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Nebula Nominations Announced, Plus A Comment

  • News
  • February 25, 2008

The Science Fiction Writers of America have announced the final ballot for the 2007 Nebula Awards. As a paid-up SFWA member, I’d like to point out two items:

► The movie adaptation of V For Vendetta has been nominated as one of best science-fiction scripts of the year.

► The original comic book on which it’s based is not considered a sufficient work to qualify the authors for membership in SFWA.

In fact, you could combine all of Alan Moore’s comics work — including Watchmen, one of Time‘s 100 Books of the 20th Century — and it wouldn’t be deemed worthwhile. Yet the movie script adapting the work is considered sufficient work to join SFWA.

Nor is this the first time this has happened. Last year, Batman Begins was up for the same award. X-Men was nominated for 2002. The comics on which they were based? Not worthy as membership credentials.

My written response to this logic would trigger a lot of web-filtering software. My preferred response would be seen as deriviative of the movie.

And folks wonder why SFWA is considered a laughing stock by so many people. Let’s not even get started on the candicacy of Andrew Burt…

(Artwork by John C. Worsley. Take a look at his site, there are some very neat illustrations there.)

‘Justice League’ Movie Heads To Canada

  • News
  • February 25, 2008

Warner Bros.’ Justice League movie seems to be facing far deadlier villains than the Legion of Doom before it even gets off the ground. A rushed script and casting issues supposedly put the film’s status in jeopardy, but a dispute over filming incentives in Australia may damage things further.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that production on the film may be moving to Canada due to a dispute with the Australian Federal Government. The country’s new film incentive program gives a 40-percent rebate to Australian producers, but there is debate as to whether or not it should apply to movies with budgets exceeding $30 million dollars.

Director George Miller wants to keep the production based at Fox Studios in Australia in order to work with the same team responsible for the Oscar-winning Happy Feet.

"One of the reasons for doing Justice League in this country is the opportunity to bring back all the people we lost on Happy Feet who went overseas," Miller said. "We spent four years developing this talent and the cream of them left because they didn’t have another film to go on to …

"The idea is to say come back, start off on Justice League then move onto Happy Feet 2."

Miller described the film’s current state as "precarious" and said that Warner Bros. is looking overseas for filming locations, with Canada being the likeliest destination.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine production is starting in Australia while the Justice League are leaving it and heading for Wolverine’s home country. Don’t superheroes have any national pride anymore?

 

A World of WonderCon: The Coverage Round-Up

  • News
  • February 25, 2008

From the stories coming out of WonderCon, it looks like the San Francisco convention is quickly approaching the high profile of its San Diego counterpart, with similar big-name announcements, celebrity appearances and, well, masses of stormtroopers popping up during the show.

Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights:

Saturday night’s Iron Man panel featured director Jon Favreau answering questions about the film — and the potential for a sequel — before showing off new footage from the film. SuperHeroHype has a great recap of the panel and footage. SHH also sat down with Favreau for a recorded interview that they’ve made available in downloadable mp3 format.

As for your dose of convention drama, Blog@’s Graeme McMillan ignited a veritable sh*tstorm around the InterWebs when he chose not to report a portion of the Bill Willingham Spotlight due to the creator’s request. Apparently (and this is what I’m gleaning from the online chatter), Willingham revealed some spoiler-esque info regarding Fables and an upcoming Fables-related project and subsequently asked reporters not to report on any of it. McMillan obliged, and was later dragged from his hotel room by an angry mob of comics fans, savagely beaten, then tarred, feathered and dumped in the bay — or the online equivalent, at least.

McMillan’s Blog@ associate J.K. Parkin not only reports on all of this, but also makes sure to get a word-for-word recap of the information that caused all of the ruckus.

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Universal Debuts ‘Wanted’ Clip at WonderCon

  • Uncategorized
  • February 25, 2008

In a bid to excite fanboys for the movie adaptation to Mark Millar’s Wanted, Universal Pictures used its panel at WonderCon 2008 to show an extended clip from the film. IGN has a full report on the clip.

The scene shown was that of Fox (Angelina Jolie) saving Wesley (James McAvoy) from an assassin in a convenience store.  While that bit earned praise, the real excitement came from the ensuing car chase that, at one point, has Fox hanging out of the broken windshield of her car and shooting at the pursuing assassin.

It was "a car chase like no other," according to IGN’s report.

The movie follows McAvoy’s character as he learns his father was a legendary assassin and then tries to follow in his blood-spattered footsteps.

Wanted is directed by Timur Bekmambetov, best known for the Russian films Day Watch and Night Watch. It hits theaters on June 27.

Filling The Big Shoes, by Mike Gold

  • News
  • February 25, 2008

 

After much discussion with friends and the unwashed and bewildered, today I have decided to weigh in (again) on one of the many ongoing and irresolvable debates that have haunted the hallowed halls of comics academia since time immemorial. The question: when the instigator of a series retires from his or her creation, should the series be retired as well?
 
It seems a lot of creators and many fans think it should. To this, I say “ka-ka.”
 
I understand that a creator’s vision is important, and I strongly feel that creator should have the word on continuing the feature. For many creators, such choice was denied to them when they signed their publishing contracts. That was exploitative. Today, well, creators should know better. And many do: there are financial advantages to allowing a continuation of the feature, and there’s the idea that, to quote John Ostrander from the Stuart Gordon play Bloody Bess, “My words… my words shall live forever.” It should be the creator’s call, and there’s nothing wrong with deciding either way. Of course, after you drop dead your estate will likely overrule you, but that’s a matter between the dead you and your living family.
 
Aesthetically… well, that’s another matter. Bitch and moan all you want, but the replacements generally work out pretty well. 
 
If DC retired Batman when Bob Kane left the character 40 years ago, we never would have had the masterworks of Dennis O’Neil, Steve Englehart, Neal Adams, Marshall Rogers, Frank Miller and a legion of other superlative storytellers. Carl Burgos and Bill Everett were not involved in the Marvel Age resurrections of their Human Torch and Sub-Mariner (respectively), but all those Lee and Kirby stories sure were swell. Spider-Man didn’t truly take off until after Steve Ditko left; John Romita, Gil Kane and many others took Peter Parker to heights previously unimagined by the publisher.
 

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‘Ratatouille’ Over ‘Persepolis’ For Oscar Win

  • News
  • February 25, 2008

Disney’s Ratatouille won out over Marjane Satrapi’s critically praised graphic novel adaptation Persepolis in the "Animated Feature Film" category during tonight’s Academy Awards.

Oscar.com has posted an image from the pre-show survey filled out by Satrapi’s co-creator on the Persepolis film, cartoonist Vincent Paronnaud, who apparently wanted to become a clown and a priest when he was young, and finally decided that cartooning was a "good compromise between the two."

 

It’s TV Time With This Week’s Hot Links!

  • News
  • February 24, 2008

gcc-4332796After a week full of toys & more toys, it is good to expand our digital horizons in some other areas. For example:

ABC is adding to your Oscar Party tonight with increased video coverage of the Academy Awards show. Starting later tonight, there will be more behind-the-scenes interviews, interactive features and even a user-generated feature encouraging fans to upload their own acceptance speeches.

NBC is now fully underway, streaming full episodes of vintage TV shows this month for free and select NBC Cable Entertainment sites. Included among the classics, look for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Night Gallery on NBC.com, the original Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers on SciFi.com, Swamp Thing and The Crow: City of Angels on ChillerTV.com and Kojak and Miami Vice on SleuthChannel.com.

DIC Entertainment has launched its first 24/7 online video channel. we found this interesting because it offers a range of new and classic titles like Dino Squad, Inspector Gadget, The Littles, Liberty’s Kids, and the live-action series Cake among others.  Later on this year, look for the launch of new property websites for DIC brands, such as Eloise, Beginner’s Bible, and Inspector Gadget.

Time is again running out to get us your e-mail answer to the trivia question we tossed out in the last ComicMix Radio broadcast. Getting it into to us at podcast [at] comicmix.com could get you an exclusive limited-edition, variant comic from Graham Crackers Comics – and again the deadline is 9am EST on Tuesday, February 26th! By popular demand – here’s another "little" hint – good luck!

 

ComicMix Columns for the Week Ending Feb. 24, 2008

  • News
  • February 24, 2008

Ah, it’s Oscar time again!  I know I’ll be glued to my seat, whilst falling asleep in it at the same time!  Look for all the geeky movies to win the usual geeky (technical) awards, most of which won’t be given out on the air.  Better to get your geek on reading our ComicMix columns for this past week:

I know Ratatouille will probably win for Best Animated Feature, but I’m still rooting for Persepolis, so there.

Devil’s Due Pop on ‘Incredible Change-Bots’, ‘Xombie’ Toys

  • News
  • February 24, 2008

ballstoyrough-tm-6381253

Well, here’s one that has me excited.

Toys based on Jeffrey Brown’s popular Top Shelf comic, The Incredible Change-Bots, as well as Devil’s Due Publishing’s Xombie: Reanimated, were among several products highlighted in a recent announcement of DDP’s new line of pop culture toys, Devil’s Due Pop.

From the official press release:

This March, comic book icons bounce out of the pages of Devil’s Due and into a new line of action packed life accessories called DEVIL’S DUE POP. Beginning with a package of classically retro Golden Age Sheena: Queen of the Jungle stickers, DEVIL’S DUE POP will include an array vinyl toys, personal journals, and usable artwork based on the properties that have made Devil’s Due Publishing one of the ten largest comic book publishers in the U.S.

The Sheena stickers will be followed by products themed around DDP’s licensed horror series, Halloween: Nightdance, and an original "Shawnimals" plush.

The publisher is saving the best for last, though, with the June release of an original vinyl figure based on the main character of one of my favorite under-the-radar titles, Xombie: Reanimated. The print series is a continuation of the animated online series Xombie, created by James Farr, who also writes the DDP title.

DDP also provided a look at the first in a potential line of toys based on Jeffrey Brown’s Incredible Change-Bots, a comic he created for the publisher Top Shelf. The series is a parody of the various transforming robot cartoons, comics and toys many comic readers are familiar with. The first character to get the toy treatment will be Balls, a robot who transforms into a golf cart.

Images from the upcoming line are posted after the jump.

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Five Fistfuls of Justice, by Ric Meyers

  • News
  • February 24, 2008
 
justiceleague-3464763I hope you’ve already read Matt Raub’s advance review of Justice League: The New Frontier  — DC Universe’s Animated Original Movie — which was posted days ago. Naturally, since it’s coming out in stores this coming Tuesday, it’s time, keeping with the comic source material, for my variant review. Matt critiqued the film itself. I, of course, am reviewing the Two Disc Special Edition’s extras.
 
This baby more than makes up for what I felt last week’s He-Man Volume One DVDs lacked: right on the first disc they have a near-full-length (nearly 45 minutes) doc called “Super Heroes United!: The Complete Justice League Story.” It tracks the comic from its inception back in the 1940s ‘til today, using images, clips, and just the talking heads of most of the major comic creators of the era. The information from the likes of Roy Thomas, our own Denny O’Neil, and even Stan Lee was so comprehensive that the doc doesn’t even require a narrator or narration. It does benefit mightily, as do all the featurettes, from the soundtrack music of Kevin Manthei.
 
Then the first disc alone more than makes up for what I thought the Resident Evil: Extinction DVD lacked: their doc sneak-peek of the upcoming animated Animatrix-like Batman: Gotham Knights D2 (“direct to”) DVD shows the lame, cheat sneak peek of Resident Evil: Degeneration how it’s done. There’s plenty of making-of stuff, talking heads, and exciting glimpses of the finished product as opposed to Resident Evil’s peek-a-boo tease. The first disc of Justice League wraps with two audio commentaries – the first a gang approach, with six participants from the production and DC Comics (though not a single person from the pic’s impressive voice cast), and the second with the writer/artist of the source graphic novel, Darwyn Cooke.
 
The second disc kicks off with a slightly shorter but just as interesting history of “The Legion of Doom: Pathology of the Super Villain.” While it contains many of the same talking heads as the “Super Heroes United” doc (Michael Uslan, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, etc.), it also benefits from a Malcolm McDowell narration. Then, perhaps as compensation for the film’s inability to recreate the delightful style of the original graphic novel (understandably opting for the previously established designs of DC’s  recent Kids-WB Superman and Batman animated TV series), there’s the “Comic Book Commentary: Homage to The New Frontier” featurette, which goes into detail with and on Darwyn Cooke’s original. 
 

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