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Manga Friday: Toto & Tokugawa

Manga Friday returns after a brief hiatus — I was on a secret mission in Darkest Florida, and unable to read manga and coherently think about them for several days — with a look at two very, very different books. We’ll start with the easier one to explain.

Toto!: The Wonderful Adventure, Vol. 1
By Yuko Osada
Del Rey Manga, May 2008, $10.95

Toto! is an adventure story about Kakashi, a boy who desperately wants to get off the small island he was born on and get out into the wide world to have adventures. (Not to do anything in particular, just to "have adventures." Manga boy-heroes are often oddly nonspecific. Kakashi’s father, similarly, was famous as "an explorer.") While somewhere there is probably a humorous manga series about a guy who keeps trying and failing to leave his hometown — come to think of it, I’d like to read something like that myself — Toto! falls into the more usual pattern, and Kakashi stows away on a blimp almost as soon as the story begins.

(Toto! is set in the indeterminate future, not an alternate history, depsite the presence of airships. It is an iron rule of alternate-history stories that every possible world but our own is completely covered in zeppelins, and I guess the same may hold true for odd, indefinite futures.)

But just getting onto the zeppelin is not nearly enough; it has been hijacked by the Man Chicken gang, who forced all of the passengers and crew to dive into the sea as they stole the airship for a quick getaway to their secret hideout. (more…)

‘Hellboy: The Science of Evil’ Gameplay Footage Released

What, you didn’t get to play the Hellboy: The Science of Evil demo at New York Comic Con? I’m so sorry. Your tears taste so sweet.

*Ahem* Sorry…

Well if you’re curious how the game looks in motion, Konami has released the first official gameplay footage. Hellboy faces off against goblins, werewolves, Japanese demons and weird stuff that could only be imagined by Mike Mignola. As you can see for yourself it takes cues from God of War and Ninja Gaiden type games: crazy, over the top beat ’em ups with big boss battles.

Opening up the videogame console war debate once again, there were slight differences in the game from system to system. The graphics on the PlayStation 3 version were crisper, while the Xbox 360 version played smoother. The PSP version was less detailed, but the difference was barely noticeable on the portable’s smaller screen. All three versions played the same graveyard level where Hellboy fought a host of goblins. The lock-on system was not easy or natural, but I did enjoy ripping a goblin’s head off to use as a grenade.

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Cool Like That, by Michael Davis

 

What is cool?

As comic book fans we are pretty much in the forefront of what cool is. The history of comics is an encyclopedia of coolness. If it were not for rock’n’roll, comics would be the absolute standard of coolness. Take a look all the stuff that comics are responsible for in popular culture.

We each have our own gauge of what cool is. Me? I’m all over the place with what or who I think is cool. I think George Clooney is cool and I have little respect for “movie stars,” as any regular reader of this column knows. I think that Gary Shandling is cool and one of the funniest men on the planet. I think that DC comics are cool even if I have had issues with them and they have with me. I think American Idol is cool mostly ,because so many so-called “hip” people think it’s lame. I think HGTV is cool. I think that Stan Lee is cool because he has earned that title. I think that Prince and Patrick Swayze are cool. To me Alan Greenspan is cool and so is Brian Williams.

The shows Family Guy and American Dad are cool but so is every one of those Law and Order shows. Mike Richardson and Dark Horse comics are cool. The staff at Comic Con International and the staff at The Westin Horton Plaza Hotel (especially Jean) are cool. I think the Amish are cool. I know that ComicMix is cool.

 
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William ‘Willie’ Elder, R.I.P.

William "Willie" Elder, one of the illustrators instrumental in launching MAD Magazine, passed away today at age 86, according to various reports.

Elder was one of several creators hired by MAD founder Harvey Kurtzman when the popular parody magazine first launched in 1952.

No details have been released regarding Elder’s cause of death. His funeral will be held Sunday in New Jersey.

From the official statement on behalf of DC, the current publisher of MAD Magazine:

“Willie Elder was one of the funniest artists to ever work for MAD. He created visual feasts with dozens of background gags layered into every MAD story he illustrated,” says John Ficarra, Editor of MAD Magazine, “He called these gags “chicken fat.” Willie’s “anything goes” art style set the tone for the entire magazine and created a look that endures to this day.”

“Willie’s passing saddens all of us here at MAD,” says Sam Viviano, MAD Magazine Art Director, “Everyone who has attempted to draw a funny picture over the course of the last fifty or sixty years owes an enormous debt to Willie, who taught us all how to do it — and no one has ever done it better than he did.”

 

UPDATE: Charity Art Auctions Around the ‘Net

Following up on yesterday’s post regarding industry-wide efforts to raise money for artist Gene Colan, Clifford Meth is putting together a massive, additional auction to benefit the creator and generate money for his rapidly growing medical bills.

So far, contributions have come in from (deeeeeep breath) Neal Adams, Norm Breyfogle, Randy Bowen, Ed Brubaker, Adam-Troy Castro, Paty Cockrum, Peter David, Rufus Dayglo, Tom DeFalco, J.M. deMatteis, Pat DiNizio, Harlan Ellison, Mark Evanier, Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith, Joe Kubert, Erik Larsen, Bob Layton, Jim Lee, Stan Lee, Leah Moore, Albert Moy, Michael Netzer, Josh Olsen, James A. Owen, Tom Palmer, Greg Pak, Mike Pascale, Jim Salicrup, Bob Shreck, Dave Simmons, Gail Simone, Walter and Louise Simonson, Jim Starlin, Roy Thomas, Juan Torres, Andrew Wildman, Marv Wolfman and Ash Wood.  More will be coming in any minute, I’m sure — keep checking that link above.

Meanwhile, Gillian Anderson (a.k.a. Dana Scully from The X-Files) is raising funds for her neurofibromatosis charity by auctioning off “doodles” from celebrities like Scarlett Johansson, Simon, Pegg, Dom DeLuise, Ellen DeGeneres, and the Monkees; as well as comics folks like Tom Tomorrow, Garry Trudeau, Neil Gaiman, Sergio Aragones, Seth Green, and Bill Mumy. The full list is here.

Oh, and the Gahan Wilson drawing pictured here is for the second auction– though I suppose it could be a Dracula for Colan, couldn’t it?

Heath Ledger’s Oscar-Winning Performance?

Whenever the subject of The Dark Knight comes up, everyone seems to be asking the same question (when they’re not talking about the film’s viral marketing, that is): Do you think Heath Ledger will receive an Oscar post-humously?

Over at Cinematical, they’ve started a discussion thread on exactly that subject, and the resulting comments have been interesting, to say the least. Reader response is all over the spectrum, but I thought commenter "techstar25" summed up the debate pretty darn well:

Last year the Academy recognized the work of two brilliant actors playing two of the most heinous villains ever put to film (Javier Bardem and Daniel Day-Lewis). There is now clearly a baseline with which Ledger’s Joker will be compared. How does "Joker" stack up against "Anton Chigurh" and "Daniel Plainview"? We’ll see, but at least now we know that the barriers have been broken and the voters will take a second look at "the bad guy".

This subject has certainly been the topic of conversation at many a ComicMix meeting, but I’d like to throw it out there for discussion among our readers. Is Ledger a lock to take home an Academy Award, or is the entire discussion premature with the film’s July 18 release still months away?

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ComicMix Radio: Shake-Ups On TV – We Need A Hero!

cmixradio-200-4020296The fall lineups for the major networks continue to be revealed and you may  not be happy at where a few of our favorites landed. To ease the pain, we poke Heroes‘ star Milo Ventimigila to find out what he picked up at his local comic shop, plus:

— Iron Man buzz hits the comic racks with two sellouts

— You can see Indiana Jones early – if you fly to Cannes

— BSG‘s Number Six meets Spidey!

Stop looking at the goofy TV stars and press the button!

 

 

  And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-7593382 or RSS!

Happy Birthday: Garry Leach

  • Uncategorized
  • May 15, 2008

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Born in 1957, Garry Leach studied Graphic Design at St. Martin’s School of Art. His first work in comics was on 2000 A.D., but he quickly became known for his art on the series The VCs.

In 1981, Leach joined Quality Communications as art director. He was also the first artist on Alan Moore’s revival of Marvelman (better known in the U.S. as Miracleman). Leach and Moore then created Warpsmith. In 1988 Leach and Dave Elliot set up Atomeka Press—the first title was the anthology AI, which included another Moore/Leach Warpsmith story.

Leach left comics briefly in the mid-’90s after Atomeka closed but returned to ink Hitman a few years later. He also drew the first issue of Warren Ellis’ Global Frequency and contributed more work to 2000 A.D.

In 2004, Leach and Elliot restarted Atomeka Press.

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Interview: Tim Seeley on ‘Hack/Slash’ and Suicide Girls Crossovers

  • Uncategorized
  • May 15, 2008

ctonymark-com-3Writer and artist Tim Seely has come along way from reading, drawing and dreaming about comics as a kid in his parent’s basement in Wisconsin. Over the years, he’s managed to write and/or draw some of the most popular cult-favorite comics in publishing, including Kore, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe vs. Transformers, Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy and most recently, a comic based on the Holloween movie franchise.

He’s also the creator of the hugely popular and successful comic book series Hack/Slash, which is currently being produced as a feature film by Rogue Pictures and expected to be released later this year. Recently, ComicMix sat down with the prolific artist and writer to get all the latest details on Hack/Slash the comic, the movie adaptation and his latest project with the Suicide Girls.

COMICMIX: Hey Tim, thanks for taking the time to talk with me.

TIM SEELEY: Sure, no problem at all.

CMix: You’re the staff artist for Devil’s Due Publishing, but your most well-known work, Hack/Slash, is a creator-owned project?

TS: It is creator-owned, yeah.

CMix: How did you come up with the idea for it?

TS: My girlfriend always gets embarrassed that I tell this story at all, but I was sick for a couple of days with the flu or something so, and it was right around Halloween. I’d just lay in bed for three or four days, and all I did was watch horror movies, like every station, they all run marathons, you know?

So I’m just sitting there and I’m on cold medicine and I start noting patterns in these horror movies. I took a bath because I’m feeling all crappy, and all of a sudden, it gelled in my head, and I jumped out of the tub and ran over, dripping-ass-naked in my house, and I wrote down this kind of outline for the comic.

There’s a girl that goes from slasher movie to slasher movie.  It’s a whole meta-idea or whatever, so then I started to build Hack/Slash from there. I just wanted to do something that didn’t have the flavor of what most comics have, something more like, B-movie, kind of totally creative, not so serious, something more like Psychotronic Movie Guide, like gonzo silly, but make it really important that the characters

There is a lot of characterization, and it was going to be about two characters and about their relationship. So, I kind of combined what I like about bad movies and what I like about good movies, and just got rid of all the other stuff.

CMix: Now, in addition to the comic, there’s also the Hack/Slash film in production as well… How’s that going?

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The Single Greatest Comic Book of All Time?

Chris’ Invincible Super-Blog continues to be one of my favorite comic blogs on the InterWebs, as it never fails to crack me up while also turning me on to some comics that might not have otherwise been on my radar. Yesterday’s celebration of his one-year anniversary with the new ISB site was no exception.

In order to commemorate a full year with the "new" ISB, Chris revisits his assessment of "The Single Greatest Comic Book Of All Time" — which happens to be November 1988’s Batman #425, featuring a Jim Starlin story and Mark Bright pencils.

According to Chris, a single page featuring Batman’s creative use of a car battery changed the course of his entire life:

That’s it. That’s the moment. That’s where the ISB was born, although it wouldn’t actually show up for another seventeen years. You can draw a line straight to the comics I read today and everything makes sense: The way Batman casually looks around for something to use, the delight he takes in “getting improvisational,” the thug’s reaction and the grin Batman’s got in the shadow, the way the guy just crumples. You don’t hear a whole lot about Mark Bright, but man. That is a beautiful page.

Much like Chris Ullrich‘s post a while back, directing you to a list of comics that "hooked" popular creators, it’s always interesting (to me, at least) to find out what issues were the "first" for various readers.

Mine? Marvel Team-Up #129, featuring Spider-Man and Vision vs. The Mad Thinker’s Robots. They smash evil versions of Albert Einstein, Mark Twain and, I believe, Abraham Lincoln. Vision questions his own humanity – or lack thereof – and there’s a big robot with a club for a fist. Ed Hannigan’s cover remains one of my favorites to this very day.

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