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R.I.P. Fletcher Hanks Jr., Son of ‘Stardust’ Creator

  • News
  • March 25, 2008

In last year’s collection of Fletcher Hanks comics, I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets, one of its best features was an epilogue written and illustrated by Paul Karasik that explained his effort to track down Hanks, or at least one of his relatives.

Karasik ended up at the door of Fletcher Hanks Jr., a great man in his own right who shed a lot of light on his father. Strangely enough, Hanks Jr. had never even known that his father illustrated comics, let alone had become something of an idol in the indie comics community.

According to a story posted on Karasik’s Web site, Hanks Jr. died on March 16 after a March 8 auto accident. He was 90.

Among comics fans, Hanks Jr. will always be known as the son of the evil genius of the Golden Age. But it’s important to recognize his accomplishments, many of which overshadow his father’s legacy:

Hanks, known for his action-adventure life and strong opinions, is best known for his experience "flying The Hump," both in wartime and years later in the commemoration of his fallen comrades, and his book, Saga of CNAC 53, which chronicled those events. He often said his life’s work was remembering his 23,000 friends who died in the war.

From July 1942 to August 1945, Hanks, sometimes called "Christy" by his colleagues, flew 347 trips in unarmed C-47s delivering supplies to inaccessible areas of China using a path from India over the south ridge of the Himalayas called "The Hump." Years later, in 1997, he returned to China and he and a group of Chinese soldiers found the wreckage of CNAC 53, the airplane piloted by American Jim Fox and his Chinese co-pilot and operator.

A ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Movie? Stars Say They’re Game

  • News
  • March 25, 2008

I guess it has to do with comic book culture becoming ever more enmeshed in celebrity culture, but it seems like MTV has become the place to go for interesting material in the world of comics and comics-related movies and TV shows.

The latest: At a reunion of Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast members, several spoke favorably of the potential for an all-new Buffy movie. And, of course, they also brought up the recent lesbian tryst in the Buffy comics series.

"I don’t know if Sarah [Michelle Gellar] wants to be kissing girls, so for Sarah’s sake, we’d say, start from the TV show," said Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander. "But I think for everyone else, start from the comic book. I want to see Sarah kissing girls."

Beyond the question of whether or not to include girl-on-girl action, a few other pitfalls stand in the way of a movie. No script or studio is in place, and Joss Whedon is busily crafting a superhero musical.

Speaking of Whedon, he certainly didn’t sound opposed to the project, although he seemed far to dismissive of the comics:

As Whedon said on the panel, "many stars" would have to align — not the least of which would be a certain lead actress wanting to participate. "But if I had to shoot down everything that we’re doing in the comics because we’re doing a film," Whedon said, "I wouldn’t lose a lot of sleep over it."

Happy Birthday: Night Girl

Lydda Jath was born on the planet Kathoon, a world that lives in permanent darkness. Her scientist father found a way to give her super-strength but didn’t realize it would only work at night or in deep shadows.

Lydda applied for the Legion of Super-Heroes but was turned down because they felt her power’s limitation made it impractical. She met Brek Bannin, Polar Boy, at the tryouts and together they formed the Legion of Substitute Heroes.

After the events of Infinite Crisis, it appears that future history has been rewritten and Lydda has become a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes instead.

ComicMix Radio: Dragging ‘Kick Ass’ to the Big Screen

It’s comics and movies making sweet rumors today, including:

— One issue out and now it’s a Kick Ass movie

— Sexy comics get a new book

— Tintin and The A-Team move closer to the big screen

—  Our rundown of new comics and DVDs, plus another chance to grab an exclusive Graham Crackers Comics variant — and you win by e-mailing us at: podcast [at] comicmix.com

 

 

Jeez, the kid has had it bad enough – Just Press The Button!

Review: ‘Little Nothings: The Curse of the Umbrella’

  • News
  • March 25, 2008

Little Nothings: The Curse of the Umbrella
Lewis Trondheim
NBM/ComicsLit, 2007, $14.95

Trondheim is one of the major comics creators of France, responsible for the Dungeon series, Mr. O, and A.L.I.E.E.N., among others. At least, that’s what NBM tells me – I have to admit that I’ve never read his stuff before.

Little Nothings is a daily diary comic, much like James Kochalka’s American Elf – but the book doesn’t say where Little Nothings originally appeared (online? In a newspaper? On paper airplanes wafted through Trondheim’s neighborhood?). I’m assuming that it did appear somewhere, originally, but there’s no reason to think that – it’s possible that it was done as a project to be published for the first time as a book.

So each page of Little Nothings apparently represents one day, though none of the strips are dated, so it’s not always clear if days are missing (or sequences changed for whatever reason). And a couple of the strips seem to be multiple pages for one day — or maybe it’s just that he’s thinking and cartooning about the same thing for several days straight.

(None of that matters terribly much, though; it’s just that I’m obsessive. I think about these things far too much; it’s a sickness, I know.) (more…)

Press ‘Ctrl Alt Del’ For New Cover

  • News
  • March 25, 2008

Good news for fans of Ctrl+Alt+Del webcomic. The out-of-print, first-volume collection of the series, Ctrl+Alt+Del Volume 1: Insert Coin, will be reprinted with a brand new cover. It will also be offered in a signed hardcover format limited to 500 copies. Previous editions of the hardcovers sold out quickly, so creator Tim Buckley recently gave his fans the heads up on his website that they will be available soon.

Ctrl+Alt+Del chronicles the insanely funny adventures of roommates Ethan and Lucas. The pop-culture- and videogame-obsessed Ethan is barely held in check by his level-headed friend and a cast of characters including girlfriend Lilah and Zeke, a game console brought to life so that Ethan would always have somebody to play with. Besides being one of the most popular webcomics on the ‘Net, Ctrl+Alt+Del has been brought to life as an animated series online and on DVD.

Also shown on Buckley’s website was the cover to the second issue of Analog and D+Pad, the spinoff comic book that reimagines the cast of CAD as superheroes. Both books will be available in the CAD online store.

ComicMix Exclusive Interview: Joe Lansdale on ‘Pigeons from Hell’

  • News
  • March 25, 2008

Joe Lansdale is a prolific author of horror stories, both short and novel-length, including Drive In and Bubba Ho-Tep.  He’s also no stranger to comics, having partnered with Timothy Truman for projects featuring  such characters as Jonah Hex and The Lone Ranger, and has even written for Batman: The Animated Series and other television series.

This spring, Dark Horse Comics is releasing his four-part miniseries, Pigeons from Hell, adapting a story by Robert E. Howard.  It’s Lansdale’s first time working with artist Nathan Fox, and he recently sat down for a brief chat with ComicMix and a preview of the first issue.

COMICMIX: Thanks for agreeing to chat, Joe.  This is not your first work with Robert E. Howard.  You previously wrote a Conan miniseries. So tell me, what is it about Howard that you like?

JOE LANSDALE: Howard has always appealed to me because there is a raw storytelling talent at work, and he has a Texas background, and like me, he lived in a small town where the sort of profession he pursued was not entirely understood. I always thought he appealed to the little boy in all of us, and by that, I mean that part of us that loves a good raw story. He appeals to that aspect in all of us. Like Jack London, The Call of the Wild is eternal. I don’t think Howard had the same depth that some of London‘s work had, but it has the same primal element, if not the social element. Thing is, I don’t consider that bad or lesser, just different.

CMix: Did you ask to write Pigeons from Hell, or was it an assignment?

JL: I think it was mentioned to me by the film company that has Howard’s work, because I had written the Conan miniseries. It had been well-received, and I mentioned Pigeons From Hell, and it was thought an update might be fun, since Dark Horse had already done a literal adaptation, so, it just sort of snowballed from there and Dark Horse was for it. [It was] kind of an accident.

CMix: How did you approach expanding and adapting a prose work into a four-issue miniseries?

JL: I tried to use the original story as the frame, and I tried to bring younger contemporary characters into it. Howard’s work was of its time, and it could be casually racist, so I wanted to avoid that. I also added more mystical elements. Again, a perfect adaptation had already been done for the comics before, and there was a really good Thriller episode of the story years ago, though now it seems a little dated, so I wanted to approach it in a different manner. I think the story is still true to the original in most ways.

CMix: What is it about Howard’s work that you think still makes it relevant today?

JL: I think it’s the pure storytelling. You can learn to be a better writer with effort and time, but that is something that seems almost inborn, though I’m not sure how to explain it. But he has it, and the work is recyclable and constant. (more…)

Review: ‘Life Sucks’ by Abel, Soria and Pleece

It doesn’t seem a stretch to assume every possible vampire story has been done, from the classics to Anne Rice’s romanticizations to the modern Blade to the self-obsessed Shadow of the Vampire to the Dracula: Dead and Loving It spoof.

I won’t claim that Life Sucks (First Second, $19.95) is jaw-droppingly revolutionary, no. But it does deliver a riff on vampires that hasn’t been seen before.

To put it bluntly, Dave is a loser. He’s a wimpy young guy stuck working a dead-end job at an LA convenience store, and he’s in love with a goth girl who doesn’t know he exists. On top of all that, he’s a vampire, which just makes the life of the former-vegetarian all the more miserable.

The story of Life Sucks began several years ago when co-writers Jessica Abel and Gabe Soria were talking about vampires and wondered what it would be like for a young vampire stuck in the real world. After all, vampires don’t just start out with a big castle and tons of wealth, Soria told me.

Like a typical young adult, Dave is just starting out and trying to establish a life for himself. The vampire angle adds to his difficulties (despite a few cool powers), with the need to hide from sunlight, forage for blood and obey his master, Count Radu, the old vampire who infected him and owns the convenience store where Dave works.

Instead of obsessing with drudgery, the authors craft a simple but effective story of Dave’s pursuit of love, one that becomes expectedly complicated given the indie comics background of Abel. Life Sucks works because it’s a good little yarn about young adulthood, with the vampire angle serving more than anything as extra flavoring.

The art, by Warren Pleece, is appropriately grounded and manages to stay lively even during lulls in action. I interviewed him about his work on the book a little back, which you can read right here.

Confirmed Iron Man Cameo in ‘The Incredible Hulk’

  • News
  • March 25, 2008

One of the things made Marvel Comics stand out from other publishers back in the Silver Age was the concept of a shared universe. Other publishers would have guest stars every now and then, but Stan Lee reasoned that if all these costumed types were all running around New York City, they should be bumping into each other left and right. And fans loved it.

Marvel Studios is taking a cue from its comics roots and is having Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. cameo as inventor Tony Stark in this summer’s other Marvel superhero movie The Incredible Hulk.

Downey confirmed the rumor in an interview on MTV Movies Blog.

“It happens to be a scene where I basically approach [William Hurt’s character, General Ross], and we may be considering going into some sort of limited partnership together,” Downey stated.

Downey also teased that another unnamed star would appear in the Iron Man credits. Maybe the Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury rumor buzz we’ve been hearing? Hmm. We’ll be sure to stay in our seats until the end for both movies this summer.

Dark Horse Offers ‘Making Of’ for ‘Serenity: Better Days’ #1

  • News
  • March 24, 2008

If you’re reading ComicMix, chances are you’re a fan of sci-fi, movies, TV and, of course, you probably read comic books on a regular basis. Being a fan and reader of comics, perhaps you’ve wondered how all the elements from script to art to color to lettering come together to form the finished comic you hold in your hands and read each week?

If you have wondered about this magical process, the folks at Dark Horse Comics have got something for you. At their website, they’ve put up a "How-To" guide which takes you through the steps from script to finished page of their brand-new Serenity: Better Days comic book.

Clicking through the guide you can see the original script pages written by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews, rough sketches of the panel placement, art and pencils by Will Conrad, colors by Michele Madsen and letters by Michael Heisler — all the elements that go into a finished comic book page.

It’s an interesting look at how things go from normal-looking words on a page to a colorful and exciting final product. Check it out.

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