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How The Internet Has Changed Comics Production, Part XLII

  • News
  • March 6, 2008

Time was, you wouldn’t know how your freelancers were doing on their art assignments until you got either a package in the mail or a panicked phone call explaining why they were late.

Now, you can just follow their LiveJournal page. Here’s Joanna Estep:

Today I finished pencils on my run of Munden’s Bar, for ComicMix.

Okay, okay, so I may have announced this uh, last year on the ComicMix panel at Mid-Ohio Con… but let’s forget about that and pretend I’m announcing it here for the first time.

Anyway, short primer: Munden’s Bar is this inter-dimensional bar type place, where all sorts of characters from across time/space/fandom-of-your-choosing can stop in and have a drinky-poo. Various writers and artists drop by and make comics about it, too.

For example, if you’re a fan of Gaiman’s Sandman, you could read MUNDEN’S BAR: INSOMNIAC, written by John Ostrander and drawn by my friend/idol Marc Hempel. (See how I namedrop and wallow in bragging rights? Do you see?)

Point being, I’m in good company.

So, yes, there will be more Munden’s Bar stories real soon now. And not just from Joanna and Martha — but we’re not going to spoil the surprises for you.

Feel better, Joanna. If there’s any story that needs to hit a deadline, it should be this one — a story titled "Crimson Tide" should never be late.

‘Sin City’ Videogame on the Way

  • News
  • March 6, 2008

Just the other day, ComicMix‘s Karl Cramer brought you the news that a Batman: The Dark Knight video game might be on the way. Now comes word that another comic/film property could be headed to consoles near you.

The Hollywood Reporter has an interesting story about the upcoming Sin City videogame. Sounds like a no-brainer, but the story has a couple of wrinkles. 

From the article:

But when the "Sin City" game hits store shelves around Christmas 2009, there will be no stars, no day-and-date marketing with the film’s sequel, "Sin City 2," and the publisher’s name on the box — Red Mile Entertainment — will be unknown to even the most hardcore gamers. Red Mile?


Indeed, the fledgling game maker has secured the rights not to either of the movies but to the seven graphic novels that comprised their source material, a strategy that even the company’s president and COO has a difficult time explaining.

Essentially, Red Mile decided it would be easier to develop the games from the comics, which have a lot more stories to choose from, giving the game creators more freedom, than to adapt something directly from the plot of the movie.

It’s probably a smart move, because the game can benefit from all the name recognition the movie earned without having to shell out for those specific rights. We’ll keep you posted.

Marvel and Facebook Team-Up

  • News
  • March 6, 2008

First, Marvel launched its online comics subscription service last November where you could read over 3000 comics online. Now, the company is dipping another virtual toe in the Internet’s waters and has joined with social networking site Facebook to launch a new digital comics application.

This new application, according to Marvel:

…immerses fans in the world of Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, the home of the greatest collection of Marvel Comics ever assembled online. This new application page will serve as a hub to the Marvel Universe on Facebook.

Among the cool things this application will allow you to do is check out the entire collection of comics at Marvel’s Digital Comics site and read synopsies of the titles. You will also be able to pick and choose favorites, offer lists of "must reads" to other Facebook users and share comments.

John Dokes, VP of Online Operations and Marketing at Marvel, had this to say about the new venture:

“Facebook is an extraordinary outlet to communicate with and entertain Marvel fans,” said John Dokes, Vice President, Online Operations and Marketing, Marvel Entertainment, Inc. “This clearly extends our Internet reach and familiarizes a new fan base with all of the cool things happening with Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited and Marvel.com.”

The decision to go the Facebook route as opposed to MySpace, where several comic publishers such as Dark Horse Comics have already begun publishing content, is an interesting move. While MySpace is still the king of social networking sites, Facebook is quickly becoming the place where people go after they get tired of MySpace and its often painful to read custom homepages. So is this move by Marvel incredible foresight or a clever gamble?

Check out the new Marvel Facebook application right here.

 

UDON Makes Open Call for ‘Street Fighter Tribute’ Art

  • News
  • March 6, 2008

Not only has comic studio UDON been tapped by videogame publisher Capcom to update the characters for the upcoming Super Street Fighter II HD Remix re-release of the classic 2D fighting game, they’ll be releasing an all-new, full-color art book for the 20th anniversary of the game.

Street Fighter Tribute will debut at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con featuring Street Fighter characters illustated by UDON artists and professional comic, videogame and freelance illustrators.

Recognizing that the Street Fighter empire couldn’t have lasted this long without the support of the fanbase, UDON is sending out an open call among the videogame fan art community to submit work for possible inclusion in the print collection. If you think your drawing of Ryu, Chun-Li or Cammy has what it takes to go down in history, then go to UDON Entertainment for submission guidelines. Hadouken!

 

Simone & Ajax: Duck Amuck!

  • News
  • March 6, 2008

 

Today, in Andrew Pepoy’s all-new, full-color graphic novel, Simone & Ajax: The Case of the Maltese Duck, our heroes follow the clues to find the missing mallard.  

Where will the trail lead?  Who can they trust?  And why a duck?

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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ComicMix Radio: Peter David and ‘The Incredible Hulk’

You can’t surf the ‘Net without running into something about the Iron Man movie, but what about the Incredible Hulk feature set to hit screens just 30-plus days later? Peter David, the man who probably knows ol’ Greenskin better than anyone has seen the script and isn’t shy about sharing , plus:

— Marvel open up shop on Facebook

— ComicsPro takes on 24 Hour Comics

—  Yes, there will be a new 24 this year!

—  Plus a brand new trivia question and another chance to grab an exclusive Graham Crackers Comics variant by e-mailing us at: podcast [at] comicmix.com

— And catch us live tonight on “Comic Book Novice Radio”!  Get details at: www.mfc-studios.com

Press The Button – because you know what happens when we get angry!

 

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-5702381 or RSS!

The Weekly Haul: Reviews for March 6, 2008

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  • March 6, 2008

Welcome to the inaugural Weekly Haul, a collection of reviews of this week’s comic book issues brought to you by none other than ComicMix. It was a big week for floppies, with four new series worth giving a read and several old standbys seeing new developments. Without further ado, let’s get to the reviews.

atom-8126234Book of the Week: The All-New Atom #21 — Anyone wondering whether this title would keep being a must-read after Gail Simone stepped aside as writer and Rick Remender took the reins can go ahead and relax. The All-New Atom is better than ever in this issue, which takes the classic archetypal conflict of man vs. himself and gives it one heck of a twist.

While trying to figure out if Ray Palmer’s experiments were responsible for Ivy Town’s craziness, the new Atom, Ryan, shrinks down to explore a sample of his own blood (sounds weird, but it makes sense). Remender makes that effort alone a pulse-pounder, but then Ryan finds some terrible infestation in his blood and all hell breaks loose.

While still a bit text heavy, the series remains just as zany as under Simone’s watch and is a bit more focused. Good stuff all the way around.

Runners Up:

Logan #1 — Brian K. Vaughan and Eduardo Risso taking on the most famous mutant is pretty well guaranteed to be a quality read. And while this issue is far from mind-blowing, it’s a far superior story of Wolverine getting his memory back than anything we’ve seen in Wolverine: Origins. The downside is Marvel once again arbitrarily slapping a $3.99 price tag on a book for no good reason.

Northlanders #4 — This is the classic "from bad to worse" part of the story, but Brian Wood pulls it off well. The best quality of this vikings series is how Wood gives depth to his characters and doesn’t let any of them fall too far into stereotypical roles of heroes and villains. Life is complicated, especially for blood-hungry Scandinavians.

Omega the Unknown #6 — For the most touching tribute yet to the recently deceased Steve Gerber, this issue merits a purchase. It’s also another darn fine bit of comics by Jonathan Lethem and Farel Dalrymple. After all the action of the past few issues, this one serves as a bit of set up to the coming battle with the robots before culminating with a well done metatextual flourish.

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‘KISS 4K’ Goes Digital

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  • March 6, 2008

KISS 4K, Platinum Studios’ comic about the magical adventures of the rock band KISS (adventures which, surprisingly, didn’t involve many groupies), will be leaving the world of comic shops and heading exclusively to cyberspace.

While 4K‘s main story was told in print, webcomic site DrunkDuck.com had featured back-up stories that tied into the print series.

According to DrunkDuck.com’s Adam Black:

The second story was available here, at my humble little webcomic site on Drunk Duck. The webcomic existed to tell backstories about the previous incarnations of the 4K spirits, and we took them a month at a time, starting with Casanova, then moving on to Yoshiie, Constantine and Shaka. I also snuck in a little Christmas special, which seemed to go over well with everyone.

All, as of today, all that’s changed. The two have merged into one. The storyline from the print comic will now be told here, exclusively. There’ll be no more backstories or side-stories–those have all been told. So, when you’re done reading issue 6 and are ready for issue 7, you don’t drive to your friendly neighborhood comic shop. You come here.

So why the move? Dan Forcey, VP of Content Development at Platinum provided the following explanation in a news posting on the official KISS website:

The print book has been selling really well for us here at Platinum and we’re very excited about it. There are several reasons why we’re doing this.

First and foremost is that Gene, Paul and Scott (Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, CEO of Platinum Studios) are trend-setters and usually at the forefront of what is hot. (KISS was in comics back in the 70’s, thirty years before a lot of rock stars like Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and all the other bands "discovering" the comics medium right now.) Scott and Gene both see the world moving towards the digital distribution, like DD and websites like Wowio (hint, hint), and they want to be on the trailblazers like they always have been.(Remember when everyone said iTunes wouldn’t work?)

Secondly, Gene and Paul plain love Adam’s work and want HIM to be the vision that guides 4K from here on out. You guys may not know this, but Gene and Paul both insist on their approval over every printed page of KISS 4K, but they let Adam, and only Adam, do what he wants on the title here online. Actually, I’m kind of jealous of the guy sometimes because they give him more free reign than me. :-)

New KISS4K pages will be published Monday, Wednesday and Friday spreading over two months for the complete issue. The first page is scheduled to come out the evening of March 5.

To rock n’ roll all night online, visit the official online home of the KISS4K webcomic.

 

New ‘Watchmen’ Pictures Debut

  • News
  • March 6, 2008

Zack Snyder is a giving man. Not only is he trying his best to stay faithful to the source material in his adaptation of Watchmen, but he keeps the fans informed as well.

Continuing his tradition of giving, Snyder has posted large pictures of The Comedian, Rorschach, Silk Spectre, Nite Owl and Ozymandias on his production blog.

We’re still one year away from Watchmen hitting theaters, but that doesn’t mean we can’t whip ourselves into a frenzy by looking at brand new pictures of the film’s characters.

Gazing upon these pictures will probably make the wait for the movie that much harder, but you know you lack the willpower to resist clicking the link. Just note that if you look at the pictures, Alan Moore will personally come to your house and punch you.

 

Rumor: New ‘Doctor Who’ Doctor and New Cast for ‘Torchwood’?

  • News
  • March 6, 2008

SciFi Pulse is reporting rumors of major changes in the works for two of the BBC’s most popular sci-fi series, Doctor Who and Torchwood. These changes include a complete cast overhaul for Torchwood, and rumors about the future of both David Tennant, the current Doctor in Doctor Who, as well as his most recent companion, played by Catherine Tate.

If any aspects of the rumors are true, they’re pretty much the definition of the word "spoiler" — so consider yourself warned!

In order to give the spoiler-phobic among ComicMix readers a fighting a chance at avoidance, I’ve posted some details about the revelations after the jump.

 

 

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