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Ballad of a Thin Man, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • January 26, 2008

 

Last weekend, we finally caught up with I’m Not There, the brilliant Todd Haynes movie about the myths of Bob Dylan. The director intertwines the lives of six men, each symbolizing a stage of Dylan’s artistic development and public persona. They include a wide range: a young black boy, played by Marcus Carl Franklin; the protest singer, played by Christian Bale; the walking, talking enigma played by Cate Blanchett; the egomaniacal prick, played by Heath Ledger; the romantic, Ben Winshaw; and the lonesome recluse, played by Richard Gere. I don’t know if you’d like it if you aren’t a Dylan fan, but, if you are, it’s an amazing narrative.
 
On Monday, Brian Williams reported on the NBC Nightly News that the Monday of the last full week of January is known as “Blue Monday,” because it’s the single day that the most people are depressed, and has the highest suicide rate. 
 
On Tuesday, Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment.
 
I don’t mean to imply that he committed suicide. His body was found by a masseuse, with whom he had an appointment, and people planning suicide don’t usually get a massage first. As I write this, there’s not a lot of information about what caused his death. The autopsy didn’t reveal anything, nor was there a suicide note. Police found prescription drugs in the apartment, but they’d find prescription drugs in my apartment, too. There was no evidence that these drugs had been taken in anything other than the prescribed dose. 
 
He was only 28 years old, and he had a daughter, Matilda, age two. And now he’s gone.
 
We know and grieve over Heath Ledger because he was famous. We knew his face. We sat in the dark of movie theaters, and projected our own emotions into his eyes. He was young and handsome and talented, and it’s a loss for all of us.
 
Those of us who love comics felt a special kinship, because he was playing The Joker in The Dark Knight. The trailers and the early teasers indicate that he gave a brilliant performance, one that understands the complicated character created by Jerry Robinson and further sculpted by dozens of writers and artists over the past 50 years.
 

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ComicMix’s Interview With Heath Ledger

Exclusive To ComicMix Radio: Heath Ledger On Taking On The Joker

The untimely death of any celebrity leaves a lot of questions and speculation. In the wake of Heath Ledger’s passing, some are looking at his overly dark portrayal of The Joker in Warner Bros’ upcoming Dark Knight Batman film. In a ComicMix exclusive, Heath Ledger tells us just why he took on such a demanding part.

Plus:

  • NBC props are up for sale – again
  • Monsters invade Hollywood – we have proof
  • Witchblade vs. The Darkness – again
  • Marvel’s Twelve blasts out of the stores
  • Urban Monsters goes to Hollywood
  • What were the top selling comics and graphic novels in recent week? We’ve got the list!

All it takes is for you to Press The Button!

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James Marsters Talks Torchwood and Interspecies Romance

  • News
  • January 25, 2008

In a recent, spoiler-filled (we repeat: spoiler-filled) interview with TV Guide, Buffy/Angel actor James Marsters discussed his return to TV on the Season Two premiere of Torchwood.

According to the interview, Marsters portrays a snarky, lusting Brit who quickly becomes a thorn in the side of the series’ main character, an old associate of his who ends up… Wait, doesn’t this sound familiar?

Anyways… The interview is chock-full of behind-the-scenes details about the filming of the Torchwood premiere, as well as some questionable personal revelations from Marsters himself. Unfortunately, most of those sections of the interview are impossible to post here without revealing key plot points, so you’ll have to make do with this short bit about how one of America’s favorite vampires made his way to the BBC:

I was on a concert tour in the U.K. — I broke up my band, so it was just me and my guitar — and my tour manager, Lisa, got me to watch Dr. Who. I thought it was a really well-written show and would be fun to do. So my agent called Russell T. Davies, who wrote Queer as Folk and is responsible for Dr. Who. Russell said no, but he would love for me to come on Torchwood, the spin-off. It’s a funny, subversive show like Buffy. I feel very much at home.

Marsters also sheds some light on the potential demise of a Spike spin-off series:

I don’t think it’s absolutely dead. I told Joss that I didn’t want to do the character as an old vampire, which would be really sucky. [Laughs] But I’m holding up better than I thought I would. With the right lighting, we might be able to get away with it.

expendable-poster-2734549

Expendable Exposes the Secret Lives of Henchmen

  • News
  • January 25, 2008

expendable-poster-2734549Wednesdays are always big days in the comics world, but this week Hump Day was especially important because it marked the debut of Expendable, the latest film by Wondermark webcomicker David Malki !.

Expendable is a film about one of the most underappreciated cogs in the gears of global domination: the random henchman. Think back to the last spy movie you watched. Remember those guys who were thrown off the catwalk when the laboratory exploded? Well, this is their story.

Better yet, in the words of the film’s creator:

They may wear jumpsuits with skull logos on them, and they may carry assault rifles, but really they’re ordinary guys just like you and me — concerned about health insurance, pension plans, and making it through the workday without being shot, blown up, and/or karate-chopped by smug, oversexed Englishmen. Expendable is their story.

Sure, it’s a great film, but our favorite part occurred in the first four seconds, when the presentation of the production company card ("A Wondermark Presentation") blasted us in the face with some old-school TV nostalgia. We weren’t the only ones, either.

 

Happy Birthday, Geoff Johns!

Geoff Johns was born today in 1973 in Michigan where the writer himself admits, it is "damn cold." Like so many of us, Geoff had a passion for the creative (screenwriting, graphic design, storytelling, your basic artist jack-of-all-trades stuff) but he got lucky in Los Angeles when after a phonecall, he became an intern to someone fancy schmancy. This in turn led him to a fruitful career as a contributing writer to DC comics, among others. You’ve probably read a couple of issues of The Flash by Johns, he was responsible for reviving Teen Titans, plus he’s got some fun TV credits sprinkled here and there (Robot Chicken!). We’re glad LA was kind to you Geoff Johns and glad that you have return your karma with some pretty fun storylines. Happy Birthday!

Diamond, diamond, who has the diamond?

  • News
  • January 25, 2008

In today’s brand-new episode of Mike Grell’s Jon Sable: Freelance: Ashes of Eden, Jon and Maggie the Cat alibi each other for the theft of the McGuffin.  The wealthy socialites at the party where it was stolen?  They need to be frisked.

Real-World Superheroes?

  • News
  • January 25, 2008

Next time you see someone in a cape and tights running toward you on a busy street, you might not need to cross the road or locate your pepper spray, folks. You could be having a real-world superhero encounter.

This article in The Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages documents the presence of "Reals" – people who don costumes to do good as real-life superheroes – throughout the country. According to the article, 150-200 of these individuals operate within the U.S., with at least another 50 fighting crime internationally.

One such real-life superhero is "Geist," who dons a black duster and arms himself with smoke grenades, bolos, a slingshot, and a pair of six-inch fighting sticks to fight crime in and around Minneapolis.

A mission awaits and time is of the essence, so Geist eases his solid frame, honed from martial arts training, into his trusty patrol vehicle—a salt-covered beige sedan. Unfamiliar with the transportation tangle of downtown, he pulls a MapQuest printout from his pocket, discovering his goal is but a short cruise down Washington Avenue.

You know what? Forget that stuff we wrote earlier. You should still cross the street and put as much distance as possible between you and the masked guy in spandex… just to be safe.

… Tip o’ the hat to the Blog@ crew

Checking Out Penny Arcade: The Game

  • News
  • January 25, 2008

Ever since it was announced in 2006, details have been hard to come by regarding Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 1: On The Rain-Slick Precipice Of Darkness, the videogame based on the über-popular Penny Arcade webcomic. That’s starting to change, however, as the anticipated release of Episode 1 nears.

The crew over at Wired were recently offered the opportunity for a semi-review of the game (they weren’t allowed to actually play it – they just watched the designers), and the their description of the gameplay, graphics and overall outlook on the game will certainly whet the appetites of eager videogame and/or webcomic fans.

According to Wired‘s semi-review, the game "blends old-school point-and-click adventure gameplay with RPG combat." The dialogue and art were praised by the reviewer, and some hints were provided about PA characters appearing in the game and, in some cases, the roles they’ll play.

Early in the tutorial, you’ll come across the first of the game’s three support characters, who act like summoned monsters in Final Fantasy. Their gauges build up slowly and over time, and you can call them out when they’re ready to deal a big attack to all enemies. The first support character is Thomas Kemper, the PA gang’s erstwhile cat. ("The cat appraises you, and finds you wanting," reads the text when you first encounter him.) His special move is to walk out and lick his cathole, causing one point of damage to all enemies. This is absolutely useless, but very rarely he will do something better, although I’ve been asked not to spoil what that is.

The reviewer ventures a guess that Episode 1 will hit shelves sometime this spring (judging by its level of completion at the time of the review), with installments released at four-month intervals.

If you’re the type that needs to see it for yourself to believe it, you can also view some footage of Episode 1 over at Game Trailers.

 

Martha Thomases Interviewed!

  • News
  • January 25, 2008

Sure, pride goeth before a fall and such, but we can’t help pointing out this interview with ComicMix VP of Corporate Communications Martha Thomases over at Friends of Lulu.

The interview touches on Thomases’ long and winding path through the comics industry, including one of her best-known roles: Head of Publicity at DC Comics during the "Death of Superman" event. Having served in both an editorial and PR capacity for various publishers, she provides some insight into the way these two aspects of the industry rely upon each other and the reasons they often appeal to similar personality types.

I told stories. I looked at what we were publishing and tried to figure out who would care about those titles, and what was the most effective way to get the word to them. I dealt with the mainstream press, not the comics press, so I looked for human interest stories. After all, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are at least as interesting as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Thomases also chats at length about the changes she’s witnessed in both the comics industry and the role of women in it.

sundome-9226480

Sex and Death, by Andrew Wheeler

  • News
  • January 25, 2008

 

sundome-9226480This week: three manga series featuring sex and death in high school. (I don’t know about you folks, but if my high school was like some of the ones in manga series, I wouldn’t have bothered to graduate.)

Case in point: Sundome by Kazuto Okada, a story about a young woman who may just be the single biggest tease in the history of the human race. (By the way, the title is pronounced “sun-do-may” and is a Japanese term meaning “stopping just before.” And, yes, the general implication is pretty much what you think it is.) Her name is Kurumi Sahana, and, in time-tested manga fashion, she’s the transfer student who arrives at this high school on page two. Narrator Hideo Aiba falls for her immediately, and thus tries to resign from his “roman club” – a collection of three other exceptionally geeky young men dedicated to vague “romantic” ideals. One of the rules of the club is that members must remain virgins until graduation, and Hideo, being an honest young man, is hoping he can break that vow, and, being very Japanese about it, wants to quit first.

What follows is a very exaggerated but not completely unbelievable sex comedy. Hideo is a whiny little schlub – of course, he’s the hero of a sex comedy manga, so I’m repeating myself – and Kurumi knows exactly what he wants and refuses to give it to him. On the other hand, she’s more than willing to torment him, with a glimpse of this or a touch of that, to get him to do what she wants. One of the things she wants, though, is for Hideo to grow a spine and stop being such a wimpy little stereotype, so she doesn’t come across as a bitch. Manipulative, yes. More than a little cruel, clearly. Not someone to introduce to your mother, absolutely. But she’s honest, and not capricious, and she does follow through on what she says.

(Another girl – somewhat more conventional but also in her way tormenting Hideo and his fellow members of the Roman Club – shows up about halfway through the book.)

I feel I should apologize for liking Sundome, but I did enjoy it. It’s “sexy” in a completely sophomoric way, full of panty shots and nipples straining against fabric, but it’s authentically tawdry and juvenile. It’s probably not a book for women, or for men who have completely outgrown their own childishness (which I clearly haven’t), but if you’ve ever wished Superbad was a book, you are in luck.

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