The Mix : What are people talking about today?

evanier-2752483

The All-New 1982 Show

  • News
  • August 17, 2007

evanier-2752483Comics Links

The Beat has a few choice photos from the 1982 San Diego Comic-Con – sure, it was smaller and easier to get around, but look at the clothes they had to wear! (This photo of Mark Evanier, and the others at this link are by Alan Light.)

Todd Allen is not entirely positive in this Comics Should Be Good report on Wizard World Chicago.

Grumpy Old Fan (at Newsarama) pokes at the current legal issues around Superboy’s ownership.

The Beat has posted the official, lawyer-approved settlement agreement between Fantagraphics and Harlan Ellison.

Comics Reviews

Charleston City Paper reviews a few comics collections, including Flight, Vol. 4 and Linda Medley’s Castle Waiting.

Blogcritics reviews the first issues of Black Adam and Metal Men.

The A.V. Club has a comics review column this week, starting off with Fletcher Hanks’s I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets and covering over a dozen other compilations or original GNs.

Comics Reporter reviews Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened.

Comics Reporter reviews Gilbert Hernandez’s Chance in Hell.

Brian Cronin at Comics Should Be Good reviews Good As Lily, the new Minx comic.

The Savage Critics usually has a couple of reviews every day (and I’m too lazy to link to every single one of them); here’s Graeme McMillan writing about a bunch of comics that came out last week.

Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing reviews Death Valley. (more…)

Marvel movies made messy by mortgage meltdown?

  • News
  • August 17, 2007

marvelsuits-7625009My spidey-cents are tingling, and I don’t know that I like what I’m thinking.

First we have a piece from the Financial Times (via Salon) that says MGM may have delays in raising funding for a number of upcoming blockbuster movies, including the next installments in the James Bond and Terminator franchises due to the global credit crunch that is causing chaos in financial markets. Then we have a piece in Variety that shows that the bill for Endemol, the European production giant famous for "Big Brother" and "Deal or No Deal," has become a bit pricier thanks to the same credit crunch, and that it’s also put a hold on the planned sales of Virgin Media, the U.K. cable outfit.

So now I’m thinking about the $525 million in financing that Merrill Lynch has lined up for Marvel to produce its slate of films, which is really little more than a credit line — and I’m wondering how stable it really is. Does anybody how secure Marvel’s financing really is at this moment?

MICHAEL DAVIS: It’s a real mad mad mad world part 1

  • News
  • August 17, 2007

michael-davis100-4885353What is up with heroes today? I just got back from Wizard World Chicago and as I was walking around the con I took notice of the posters, billboards and other comic company signage. What I observed with little exception is the look on the heroes faces… they all looked mad. I mean they looked pissed.

I ask again, what is up with heroes today?

Do all the comic companies have a template for posters? Stop me if you’re seen this: the hero or heroes are standing with a smoke filled background or battlefield usually the background is an orange or red hue. They stand with this look of utter anger. They all look like the first words they would say to you upon meeting you at a funeral is I will kick your ass!

I remember when Superman would… smile. Wow, what a concept a hero who stands for truth, justice and the American way smiling once in a while. I remember when Superman was a role model and he would stand there with his hands on his hips legs firmly planted on the ground looking out at the reader with a HUGE smile on his face.

Heck, I remember when Bat-Man would smile from time to time. I saw a poster at the DC booth with Wonder Woman looking out at the viewer with that “mad look.” From what she looked like on that poster I am now sure that even comic book characters suffer from PMS.

Hey, I’m sure that there are posters and characters out there that smile or project a more positive attitude. I just don’t see them. Now Marvel and DC know their audience but there seems to me to be an effort out there to make everybody “hard,” as the rappers say. This look is not new to the comic world. In fact it’s ripped off completely from Hip-Hop.

When’s the last time anybody ever saw a rapper smile on an album cover? The “Hard” look is everywhere. Look at high fashion models and that stupid look… football players… baseball players… heck, now opera singers stare out from their posters looking like Biggie Smalls.

As I said before Marvel and DC know their audience and they are the market leaders, so this is what the public must want.

But (as you knew there would be) … (more…)

Ellison, Fantagraphics settle

  • News
  • August 17, 2007

The world is a bit nicer today, as the acrimonious lawsuit between Harlan Ellison and Fantagraphics has not only been settled,but the terms of the settlement have been released.  Both parties agreed that "ad hominem, personal attacks" will cease as long as each is alive (or, in the case of Fantagraphics, in business). 

In addition, Fantagraphics agreed to remove Harlan’s name from the cover of future editions of Comics Journal Library 6: The Writers, as well as his interview, and to remove passages from the book Comics as Art: We Told You So, as well as removing those paragraphs from its website.  At the same time, Ellison’s website will remove allegations that Groth embezzled funds, anad which "likened him to a child molester."  A rebuttal statement will be on his site for at least 30 days.

Fantagraphics may not solicit any further donations of art for its Defense Fund, but may market those pieces which have already been donated.

Ellison will receive two copies of all Fantagraphics publications or any of its imprints which contain material he wrote.

Each party is responsible for its own legal fees.

 

reboot-8996452

Can you ReBoot?

  • News
  • August 16, 2007

reboot-8996452As part of a promotion for the ReBoot TV series (which Rainbow Entertainment is trying to revive), Zeroes 2 Heroes is going to publish a new ReBoot comic.  They’re looking for an art team with a contest online. 

Here’s what you do:  Pick a ReBoot character and sketch it.  Fans will vote and you’ll be notified in August and start work in September.

  1. The ReBoot pitches are found here; you need to be logged in.
  2. Launch the Flash viewer by clicking on any of the pitch thumbnails.
  3. Browse through the pitches and pick the character or world you think is the most interesting.
  4. Upload a sketch using the "Upload" button.

Then tell ComicMix how it goes.

Mike Wieringo update

  • News
  • August 16, 2007

wieringocharlielost-9712452To begin, the funeral arrangements from Mike’s brother Matt, reprinted in its entirety:

First, let me thank everyone who has expressed their condolences online and over the phone. We have been, frankly, overwhelmed by all the good will from all over the world. I don’t think our parents fully understood (nor did Mike) just how much he was loved and admired. To get us through this, my wife and I have spent a couple of sleepless nights reading the postings here and at Newsarama (thank you, Matt Brady) and the John Byrne Forum and it’s helped a great deal. Most touching of all was Cully Hamner’s heartfelt eulogy at Newsarama. Thank you so much, Cully. You are a beautiful man.

Now to the hard part. Mike will have two funeral services.

First, there will be a public viewing this Friday (August 17th) from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Hall-Wynne Funeral Service at 1113 West Main Street in Durham, NC, followed by a chapel service at 2:00. This will be open to any of Mike’s friends and colleagues who’d like to attend. Please come prepared to share a Mike story. I plan on putting you on the spot. It would really help our Mom and Dad through this.

Second, at a time to be determined, there will be a private service for Mike’s family in Lynchburg, where we grew up.

As mentioned before, in lieu of flowers, if you’d like please send donations to the A.S.P.C.A. (aspca.org) or to the Hero Initiative (heroinitiative.org). I had previously mentioned the CBLDF but, having time to think about it, I realized that the Hero Initiative was more Mike’s style. Those wishing to contribute to the CBLDF anyway, please feel free as it’s a worthwhile cause as well.

Finally, some of you have expressed concern over what would become of Mike’s little buddy and constant companion, his cat Charlie. Well, breathe easy. Charlie is coming to live with us in Richmond with our other cat Toonces. I’m not sure how Toonces is going to take to living with the little dynamo that is Charlie, but family is family. Charlie is doing well but obviously misses Mike. He’s been sleeping on Mike’s bed and under his drawing table but he’s active and friendly.

Take care, everyone and, on behalf of our parents, my wife and me, thanks for everything. –Matt (more…)

BIG BROADCAST: The Creator Behind The Controversy

  • Uncategorized
  • August 16, 2007

salon-3064887Earlier this week, ComicMix covered recent developments in the case of Georgia comic retailer Gordon Lee. On The Big Comicmix Broadcast today, we talk to the creator whose project The Salon is at the heart of this legal battle… and we offer you your chance to produce your own music video, and Wonder Woman misses another deadline, and we’ve got the story of a girl singer that CBS wanted to be Madonna.

PRESS THE BUTTON or we’ll tell you what DC publisher Paul Levitz used to call Wonder Woman!

Shooting pool with Paul Jenkins in Chicago

  • News
  • August 16, 2007

paul-jenkins-2-6011723In the back of Wizard World’s Chicago convention program was a full page ad featuring Paul Jenkins. It read:

This man is here to take your money! He is Paul Jenkins. Some call him a comic writer. You will call him "master." He is shooting pool at the Hero Initiative booth, #140. You can challenge him for $30, and possibly win fabulous prizes. But you will not win fabulous prizes. Because Paul will beat you. No, "beat" is not the correct word. He will destroy you, humiliate you, and debase you. He will leave you a broken shell of a man, woman, or whatever vaguely walking-erect mammal you purport to be. Paul Jenkins owns you. You just don’t know it yet.

How could I resist that? My ComicMix crew got their camera ready and I paid my $30. (more…)

Fantastic Voyage gets a facelift

  • Uncategorized
  • August 16, 2007

Fantastic Voyage, the 1966 feature film to begin a new cycle of “serious” science fiction on the big screen, is being remade at 20th Century Fox. The film is being helmed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, Godzilla) with National Treasure’s Marianne and Cormac Wibberley in talks to write the new version. Emmerich toyed with the remake possibilities a decade back and only got re-interested when he saw a draft from the writers.

The original film, directed by Richard Fleischer (Doctor Doolittle, Soylent Green) and turned into a novel by Isaac Asimov, was known for its concept, its cutting edge special effects and the fantastic notion of Raquel Welch as a scientist.

Should this actually get produced, the earliest audiences can revisit the human bloodstream from the inside will be 2009.

JOHN OSTRANDER: My Way Or the Highway

  • News
  • August 16, 2007

ostrander100-5932297I’m not going to tell you that I’m an expert on marriages and relationships because that would be a gol-durned lie, but one item of contention seems to pop up regularly between men and women who are cohabiting.

Leaving the toilet seat up or down.

It may be an issue in same-sex relationships; I don’t know. I have heard quite a bit of it between male-female cohabitants to the point of it being a cliché’. It was, however, a real debate that I and my late wife, Kim Yale, had. Her argument was that if she went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and the toilet set wasn’t down, she would fall in, get wet, and then I was certain to be woken up to hear about it. My response is that if I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and didn’t look down, I’d pee all over the seat. If I had to do check, why not her? Her response was that the seat could get gross and it was the guy’s responsibility. My response – well, my full response would get me a severe talking to by the women on ComicMix. Let’s just say I’d didn’t think she was any more fragile than I was and we both had the responsibility to make sure the seat was where we needed it to be. We never reached agreement on the topic.

These days I keep the seat and the lid down for two separate but very good reasons. One is that I read that, when you flush, a fine spray of toilet water – and any particulate matter in it – rises from the bowl and settles over the area, including toothbrushes. Plus, our cat Windy has a tendency to play full immersion Baptist in the toilet bowls in the lid is up.

The first reason alone would’ve reason enough for me. If Kim had hit me with that one, I would have had to concede the point. At the time, I didn’t feel like conceding the point because her argument didn’t make sense to me. It didn’t fall-in with my way of thinking. (more…)

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks