The Mix : What are people talking about today?

Star Trek My Eye!, by John Ostrander

  • News
  • February 14, 2008
 
I spent part of last Tuesday getting a laser shot into my right eye. And how was your Tuesday?
 
It was for purely medicinal reasons. I have glaucoma; it’s a disease, can be hereditary, by which the fluid in the eyeball doesn’t drain out well. This increases pressure within the eyeball which erodes the optic nerve which can and does lead to blindness. Usually, you get it when you’re older but I think I was still in my twenties when I was diagnosed with it. It can be controlled with medication or sometimes with surgery.
 
And, yes, marijuana has a medical use here. Whether or not it would be of any help in my case and worth all the hassle that would come with it, I don’t know.
 
My case is advanced and I know I’ve lost some vision (my heat vision is shot all to hell and don’t get me started on my X-ray vision). In the past few months, I’ve started to develop an allergic reaction to my eye meds. It can happen. That can result in meds having to be dropped, eyeball pressure going up, and blindness coming sooner. 
 
So we go to plan B: surgical solutions. The most extreme one of these, and one I will face at some point, is having new surgical drains inserted in my eyes. Laser work, however, is less expensive and less intrusive and that’s what we’re trying now.
 

(more…)

Pottery Barn to Offer Spider-Man Products

  • News
  • February 13, 2008

Well, comics fan, it looks like you might have something to buy with that Pottery Barn gift certificate you received at your wedding after all.

Brandweek reports that Marvel Entertainment has partnered with Pottery Barn to begin offering a line of Spider-Man products, including bedding, lighting and various home decor and furniture, starting this spring. The agreement between the upscale chain and superhero product provider is part of a broad strategy on Marvel’s part to tap into the more affluent portions of the consumer market.

Pottery Barn, a relative novice in entertainment licenses, felt Spider-Man was a good fit for its mom-heavy consumer demo.

Jill Larue, senior vice president and general merchandise manager of catalog for Pottery Barn Kids, said it “pairs well with the classic and timeless approach” of its furnishings.

In order to fit in with the stable of Pottery Barn merchandise, the two companies toned down the standard, brightly colored Spider-Man presence on various products and plan to offer "a vintage look with lots of solid colors and less frenetic character images" on the products that will be exclusive to Pottery Barn — primarily children’s furniture and other home furnishings.

(via mmm)

First Look at ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ #1

  • News
  • February 13, 2008

As we mentioned a while back, Marvel’s cosmic superteam series Guardians of the Galaxy is returning this June, featuring a lineup of "Annihilation" storyline survivors and some yet-to-be-named characters from the space-faring side of the Marvel Universe.

IGN has the first look at the cover to Guardians of the Galaxy #1 by Clint Langley, as well as short interview with editor Bill Rosemann, the architect of much of the publisher’s recent success in space-based titles. Given the success of Nova, Wraith and the overall "Annihilation" arc, the next step in developing the team-based story of Guardians, it seems, was a no-brainer:

IGN Comics: When gathering your creative team for this series, how did you go about selecting your writers and artists – Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Paul Pelletier and Clint Langley?

Rosemann: Given the vision and velocity they brought to Nova and Conquest, Dan & Andy (a.k.a. DnA, a.k.a. They Who Must Not Be Named) were the go-to guys to continue the cosmic action on full throttle. And while Paul Pelletier was kicking butt on Nova – just wait until you see issues #11 and #12 – we all realized he had the perfect mix of eye-candy and grit to launch us out of the stargate. As for Clint Langley, people are still talking about his Wraith covers – and he’s the guy to bring that "gamer" feel to Marvel.

Makes perfect sense to me!

Herbie Meets… The Beatles?

  • News
  • February 13, 2008

Pappy’s Golden Age Comics Blogzine has posted a set of pages from Herbie, one of my favorite old comic series, and it’s a very, very special issue.

What’s the appeal of Herbie, you might be wondering? Well, as far as I can tell, Herbie is sort of a slacker’s Little Nemo in Slumberland. Each issue follows the plump, lollipop-sucking title character as he gets caught up in one magical, supremely bizarre and occasionally controversial (by today’s standards) adventure after another — all while trying to avoid doing his chores.

After reading many issues of the series (courtesy of a friend who picks at least one issue up at every convention he attends), I can honestly say that I still don’t have a clue what Herbie’s powers really are or how he controls them.

But therein lies the fun, dear reader.

Oh, and the cameos by celebrities of the time are pretty entertaining, too. For example, there’s the time when Herbie was investigating the mystery of popcorn that made people whistle out their ears, but ended up meeting The Beatles, kidnapping Ringo, becoming a teenybopper sensation and foiling the diabolical machinations of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.

See what I mean? Now go read it for yourself.

 

(via journalista)

New ‘Perhapanauts’ Site, Preview Launched

  • News
  • February 13, 2008

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big fan of Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau’s Perhapanauts.

So I was pretty happy to see them launch a new Perhapanauts website, complete with previews of the upcoming "King-Size Annual" that marks their debut with new publisher Image Comics.

Oh, and if you’re the type who’s been holding your breath until they put out a Chupacabra t-shirt, you can finally exhale. The new website is selling one of those, as well as a bunch of other cool merch, too.

 

 

 

Writers Strike ‘Officially’ Over

  • News
  • February 13, 2008

As reported by most major outlets that cover this sort of thing, including my old stomping grounds LAist and Cinematical, the Writers Strike is "officially" over.

Even though it was pretty much a foregone conclusion and the ratification vote was basically a formality, the Writer’s Guild of America still had to go through the process of having a vote to determine if the membership at-large would accept their new contract.

Well, no surprise, the writers voted to accept the contract by a 92.5% margin. Read the official letter from the WGA’s leadeship giving everyone the good news after the jump:

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Steve Niles and Mark Waid on ‘Cthulhu Tales’

  • News
  • February 13, 2008

Comic readers looking for a monthly fix of slimy, tentacled horror from the inky blackness, it appears that your search is over.

Boom! Studios has decided to take its former Cthulhu Tales one-shots the monthly route beginning in March, providing a regular fix of Lovecraftian horror for aficianadoes of the Ancient Ones’ dark shenanigans.

CBR spoke to Boom! Editor-in-Chief Mark Waid about the new ongoing anthology series, which will launch with a set of stories by Steve Niles and continue with an ever-changing cast of writers and artists.

Here, Niles explains one of his upcoming contributions to the series:

“The new one that I’m writing right now is going to get much stranger,” continued Niles. “This new one I’m working on is very, very weird. If I were the artist on these things — I’m sitting here working on a story, there’s a body on a slab in a morgue, and basically the world of the Ancient Ones is inside the body, so when it bursts out, we’re going to have this corpse with a room full of tentacle. Man, if I was the artist I’d have so much fun drawing that."

And isn’t that the real appeal of Lovecraftian horror? It makes you want to simultaneously clap your hands and clutch your stomach against the sudden wave of nausea.

Good times.

 

Gerber, Liefeld and Quesada in ‘Something Positive’

  • News
  • February 13, 2008

First off, It’s not often you see the names of comic creators Steve Gerber (who passed away this week), Rob Liefeld and Joe Quesada mentioned in the same sentence, so I want you to bask in the moment before I move on to the actual reason for this post.

Go ahead… I’ll give you a moment to reread it.

Got it?

Okay, now check out today’s installment of Something Positive, the webcomic created by R.K. Milholland. I’d say that it’s funny, but I think this message I received from a friend of mine upon reading it really sums it up:

Oh man, that’s great. I fought the lol, and the lol won.

My sentiments exactly.

 

(via dasmb)

New Creatures of ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’ Profiled

  • News
  • February 13, 2008

The mind of Mike Mignola has always been a fountain of creativity when it comes to bizarre creatures, mood-setting locations and complicated characters, but it looks like the crew charged with bringing these elements to life for Hellboy II: The Golden Army is doing a bang-up job of it.

As part of their extended, on-location Hellboy II coverage, SuperHeroHype has posted a profile of some of the new characters and creatures appearing in Hellboy II. They include B.P.R.D. member Johann Kraus,  whose spirit is contained in a suit after a seance gone horribly wrong; Wink, a massive cave troll; and Cathedral Head, a creature whose head is, well… a cathedral.

Easily one of the more unique characters and one certainly in the vein of the creatures from Mignola’s comics Is Cathedral Head, the proprietor of a map shop in the Troll Market whose head is literally a giant church with stained glass windows that light up brightly while his eyes are controlled by servos. It’s unlikely that Cathedral Head has any sort of big speaking role—he doesn’t have a mouth after all—but he’s likely to be one of those cool background characters worth freezing the DVD to admire.

Well there you go.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army opens July 11.

 

On This Day: ASCAP Formed

  • News
  • February 13, 2008

It seems only fitting that on the week the WGA strike comes to an end, it’s also the anniversary of another organization formed to protect the rights of artists.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, also known as ASCAP, was created today in 1914 in New York to help protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

Some of ASCAP’s earliest members include Irving Berlin and John Philip Sousa. ASCAP continues to work for its members’ protection, making sure artists get paid for their creativity.

Really, though — someone should’ve come up with another acronym. To put this delicately, saying "ASCAP" out loud does conjure up feelings of constipation.

 

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