Category: News

ComicMix Radio: The Bat Chase Is On

Secret Invasion move over – last week DC premiered the first issue in the “Batman R.I.P.” story arc and it blew out of stores in just 24 hours. So what’s next?

And better yet, what’s in the comic shops this week? We cover that, plus:

Battlestar:Galactica movies? It might happen!

— Are you ready for 34 hours of Doctor Who?

— We take a moment to remember comic book retailer Rory Root, who passed away yesterday.

And we are Indiana Jones-spoiler free! Don’t believe us, just press the button!

 

 

  And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-4239960 or RSS!

 

Inside Scoop on ‘Watchmen’ Film: Spoilers Ahoy!

Comic Related has one of the most in depth reports on the upcoming Watchmen movie yet, including some massive spoilers in its latest report.

There’s plenty that I won’t post, but here’s a taste:

To start off, I’ve learned that the supplemental material at the end of the individual issues of the comic series will be included in the film in the form of newsreel-style reports. Whether these will be part of the opening credits – as has been reported elsewhere – or interspersed throughout the film, we will have to wait and see. Perhaps the Mothman scene I reported on months ago will be part of this footage.

The story comes via io9, which also offers a bevy of behind-the-scenes photos from the set. Fair warning: That link repeats lots of the spoilers. So if you’re trying to avoid such things, steer clear.

[UPDATE: ComicRelated.com’s Chuck Moore recently let ComicMix know that, due to popular demand, he’s compiled all of the site’s great behind-the-scenes Watchmen coverage on a single page, providing a great one-stop shopping spot for anyone in search of information about the film. Thanks, Chuck! -RM]

 

Behind the Scenes With ‘The Incredible Hulk’ Game

Sega released a video yesterday with the unwieldy title The Beast Within: The Making of The Incredible Hulk The Official Videogame. In it, staff members from publisher Sega and developer Edge of Reality declare their undying love for the Incredible Hulk. Then Justin Lambros, Vice President of Interactive at Marvel Studios, said he thought they were cute, too.

Sheesh! What’s with the love fest? This is the Incredible Hulk. It’s all about rage and anger. But the video did show some neat renders and development footage if you’re into that kind of thing. See it for yourself after the jump. (more…)

The Squires of Science, by Dennis O’Neil

We were the Squires of Science, my friend Mike and I were. He went to public school and I was a sixth- or seventh grader at St. Louise de Marillac, but that didn’t keep us from palling around together, watching Tom Corbett, Space Cadet on his family’s television set and doing chemistry set experiments in his basement. Actually, I don’t remember doing many experiments – we squires weren’t really much into real science – but Mike, who was good with tools, made us a plaque and, well…we believed in science. Maybe not as much as I believed in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but still a lot.

I was also reading a lot of science fiction, thanks to the public library, and I guess Mike was, too.

Adolescence disintegrated the Squires of Science. I was off to a Catholic military school – and yes, you may snicker – and Mike went…I don’t know – probably to Beaumont High, which we Catholic kids thought was kind of wicked, in some ill-defined way.

About then, I began to realize, dimly, that science involved mathematics. I had never been really good at arithmetic, which caused me a lot of grief at old St. Louise, and I seemed to be getting worse as I grew older. Then I flunked freshman algebra. Had to go to summer school. It wasn’t exactly a disgrace, but it wasn’t exactly not a disgrace, either.

(more…)

Battlestar Galactica Interview: Update!

Hey, Battlestar Galactica fans! First, I just want to thank all of you for your interest in our weekly interviews with BSG‘s Mark Verheiden. Every week, you and your fellow Battlestar fans make these interviews one of the most popular features on ComicMix, and we can’t thank you enough for doing so!

Unfortunately, this week’s interview will be a bit delayed, as big things are brewing in the world of Battlestar Galactica, and Mark is hard at work on a few projects that demand his attention. In the interest of always keeping ComicMix readers in the loop, we anticipate this week’s edition of BSG Weekly posting in the next day or two — so be sure to keep an eye on the site for your weekly fix of BSG questions from fans and answers from the series’ talented co-executive producer.

Oh, and don’t worry — we’ll be sure to pester Mark for some info about some of those other, super-secret projects he has in the works, too! Remember: you can always send your questions for Mark to our BSG Weekly interviewer, Chris Ullrich at: chris [at] comicmix [dot] com.

Women in Comics, Through the Eyes of Five Creators

There continues to be strong debate about the equality (or lack thereof) between female and male comic book creators, and a recent online panel discussion shines much light on the situation.

Hudson Phillips — screenwriter, designer, fellow Atlantan and all-around good guy — hosted the discussion on his blog. He spoke with artists Rebekah Isaacs (Hack/Slash, Drafted) & Amy Reeder Hadley (Fool’s Gold, Madame Xanadu), journalists Johanna Draper Carlson (Comics Worth Reading) & Angela Paman (Comic Addiction), and Web-comics creator Julia Wertz (The Fart Party).

It’s a wide-ranging chat, with a wide variety of viewpoints that give a lot of perspective to the many issues facing women in comics:

IN WHAT WAYS DO YOU THINK CREATORS & PUBLISHERS CAN BE MORE “FEMALE-FRIENDLY” WITH THEIR BOOKS?

Angela: I think if they came out with more books similar to the format like the Minx line but had topics or stories catered to not just one specific age group but for different age groups. Comics got me to loving reading again and I think to myself, “if comics got me into reading at my age, what more someone younger than me”. Publishing more books for the younger audience would also help as well.

Johanna: The biggest gap still remaining is work that adult women can find interesting and appealing. Manga is mostly teen-targeted, and many “indy/alternative” books still reflect a male perspective.

Rebekah: I truly believe that so much of what’s being published today IS female-friendly, but is not being marketed towards females in any way. I don’t believe that simply adding strong, “empowered” female characters to a book makes any difference, since women with enough good taste to appreciate a well-written story will equally love books with both male and female-dominated casts. So doing such can come across as condescending. Publishers just have to find a way to get their ads and press out there to a more diverse audience. And comics readers, suggest your favorite titles to ALL of your friends, not just the ones who also read comics.

Happy Birthday: Captain Boomerang

George “Digger” Harkness was born to an American soldier and an Australian woman. An illegitimate child, Harkness grew up in poverty but quickly discovered a talent for both crafting and using boomerangs.

As a young man, he got a job working for a toy company, demonstrating the use of their boomerangs. When audiences ridiculed him, Harkness turned to crime instead, keeping his costume and creating specialized boomerangs to become Captain Boomerang.

He became a member of the Flash’s Rogues Gallery, though years later he joined the Suicide Squad in order to be pardoned for his crimes. Harkness later returned to his criminal ways but was increasingly outclassed by both heroes and other villains.

He eventually became so desperate he accepted small jobs working for other crooks. His last act was an assignment to kill Jack Drake, the father of current Robin, Tim Drake. Harkness succeeded, but Drake managed to shoot and kill him as well.

Interview: Todd Nauck on WildGuard, American Dream and Teen Titans Go!

A quick scan of the shelves at your local comic shop this month should be all it takes to realize that writer/artist Todd Nauck has been keeping busy. The popular Young Justice artist’s name graces the cover of four different issues in a five-week span, including the launch of two new miniseries and the grand finale of another series.

One of those new miniseries marks the return of Nauck’s popular creator-owned series WildGuard to comic shops, and provides yet another look at a world where superheroes are chosen via American Idol-esque competitions and readers have helped determine everything from storylines to costumes.

Nauck also lends his considerable talents to the first two issues of American Dream this month, featuring the alternate-reality heroes of Marvel’s MC2 universe — specifically, the female Captain America. The first issue was a sellout for Marvel, with rave reviews for the work of both Nauck and series writer Tom DeFalco.

However, it isn’t all new beginnings for Nauck, as he helps close the door on the cartoon-inspired DC series Teen Titans Go! with issue #55 at the end of May. The kirds-oriented series has had Nauck embracing a new artistic style — one that’s now turning up in his other projects, too.

I spoke with Todd about nearly achieving the "quadfecta," finally finding time for more WildGuard and juggling the different artistic styles required for each of his very-different projects this month.

COMICMIX: When we spoke during New York Comic Con, you were excited to have the "quadfecta" schedule this month, with an issue hitting every week of May. Although some last-minute scheduling shifts pushed up one of the release dates, it’s still an impressive run of four comics in five weeks. When you first found out there was a chance of the schedule lining up like this, did you push for the quadfecta or was it entirely by chance?

TODD NAUCK: Entirely by chance. I couldn’t have planned it. The only book I could have a say in the release date was WildGuard: insider since that is my creator-owned book. I had the release date on May 14th for WildGuard: Insider #1 set around December or January for solicitations.

Then I come to find out my Marvel series American Dream is coming out bi-weekly with issue #1 out May 7th and issue #2 out May 21st.

Then I had to find out when Teen Titans Go #55 (the last issue of that series) was coming out. As I frantically flipped through the DC section of Previews I was hoping it would be May 28th. And wouldn’t you know, that was the exact date for Teen Titans Go #55.

I had hit the "quadfecta!" Four books, each coming out in a different week of the same month.

WildGuard: Insider #1 did get released early for Free Comic Book Day, though. But a lot of WildGuard fans probably expect it in their pull boxes for May 14th. So it’s still quadfecta-ish! (more…)

‘Punisher War Zone’ Teaser Poster Released

Punisher War Zone won’t be hitting theaters until December, but that’s not about to stop the marketing machine at Lions Gate from advertising it. The first poster for the film has been released and, well, it’s about what you’d expect. The Punisher loves bullets and he loves skulls, so why not combine the two?

It looks like an image ready made for a shirt at Hot Topic, if it isn’t already on sale there already. At least the poster lets us know that lots of bullets will be fired in the film. Will there be anymore parking ticket antics with fire hydrants like in the last Punisher movie though?

Punisher War Zone hits theaters on December 5. The film stars Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle/The Punisher, Dominic West as Jigsaw and Wayne Knight as Microchip.

(via UGO)

Piling It On, by Mike Gold

With great power comes… bloggers.

One of the first lessons I learned writing an Internet column – both here and on my soon-to-be-revived political rant Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mind – is also the first lesson I learned when I started on radio shortly after Marconi found the electricity outlet: if you say it, some people will buy it. Either way, if it’s big enough people will debate it.

Joey Goebbels had some success with this concept… for a while.

We here at ComicMix strive for responsibility, and in that spirit I’ve had a great many column ideas that I rejected simply because they weren’t true. Oh, sure, I thought about selling them to Michael Davis, but then it dawned on me I can squeeze this column out of my spiked copy. Ergo, without further ado, here’s a bunch of columns I won’t get around to writing.

     •     •     •     •

Oh, sure, Marvel rebooted Spidey to much loathing, but the reboot sells and if there’s one concept in comics that is engraved in stone it’s this: “Fool ‘em once, make big money. Fool ‘em twice and they’ll double-bag it.” In this spirit, Marvel has announced two exciting new projects. (more…)