Did you ever wonder what it felt like to be an unknown exhibitor at a major comics convention?
Mark Wheatley and Robert Tinnell take you behind the scenes in today’s brand new episode of EZ Street. Intrigue! Backstabbing! Templar Mice vs. Smurfs!
Of course we’re all excited for the upcoming fourth installment of the "Indiana Jones" saga currently filming and set to hit theaters May 22nd. Really, how could any Indy fan not be?
But in addition to the intrepid archeologist’s big-screen adventures, there’s also a comic-book version of the film being published by Dark Horse Comics.
To help pique your interest for the upcoming comic book and the movie, ComingSoon.net posted the original Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comic cover by artist Steve Anderson (seen at right) a few weeks ago. And now, thanks to the power of the modern Internets, they’ve just dropped the alternate Indiana Jones comic cover (posted after the jump) on us as well.
The regular cover prominently features Harrison Ford as Indy and Shia Lebouf as Mutt Williams — who may or may not be Indy’s son. The new, alternate cover opens things up a bit and showcases not only Indy but more of the supporting cast including Karen Allen as Marian and Cate Blanchett as Agent Irina Spalko.
One of California’s biggest and best conventions devoted to comics, movies, TV and all the things we love here at ComicMix is putting the finishing touches on its stellar lineup of guests, screenings and other exclusive happenings.
No, I’m not talking about Comic-Con International in San Diego — although that is a fantastic convention not to be missed. In this case, I’m referring to the other great California comics conclave known as WonderCon.
WonderCon, the premiere gathering of all-things comics and pop-culture in Northern California, celebrates its 22nd anniversary this year and runs from February 22nd to February 24th at the Mocone Center in San Francisco. Scheduled to appear this time around are many of the top writers, artists and creators working in the comics world today including Sergio Aragones, Kurt Busiek, Mark Evanier, Jim Lee, Tim Sale, J. Michael Straczynski, Ben Templesmith, Brian Wood and many more.
In addition to all the assembled comics talent, Hollywood will also be making its presence felt at this year’s WonderCon. Stars, writers and directors from small and big-screen will be in attendence including Kristen Bell (reason enough for me to go), Brendan Fraser, Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, "Iron Man" helmer Jon Favreau, Chris Carter, Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny of the new "X Files" movie and Summer Glau of "Serenity" and "Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles." In addition, the Con will also host the exclusive premiere of the animated "Justice League: The New Frontier" movie. Good times.
For all the latest details, check out the WonderCon official site. And, if you’re having trouble deciding if you should go, check out our coverage of last year’s event.
Have you heard of the proverbial dancing bear? It’s apparently a Russian expression, which has its origin in some folk tale or other, and holds that the amazing thing about the performing animal isn’t how well it dances, but that it dances at all. This metaphor (sometimes substituting “dog” for “bear” after the Samuel Johnson quote comparing a woman preaching to a dog walking on its hind legs) became very popular in the heyday of “second-wave” feminism, whenever some consciousness-raising battle appeared won and another hurdle reared up in its place, when the very act of being female and expecting to be treated as human beings at the same time felt Sisyphusean in its difficulties. Sadly, the bear is still rearing its head, howling, dancing backwards and in high heels.
It doesn’t matter what the endeavor, career or hobby. Whether Presidential candidate or comic book writer or movie subject matter or just-plain blogger, a spate of “dancing bear” articles that appears like clockwork in the mainstream news, every few months or years, mining the same territory that comes down to “Look, women are doing things!” As if we need to be reminded we exist. It’s not how well the bear is dancing, it’s that it’s doing it at all! A fellow blogger once remarked that she could practically tell the changing of the seasons by how often she came across male bloggers wanting to know where all the female bloggers were, as a different male blogger posted this in almost exact 90-day increments.
Likewise, now that Gail Simone is writing Wonder Woman, DC’s longest-running, highest- profile book featuring a female character, we’re starting to see features pop up in all sorts of magazines pointing to the dancing bears again. “Pow! Zap! Women can write and draw!” And imagine, we can breathe and think as well! (more…)
Pia Guerra may have her work cut out for her. While Guerra’s first issue of IDW’s Doctor Who comic book series is scheduled to come out in July, fan-drawn strips about the British sci-fi phenomenon and its spinoffs are already well underway.
Pseudonymous LiveJournal bloggers calling themselves spastasmagoria and jigglykat have created Torchwood Babiez, which is so unbearably adorable it could give Cute Overload a run for its money. So far the ladies are up to Page 10, and they’re just getting rolling.
Meanwhile, Rich Morris is currently up to Page 81 of his wonderful strip The Ten Doctors, which can be enjoyed by casual viewers of the show but is really designed for the more fanatic trivia buff who remembers over a quarter century of Doctors, companions, villains and planets. Only three of the story pages have been inked and colored so far, but Rich’s art is worthwhile even in pencil form.
Doubtless there are a ton of other fan-based comics making the rounds; we’d be especially interested to see any paying tribute to the kid-friendly "Sarah Jane Chronicles."
This musing was brought up by an article in the Wall Street Journal, blogged by Jeff Matthews, on how Staples was no longer going to be doing business with Asia Pulp and Paper because of environmental concerns.
The article detailed why:
In the past, [Asia Pulp and Paper] has said it is moving toward relying for all of its wood on plantation trees but needs to cut natural forest to maintain production levels.
APP runs one of Asia’s largest pulp mills on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and has operations in China. The retailers worry that APP is destroying natural rainforest to feed its mills.
Concerns over rainforest destruction have been heightened in recent months because new data show that Indonesia is the world’s third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping greenhouse gas, behind the U.S. and China. Fires set to clear natural forests and forested peat swamps after they have been logged are the major cause of those emissions.
APP last year sought permission to use an environmentally friendly logo issued by the Forest Stewardship Council. In October, after inquiries from The Wall Street Journal about APP’s planned use of the logo, the FSC barred the company from using it.
The problem is that a lot of comic books and graphic novels are being published in China, South Korea, and Indonesia, from a variety of smaller printers that are bundled and sold by larger printing firms here in the United States to publishers of all sizes, from the smallest of independents up to Marvel.
Does any production person for any company want to shed any light on this? More to the point, with multiple layers and language barriers between the comics publishers and the actual printers, can anybody reliably answer that they’re sure their books aren’t made from clear-cutters?
The cover Mike Raub used to illustrate his ComicMix Radio piece earlier today reminded me of another cover of somewhat similar design … and quiet controversy. So it’s time for another ComicMix History Lesson!
Once upon a time DC Comics had this idea of resurrecting their Showcase try-out series, but they made a couple significant changes. Instead of doing three-issue try-out runs, they did a series of one-shots. And, unlike Showcase‘s The Flash, Lois Lane, Green Lantern, The Atom (et al) runs, by and large these one-shots sucked.
They named the series 1st Issue Special because the phrase "1st issue" sold comics to collectors, and then they numbered each issue sequentially, proving their desire to sell comics in Canada outweighed their faith in collectors (don’t ask – or, better still, if you want to know, ask and I’ll respond in comments).
One of the better issues resurrected Steve Ditko’s Beware The Creeper, dropping the "Beware" part. Editorial director Carmine Infantino rejected Steve’s cover concept and drew up one of his own. 
Evidently, Steve didn’t care for it, but that was how the gig worked. So he drew it as designed: Firefly battling The Creeper in the sky, with a down-shot point-of-view.
As you can see, both characters are pummeling each other as they are falling to the ground. In the background is a street scene, with tiny little cars. And across from one of those tiny little cars, there’s a tiny little fire hydrant. And next to the fire hydrant, there’s a tiny little dog. And next to the tiny little dog who is next to the tiny little fire hydrant, there’s a tiny little puddle.
That last part reflects what Ditko thought of Infantino’s cover design.
With the writer’s strike over, a new contract ratified by the WGA board and a pending vote by the membership at-large looming, I know what you’re thinking: enough of this strike business, when the heck am I gonna see new episodes of Battlestar Galactica, Chuck, Heroes or "insert name of favorite show here"?
Believe me, I sympathise and apparently so do the folks at TV Guide because they’ve already posted a pretty comprehensive guide to the TV shows that are coming back now, sooner, later or never.
Some of the shows with their fates already determined include:
Battlestar Galactica
Returns April 4 with first half of 20-episode final season. Production on second half could start as early as March. Airdate for those TBD.
Chuck
No new episodes until fall.
Heroes
No new episodes expected until fall.
Lost
Six pre-strike episodes remain. Five additional episodes could air this season.
Smallville
Four pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot 5 or 6 additional episodes to air in April/May.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Four pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.
Bionic Woman
No new episodes expected. Ever.
Check out the complete list, updated regularly, for more details on your favorite shows.
USA Today is first out of the gate with an exclusive look at everyone’s favorite mis-understood Jedi who turns evil and becomes a Sith Lord: Anakin Skywalker. This cool new image is, of course, from the upcoming CG-animated feature film "Star Wars: Clone Wars" set to hit theaters on August 15th.
In case you haven’t heard, the film chronicles the adventures of a pre-Vader Anakin and his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi during the Clone Wars and is set immediately before the events of "Revenge of the Sith". The film will also serve as a starting point for the half-hour animated TV series planned for Cartoon Network and TNT.
I’ll say for the record that I love "Star Wars" and if the only way I’m going to get more of it is through an animated feature film and then a TV series, sign me up — just please, no more Jar Jar Binks, animated or otherwise.
Now that the first "Transformers" film has returned to the spotlight due to all of the effects-related awards it’s received, speculation about the film’s sequel is running rampant once again.
In a video interview with "Transformers" director Michael Bay, Bay hints at the introduction of a new "species" in the sequel. Bay said the first film was just "the tip of the iceberg" and that fans would be treated to "new characters, new species" in the sequel.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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