The Mix : What are people talking about today?

The Weekly Haul: Reviews for May 8, 2008

Simply put, a huge week in comics, with a full load of books even before we get into Skrullapalooza 2008. Though a few decent indies came out, superheroes dominated the shelves, and Marvel’s superheroes especially, including a couple of big debuts.

Book of the Week: Nova #13 — A comic has to be pretty dang good to overcome a cover like the one at right, which seems to show Nova and Silver Surfer en flagrante as Galactus serves as an interstellar peeping tom.

Despite that, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning’s space book shows no Annihilation hangover, keeping the pedal all the way to the floor. Back to trying to serve as a cop of the cosmos, Nova responds to a world being destroyed by Galactus. In a great catch, Nova realizes the world is already doomed, so he focuses instead on the rescue mission (with nice allusions to FEMA and Hurricane Katrina).

As if that wasn’t enough, the writing crew throws in the complicating villain Harrow, a malevolent and vague force that feeds off suffering — a clever parallel to Galactus’ appetite.

No kidding, this is one of the best superhero comics right now, and easily the most enjoyable space story in recent years.

Runners Up:

The Boys #18 — The comic known for its raunchiness is as bellicose as ever, with a constant peppering of cursing that almost makes Deadwood seem prim and proper. While that’s what the series has come to be known for, this issue surprises in how well it captures interactions among the characters in low-key ways.

Of course, there’s also a lengthy scene of a floating corpse peeing all over…

The All-New Atom #23 — Escalating craziness is the proper description for this series. Ryan is now in some sort of alternate universe, where his friends (thought to have been eaten by last issue’s monster) are fending off bizarre monsters. A classic bad-to-worse issue, with lively art from Pat Olliffe and another great cliffhanger ending.

(more…)

Arrests Made in Shooting of Comic Shop Owner

  • Uncategorized
  • May 8, 2008

Late last month, we heard the sad news that David Pirkola, owner of Apparitions Comics and Books in Kentwood, Mich., had been shot in an apparent robbery. Now, as reported by Kentwood’s NBC affiliate, two men have been arrested in the shooting.

The two suspects have been in custody for about a week, with police holding their identities until now as they tried to track down a third subject, according to the station’s report. I’m not sure that’s right, as police are required to immediately make a public log of every arrest. It could be that the arrestees are juveniles, whose identities can legally be withheld. The article doesn’t list their ages.

James Muriel-Neal Thompson and Marvin Michael-Marquis Jones are accused of shooting David Pirkola at his Kentwood comic book store on April 25. Thompson and Jones were in court more than a week ago, but police did not release their names because they’re looking for a third suspect.

That man, Jevon Sawyer, is still being sought. Pirkola remains in critical condition.

Again, best wishes to Pirkola as he recovers.

Gotham’s Most Wanted: Dark Knight Joker Action Figure

It isn’t often that mainstream media picks up on toy collector news, but various news sources couldn’t help notice a mania for Dark Knight action figures based on Heath Ledger’s Joker.

The New York Post reported that people lined up the day they went on sale. Within minutes, the stock was sold out. The craze for the figure isn’t isolated to this side of the pond, either, with similar reports coming in from the U.K.

Collectors are believed to be buying up stock, convinced the figure is a collector’s item, since Ledger passed away before the film was released. The $9.99 toy is ranging from $15-50 on eBay now. As hype builds up for the movie and the buzz builds, it’s anybody’s guess as to how the value of the figure will be affected.

Them Bones, by John Ostrander

Oh, Your toe bone connected to your – FOOT BONE.

Your foot bone connected to your – ANKLE BONE.

Your ankle bone connected to your – LEG BONE.

Now hear the word of the Lord!

Remember that song? Dry Bones – a great African-American spiritual.Some of us remember it from the climatic episodes of The Prisoner, that great TV series starring Patrick McGoohan, the ending of which still befuddles the hell out of me. That’s alright; I like a lot of things that befuddle me – women have befuddled me a lot over the years but, dang, I like ‘em a lot!

What I like about the song is the word “connected.” It suggests we look at things in context. I can understand how, in academia, it’s useful to parse things out for study. Sometimes studying a tree can tell you a lot about a forest. However, I do wonder if we haven’t gotten too specialized in our daily lives. Special Interest Groups (SIGs) seem to have more pull in government than ordinary citizens. Their power comes from their myopia. They are not there to think of the general well-being; they are there to work for the narrow interests of one group, whether or not that benefits the whole, and sometimes despite the fact that it does not benefit the whole.

The same is especially true on the Internet. There is a niche for every conceivable group and sub-group and some groups of which I would never conceive or would want to conceive (child pornography being an example). I worry, however, about a fracturing of our vision. I’m concerned about our ability to see beyond our own narrow scope of vision and interests anymore. (more…)

‘LitGraphic: The World of the Graphic Novel’ Exhibit Report

This weekend I had the pleasure of heading up to Stockbridge, MA, for the Comic Arts Festival and "LitGraphic: The Art of the Graphic Novel" exhibit at the Norman Rockwell Museum.

It was my first trip to the museum, and as I mentioned in my previous tease for the event, I’ve been kicking myself for not making the trip years ago, when I lived a much shorter distance from Stockbridge. The area surrounding the museum is a beautiful, rural landscape that was a breath of fresh air (literally) from the New York City madness.

The "LitGraphic" exhibit consisted of several rooms filled with various pieces of art from both well-known creators and some who I’ll admit I had never heard of prior to seeing their work on display in Stockbridge. On the day we attended, the museum was also playing host to some of the creators whose work was featured in the exhibit, and had scheduled several signings and other events as part of a "Comic Arts Festival."

One of the first pieces of art I encountered was a series of Niko Henrichon’s original, inked pages from Pride of Baghdad, including the impressive two-page "Baghdad Cityscape" spread. My less comics-savvy partner, who accompanied me on the trip, was amazed at the linework on the pages, and on several occasions when I wandered off to view other elements of the exhibit I returned to find her admiring this piece again.

Several pages of Terry Moore’s Strangers in Paradise also found their way into the exhibit, with one piece in particular catching my eye. Titled "The Point Is, She Found Me," the inked two-page spread included a sequence of progressively smaller square frames within a larger scene. The frames directed the reader’s eyes to a figure hidden in the bushes — something that might have been overlooked entirely without the frames zeroing in on the small face in the scenery. It was a nice, unconventional layout that added to the story instead of distracting from it.

In a corner of the exhibit were also some sketchbooks from artist Barron Storey, showcasing his jumbled, mixed-media style of work that appeared in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman: Endless Nights anthology. The display also featured a variety of dog-eared pages from his sketchbooks, including among other things, a set of small, incredibly detailed drawings of Saddam Hussein and Yassir Arafat on opposing pages. The former sketch was captioned with a single sentence: "Hussein, looking a bit like Stalin." (more…)

‘Final Crisis’ Preview Debuts

No matter how many times I hear about DC’s upcoming event-to-end-all-events Final Crisis, I can’t help saying its name to the tune of "<a href=”

Final Countdown." Is there something wrong with me?

Moving on…

DC just sent word that EW.com has posted a five-page preview of… Wait for it…

IT’S THE FIN-AL CRI-SIS…

While that’s all well and good, they’ve also posted a nice little drop-down Grant Morrison script for each of the pages. I dig it immensely — especially since I didn’t realize that a character was actually supposed to be looking over the shoulder of another character (and not at him) until I read it in the script.

I wonder how much stuff like that I miss every week. sigh

New ‘Watchmen’ Set Video – Costumes

Zack Snyder and the Watchmen movie crew recently delivered another video from the set of the film, providing a bigger peek at the "look" of the upcoming adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ groundbreaking graphic novel.

This time around, costume designer Michael Wilkinson takes you on a tour of the clothing that makes the men — and women — of Watchmen.

UPDATE: Looks like the code JoBlo provided to embed the video wasn’t playing nice with our system here, but I think I’ve wrangled it into shape now. Apologies for the delay. – RM

 

 

 

 

(via Cinematical and JoBlo)

 

Happy Birthday: Freddy Freeman

  • Uncategorized
  • May 7, 2008

captain-marvel-jr-01-9856322Frederic Christopher “Freddy” Freeman was born and raised in a small New England fishing village. His parents drowned in a storm, however, and Freddy was sent to live with his maternal grandfather Jacob in Fawcett City in the American Midwest. Freddy was smart, friendly and a natural athlete, and by high school he was not only a star student but also a top-notch athlete.

Then disaster struck. While fishing in Fawcett Bay, Freddy and his grandfather saw a man fall from the sky. They rescued the man, discovering too late that it was Captain Nazi, propelled into the water by one of Captain Marvel’s mighty blows. Coming to, the Nazi supervillain attacked his saviors. Captain Marvel intervened, drove Captain Nazi away, and rushed the two civilians to the hospital, but the damage was done—Jacob died and Freddy was in critical condition.

Desperate to make amends, Captain Marvel brought the injured Freddy to the wizard Shazam, who revealed that Captain Marvel could pass some of his own power along to the boy. Thus Freddy became Captain Marvel, Jr. and part of the Marvel Family.

In his mortal form, however, Freddy had a limp, a permanent reminder of what had happened to him.
More recently the wizard Shazam died and the laws of magic were rewritten. Billy Batson became Marvel, the new keeper of magic, and Freddy underwent a series of trials before becoming Shazam, the new champion of magic.

EZ Street: Opportunity Knocks

Is there a difference between being supportive and being co-dependent? Can a woman in a relationship with an artist get any respect? These are just a few of the questions raised in today’s brand-new episode of EZ Street, by Mark Wheatley and Robert Tinnell.

Credits: Mark Wheatley (Artist), Mark Wheatley (Colorist), Mark Wheatley (Letterer), Mark Wheatley (Writer), Mike Gold (Editor), Robert Tinnell (Writer)

More: EZ Street

 

linklogo2-3963357

And the MTV Movie Award for Comic Books Goes To…

The annual MTV Movie Awards are pretty much the exact opposite of the Academy Awards. They’re funny and irreverant, the music’s decent and the voters are the public instead of an exclusive club of insiders. The categories change from year to year, and most importantly, comic book films actually manage to win on occasion.

So, when MTV announced the nominees for this year, I scanned the list for our four-color friends and called them out here. Some of the entries, though, were a bit surprising. After reading the nominees, be sure to go to the official site and cast your vote.

BEST FIGHT:

Alien vs Predator (Alien vs Predator: Requiem). Comic fans can claim this one since the two characters first crossed over in comics. I was impressed with Predator’s stirring emotional performance but it felt like Alien was playing it for the Academy.

Tobey Maguire vs James Franco (Spider-Man 3).  I was so rooting for the Peter Parker vs. Mary Jane dance-off getting nominated, but Parker’s fight with Harry Osborn/New Goblin was pretty cool, too.

BEST SUMMER MOVIE SO FAR:

Iron Man. This is an interesting category since most of the entries haven’t come out yet. But if we’re going to be true to the "so far" part, then yes, Iron Man wins. It’s a no-brainer at this point, really.

BEST VILLAIN:

Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3). This just makes me sad that the movie didn’t feature Spider-Man nemesis Venom a bit more instead of forcing him to share the spotlight with Sandman, a bad guy whose big exit involved crying and floating away.

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks