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Toy Fair ’08: New Playmates ‘Star Trek’ Toy Line Confirmed

  • News
  • February 18, 2008

According to Toy News International, Playmates Toys has confirmed they will be launching a collectable line-up of all new toys based on director J.J. Abrams highly-anticipated new Star Trek film. The new line-up will include three scales of life-like, fully-articulated action figures, a set of special 12" scale collector figures, a realistic U.S.S. Enterprise and other vehicles.

The line will also feature basic role play toys and deluxe versions with advanced electronic features, intricate playsets that are compatible with the action figures and more. According to Pat Linden, Sr. Director of Boys Marketing at the company:

“We are proud to represent Star Trek, an important entertainment event, with highly-detailed and intricately designed new toys,”With a full line of figures, vehicles, playsets and role-play toys, fans of all ages can relive their favorite moments from the feature film again and again.”

 
The new Star Trek toys will hit store shelves in spring of 2009.
 

Exec. Producer Gains on Wrapping ‘Watchmen’

  • News
  • February 18, 2008

Recently, we told you about director Zack Snyder answering fan’s questions about the new Watchmen film. Now, another update has been posted over at the film’s official site. This time around, Executive Producer Herb Gains has dropped an update sharing his thoughts about the project now that principal photography on the movie is close to being finished.

According to Gains:

"The combination of modern-day technology and the level of artistic ability of so many people has made the Watchmen experience second to none. The spirit behind the making of this film was nothing short of total pleasure and love. The one thing that remains for me is the anticipation and excitement of seeing the finished product, knowing that we’ve all worked on something very special."

The film, which features Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Billy Crudup, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman, Carla Gugino, Stephen McHattie and Matt Frewer hits theaters March 6, 2009. 

Toy Fair ’08: Mattel Unleashes ‘Infinite Heroes’ Toy Line

  • News
  • February 18, 2008

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According to Action Figure Insider, toy powerhouse Mattel has "done the impossible" and announced a new line of action figures called Infinite Heroes inspired by some of DC comics most well-known characters. The list of upcoming figures, which will reportetly come in both themed 3-pack and single figure versions, includes Batman, Shazam!, Power Girl, Hawkman, Super Girl, and Black Canary.

Other heroes reporting for duty include Black Adam, Hush, Hal Jordan and Green Arrow and both the Jay Garrick and Wally West Flash characters. The set of figures will also include some Gotham policemen and even a Comissioner Gordon figure, just so you can have the most well-rounded lineup possible.

Check back here later for all of the photos from the ComicMix tour of Mattel’s showroom!

Toy Fair ’08: Hasbro Unveils New ‘Indiana Jones’ Toy Line

  • News
  • February 18, 2008

A few days ago we told you about the trailer. Now, Hasbro recently went live with a new site showcasing its upcoming line of action figures, and other toys, inspired by the next chapter of the Indiana Jones saga: Indiana Jones and the Kingdowm of the Crystal Skull. Pictures of the new line first started to appear last week and Hasbro has already added to the site, so we expect to see a lot more before Toy Fair is finished on Wednesday. 

Some of the new toys include several different Indiana Jones figures, a Marian figure (complete with deadly frying pan), the Indiana Jones SFX whip with realistic sound and the Lost Temple of Akator playset.

Check them out here.

 

Inkwell Awards Celebrate Underappreciated Art of Inking

  • News
  • February 18, 2008

Of all the artificial divisions of labor that modern assembly-line comics have spawned, inking is probably the least understood and most maligned, containing elements of both specialized artistic crafting and production talent. Most laypeople and casual comics readers still regard inking as merely the latter, a form of "tracing" requiring little more than a steady hand and an eye towards deadlines. 

Long considered one of the "top three" storytelling skills, inking has been rendered (pun intended) such a relative afterthought that one major company no longer includes inkers in their Previews solicitations.

Long-time inking advocate Bob Almond is out to change all that.  Bob writes the regular "Inkblots" column for SKETCH Magazine, where the idea germinated, and he’s now set up a website with categories, voting instructions and other information about the awards.  It even has a pretty good definition of what inking is, for those who haven’t been exposed to the craft in all its complexity.

Voting is open to all, begins April 1 and runs through the end of May.  Bob suggests that interested participants check the credit boxes of their favorite comics, as well as the somewhat cumbersome Comic Book DB, for eligible names, and "Maybe one year we will be able to put a complete inker database together." I can certainly suggest a few nominees for anyone coming up short!

 

Rock and Roll and Comic Books and Our Future, by Mike Gold

  • News
  • February 18, 2008

 

There’s a website called Electronista that blames the precipitous drop in music sales on iTunes and the iPod, quoting NBC News’ Peter Alexander as saying “with 120 million iPods sold since 2001, digital downloads of individual songs are through the roof, soaring 500% in the last three years. In that same period, CD’s sales of declined dramatically, as listeners prefer hits over to entire albums.”
 
This type of sloppy reporting would have gotten me thrown out of Journalism school. I’m sure his numbers are right, but mp3s and mp3 players existed well before the iPod, and iTunes is not a bootlegging service: you pay for your music. Presumably, if the record companies aren’t ripping off the artists (which, ahem, has been known to happen), the artists are getting their fair share of the pie.
 
I know I’m going to get a ton of e-mails from Suits trying to redefine the argument in terms of bootlegging and that’s what is bringing music to its doom. To which I quote Sherman Potter: Horse hockey.
 
People always bootlegged music, ever since the inexpensive cassette recorder debuted in the late 1960s. You’d buy a record, you’d knock off a copy for your friends. People shared more in those days. This practice is so prevalent that some countries charge a bootlegging tax on blank media, the revenue from which going to a common fund for creators. It was no big deal then, and it’s no big deal today.

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ComicMix at Toy Fair ’08: A Bulk of ‘Incredible Hulk’

  • News
  • February 17, 2008

Hulk and Iron Man have had their share of dust-ups throughout Marvel history, from the days of the old gray armor to the recent "World War Hulk" story arc. More often than not, though, the Green Goliath whips Tony Stark’s pampered playboy butt.

With both characters expecting big things from live-action films this year, Toy Fair 2008 was shaping up to be another battle of epic proportions — at least on the licensing front.

Unfortunately, this battle between the two Marvel heavyweights ended up more lop-sided than most, with Incredible Hulk products popping up in just about every other booth at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center while the guy in the metal suit was yesterday’s news.

Along with yo-yos and radio-controlled planes (Why would Hulk have a plane? Because he can, puny human.) the big green guy was also spotted on puzzles, bop-bags and — my personal favorite — a puffy backpack that allows you to walk around all day with hulk’s massive arms wrapped around your neck in a gamma-fueled sleeper hold. 

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Last Chance For Free Limited Editions!

  • News
  • February 17, 2008

 It’s Toy Fair 2008 here on the east coast, in New York specifically, and we are hip deep in action figures, licensed projects and movie hype – all of which we’ll be digesting for you here on ComicMix and on ComicMix Radio coming up over the next few days and hours. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t take a minute to toss you a few quick links:

So you are that one person who hasn’t seen the trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull , either on this site or even in movie theaters. Then stop being left out and go here – it really isn’t as bad as your friends said it was!
 
The networks are running amok trying to figure if they want to salvage the TV season and if so how to do it. TV Guide continues to post the most up-to-the-minute changes on retuning shows here. Trust us, in some cases the info is even more up-to-date than what your TiVo is telling you. 
 
If finding out what Big Brother is up to is more your thing (and we aren’t talking about the reality TV show), then going here might be of interest. Basically, the Pentagon has developed live, internet talk shows aimed to inform their internal audiences, the public and the blogger community about Pentagon activities and initiatives. Insert any pop culture spy reference you wish here. 
 
The clock is ticking and time is 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@comicmix.com could get you an exclusive limited edition, variant comic from Graham Crackers Comics – but it has to be to us by 9am EST THIS Tuesday, February 19th! And yes, this is yet another hint shown to the right!!

 

ComicMix Columns For the Week Ending Feb. 17, 2008

  • News
  • February 17, 2008

The WGA writers are back at work, thank goodness, so there’s finally some good stuff to watch this President’s Day weekend (how can one have a "day weekend" anyway?).  Meanwhile, our ComicMix columnists have been typing away as usual; here’s what we’ve done for you this past week:

Just as a reminder, Denny O’Neill’s column was a bit waylaid this week so we didn’t get to enjoy it until Friday, but he’s still listed in his usual date order above…

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