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Review: ‘Speed Racer’ – Emile Hirsch Gets Behind the Wheel

So here we are, a mere two weeks into the Blockbuster Season and the veil of bedazzlement has already been lifted. If you are a fan of the original [[[Speed Racer]]] franchise, animated films, or even decent films in general, you will more than likely be disappointed with the film that should’ve been more accurately named [[[Speed Raver]]]. From start to finish, this film is very much like what an 8-year-old would do if he were given a crate of Pixie Stix and free run of a CGI studio, with no knowledge whatsoever about pesky details like story structure, character development or any shred of realism.

For those not in the loop, the story of Speed Racer surrounds not just the titular character (played by possibly one of the better actors of his generation, Emile Hirsch), but his über-supportive family. Pops and Mom Racer, played by John Goodman and Susan Sarandon, respectively. Balancing out the cast was Speed’s girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci), his obnoxious and extraneous little brother and pet chimp, and by far the MVP of the film, in Matthew Fox as Racer X.

The plot, or at least what one can gather about it after two hours in the theater, takes place in a world where car racing is king and the car-building Racer family takes aim at the allegedly fixed world of professional racing with their prodigal son, Speed. The plot is almost beaten into our heads for the first hour, with cartoonish performances and poorly rendered backdrops aiding along the way.

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Happy Birthday: Vincent T. Hamlin

Vincent T. Hamlin was born in 1900 and grew up during tumultuous times—he enlisted in the Army at age 17 and served in France during World War I.

After returning home, he studied journalism and art at the University of Missouri, but was kicked out of art class because his teacher told him he was too fine an artist to waste his time as a cartoonist. After graduating Hamlin moved to Des Moines and became a reporter.

Next he went to Fort Worth, Texas, where he got occasional work as a reporter, a photographer, and a cartoonist. In 1927 he got a job creating maps and posters for the oil fields. It was during that time that Hamlin came up with the idea of a cartoon about a prehistoric caveman, and in 1929 he moved back to Iowa to work on the idea. It took him several years to get it right, but Alley Oop finally appeared a daily strip in 1932.

The strip became so popular that the first fan-based comics award, the Alleys, was named after it. Hamlin continued Alley Oop until his retirement in 1971, when he handed the reins over to his assistant, Dave Graue. Hamlin died in 1993.

I Lost It at the Movies, by Martha Thomases

Last weekend, my son and I went to see Iron Man. We went in the middle of the day to a movie theater in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood that is rarely crowded, so the only other people there were geeks like us.

We had a great time, and that’s what this column is about. Tomorrow is Mothers’ Day, and last week is the last time I’ll be able to go to a superhero movie with my son, without involving an airplane. He’s moving to Los Angeles next month. That’s as far away as he can go without crossing an ocean or a border.

Our movie-going habits started early. When he was six weeks old, we went to see the original Ghostbusters, with the baby in a Snugli. It’s not that we were those horrible parents who take a screaming infant everywhere, as if the world deserves to share their headache. We knew his sleep schedule, and we knew that if we fed him just before the movie started, we should have at least two hours before he woke up. And we went in the middle of a weekday when there would be few other people, and sat in the back, near the aisle, so we could make a hasty retreat if our calculations proved wrong.

Later, as he grew older, my son developed a love of comics that rivaled my own. Even though he was barely five years old, there was no way he would let us go see the first Batman film without him. Being afraid of nightmares, I found a book that explained how the special effects were done, so he’d know that Jack Nicholson didn’t really hurt anyone. The effects didn’t scare him, but he did remark on how out of character it was for Batman to use a gun.

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Eric Reynolds on ‘How I Pissed Off Steve Ditko’

Fantagraphics’ upcoming Steve Ditko retrospective Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko will be available next month, so resident Fantagraphics jack-of-all-trades Eric Reynolds recently took the opportunity to share a story with readers that he’s called "How I Pissed Off Steve Ditko."

Reynold’s tale is one of those personal experiences with industry legends that I love to hear about, as it puts some substance behind the names and faces of people I’ve never been lucky enough to interact with myself.

About ten years ago we had the great fortune of publishing a new series by Mr. Ditko, STEVE DITKO’S STRANGE AVENGING TALES. This was incredibly exciting to me, having been a lifelong Ditko fan. Unfortunately, I did not get to interact much with Mr. Ditko. See, I do all of our promotion, and to say that Mr. Ditko is not big on promotion is like saying the Pope is not big on gay marriage. And, he preferred snail mail to phone. As such, I did not have many opportunities to interact with one of the greatest comic book artists of all-time. Except one.

You can also check out a 10-page preview of Strange and Stranger on the Fantagraphics website.

Of course, one of my main reasons for posting this is the fact that I’m fortunate these days to interact with a number of industry veterans every day here on ComicMix — many of which have had their names grace some of the greatest comics ever created — and I wonder what they’ll have to say about Reynolds’ story.

 

(via Journalista)

‘Diesel Sweeties’ Does ‘Iron Man’

With all of the Iron Man hype fading, I thought it would be worth pointing out one of my new favorite shout-outs to the film that popped up in my daily reading list.

In this strip, Diesel Sweeties mastermind R. Stevens manages to take a jab at both Stan Lee and everyone’s favorite drunken industrialist turned armor-plated superhero. Titled "Radical to the Extremis," it’s another example of why I enjoy DS so very much: not only does Stevens have some traditional comics savvy, but he’s also honest-to-jeebus hilarious.

You can read this strip and others at dieselsweeties.com, and be sure to check out my Diesel Sweeties interview with R. Stevens that ran previously on ComicMix.

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Happy Birthday: Barbara Slate

slate-8997718Born in 1947, Barbara Slate started out in greeting cards before moving to comics. In 1974, she met with a greeting card buyer from Bloomingdales and showed him 24 feminist greeting cards she had designed. Thus, the "Ms. Liz" line was born.

Ms. Liz then became a comic strip in Cosmopolitan, and then an animated feature on The Today Show. Next, Slate spoke to Jenette Kahn of DC Comics, who hired her to create Angel Love. From there, Slate moved to Marvel to create Yuppies from Hell and Sweet XVI (which won a Forbie Award in 1991), and then began working on Barbie and Barbie Fashion (which won the Parent’s Choice Award in 1992 and 1993).

Slate has also written for Disney Comics (Pocahontas and Beauty and the Beast) and Archie Comics, among others. Currently Slate writes for Archie Comics, teaches graphic novel and sequential art workshops, and has a syndicated column called “You Can Do A Graphic Novel.”

‘Trick My Truck’ Customizes Iron Man Rig

If Stark Industies made tractor trailers, they might look something like this. Country Music Television’s Trick My Truck is the country version of MTV’s Pimp My Ride. Professional truck customizers give a deserving trucker’s rig a makeover so that he can ride with pride on the open road. Now if that good buddy is a comic book fan and known for being an "Iron Man" when it comes to grueling hauls, it’s no surprise what superhero they chose to surprise him with. Ladies and gentlemen, introducing "Iron Truck":

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Free Graphic Novels: Sandman, Swamp Thing, Fell

I had a feeling that title would get your attention. Sure, sometimes a title like that is used just to get attention when the substance of the article doesn’t actually include anything free, but fear not, ComicMix reader, we have you covered.

Over at Daily Bits, they’ve highlighted 17 — yes, count ’em, 17 — free graphic novels available online for you to download, read and enjoy. And yes, they are all free for the taking — er, downloading.

Some of the graphic novels highlighted on the list include heavy-hitters such as Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes, Warren Ellis’ Fell #1 and a personal favorite of mine, Brian K. Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1.

The list also includes the popular Salamander Dream and, for ComicMix Managing Editor Rick Marshall, Swamp Thing, Vol. 1: Legend of the Swamp Thing. Go get ’em.

Of course, we’d like to also remind you that you can get free, original  comics by well-known creators here on ComicMix every single day of the week — so if "free" is your thing, don’t say we never gave you anything.

GrimJack: The Manx Cat – Knives Are Drawn

In today’s brand-new episode of GrimJack: The Manx Cat, by John Ostrander and Timothy Truman, John Gaunt is back in his own body, and he’s in a hurry. He needs the St. Johns knives to save his friend. Can he persuade Munden (of Munden’s Bar) to hand them over?

Credits: John Ostrander (Writer), John Workman (Letterer), Lovern Kindzierski (Colorist), Mike Gold (Editor), Timothy Truman (Artist)

More: GrimJack: The Manx Cat

 

 

 

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Red Hulk in ‘The Incredible Hulk’ Game a GameStop Exclusive

At the New York Comicon, Sega’s BJ Enriquez was elusive when asked about downloadable characters for the upcoming videogame based on The Incredible Hulk movie. Now we know why. Retailer Gamestop announced that Red Hulk, the mysterious enemy seen in current Hulk comics, would be a exclusive, playable character for customers who pre-order the Xbox 360 version from them.

According to GameStop:

Players who buy this version will be able to play with the Red Hulk character immediately, something that other players will not be able to experience, as he does not exist in any other version of the game!

There are no indications if this is an exclusive scenario or if other retailers could have their own unique playable characters. Perhaps, "World War Hulk" for PlayStation 3 at Best Buy or "Maestro Hulk" for the Wii at Target? All we know for sure is which version Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness will buy.

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