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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.

Review: ‘Harbinger: The Beginning’ by Jim Shooter and David Lapham

I had forgotten how much superhero comics had changed in the past 15 years when I picked up Valiant’s new Harbinger: The Beginning collection ($24.95), which revives the book’s first issues from 1992.

It’s impossible to evaluate the stories without looking at the context of their era. True, [[[Harbinger]]] never reached the excessive silliness of Liefeld’s [[[X-Force]]], but it’s populated by edgy characters with dated nicknames like “Torque,” who spout even more dated phrases like “buttlick.”

Since the crash of the ’90s, comics have largely moved toward a more serious and realistic tone, and Harbinger (created by Jim Shooter and David Lapham) stands in stark contrast. All the same, in many ways the book holds up, probably no surprise since it once garnered a great number of fans.

What’s especially appreciable about Harbinger is how it strays from the superhero stereotype, something even today’s books struggle to do. The protagonist, Pete, is not a clear-cut hero; instead he’s an immature and often egotistical teen who doesn’t understand the dangers of his powers. The villain, Harada, is no great man, but his central goal is to protect the world from Pete.

As much as anything, Harbinger is about the folly of youth and the lessons to be learned from those mistakes. It falls into cliché and hollow edginess, but more often jumps in surprising directions and offers a new (again, in context) take on heroes.

I Got Nothing… by Michael Davis

My mind is a blank. I can’t think of anything to write about. I read a bunch of comics and I came back with zip. I watched the news and was left with nada. I’m in the middle of a few great projects but don’t want to write about them yet.

Wow…writer’s block. I have never been at a lost for something to say or better yet to rant about.

This sucks.

Come on Davis. THINK, THINK, THINK!!

Nothing. I got nothing.

I know, I’ll make a list. That always sparks my imagination. Let’s see now, I can’t do a best dressed list or most sexy list. I have to do something that’s classy. I have to do something that shows that I am above the petty stupid lists that Hollywood produces.

Got it!

10 people I would like to pimp slap.

1. Paris Hilton
2. Kim Kardashian
3. Lindsay Lohan
4. Jeremiah Wright
5. The Real World Creator
6. Amy Winehouse
7. Charles Manson
8. Rush Limbaugh
9. Dr. Laura
10. Naomi Campbell

Damn. Still nothing. I am really barren today. What else can I do to spark my imagination?

I got nothing.

I’ll try another list.

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Where Are The Superheroine Movies?

shehulk025-1292861Over at Cinematical, Elisabeth Rappe responds to all the acclaim for Iron Man by pointing out a deficiency in the booming business of comics being adapted to film.

Looking around the cinematic landscape, at the likes of Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Bruce Wayne, Hellboy and the like, Rappe notices something missing: superheroines. And, even worse, Marvel’s recent announcement of more male heroes headed to the screen and ongoing delays in a Wonder Woman project, it looks like no female heroes will be hitting the big screen anytime soon.

It has been eight years since X-Men made comic book movies big business, and we have yet to see a proper superheroine. Ant-Man is on a faster production track than Wonder Woman – and who is more recognizable to the general public? Why is Thor more palatable to the mass audience than Black Widow? I don’t buy that there isn’t a mass appeal for these stories.

It probably doesn’t help the studio perspective that the only two comic heroines allowed to fly solo were disasters. But was there ever a smidgen of care given to either Elektra or Catwoman during the writing or production process? Neither film was entered into with that Iron Man spirit; they were careless and cheap, and turned out predictably awful. It’s no surprise that a movie bombs because it sucks – but surely, the suits are ascribing that largely to heroines being lousy sells. It says volumes that neither are worth the kind of relaunch The Incredible Hulk is getting. Why not bring back Elektra to revise big screen history? I’d pay to see it in a heartbeat.

A lot of food for thought, and plenty to agree or disagree with. Interestingly, Rappe doesn’t place any of the blame on the comic book industry, which has been called out for giving women short shrift plenty of times.

Simone & Ajax: Leaping Lemmings!

In this brand-new, full-color episode of Simone & Ajax: The Case of the Maltese Duck, by Andrew Pepoy with colors by Jason MIllet, we see the story behind the duck, whose name happens to be Herriman. He’s the last of his kind, and he really needs his liver.

Credits: Andrew Pepoy (Artist), Andrew Pepoy (Letterer), Andrew Pepoy (Writer), Jason Millet (Colorist), Mike Gold (Editor-In-Chief)

More: The Adventures of Simone & Ajax: The Case of the Maltese Duck

 

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Reviewing Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s ‘Essential Thor’

I don’t normally post links to reviews on other comics news sites, since we have so many of our own hitting the site here every day, but I had to make an exception for Tom Spurgeon’s recent review of the third volume of Marvel’s Mighty Thor "Essential" collection.

Thor has never been a favorite character of mine, as his dialogue always seemed a bit hokey and he’s pretty much the definition of a deus ex machina. But Spurgeon’s review of the collection, which features Stan Lee and Jack Kirby doing exactly what made them legends in the industry, has me contemplating a change of heart.

He describes the collected stories’ overall tone as "verily, there are asses over yon we doth must beat" repeated ad infinitum — which is a big selling point for me.

Spurgeon goes on to summarize the collection as follows:

It’s quite fun. The panels where Thor is not punching people so hard their light source changes are stuffed to the brim with either a) cool-looking Kirbyana almost always in the form of monsters and machinery, b) Volstagg, a fat coward who can bench press a bus, providing J. Wellington Wimpy-style comedy relief, or c) Thor screaming at someone about how awesome he is in preparation of punching them so hard their light source changes.

I love a well-written review, and this is certainly a great example of one. Head over to The Comics Reporter to read the rest of it.

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