Comic of the day: Alpha Flight #6
How’s your day going?
The Mix : What are people talking about today?
Marc Alan Fishman: Welcome to the Comic Book Industry of the Future!
Greetings, past-dwellers. Tis I, Marc Alan Fishman, the sage of the future! I traveled here to the past, via my patented DC Direct TimeSphere. It was only $299.99 at my local comic retailer (which in the future is just Amazon Prime…)! I come to you, this random Saturday morning, on a mission from ComicMix 8.0. I’ve come to give you hope that in 2013, everything changes. Hold on to your bow ties, time lords. Let me give you the glimpse of what will become of your industry.
In 2013, the rumblings began. You see every time a creator got uppity in the past, they dropped those immortal words: “Creator-owned is the future, man.” And every time those creations (not of Marvel or DC, mind you) became one with the zeitgeist, the word revolution spread across the artist alleys of convention floors like a plague. Ah, I know. I know. You say “but that means nothing, FutureBeard… no one will ever take down the Man!” And, in a sense, you are right. The Man, thanks to lucrative movie franchises only made the big two stronger. Much like Coke and Pepsi, so too grew Disney and Warner Bros. until they were simply entertainment forces of nature. But therein lies the seeds of change.
It will all happen so slowly, you may not notice it. DC’s New52 and Marvel Now continued to polarize the ever-aging fanbase. The movies and TV series connected to them (both live action and cartoon) never lead to direct increases in comic book sales. They were, in essence, two distinct media with distinct audiences. It took a while to figure out ourselves… but our NerdVerse Historian, King Alan Kistler decried it, and it was written; while there will always be crossover, there wasn’t (and will never be) a movie or comic to unite them all.
And with that knowledge, spreading like primordial ooze across the vast lands of Nerdtopia, came with it the paradigm shift.
Through careful and meticulous planning and the support of the not-as-big-as-you’d-hope-but-still-pretty-big fan base… established creators turned towards indie-or-self-publishing outlets. Crowd-sourced, and then sold for profit directly towards their bottom line, these creators proved that even without a corporate overlord signing a check… a meager living could be made. And this is how the pebble begins to roll down the mountain.
When those small books became big hits, their creators soon became corporations unto themselves. And then, those same creators, backed by their cultivated fan base, combined into local studios to consolidate their power. No longer mere islands adrift in freelance work, these micro-states began dictating what they published on their own terms. And yes, even on the outskirts of these creator-states… smaller unknown (cough… cough… unshaven…) studios took to the same open road and formed bonds that could not be broken. And now, from the future where I come to you, I’m proud to say that the industry has never been stronger, where creators are no longer afraid to present their own ideas… and take home enough to support continuing doing it again.
Now, don’t cry for Marvel or DC. They still have a large foothold of the rack-space. But their talent pool is a wide berth of only the young unknowns, and the old guard who chose never to leave. The young, lured in by the shiny opportunity. The old, still fearing the unknown, and clinging to the terrible contracts that deny them anything more than pittance while their creations bring in countless millions in other mediums.
And yes, occasionally some of the Indie Nation takes on an old favorite. And they sell magnificently. But here in the future… after that tale has been told, they are reenergized to return to their own pocket universes. It’s a glorious time for sequential fiction. It happened in dribs and drabs over the aughts. Image’s old image (heh) of splashy pastiche universes gave way to intelligent, and brilliantly crafted mini-series. Dark Horse, IDW, Boom!, Avatar, Dynamite, and others began looking towards those self-sustaining garage bands in the artist alley and gave them a powerful ally to help build their brands.
The Internet, social media, and most important, peer-to-peer connections via conventions spread the word of the DIY-revolution. Indie comic creation became the new rock-and-roll. And 2013 my friends… was where those faint rumblings began to move the needle towards the utopia I live in now. Suffice to say: keep your eyes and ears open. More importantly: keep supporting your favorite creators when they make the leap away from the dark side.
I should also note, in case you’re curious:
Superman ditched the Nehru collar. Grant Morrison’s consciousness was transferred to a super-computer. Rob Liefeld eventually got his eyesight checked, and realized the error in his proportions. He redrew every ounce of work he produced up until 2015. Afterwards, his wrist looked like Cable’s, circa 1996. Unshaven Comics optioned the rights to the Samurnauts to Sony Pictures. Brad Bird directed the first of 17 successful films. Subsequently, Unshaven Comics erected a 75 foot golden beard in the heart of downtown Chicago.
And, finally, Alan Moore eventually forgave DC. Shortly after, he ascended to Snake Mountain and has since lived as the NecroLord of Fourth Realm. He still puts out books every year, and they are still amazing.
SUNDAY: John Ostrander
The Point Radio: Constructing BEAUTIFUL CREATURES
We begin our look at the new film, BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, first talking with creators Kami Garcia and Margret Stohl, then director Richard LaGravenese who moved the project from book to film and actor Jeremy Irons who steps into a key role. Plus Marvel tries its hand at the romance game and the JLA movie hits a road block.
Take us ANYWHERE! The Point Radio App is now in the iTunes App store – and it’s FREE! Just search under “pop culture The Point”. The Point Radio  – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any other  mobile device with the Tune In Radio app - and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.
Phineas and Ferb: Animal Agents with Activity Spy Kit Due out February 26
How well does anyone really know their pet…or ANY animal? Behind a cute and/or cuddly exterior there may lurk a cunning crime-fighter with a brown fedora, a top-secret identity and a license to thrill! Meet the heroic Animal Agents of the O.W.C.A. (Organization Without A Cool Acronym) when “Phineas and Ferb: Animal Agents” comes to DVD on February 26, 2013.
Join Perry the Platypus – a.k.a. Agent P – and his fellow operatives as they team up to thwart Dr. Doofenshmirtz and his dastardly “Inators.” Be they furry or feathered, scaly or slimy, these fearless agents roll over for nobody when it comes to crushing evil in the Tri-State Area and beyond. Fully loaded with over two hours of animated animal-themed adventures, including the exciting, two-part “Phineas And Ferb” cliffhanger “Where’s Perry?”, “Phineas and Ferb: Animal Agents” is a fun-filled, action-packed laughfest that will drive audiences wild!
Phineas and Ferb: Animal Agents includes a cool activity spy kit complete with a set of paper binoculars, trading cards and O.W.C.A. I.D. Badge.
Creators / Executive Producers:
Jeff “Swampy” Marsh & Dan Povenmire
Cast:
Vincent Martella (TV’s Everybody Hates Chris) as voice of Phineas
Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Nanny McPhee) as voice of Ferb
Ashley Tisdale (Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure) as voice of Candace
Alyson Stoner (Step Up 3D, Camp Rock 1 & 2) as voice of Isabella
Caroline Rhea (The Suite Life of Zach and Cody) as voice of Mom
Dan Povenmire as voice of Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz
Adventures Include…
“Journey to the Center of Candace”
“Traffic Cam Caper”
“Bowl-R-Rama Drama”
“Vanessasary Roughness”
“Isabella and the Temple of Sap”
“Cheer Up Candace”
“Robot Rodeo”
“Lotsa Latkes”
“Agent Doof”
“Where’s Perry Part 1”
“Where’s Perry Part 2”
“What’d I Miss”
ALL PULP NEW PULP EBOOK BESTSELLER LIST DEBUTS!
Welcome to the first installment of All Pulp’s New Pulp EBook Best Seller List, inspired by the work of Barry Reese! Before we get to what you’re all waiting for, here are the rules by which this little list comes together.
1) This list only tracks Kindle sales through AMAZON. It does not keep track of sales through Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, or anything else!
2)
This list only tracks DIGITAL sales. Exactly how Amazon calculates these things is mostly a trade secret and they vary wildly from day to day. If I checked this tomorrow, the list could be very different. This list reflects sales ranks as of Friday afternoon, February 8, 2013.
3) In order to keep the focus on new releases, eligible works must have been published within the last three months. So, since this list is being done on February 8, 2013, we are only looking at books published since November 8, 2012. Please keep that in mind before complaining that Title X is not listed. Also, keep in mind that for the most part, we are tracking sales from smaller and mid level press publishers who actively publish New Pulp material. We won’t generally track sales from Simon and Schuster or places like that — they have the New York Times Bestseller List for that. If one of the major publishers starts doing The Shadow or something, we’ll track that, but some publishers will not be listed here in order to keep the focus on the publishers actively working to produce and promote New Pulp.
4)
Like the name suggests, we’re tracking “New” pulp —not sales rankings for reprints of classic material. In order for something to qualify for this list, it has to be at least 50% new material that has not been printed in book form before.
5) We are human. If you are aware of a title that should be listed below (keeping in mind all the rules above), please let us know and we will make sure to remedy the situation.
6) This information is garnered mostly from All Pulp, New Pulp, the Pulp Factory mailing list and a few other sites. If you think we might miss your release, let us know in advance — drop All Pulp a line and tell us when it’s being released.
Without further ado, here’s the completely and totally unofficial New Pulp Ebook Bestseller List as of right now (title, then publisher, then release date, then sales rank):
1) The Cestus Concern by Mat Nastos (Nifty Entertainment, December 28,2012) 2.138
2) Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective, Volume 4 by Various (Airship 27, January 19, 2012) – 59,826
3) Monster Earth by Various (Mechanoid Press, January 13, 2013- 60,940
4) Finn’s Golem by Gregg Taylor (Autogyro, January 10, 2013) -83,562
5) Legion I- Lords of Fire (The Shattering) by Van Allen Plexico (White Rocket Books, January 26, 2013) – 86,910
6) The Studio Specter by W. Peter Miller (Uchronic Books, January 5, 2013) – 108,769
7) The New Adventures of the Griffon by Various (Pro Se Productions, January 17, 2013) – 133,360
8) Sentinels: Metalgod by Van Plexico (White Rocket Books, December 10, 2012) – 155,489
9) Tier Zero by Henry Brown ( Virtual Pulp, January 13, 2013) – 276,126
10) Prohibition by Terrence McCauley, (Airship 27, December 15, 2012) – 279,713
Just missing the list were: Whack Job by Mike Baron (December 25, 2012)-339,703, Fight Card: Irish Dukes by Mike Faricy (Fight Card Books, November 12, 2012) – 399,113, Fight Card : The Knockout by Robert J. Randisi (Fight Card Books, December 1, 2012) – 402,303, Fight Card: Rumble in the Jungle by David Foster (Fight Card Books, January 8, 2013) – 472,411, The Fangslinger and the Preacher by Bret Lee Hart (Western Trail Blazer, January 3, 2013) – 410,666.
Being the first list, not a lot of commentary or history to track here. Mat Nastos makes a fine showing in the top 2200 of all Kindle sales and our #10 comes in under 300,000, so the Kindle list definitely moves differently than Print, which is what creators and writers and publishers have been noticing for a while-Ebooks sell.
As far as Publishers are concerned, White Rocket Books and Airship 27 each have two books in the debut EBook list, with Pro Se, Virtual Pulp, Nifty Entertainment, Mechanoid Press, Uchronic Books, and Autogyro all checking in with one. But remember, readers, take it all with a grain of salt.
Martha Thomases Sees Super Bowl Spots
This is going to be old news by the time you’re reading this, but as a card-carrying DFH I am still obsessing over the gender and racial politics of the Super Bowl. And also the nerd politics.
First, a disclaimer: I’ve never been able to figure out football. Even when my son played it in high school, I couldn’t understand the rules. I know there are two teams fighting over a ball. I know there “downs,” and they matter. I know it isn’t soccer, which I do understand. So I’m only watching for the commercials, and because every other television station has surrendered and is running reruns.
(And even then, I switched to the Law & Order marathon on TNT occasionally, especially during the black-out.)
The commercials were depressing.
And they were depressing for a lot of reasons. For one, they weren’t very good. I get that, for the most part, they aren’t aimed at me, an older woman who isn’t into beer and lives in a city where she doesn’t have to own a car.
(I should say, however, that if anyone could manipulate me into buying a car, it’s <a href=”
Hamm and Willem Dafoe.)
So, yeah, there were commercials that tugged our heartstrings, with tear-jerking odes to soldiers and farmers and horses.
There were celebrities making unexpected appearances, like Oprah and Seth Rogan and Kelly Cuoco and Tracy Morgan and Paul Rudd. And, most surprising, dead Paul Harvey.
There were ads for summer movies, which are fun to see when it’s cold out.
There was the gross Go Daddy ad, which I believe is deliberately bad so we’ll talk about it, and therefore I’m going to stop now.
On average, the ads celebrate bros. The people in the ads are men who drink beer and eat chips and drive around. If there are women, they are either unobtainable sex objects (who are obtainable if you use Axe body spray or drink Budweiser) or affectionate scolds. It is as if to be a woman is to be the responsible adult, and that is to be avoided at all costs. A real man has no impulse control, and if he’s successful, women will take care of him.
If this is what men want, that’s really sad. I would be more inclined to believe that it’s what the advertisers want men to want, and so they try to sell this attitude along with their product. Or maybe the lowest common denominator is lower than I thought.
As a palate cleanser, you might enjoy this. I can’t say the men in the ad are particularly my type (big pecs don’t do it for me), but the ad is funny, to the point, and assumes a certain amount of intelligence in the target audience.
The other thing I learned from the Super Bowl this year is that, even though my initial reaction was that making this movie was a stupid idea, I desperately need to see The Lone Ranger.
SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman and the Comic Book Industry of the Future!
Orson Scott Card, Superman And Here We Go Again
I’ve already received e-mails about this. Encouraging me to go nuclear on DC Comics’ for hiring Orson Scott Card to write a story for the new Adventures of Superman digital comic, as reported by IGN.
The first two chapters are by Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston, Chris Sprouse and Karl Story, the third by Jeff Parker and Chris Samnee; teling of Superman’s first meeting with Lex Luthor. Future chapters include work by Dan Abnett. Ed Benes, Mitch Breitweise, Giuseppe Camuncol, Nathan Edmondso, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Christos N. Gage, Marc Guggenheim, Justin Jordan, Matt Kindt, JT Krul , Max Landis, Andy Lanning, David Lapham, Jeff Lemire, Michael Avon Oeming, Riley Rossmo, Stephen Segovia, Bruce Timm, Marcus To and Marv Wolfman.
But Orson Scott Card is on the board of directors for National Organization for Marriage, an association committed to stopping the legalisation of gay marraige. And as a result of this, and a number of unpleasant statements he’s made regarding the issue of homosexuality, has been the subject of a number of boycotts. And it looks as if one is brewing for this Superman story.
I think that’s wrong.
There are a number of comic book creators who believe something very different to what I do. Some of those beliefs offend me. Sometimes they even inform their art, something that Card is unlikely to be accused of in Superman.
Some try to draw a line between an opionated person and an activist. I disagree, any famous person who expresses an opinion, especially in this day and age, de facto becomes an activist for that opinion.
It’s a very dangerous game, it has led in the past to witchtrials, McCarthyite or otherwise, and it’s no better than the actions of, say, One Million Moms. And next time? It could be you…
Disney Unveils Find Your Way to Oz Chrome Experiment
You won’t need magical powers to take a journey down the Yellow Brick Road; just point your favorite browser to the latest Chrome Experiment, “Find Your Way to Oz.” Developed in collaboration with Disney and UNIT9 in anticipation of the upcoming film, Oz The Great and Powerful, this experiment takes you through a dusty Kansas circus and leads to a vibrant land, following in the footsteps of the Wizard himself.
Like any good circus, there’s plenty to keep you entertained: compose your own music, play with a fun photo booth and create your own movie with a zoetrope. The path to Oz also involves confronting an ominous tornado; surviving it completes the journey, enabling fans of the movie to watch an exclusive unreleased clip from the film.
Chrome Experiments like “Find Your Way to Oz” would have been impossible a few years ago. Since that time, the web has evolved and allowed developers and designers to create immersive beautiful experiences. For “Find Your Way to Oz” the 3D environment was built entirely with new technologies such as WebGL and CSS3. It’s enhanced by rich audio effects thanks to the Web Audio Application Programming Interface (API). The photo booth and zoetrope were built using the getUserMedia feature of WebRTC, which grants webpages access to your computer’s camera and microphone (with your permission).
For the best experience, you’ll need to use an up-to-date computer built to handle intense graphics. It also works best with a webcam and a modern browser that supports WebGL and WebRTC, like Chrome. The experience also works best on For tablet or smartphone users, we have a smaller scale yet equally enjoyable experience that you can try with the latest Chrome browser on your Android device, iPhone or iPad.
If you want to learn more, or run away and join the developer circus, you can get an explanation of the technologies used on the Chromium blog or in Google’s technical case study.
Start your journey towards the yellow brick road at www.findyourwaytooz.com.
FORTIER TAKES ON MIKE HAMMER IN ‘COMPLEX 90’!
ALL PULP REVIEWS by Ron Fortier
COMPLEX 90
By Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins
Titan Books
244 pages
Available May 2013
Beginning a new year with a new Mike Hammer novel is a cause for jubilant celebration. In his short preface to the book, begun by the late Mickey Spillane, Collins informs us that the setting is 1964 and “Complex 90” is in part a sequel to the 1961 Mike Hammer novel, “The Girl Hunters.” For those of you unfamiliar with that private eye classic, a brief summary is in order.
“The Girl Hunters” opens with our down-and-out hero discovering that his secretary, and one true love, Velda, has returned from the dead. Having lived in an alcoholic haze since her disappearance seven years earlier, he learns that Velda had been on a spy mission for the government, captured by the Russians and thrown into one of their of their prisons where she had endured physical tortures until managing to escape. Now back on U.S. soil her ordeal is far from over as the Soviets send a specialized assassin team to terminate her permanently. Instead they run into Hammer and it he who does the exterminating. You can easily enjoy “Complex 90” without having read “The Girl Hunters,” but why on earth would you settle for one great Mike Hammer book when you can enjoy two?
Okay, back to this “sequel” of sorts. The cold war is still in full tilt, even though Hammer and Velda have slowly gotten their lives back on a normal track. Then an old colleague recruits Hammer to assist him as a bodyguard for a controversial senator throwing a lavish cocktail parting in his New York penthouse. Hammer sees it as an opportunity to make a few fast bucks. In the middle of the soiree, an assassin attempts to shoot the senator but instead guns down Hammer’s pal. Hammer takes a slug to the leg before sending the killer through a window eighty stories up via a hot lead tivkry from his .45 automatic. So much for an easy few dollars.
Suffering only a flesh wound, Hammer is soon back on his feet. Immediately he is offered a new assignment; that of bodyguard to the senator during his fact-finding junket to Moscow. The senator wants Hammer to replace his dead friend who was scheduled to accompany him.
No sooner are the two in Russia then Hammer is arrested and imprisoned by the KGB for being a spy. Fortunately for the savvy P.I., they detain him in a city facility and he waste no time escaping, leaving half a dozen bodies behind. By the time he makes it back to the States, he’s left a trail of forty-five dead Russians creating an international incident. Now the Russians are clamoring for his hide and the State Department isn’t any too pleased with the notorious New York private-eye. What bothers Hammer is why he was kidnapped in the first place and why the Commies are so hell bent on bringing him back to the U.S.S.R.
Finding the answers to those two questions is the major plot around which this fast paced thriller revolves and like all Mike Hammer tales, there’s plenty of two-fisted action along the journey. Collins prose never lets up for a second propelling this reader to a slam-bang climax that had us needing a drink when it was over. Cold war intrigue, sexy femme fatales and in the middle of it all, one tough son-of-bitch throwback whose conservative patriotism will not be shaken by gun-toting foreign agents or two-faced Washington politicians.
In a time of when America is being torn apart by a culture war, Spillane’s Mike Hammer is a cleansing storm that makes no excuses for loving ones country and doing whatever it takes to keep her strong. Makes us wish we had a lot more like him.
Dennis O’Neil: Sea Hunt, Iron Man, and Me
Way, way back in the day, when Harry S. Truman was president and that thing in the living room, that teevee set that daddy brought home, well, we watched whatever was on. I mean, it’s not like there were a lot of choices. In St. Louis we had no more than three channels, and back then, it might have been one or even two fewer. So you watched teevee, sometimes because there was a program you wanted too see, sometimes because, well…you wanted to watch teevee. You twisted the knob and whatever was on that wobbly, blurry, staticky screen is what you saw.
Sea Hunt, starring Lloyd Bridges, was sometimes what was on and what I watched. I thought it was okay – not a favorite, but okay. I couldn’t have seen it much because it debuted in 1958, which was my first year at the university, and you know what freshman college is: a new world, new friends, new disciplines, new activities and, oh yeah, there was this cute little brunette, senior at Xavier High, who was claiming my attention.
Later, watching one of the great movie westerns, I saw the same Lloyd Bridges have a dustup with Gary Cooper as the clock hands in the marshal’s office ticked closer and closer to High Noon.
I might have seen an issue or two of the Sea Hunt comic book. But maybe not, By then, I thought comics were a relic of my childhood, and if I ever did see a Sea Hunt, I probably didn’t read it.
Later still, in a northern California spa, I passed a guy standing at the checkout desk who, I was later told, was Beau Bridges, Lloyd’s oldest son. Oldest, but not only: Beau has a younger brother, Jeff.
Jeff is, like his brother and father, an actor. By any reasonable criteria, he is a movie star, but I think of him as actor and only incidentally star. There is something to be said for going into the family business, and I’m glad Jeff chose to do so.
I’ve never met Jeff Bridges, probably never will. But I do feel some connection with Jeff. Actually, two connections.
Jeff starred in a movie titled Eight Million Ways to Die, adapted, loosely, from the novel of the same title. Not a great flick, despite being directed by the excellent Hal Ashby. The novel’s author, my old friend Lawrence Block, once remarked that it was strange, how they made a movie with the same title as his book…Eight Million Ways to Die is connection one. I know the author of the original story.
Then I saw and liked a bunch of other Jeff Bridges performances, not the least of which was the remake of True Grit. Dad was in a cowboy show and now son was in one, too. Call this the circle of life, cinematic edition.
Connection two: Iron Man. The first movie incarnation of the Marvel Comics armored do-gooder, starring Robert Downey Jr. and – wait for it – Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, the flick’s main villain and – now hold your breath – my creation. I introduced stinker Obadiah into Iron Man continuity over 20 years ago and pretty much forgot him. No reason to remember him, really. But sometimes the universe smiles and so Stane is resurrected by one of my favorite actors and life is good.
You may be asking: What’s all his got to do with anything? Okay, I’ll tell you: the preceding 572 words are a lead-in to this week’s –
REC0MMENDED READING: The Dude and the Zen Master, by Jeff Bridges and Bernie Glassman.
Happy to be of service.
FRIDAY MORNING: Martha Thomases and That Game
