news that probably won’t surprise anyone. 300, the graphic novel adaptation that cost virtually nothing to make but grossed over $200 million last spring, is getting a sequel. Well, probably. Legendary Pictures, which is also developing The Watchmen, is interested in the graphic novel Frank Miller is currently working on, which may be a prequel or some kind of spinoff.

300 director Zack Snyder, as he said to Collider.com last week, will probably be as much a part of it as Miller is. That is, if the graphic novel is any good, Snyder will be on board. It almost seems beside the point for a 300 sequel to exist, given how many parodies have cropped up since the movie became such an unexpected success. And, of course, there’s the issue of revisiting the same characters, given that — SPOILER ALERT — most of them died at the end of the first film.

At the very least, it can’t be worse than Meet the Spartans… Right?

prince-of-persia-7562889

Review: ‘Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel’

prince-of-persia-7562889Prince of Persia: The Graphic Novel
By Jordan Mechner, A.B. Sina, LeUyen Pham, and Alex Puvilland
First Second, September 2008, $18.95

The first [[[Prince of Persia]]] game was a 2-D platformer almost twenty years ago, and the next big thing with the name Prince of Persia on it will be a major Jerry Bruckheimer-produced movie next summer. In between have been a number of games, with a number of different protagonists and plotlines. (And I’ve played exactly none of them, as far as I can remember – just to make that clear.) This year, in between the games and the movie, First Second is publishing a graphic novel loosely based on the series – or at least the title. It’ll be in stores in September.

This graphic novel is credited as “created” by Mechner (seemingly because he invented the original game, and maybe still owns a piece of it), written by Sina, and with art by Pham and Puvilland. And, as far as I can tell, the story here has nothing specific to do with any of the previous incarnations of Prince of Persia. (If I’m wrong, please correct me in comments.)

In this graphic novel, you actually get two stories for the price of one – they’re told intermingled, though, which can make it difficult to remember which story a particular panel belongs to, or which characters belong to which stories. (Evil, nasty overlords being depressingly common in stories like this, for example.) I did read Prince of Persia in bound galley form, though – without color – so it’s quite possible that the palette of the two stories are different enough to make that distinction clear in the final book.

(more…)

‘Hancock’ Reviews Not Looking Too Good

A friend happened to catch an advance screening of Hancock recently and sent over some thoughts. I’ve been looking forward to Will Smith’s latest big summer movie, but my friend, Laura, came away none too impressed.

Here’s what she had to say:

It was disappointing. During the first half hour I had some high hopes, since the movie seemed to be bringing up all these interesting themes about what it means to be extraordinary, and have that extraordinariness isolate you from everyone else. Not to mention all these Ayn Randian ideas about how the un-extraordinary people (the looters, I guess) act as though they have a complete right over the talents of the extraordinary — they take it for granted and make bitchy demands of it, even though it doesn’t belong to them.

But then the latter half of the movie pretty much crapped all over its own promising beginnings, and ended up bringing up all this random shit that didn’t really get worked out. I was annoyed, and wouldn’t recommend seeing it.

Knowing almost nothing about the movie ahead of time, I think I let my expectations balloon up during that first 45 minutes or so — so if you go in not expecting more than a mindless fun ride, you might not be so disappointed. But even with adjusted expectations, I’d be surprised if anyone walked out of the theater all enraptured with it.

In case you think Laura might just be a Debbie Downer, the hate is coming for Hancock from plenty of others too. My favorite headlines so far: ‘Hancock’ a Super Zero and ‘Hancock’ is a Super Mess.

We’ll see if this leads to a spate of "Leave the comic book movies to comic book people" stories.

WWC Interview: John Jackson Miller on ‘Star Wars’ and Webcomics

Writer and comics authority John Jackson Miller probably has one of the most enviable jobs in comics today. Starting off in the early ’90s as editor of Comics Retailer magazine, Miller went on to edit various other publications including Scrye and the Comics Buyer’s Guide. Later, stints on Marvel’s Crimson Dynamo and Iron Man led to his working for Dark Horse comics.

Once at Dark Horse, Miller helped re-launch the company’s Star Wars comics with his work on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Recently, he also wrote the comic book adaptation of the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull film and launched his own webcomic called Sword & Sarcasm. I caught up with Miller at Wizard World Chicago to discuss Star Wars comics, webcomics and the first time he ever saw Star Wars.

COMICMIX: John, thanks for your time. Having a good show?

JOHN JACKSON MILLER: Yes, a wonderful Chicago con as always.

CMix: So, tell me about why you’re here?

JJM: Well, I’m here to sign and talk about Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, our ongoing series now at issue 30 and still going strong. It’s a big year for us because we had the "Vector" crossover. We’ve also had some major events with Zayne Carrick, our figitive Jedi who’s finally getting his taste of justice with a big showdown about to come up.

Those big events will take us through issue 33 at least. It should be pretty interesting what happens.

It may not be the big showdown that people expect because we also want to make sure we keep people guessing a bit and not always do what people might be expecting. We don’t want readers to get too comfortable with what’s going on and we want to keep it interesting.

CMix: Excellent. You also involved with Wizards of the Coast on some projects as well, right?

JJM: Yes. They are coming out with a series of minatures for the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic board game. I helped design some of those characters because several of them are from the comic. I was also a co-author of the Campaign Guide for the game as well, which contains information from all the comics and the two videogames.

(more…)

‘Batman: Gotham Knight’ Review

As we await the gourmet meal that The Dark Knight promises to be, a worthwhile hors d’ouevre to truly whet your appetite is Batman: Gotham Knight — a DC Universe Animated Original Movie DVD arriving in stores July 8th.

As director Christopher Nolan prepared his audacious sequel to Batman Begins, someone got the great idea to unleash the crew who brought you the direct-to-DVD Animatrix (arguably superior to the Matrix sequels themselves) on the caped crusader. The result starts intriguing, than grows to become involving, then engrossing, and finally inspired and inspiring.

Three renowned anime studios (Madhouse, Production LG, and Studio 4°C) were given six short scripts – by comic and film scripters Brian Azzarello & Greg Rucka, Alan Burnett, Jordan Goldberg, David S. Goyer, and Josh Olson – and carte blanche (within budgetary reason). They assigned anime directors Yasuhiro Aoki, Futoshi Higashide, Toshiyuki Kubooka, Hiroshi Morioka, and Shojiro Nishimi one tale each, then sat back and savored.

The result is an eye- and mind-full. Although the cover copy says the stories are interlocking, they are actually held together by the power of Batman’s personality, psychology, and myth – making them a perfect set-up for the live action movie which appears ten days later. More accurately, the animated thrillers are cumulative – starting with character revelations and finally exploding into full-blown mini-action movies. (more…)

Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #9 – Forest of the Dead

[EDITOR’S NOTE: My apologies for the late arrival of this week’s "Doctor Who in Review." We’ve been catching up after all of the Wizard World Chicago chaos! It’s times like these that I could really use a TARDIS. – RM]

The hit BBC series Doctor Who is now in its fourth season on the Sci-Fi Channel, and since we’re all big fans here at ComicMix, we’ve decided to kick off an episode-by-episode analysis of the reinvigorated science-fiction classic.

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 #9: "Forest of the Dead" (more…)

Review: ‘Demo’ by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan

It seems every month that a new comic comes out purporting to offer a new, more realistic slant on superheroes. From Watchmen to Next Men to Powers to Kick Ass, that idea has long been a popular one.

Except, none of those comics feel very real. Sure, they take elements from reality and offer a slightly more grounded or cynical look at heroes, but the stories within their pages don’t begin to evoke everyday life.

And this is why Demo stands so far apart. The on-again, off-again series from writer Brian Wood and artist Becky Cloonan is finally concluded, and all 12 issues are now collected in a substantive new softcover (Vertigo, $19.99).

Begun in 2003 with a first issue featuring a girl struggling to handle her newfound telekinesis, the series was always about the people in the stories, not the abilities that set them apart. That first issue is rich with metaphor: the girl learns how to break away from home, become independent and not get in the way of her potential. Valuable lessons for anyone.

One of the strongest issues (#5), follows a girl who physically changes in appearance to match the desires of the people who see her. She could be a kooky X-Man, but Wood instead uses the strange ability to explore perception and desire, and the line between love and lust.

While the material is well worth reading on its own, one of the subtexts to watch is the continued development of Wood and Cloonan. You can trace their growth as creators along with the issues, and in the end the series is something entirely new again, not really touching on superpowers at all.

Cloonan’s work is exceptional, bouncing between styles from issue to issue. It’s hard to believe one person was responsible for such a disparate collection of art.

And while Demo features almost entirely young, hip characters — Wood’s bread and butter — he writes their interactions with as much grace as any writer in comics. There is a deep, haunting truth to these stories, so realistic it almost hurts.

Van Jensen is a former crime reporter turned comic book journalist. Every Wednesday, he braves Atlanta traffic to visit Oxford Comics, where he reads a whole mess of books for his weekly reviews. Van’s blog can be found at graphicfiction.wordpress.com.

Publishers who would like their books to be reviewed at ComicMix should contact ComicMix through the usual channels or email Van Jensen directly at van (dot) jensen (at) gmail (dot) com.

Rutu Modan’s New Comic Strip Debuts

  • Uncategorized
  • July 1, 2008

The people over at The New York Times Magazine clearly have a great sense of the contemporary comic book scene. Earlier this year they picked up a new series by Jason (of I Killed Adolf Hitler fame), and now they’re debuting a new series by Rutu Modan, whose graphic novel Exit Wounds was one of the best books of 2007.

The ongoing strip, The Murder of the Terminal Patient, is kicked off with a selection of Modan’s comics, which you can view right here. One of the pages is at right, from Exit Wounds. The first chapter of Terminal Patient is also available to download as a pdf.

As with much of Modan’s work, it’s set in Israel. So far, it features Dima, who emigrated from Russia and works as a nurse in a hospital. 

(via The Beat)

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