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Germany Publishes Educational Comic on Holocaust

  • News
  • February 4, 2008

German schoolchildren will soon be incorporating a comic book into their lessons about the Holocaust and the Nazi regime, according to Reuters.

The Search, described as a "Tintin-style" story, was created by Dutch cartoonist Eric Heuvel, and explores the Holocaust through the perspective of a fictional survivor. German officials hope to use the book to assist in the education of underprivileged children who might not otherwise be interested in learning.

The 61-page book, already available in various European languages, will be used alongside worksheets in history classes at secondary schools in Berlin for six months, after which the project hopes to go nationwide.

 

On This Day: Gary Coleman Fined and Jailed

  • News
  • February 4, 2008

Today in 1999, Gary Coleman ("Diff’rent Strokes") was fined $400 and sentenced to 90 days in jail (suspended). But the real cherry on top, however, were the mandated anger management classes.

Where did all this aggression stem from, you may ask? Coleman previously attacked an autograph seeker who was no doubt pressing the short celebrity to utter his exhausted catch phrase, "Whatchu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?"

Behold the terrible woes of the Napoleon Complex!

Marketing Comics to the In-Crowd

  • News
  • February 4, 2008

Journalista calls out this two-part series on Bunny, The Queen of the In-Crowd, and other late-1960s attempts by Harvey Comics to market stories to hip teenagers.

With all of the hype surrounding publishers attempts (or lack thereof) to market comics to a female audience, the Bunny retrospective provides an interesting look at an early attempt to court a different group of potential readers.

During the Swingin’ Sixties, Harvey comics jumped on a bandwagon and produced their own version of an ‘Archie’ knock-off marketed towards teen-age readers.

Bunny was a happening young super-model, "The Queen of the In-Crowd", who ran with her own pack of groovy and fashionable friends.

(Click here for Part One, Part Two)

Roger Corman’s ‘Fantastic Four’ Movie Climax

  • News
  • February 4, 2008

Science-fiction fan site io9 has posted a video clip in their "Found Footage" section featuring the climax of 1994’s live-action "Fantastic Four" film, which Roger Corman produced and Marvel Comics spent heaps of money to hide from the public.

Okay, I’ve never seen the full film, but I’m quite certain its depiction of Ben Grimm, The Thing, will live on in my nightmares. Oh, and check out the animation used in the "Johnny Storm flying off to stop the Destructo Ray" sequence – it’s wonderfully cheesy.

io9 has more on the background of the film’s production, as well as some of its more questionable plot choices (an angry space leprechaun, anyone?):

How did this disaster happen? A German production company owned the rights to make a Fantastic Four movie, but was unable to raise the $40 million it needed before the rights were due to expire. So the company turned to Roger Corman, who said he could make the movie cheap and quick. … At $1.4 million, this movie had a huge budget compared to a usual Corman spectacle. After the film was completed, Marvel paid a few million to suppress it. The team worked in secret to complete post-production on it, but then Marvel ordered all prints destroyed. So it’s a minor miracle that you’re able to suffer through this clip.

 

New Star Wars Character Debuts

  • News
  • February 4, 2008

Just in case you haven’t been getting enough Star Wars in your diet lately, Lucasfilm has debuted a new character for the upcoming "Stars Wars: The Clone Wars" animated series.

The new character’s name is "Ahsoka Tano," and the Lucasfilm site has this to say about her:

This young Togruta is eager to prove herself as a worthy Padawan to her bold Master, Anakin Skywalker. Able to wield a lightsaber and pilot a spacecraft with great talent, Ahsoka promises to become a worthy Jedi.

(Hat tip to Cinematical!)

Captain America on Good Morning America

  • News
  • February 4, 2008

The "Return of Captain America" media assault managed a few more parting shots this weekend, as the new Cap found his way onto an episode of "Good Morning America."

If you can ignore the glaring inaccuracies in the show’s presentation of the events leading up to Bucky Barnes becoming the new Captain America (Cap died in a "hail of bullets?"), the Captain America interview on "Good Morning America" is a fun little segment that features an animated interview with Cap himself, as well as live-action interviews with Newsarama Senior Editor Michael Doran and Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada.

 

Batman Acknowledges Spoiler, Girl Wonder?

  • News
  • February 4, 2008

The Beat points me to an interesting panel in one of the recent Grant Morrison-penned issues of Batman. Apparently, the very, very vocal campaign for Batman continuity to acknowledge the existence of short-lived female Robin, Stephanie Brown, received a nod in Batman #673, during a dream sequence scripted by Morrison.

Girl-Wonder.org is, of course, quite excited about this development.

Way to go, Goddamn Batman.

 

“… this is Captain America calling…” by Mike Gold

  • News
  • February 4, 2008
There’s been a lot of controversy about killing and resurrecting superheroes. I know that, because we’ve done a lot of that here on ComicMix. It’s fun. Be that as it may, Steve Rogers is dead, deal with it; Bucky Barnes is alive, so we (meaning me) should deal with that, too.
 
Quite frankly, I would have been burning effigies of Joey Quesada for allowing  ol’ Bucky to rise from the grave – if not for the simple fact that Ed Brubaker’s run in Captain America is so damn great. Any lesser achievement would have inflamed my wrath and you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.
 
Well, maybe you would, but only from afar.
 
Wandering back towards the point, it’s perfectly fair for someone to inherit the mantle of a “dead” superhero. I did this when I was editing The Flash; management wanted a new person inside the suit, and I felt strongly that Wally West earned his stab at adulthood. If Bucky Barnes (now referred to as “James”) is alive and well, he deserves the shield and cowl. So it’s only appropriate that I comment on Bucky’s transcendence.
 
There’s an odd timeliness to the story, as it opens with the doubling of the price of gas and thousands of homes being foreclosed. That puts a sharp contemporary edge on a story about a guy who should be 80 years old and keeps on linking his feelings to those he experienced in The War. But the economic apocalypse is a story-point that establishes the role Captain America will play in this continuing story.
 

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‘Iron Man’, ‘Wanted’ Superbowl Trailers Hit the ‘Net

  • News
  • February 4, 2008

Superbowl XLII was exciting, sure – but did you catch the trailers for "Iron Man" and "Wanted" that debuted during the game? Well, don’t worry if you were grabbing a beer when they aired, because the InterTubes always come through.

The new footage from "Iron Man" included quite a bit of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in full Iron Man armor, and showcased some of the heavier CGI-driven scenes you can expect to see when the film hits theaters May 2, 2008.

You can watch a high-definition version of the "Iron Man" trailer on apple.com, view the embedded version posted below (while it’s still available) or peruse a gallery of screencaps from the "Iron Man" trailer at your leisure over at ComicBookResources.

 

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ComicMix Columns For The Week Ending Feb 3, 2008

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  • February 3, 2008

Snackies at hand?  Ready to cheer on the best ads in between the quarters?  Me, I’m psyched to see me some Tom Petty at halftime.  Before they take the field for Superbowl XLIIayeaye!!one!, why not warm up with this past week’s ComicMix columns?:

I love how the titles of those first three columns kind of go together… sex, hate, death (warmed over)… Anyway, Giants in, erm, four, just to be weird…

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