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ComicMix Radio: The New Star Wars!

Take a good look at the comic shown here. According to Diamond, Marvel’s Captain Marvel #3 has sold out before it even hits your comic stores tomorrow … and ComicMix Radio knows why!

Plus —

  • The Writer’s Strike seems just about over, so here come the new shows!
  • Star Wars in the theaters – and it’s all new!
  • Soon, it’s Trinity every week from DC
  • A Valentine treat for Indiana Jones fans!

As ComicMix starts Year Two, Press The Button and then hurry back on Thursday for details on how we are revving up the party by giving you some very hard-to-find comics… ABSOLUTELY FREE!

 

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‘Marvel Universe Online’ Multiplayer Game Cancelled

  • News
  • February 12, 2008

Wired reports that the much-anticipated online multiplayer game based on the Marvel Comics universe has been officially scrapped.

Shane Kim, the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Game Studios, confirmed termination of "Marvel Universe Online," which was planned for development with MMO studio Cryptic.

Kim cited "commercial considerations" as the main factor in the game’s cancellation, as well as a general belief that the game wouldn’t be able to compete in the MMO market, which is currently dominated by "World of Warcraft."

 

Dan DiDio on DC’s ‘Trinity’ and ‘Final Crisis’

  • News
  • February 12, 2008

bagley-trinity-2974714As we reported recently, the upcoming DC project featuring a story by Kurt Busiek and art by Mark Bagley finally has a name: Trinity. DC announced the project at last weekend’s retailers summit, and have now begun providing some additional details about the series, as well as their other upcoming event series, Final Crisis.

In an interview with IGN, DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio sheds some light on both projects, and adds that the publisher learned some important lessons from comparing the structures of two of their most recent event-driven storylines, Sinestro War and Countdown.

When you work with a smaller group of creators, you have a much tighter control over what the message of the story is, and a much tighter sense of what that story is, and how to build momentum and excitement in that story. So we’re trying to do that right now, and we have a number of things that will be occurring throughout the DCU that really have that tightness, but also that large sense of scope.

So when you see Final Crisis occurring, it’ll have a tight but incredibly expansive story in regards to what’s being covered and the characters involved, but there are only going to be a handful of creators that will be working through the Final Crisis story. Kurt has a stranglehold in a very good way on Trinity and Trinity’s story for the year run of the book, and more importantly, you’ll see similar things like that occurring in the Batman group of books, the Superman group of books, and even more things building along those lines in some of the other series over the course of the next year.

 

In Memory of Steve Gerber, 1947-2008

  • News
  • February 12, 2008

As we reported yesterday, comics legend Steve Gerber passed away Sunday. Anyone looking for proof of the impact his work had on generations of comic readers need only take a quick look around the ‘Net.

Tom Spurgeon of The Comics Reporter provides a long, detailed look at Gerber’s career and a wonderful assessment of Steve Gerber’s legacy:

His Howard the Duck comics remain amusing when read today, perhaps more poignant now, laying into their broad targets in a way that communicated a kind of critical consciousness into the minds of many devoted superhero comics readers, fans that simply wouldn’t have been exposed to those kinds of ideas any other way, the concept that media might lie to you, the notion of absolute self-worth in the face of a world that seems dead-set against it. Steve Gerber’s superhero books were a tonic to the over-seriousness of most of their cousins, and his horror-adventure books were frequently classy and reserved in a genre that tends to reward the blunt and ugly. No creator save Jack Kirby has as a cautionary tale and a living example saved so many creators the grief of turning over their creations without reward or without realizing what they had done. Few creators in the American mainstream were as consistently fascinating as Steve Gerber. Even fewer have been as outspoken and forthright, or in that way, as admirable.

(more…)

On This Day: Barbie and Ken Break Up

  • News
  • February 12, 2008

Today in 2004, Mattel announced that Barbie and Ken were breaking up.

Mattel was reluctant to give further information on the details of this tragic break up, but only too soon was Barbara Millicent Roberts seen cavorting around town with Blaine. The two were caught playing Rebound® together, whilst Ken was at home tending to Skipper’s growing needs.

However, Ms. Roberts’ relationship with Blaine seemed short lived, as after a few weeks she was often seen alone, sipping a cappucino whilst playing UNO®.

Thankfully, America’s favorite genital-free couple finally admitted that they just couldn’t stay away from each other, and got back together in 2006.

They are currently doing very well under the care of Disney Princesses® couples therapy.

Former Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston Joins ‘G.I. Joe’

  • News
  • February 12, 2008

Chris Eccleston, who played Doctor Who in the first season of the recently relaunched series, will play a villain, Destro, in the upcoming "G.I. Joe" film.

The role was originally slated for Irish-born actor David Murray, but "visa issues" forced his withdrawal.

"G.I. Joe" is scheduled for an Aug. 7, 2009, release and currently stars  Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Ray Park, Rachel Nichols, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Marlon Wayans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Arnold Vosloo.

(via HR)

Fox Sues Warner Bros. Over ‘Watchmen’

  • News
  • February 12, 2008

Yesterday we reported that a lawsuit filed by J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate and publisher HarperCollins against New Line Cinema could impede production of "The Hobbit" films, and now another much anticipated film could become mired in legal limbo.

20th Century Fox filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over "Watchmen," the big-screen adaptation of the Alan Moore graphic novel currently in production. According to Fox, Warner Bros. does not own the rights to produce such a film, with Fox citing a complicated string of ownership conditions that the studio alledges were never secured by Warner Bros.

According to the Hollywood Reporter:

Fox seeks to enjoin Warners from going forward with the project, saying in the lawsuit that it seeks to "restrain (Warner Bros. Pictures) from taking actions that violate Fox’s copyrights and which stand to forever impair Fox’s rights to control the distribution and development of this unique work."

 

Danny Fingeroth on ‘Disguised As Clark Kent’

  • News
  • February 11, 2008

disguisedasclarkkent-2176487Former Spider-Man Group Editor Danny Fingeroth has a new book out titled Disguised As Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero, in which he examines the "cultural origins of the superhero" with special attention to the way Jewish creators and their experiences influenced the early years of the industry.

Over at CBR, Fingeroth explains how the book came about and provides a few examples of the Jewish influence in comics that forms the basis for the book:

“My favorite involves Marvel’s Mighty Thor, who I’d never seen in a Jewish light before. And why would I, or anyone? He’s a Norse deity! But in his early stories, covering the first several years of the character’s existence, a recurring subplot–that eventually became a main plot–was Thor’s love for his alter ego Dr. Blake’s nurse, Jane Foster. Odin, ruler of the Norse Gods, and Thor’s father, forbade him to marry her because she was a mortal and he was an immortal god.”

Fingeroth noted there are often prohibitions in Jewish and other ethnic communities against marrying outside the group, and that the modern tension of breaking away from this system can be seen in the story of Marvel’s thunder god.  “Stan Lee and Jack Kirby could arguably be interpreted as having been using Thor and Jane to work out their own feelings about the taboos around intermarriage they had grown up with,” Fingeroth said. “I’m not saying they did this consciously–just the opposite. But in retrospect, I found it fascinating and worthwhile to discuss that kind of topic in ‘Disguised as Clark Kent.’”

 

Steve Gerber, R.I.P.

  • News
  • February 11, 2008

Mark Evanier has announced the death of comics legend Steve Gerber on his website.

Gerber was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis and had been in and out of hospitals for quite a while — an experience he had been chronicling on his website. Gerber’s career in comics included work with a variety of publishers, most notably as an editor at Marvel, during which he co-created the character of Howard the Duck.

Howard, born in Steve’s amazing mind and obviously autobiographical to a large degree, took the industry by storm. The creation was in many ways a mixed blessing to his creator. It led to an ugly and costly legal battle over ownership, which Steve settled out of court. It led to the occasional pains when he occasionally returned to the character and, due to reasons external and internal, found that he could not go home again. It also led to the sheer annoyance of watching the 1986 motion picture of Howard (produced with minimal involvement on Steve’s part) open to withering reviews and dreadful business. Still, the issues he did are widely regarded as classics…and Howard is often cited as a character who only Steve could make work.

Gerber’s work also included the development of the popular cartoon series “Thundarr the Barbarian.” Gerber had recently been working on the DC series Countdown to Mystery: Doctor Fate.

Tolkien Estate, Publisher Sue New Line Over ‘Lord of the Rings’

  • News
  • February 11, 2008

Variety reports that publisher HarperCollins and the British charity that oversees the estate of Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien have filed a lawsuit against New Line Cinema, the studio responsible for the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy.

The suit was filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court and alledges that New Line Cinema neglected to provide either plaintiff with contractually obligated "gross profit participation" payment for the phenomenally successful films. The claim seeks $150 million from New Line, as well as a variety of other damages, including the right to terminate New Line’s license to the Tolkien properties.

If the studio loses the Tolkien license, it could end fans’ hopes for a Guillermo del Toro-helmed film based on The Hobbit, a widely speculated possibility.

 

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