The Mix : What are people talking about today?

On This Day: ’24 Hours in Cyberspace’

  • News
  • February 8, 2008

Today in 1996, the largest one-day online event (to that date) occurred, called "24 Hours in Cyberspace."

The professional photographers, editors and programmers who participated in the event aimed to to create a "digital time capsule of online life," explained Rick Smolan, a photographer who headed the event.

Participants photographed, edited and collected images of people whose lives were affected by the use of the Internet over the course of the 24-hour period. Second Lady (at the time) Tipper Gore even contributed several photographs, while her husband, Vice President Al Gore, contributed to the environmental impact areas of the site.

The site was originally hosted at www.cyber24.com, but has since been moved to a mirror site hosted by Georgia Tech University.

The website received more than 4 million hits in those 24 hours – an unheard-of tally at the time.

 

Joss Whedon on Writers’ Strike, Summer Glau and Upcoming Projects

  • News
  • February 8, 2008

Joss Whedon recently spoke with IESB on the picket line and discussed some of the projects he’s been working on solo, as well as some of the projects he’s had to curtail due to the strike, including the television series "Dollhouse" he had planned to produce with former "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" actress Eliza Dushku.

Along with a brief recap of his current comics work, IESB provided this bit about the project he plans to work on with "Firefly" and "Sarah Connor Chronicles" actress Summer Glau:

“There’s a few things I’m trying to do without the studios,” said Whedon, “either for the internet or shorts and there’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time which is a ballet with Summer Glau. We’ve been talking about it for years and I’ve been doing most of the talking and none of the doing. I finally finished the score and we have a choreographer working with us. We’re hoping that sometime in the late spring/early summer we will actually get to shoot it.”

 

Kim Krizan, Oscar Nominee on ‘Zombie Tales’

  • News
  • February 8, 2008

Well, here’s one that flew entirely under my radar: Kim Krizan, the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter for "Before Sunset", will be one of several writers contributing stories to Zombie Tales from Boom! Studios, which is being relaunched as a monthly anthology series in April.

Krizan will join horror veterans Steve Niles and Joe R. Lansdale in the first issue of the series. Johanna Draper Carlson of Comics Worth Reading conducted a brief interview with Krizan that explains the jump from film to comics and brings up another aspect of the story that passed me by completely: the "Dazed and Confused" connection!

(That last bit will probably only appeal to IMDB "trivia" section obsessives like me, but it’s worth noting.)

How have you changed your style and/or process for comics?

It felt to me that in writing a comic my process became wild, fast, and sharp — while in a script or book I would be slow, laborious, and careful. The medium did seem to dictate another approach, and it was fun to write. Both film scripts and comic scripts are written for visual media, but I had to consider the importance of things like the turning of a page as an opportunity to add tension. I very easily and naturally put in violent imagery which was rather satisfying. Chip read it and said, “Wow, this gives me the creeps!” and said I was good with horror. Well, I don’t watch horror films. Driving in LA is enough horror for me.

Hmmm… I wonder if she’s ever been driving in Jersey. shudder

 

Silver Surfer and Fantastic Four in ‘Not Brand Echh’ #1

  • News
  • February 8, 2008

Over on the online home of ASIFA-Hollywood, a full, scanned story from the inaugural issue of Marvel’s parody series Not Brand Echh is posted in all of its old-school, self-effacing fun.

The story, titled "The Silver Burper" is a spoof on a Fantastic Four storyline by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby that ran through issues #57-60. ASIFA-Hollywood Director Stephen Worth, who posted the scan, does a good job of summing up the attraction of Not Brand Echh:

Current superhero comics (now referred to self-importantly as "graphic novels") take themselves VERY seriously. It’s rare for a publisher to allow a parody of its own characters… and unheard of for the creator himself to get the opportunity to make fun of his own creation. But back in the silver age of comics, cartoonists didn’t take themselves quite so seriously. Here we have the unthinkable… Jack Kirby and Stan Lee doing a parody of their own Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer comics for Marvel’s Not Brand Echh!

 

(via boingboing)

Pow! Zap! Dim! Thick! Asinine! by Michael Davis

  • News
  • February 8, 2008

hello-kitty-superman-9367110Have you noticed that whenever there is an article which feature comics, it almost always features a Pow, Zap, or some such idiotic way to describe comic books in the title? If not fight effects then it will begin with Holy, as in Holy Crack Whore! Comics find their way into Rehab!

As a comic book reader you no doubt want to scream your disapproval, but alas you cannot, as any action you take in defense of comic books would get you branded a geek at best or immature at worst. 
 
I am a grown man and love comic books and the industry that produces them, but I, like you am a wee bit…
 
PATRIOTS SUCK!
 
Sorry. Just had a subliminal moment and flashed back to the NY Giant’s impossible Super Bowl win. Forgive me, it won’t happen agai…
 
WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR PERFECT SEASON, SUCKERS??
 
I am so sorry that keeps happening. However, in my defense I was so sick of hearing how my beloved Giants were just a gnat on the ass of the Patriots. I was also sick of hearing about the perfect season of the Patriots, so much so, I have developed subliminalitis. 
 
Sub*lim*in*al*itis: 
The abrupt screaming out of phrases such as The Patriots got their cocky asses kicked, during unrelated conversations or writings. See: Dynasty…not. 
 
To the fans in New England, hold your head up high! You won EVERY SINGLE GAME…almost!
 
You only lost one game.
 
Only one.
 
One loss.
 
The Super Bowl.
 
I’m sure that people will forget that you lost the Super Bowl but won 18 games.
 
Sure, they will!
 
Yep, So hold your head up high! 
 
That way you can see the sign that says LOSERS!! 
 
As I was saying, I am a grown man and love comic books and the industry that produces them, but I like you am a wee bit tired of the comic book industry being look at as “kid stuff.” Just the other day I was reading the February 4th issue of The National Law Journal…
 

(more…)

Scott Kurtz, Halfpixel on ‘How to Make Webcomics’

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  • February 7, 2008

How to Make Webcomics goes on sale later this month, but CBR managed to track down the book’s authors, PvP creator Scott Kurtz and cabal of webcomickers known as Halfpixel, for a great discussion of why the book is necessary, who it’s intended for and the state of the comics scene today.

“I’ve toyed with the idea of writing this myself for years but always put it off for fear that people would react poorly to it,” said Scott Kurtz of the impetus of producing an instructional book on webcomics. “Maybe I felt it was too egotistical for me to attempt to write some definitive tome on making webcomics. Then we started the Webcomics Weekly podcast and response to it was so overwhelmingly good and positive that we knew that it was time for a book like this. People are hungry for shop talk about making webcomics.”

According to Kurtz and the Halfpixel crew, which includes Brad Guigar (Greystone Inn, Evil Inc.), Dave Kellett (Sheldon) and Kristofer Straub (Checkerboard Nightmare, Starslip Crisis), the book is aimed at people who already have the basic drawing and scripting skills, but want to learn more about the business end of webcomics.

“Newspaper comics are on a very easily charted trend — straight down,” Guigar said. “Webcomics are on the rise. As we say in the book, the days are gone in which one could earn a living through a publisher or a syndicate that held the keys to the mass market. The Internet busted the bottleneck. The entire world is out there waiting to discover your work and they don’t need a newspaper or a bookstore to do it. The only remaining barrier between you and success is yourself.”

Preach on, brother.

How to Make Webcomics is published by Image Comics and will hit shelves later this month.

 

Update on Marie Severin’s Recovery

  • News
  • February 7, 2008

Cliff Meth reports on his blog that, as of today, comics great Marie Severin "has moved on to an assisted living facility out on Long Island. It’s been a solid, steady recovery. Her spirits are high (but weren’t they always?) and she acts like nothing much has happened. And nothing much has.

"Except for retirement. Marie isn’t drawing anymore. Isn’t taking coloring assignments either. Time has finally caught up with the First Lady of Comics and she’s spending her twilight years relaxing and doing fun stuff. Whatever fun stuff means."

We at ComicMix send our best, as always, to Marie, and suggest that some of her fun stuff include reading our many free comics and news items.  Provided the assisted living place has WiFi, of course.

What Makes a Successful Character?

  • News
  • February 7, 2008

Stan Lee and Marvel Comics Senior VP of Sales and Marketing David Gabriel weigh in on why certain characters succeed and others don’t in a recent article on Forbes.com.

After taking a few undeserved jabs at Quasar, the space-faring Marvel hero created in 1978 and recently rejuvenated by a new miniseries, the article gets down to brass tacks and talks to Lee about what makes a superpower success story.

"I’m not sure I have the full answer, but my guess would be in many cases it’s just the quality of the writing, or the artwork or whatever," Lee said.

"For example, take Sherlock Holmes. There have been millions of detective stories over the years. Many of them are forgettable. Somehow Sherlock Holmes has endured, mainly because no one could write a detective story as brilliantly as (Arthur) Conan Doyle, and nobody could come up with a character as interesting and flawed as Sherlock Holmes."

And what did Gabriel, one of the marketing gurus behind all of the recent Captain America hub-bub, have to say?

Gabriel said it’s tough pushing some books on a consistent basis. People in his business have the blockbuster movies and videogames to thank for bolstering demand. With the exception of the diehard fans, this is what gets people into the 3,500 or so comic book shops nationwide these days. Slap the death and resurrection of a flagship character in there, and you’ve got a surge in the franchise.

Well, there you go. If they just killed off Quasar, Marvel would have a hit on their hands… right?

 

Scott Allie on ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight’

  • News
  • February 7, 2008

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fan site SlayAlive.com recently called upon its members to submit questions about the ongoing Dark Horse Comics series Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight, which picks up where the uber-popular television series left off.

After sending everything over to Dark Horse, Editor Scott Allie provided 30 occasionally spoiler-ific answers about Buffy: Season Eight, including this tease of a continuity-establishing connection between Buffy and Fray, Joss Whedon’s 2001 miniseries that fast-forwards the Buffy into the future:

12) How close is the link between ‘season eight’ of Buffy and the Fray comics? Also, how certain is a Fray follow up? Are they closely related?

Ever since the Scythe showed up in Buffy Season Seven, there’s been an undeniable connection between Fray and Buffy, and Season Eight definitely continues down that road. And as I’ve said before, Joss and I always talk about doing another Fray series, but we can’t do it anytime soon. He’s too busy.

 

(via whedonesque)

 

 

 

Christian Bookstores to Market ‘Mecha Manga Bible Heroes’

  • News
  • February 7, 2008

Yes, you read that headline correctly. Sure, I chuckled a bit at yesterday’s announcement regarding the upcoming Manga Bible, but I’m still cleaning tuna salad off the desk after reading about Mecha Manga Bible Heroes.

It wasn’t so much the development of such a series by JMG Comics that set me off. In fact, it makes perfect sense to combine religious education with something as popular as manga. What really caused me to laugh up my lunch was this line from the description of the first issue, Mecha Manga Bible Heroes #1: David vs. Goliath:

“David is a young kid who has to go toe-to-toe with a giant super robot covered in every conceivable type of weapon,” said Hall. “Other than that, everything is what the Bible describes, down to the small details that most versions of the tale gloss over.”

Is it me, or is that a pretty wide "other than that"? But I digress…

Another interesting aspect of the announcement is that Diamond won’t be handling distribution of Mecha Manga Bible Heroes – which could necessitate a minor mecha-miracle if JMG wants to get copies of the issue to readers.

 

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