The Mix : What are people talking about today?

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.

 

On This Day (Sorta): Charles M. Schulz Day

  • News
  • February 7, 2008

It’s hard to wait for February 13th when you’re a California resident. There you are, counting down the days until a kid in a yellow, zig-zagged shirt comes down your chimney, pontificates on life and lets out bloodcurdling screams of "Aaaaarrrrghh!" while trying in vain to kick your football.

Sadly, you have another six days to wait until Charles M. Schulz Day. Yes, on today’s date in 2000, the California Legislature declared February 13th the official day to honor the creator of Charlie Brown, who died just a day earlier on Feb. 12. They liked him so much, in fact, that they also named an airport after him.

Just think, comic hopefuls, someday something as simple as a few scribbles of a beagle with World War I-related delusions could earn you a day of recognition and your name on a major traffic hub.

 

The Scoop On Secret Invasion and Simone & Ajax

  • News
  • February 7, 2008
 
Look up and you’ll see today’s premiere of the all new full color Simone & Ajax here on ComicMix, then listen to ComicMix Radio and hear creator Andrew Pepoy reveal all the hidden details!
 
Plus:
 
• Marvel reveals the McNiven variant to Secret Invasion … plus another surprise
• Dark Horse goes into the high-end collectible figure biz
• Lego gets set to go – go Speed Racer
• Boomerang shows their love for the bad guys
 
Press The Button quick – the Skrulls are watching!

  Or subscribe to our podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-6275437 or RSS!

crime_bible-4317876

Catching Up With DC’s Lesbian Superheroes

  • Uncategorized
  • February 7, 2008

crime_bible-4317876Advocate.com recently posted this online-exclusive look at the lesbian superheroes of the DC Universe, specifically The Question and Batwoman, which features some thoughts on the subject from DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio and Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood writer Greg Rucka, among others.

"When we introduced Batwoman we wanted to make the readers very aware of the fact she was gay, but more importantly that she was a strong superhero in her own right. The stories and the characters always come first." says DiDio. "We don’t make decisions like, ‘Let’s tackle racism or homophobia in the next issue of Superman.’ Gay and lesbian heroes — and villains — are a part of the DC Universe, and their stories are just as interesting as the straight ones."

 

(via blog@)

 

Studio Tour: Jay Fotos of ‘Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer’

  • News
  • February 7, 2008

The latest installment in CBR’s tours of comic artists’ studios is a fun one. This time around, they take you through the workspace of Jay Fotos, one of the co-writers and artists behind the surprisingly good Image Comics miniseries Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer.

Sure, Fotos’ studio is nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to research material, artist’s equipment and knick-knack geekery, but then you come upon his desk:

I’m also including a nice “clean” picture of my desk. People freak when they see past all the crap on it and really notice it. This is a solid one piece 8ft long table top with 10 skulls, bones, chains, rivets all over it giving it a look of a giant hunk of wrought iron metal, even though it’s MDO board, bondo and model kits of human skulls.

Me, I’ve got action figures of Hourman and The Question on my desk. He’s got human freakin’ skulls.

Fotos wins. Fatality.

 

Finding a Hotel for San Diego Comic-Con International

  • News
  • February 7, 2008

 

The news feeds are buzzing today with countless horror stories about creators, media and exhibitors trying to find lodging for this year’s Comic-Con International. Apparently, the only way you’re going to get a room near the convention center this year is to shack up with a lonely furry. Seriously.

Over at The Beat, Heidi MacDonald weaves a tapestry of epic victories and crushing defeats in the quest for San Diego room reservations:

Just like when you’re hunting for an apartment in New York City, at moments like these you have to make a snap judgement. There’s no “think about it”. There is only “do”. We hit our sentimental favorite hotel, The Horton Grand, which is sort of out of date and yes, the staff is cranky, but, hell the toilets have pull chains. Old skool. We hit it again. Rooms available. Name, address, credit card…we kept forgetting to check the boxes to approve everything, so had a nerve wracking wait. A bad feeling crept over us. The blue bar moved so slowwwwwly. Would THIS be the year? Could this be the disaster we’ve avoided for so long?

She also checks in with a few big-name creators about their search for rooms, and examines some questionable factoids being thrown around by San Diego’s local officials. Yes, it seems that Comic-Con isn’t nearly as much of a boon for the local economy as a convention for "geographic information system software."

… Or is it?

 

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