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The ‘Iron Man’ Merch: Where’s the Rum Gone?

There’s no denying that the Merry Marvel Marketing Machine went all out for Iron Man — to the tune of $75 million, in fact. From games and toys to Slurpee mugs, in the run-up to last week’s record-breaking release, it was difficult to go anywhere without being exposed to some sort of hype for Ol’ Shellhead.

Nevertheless, I’ll confess feeling a little old-school joy when I see some of the new movie merch making the rounds. Over at Cinematical, the movie blog’s crew posted a detailed look at one of the promotional Iron Man action figures they received a little while back, while EW’s PopWatch blog generated a bit of envy here at ComicMix with their treasure trove of Iron Man swag. Oh, and for the Iron Man completist, IGN posted a fairly comprehensive guide to the licensed Iron Man merchandise you can expect to see on shelves — at least until the collectors get their hands on them, that is.

As is often the case, however, my favorite piece of geekery fell a bit outside the range of mainstream Iron Man swag popping up around the InterWebs. In fact, it was something resembling love at first sight when I came across the Custom "Repulsive Iron Man" Marvel Legends Movie Figure seen here:

It’s a beauty, right? Not only is the figure packaged with a miniature bottle of Bacardi and a set of beer cans, but it also comes with a piece of original artwork by Shortpacked creator David Willis. It’s the perfect combination of comic in-joke and webcomic fun.

Check out the product pitch:

Decked out in sickly green metallics, inebriated shading, and vomitous brown highlights, Iron Man is loaded with disgusting detail. Load him up with the various miniature beer cans or his trusty bottle of Bacardi and he’s ready to battle the bad guys, just as long as you point him in the right direction first!

So, yeah… It’s too bad the auction ended last week. That would have been $152.51 well spent.

Review: ‘Mome’ Vol. 11

The image at right isn’t the cover of the latest MOME ($14.99), Fantagraphics’ collection of vignettes from various cartoonists. That’s because the actual cover features full male nudity and a body gushing blood.

As much as that might create a challenge for the volume’s shelf presence, it sets a fitting tone for the stories within, all beautifully illustrated pieces that are in turn harsh, ugly, violent, depressing and hilarious.

The best of the lot is "Einmal Ist Keinmal," a wordless story from French cartoonist Killoffer (that’s his work at right, though not a page from MOME). His two-tone work, reminiscent of Jaime Hernandez’s art, elegantly portrays the life of a woman living in a world where all men literally look the same, featuring the grim, Cro Magnon-ish visage that Killoffer uses to represent himself. It’s a story that begs for repeated readings to decipher the author’s thoughts on the ugly side of masculinity.

The 20 other pieces are an assortment of new chapters in continuing stories, standalone pieces and a lengthy Gary Groth interview with Ray Fenwick (a must read for those interested in typography). Tom Kaczynski crafts a mournful diatribe against new age businesses and Nate Neal weaves a bizarre tapestry of cartoon oddity, among other highlights.

This is one of the more cohesive and consistent volumes of MOME, with a handful of great pieces and no weak links. Recommended reading, at least for those who like their comics with a nasty edge.

What I Can’t Write About, by Elayne Riggs

So last week my column was criticized for not being primarily about comics, the same day that my fellow columnist John Ostrander got over a dozen comments writing about politics, not one of which queried the appropriateness of his subject matter. Obviously people who have written and drawn comics for a living (Denny, Michael, etc.) can get a little more slack than someone who’s only ever written four comic book stories and had them all published. Not that I’m bitter! Oh no, indeedy; I’m actually grateful those critiques have given me fodder for this week’s column!

As I mentioned in my reply to this criticism, I understand some readers’ frustration with me not writing about comics more often. Even my mom asks me why I don’t focus on comics more often, and she doesn’t even read the stuff! But after all, ComicMix is a pop-culture site dominated by people heavily invested in the artform. Heck, that’s what CM 2.0 is all about, giving our readers original comics content. And we haven’t yet introduced a separate tab for our columns to distinguish them from our regular pop-culture news, so it’s probably reasonable to expect that we columnists will focus on comics as much as our news reporters do. And I love reading comics, but… but…

But nowadays, when I talk about my favorite reading material and hobby and community, I can usually only discuss what’s happened recently, not what’s going to happen in the near future or even Right This Very Week. As many of you know, this wasn’t always the case. About 10-15 years ago I did weekly comic book reviews on Usenet and CompuServe under the header "Pen-Elayne For Your Thoughts." I’d get the books on a Wednesday and most of the reviews would be up by Friday. My job at the time allowed me to do this, I was being somewhat under-used (technology and outsourcing would eliminate that position in ’97) and I had plenty of energy when I got home. Then I got a new job which proceeded to harness a lot of that energy, so the reviews had to go, I just couldn’t keep them up any more.

When I married Robin, I stopped buying most DC books the week they hit the stores, because as a regular freelancer for DC he receives a comp box each month of all the "pamphlets" they put out. For a time the comps were usually current to within a couple weeks of what was in the stores, so I could still keep up as plot discussions moved from Usenet to message boards. But by the time blogs became big, the synching had fallen a bit behind. (The new comp box arrived at our house on Monday, and I now have all the Countdown issues up until "04," when of course the current big discussion is about the final issue.

I also now have the first issue of Tangent: Superman’s Reign so I can finally read issue #2 which Robin inked and which came out in stores the Wednesday prior to the NY Comic Con. Just to give you an idea of the lag time here.) Four years ago, when my boss moved the office out to Westchester, my weekly visits to Midtown Comics to view the new books and collect my non-DC haul became an every other (or every third) week mail order. And because I no longer had the new comics when most of the active online discussions took place, I could no longer participate. By the time I acquire and read the book featuring the return of Barry Allen, or the mostly-Spanish issue of Blue Beetle that has this xenophobe’s drawers in a bunch, it will be well into June and everyone will have long since moved on. (more…)

Review: ‘Willie & Joe: The War Years’ by Bill Mauldin

  • Uncategorized
  • May 6, 2008

In the new massive two-volume set Willie & Joe: The War Years, Bill Mauldin’s World War II cartoons are given a deluxe treatment, from the Army-green canvas covers to the oversized printing of Mauldin’s voluminous output.

The only thing publisher Fantagraphics couldn’t overcome in producing the book was the rough condition of much of Mauldin’s cartoons depicting the life of soldiers. As much as that might seem a drawback, editor Todd DePastino turns it into one more thing to appreciate about Mauldin: His cartoons often suffered because the young soldier/illustrator created them on the front lines.

It’s a truly beautiful collection, and one befitting the legacy of Mauldin, who died in 2003 (I reviewed DePastino’s biography of Mauldin right here). The first volume picks up with Mauldin’s first cartoons in a school paper (DePastino faced the tough challenge of tracking down all of Mauldin’s published work), then transitions to his time in the Army, first in Oklahoma and then overseas.

Through the cartoons (and DePastino’s well researched notes), we can see Mauldin grow as an artist, a person and a soldier. His first cartoons offered harsh stereotypes of Native Americans, but after Mauldin served with a largely Cherokee unit, his lasting desire for equality began to come to the fore.

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Happy Birthday: David Michelinie

Born in 1948, David Michelinie loved comic books from early on and knew he wanted to write them. So he took a chance, and in the early 1970s he moved to New York to work for DC Comics.

He started out writing backup stories on House of Mystery and House of Secrets, then wrote seven issues of Swamp Thing. In 1978, he switched over to Marvel and immediately began writing The Avengers. From there he moved to Iron Man, Amazing Spider-Man, and Star Wars.

Michelinie was responsible for introducing both Jim Rhodes and Tony Stark’s alcoholism during his run on Iron Man, but he is perhaps best known for the supervillain he created and introduced in Amazing Spider-Man: Venom.

Since then, he has worked on Action Comics, Rai, H.A.R.D. Corps, Captain Fear, The Bozz Chronicles, and many others.

More Will Eisner Films on the Way

Will Eisner’s seminal comic book series The Spirit is on the way to theaters, adapted by Frank Miller. And it looks like more of the legend’s creations could be following.

Wired has the news that Creative Artists Agency picked up the rights to Eisner’s estate and will push for more movies based on those books, including A Contract With God.

CAA, a heavyweight talent handler that represents Steven Spielberg, Tobey Maguire, Cameron Diaz and scores of other A-listers, will be pushing for movie adaptations of Eisner titles as a result of the deal, which was announced last week. Eisner comics that could make it to the silver screen include A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories, John Law, Lady Luck, Mr. Mystic, Uncle Sam, Blackhawk and Sheena.

Eisner died in 2005. Widely credited with helping establish the graphic novel as a respectable art form, he was honored in 1988 when Comic-Con created the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards to recognize cutting-edge comic book talent.

ComicMix Radio: The Heat Continues

Coming off a weekend where Iron Man breaks movie records and 2 million free comics are handed out, the momentum for this week doesn’t slow down. Like good ol’ Ringo Starr, walk into your comic store and you will see:

— DC fills in some background for Final Crisis and finally finishes off the Donner story

— Secret Invasion #2 hits the stores

— Plus: 100 Hulks go on display

Before you Press the Button we should tell you that seconds after this photo was taken, Pete Best snatched this comic from Ringo and ran out the door as fast as he could, shouting, “Finally, revenge!”

 

 

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ComicMix Six: The Worst Movies Adapted From Comic Books

It should come as no surprise that Hollywood studios often turn to the pages of comic books and graphic novels for source material — especially for action-packed summer releases like Iron Man.

Some of these films, such as Iron Man, Batman Begins, Spider-Man 2 or X-Men 2, achieve a great deal of commerical and critical success. In addition, they’re also embraced by comic book fans as great examples of what comic book movies should be.

Unfortunately, there are also those other comics-to-film adaptations that disappoint critics, mainstream audiences and comic book fans alike. These films, whether due to bad writing, inept direction, gross miscasting, or a combination of factors, are often not only bad comic book adaptations, but bad movies in general.

Yet, even with Iron Man‘s phenomenal success, it’s important to remember these bad films. These particular movies occupy a special place in the hierarchy of bad filmmaking and deserve to be highlighted — especially so you can avoid seeing them if you haven’t already.

Here then, in no particular order, is the ComicMix Six list of the Worst Movies Adapted From Comic Books.

 

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Video: The ‘Iron Man’ Nick Fury Ending

Did you happen to, like me, not stay through the credits of Iron Man to see that top-secret meeting between Tony Stark and Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Well, now you can catch it on YouTube, or by clicking the video player below.

It’s some bootleg, Blair Witch-style footage, so we’ll see how long it stays up.

 


 

Wrath, by Dennis O’Neil

Don’t stop me if you’ve heard this one…

Harry is homeless. Once, he was a successful venture capitalist with three lavish homes, a beautiful wife and a charming daughter, but then he lost his money in a bad real estate deal, his wife ran away with a televangelist, and his daughter started living with a crack dealer and not answering her phone. While panhandling near his old office, Harry met an friend who knew of a deal that would restore Harry’s fortune – hundred percent, guaranteed – and with his bank account restored, Harry was sure he could reclaim his family and his lifestyle. The problem was, Harry needed a thousand dollars to get in on the deal and he had no way to get it; his credit was maxed out and no one he knew would lend him another cent. He’s now passing a church, his head bowed in misery, when he sees a thousand dollar bill laying in the gutter. He can’t believe it! He is saved! He bends over to pick up the bill and…he’s hit by a truck. Laying there alone in the filth, Harry knows he’s breathing his last. He looks up at the sky and cries, “Why?” And a voice booms from beyond the clouds, “Because you piss me off.”

One of my favorite jokes and one I’ve been thinking of this weekend because, somehow, I’ve run afoul, again, of my old foe Crankus, the spiteful god of technology. Ol’ Mr. Macintosh in front of me has been acting up and the gentleman, polite but not terribly helpful, at the Mac store wasn’t exactly sure why. Larry and his friend Perri graciously offered to reinstall the Microsoft Word program, because I don’t trust myself with even elementary technological tasks, and so far, so good.

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