PULP ARK 2012- THE PULPTRESS WILL BE THERE, WON’T YOU??
The Mix : What are people talking about today?
Marvel Leak Supports Theory of the 617
With X-Men vs. Avengers hitting the shelves this past week, fans are speculating just what the “shattering conclusion” hinted at in several teasers will be. Well, if the ramblings of a former Marvel graphic designer are to be believed, we’re in for something.
Mike Rifchin, an associate letterer was recently let go as part of Disney’s forced scaling back of staff, blogged major plot points coming up at the tail end of the summer blockbuster.
In his “…and a big F%#! You to Mickey” post dated March 29th, Mike let loose the following potential spoilers:
(SPOILER ALERT!)
- Wolverine will betray his school for the Avengers, citing “I’m the best I am at what I do, but I know when it’s time to stick to the winning side.”
- Cain Marko will resurface to claim his Cytorak gem. Red Hulk tosses it to him after defeating Colossus in the middle of Times Square. “Here you go kid, go make trouble for someone somewhere else.”
- Cyclops will face off against Captain America as expected, but don’t expect a lengthy battle. Panels into their big blowup, Cyclops pulls off his visor, and releases a “Four page optic blast.” Steve Rogers isn’t seen after that.
And the biggest spoiler of them all: After Hope decides to keep the Phoenix Force within her, Uatu leaves his post as a Watcher. “Hope is lost.”
And with it, so does the 616 universe. Uatu reveals his possession over the forgotten cosmic cube. What follows is a yet-to-be announced Flashpoint-esque universal reset. Due to the increased sales from DC’s relaunch back in August of 2011, Disney ordered the House of Ideas to match the success. According to Rifchin, the plans have been in place to reset things a bit. “Face it, with all the crap going on in Spider-Man, and all the different X-teams, and no real rise in sales over the last year? It doesn’t surprise me they’re playing the same weaksauce DC did – LAME!”
Rifchin’s blog has since been shut down by Disney and their team of mouseketeer lawyers.
Boehner Proposes April Fools Day Ban
Speaker of the House John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) today introduced a bill in Congress outlawing April Fools Day and all celebrations, activities and acts associated therewith.
“It’s all bullshit anyway,” Rep. Boehner told Politico. Then he broke down in tears and shouted “April Fools!”
It is not known if the Speaker was referring to the present slate of Republican candidates for President.
Bay: Ninja Turtles to be Equal Parts Sin City and Avatar
While fans continue to rally against explosion producer Michael Bay with his continual nerd-prodding over the recent announcement of the ‘Ninja Turtles’, it seems Bay can’t get enough of the hate. At a recent Transformers: Dark of the Moon Collectors Edition release and signing event at a soon-to-be closed Best Buy in San Paulo, California, Bay dropped a few more details on the upcoming Turtles release.
“We’re taking the best of the property, and trimming off all of the fat. The movie is really sharply written. I know the fans are clamoring against us, but they don’t know all the details. The flick will be equal parts Sin City and Avatar. We have a large part of it ready for pre-production. We’re bringing in [Robert] Rodriguez in to help run the set-shots for the black and white stuff. I’ll be assisting on the 3-D effects. Trust me, seriously, once you see Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo in their Shell Power Suits… you know it’ll be worth all this hype.”
Fans continued to press Bay with questions. One spectator, donning head to toe TMNT merchandise pushed to the front of the line to ask (quite angrily) “What about Donatello?!”
Bay, normally a very jovial celebrity turned cold at the question, and quickly snapped back “Like I said, we trimmed off all the fat,” and had his escort take him out of the back of the store.
Happy 56th Birthday, Alfred E. Neuman!
Hard to believe it, but Alfred E. Neuman is celebrating his 56th birthday today. Ever since he first graced the cover of MAD #30 in 1956, he has become a national icon and symbol of that era. His enduring gap-toothed grin has become an internationally recognized image and has been imitated time and again.
We salute, Alfred and share with you some fun facts about the fellow:
Although Alfred has appeared on the front of most issues of MAD, he has not appeared on every cover.
Over the years, Alfred has been depicted in a wide variety of roles, including Uncle Sam, George Washington, Barack Obama, Rosemary’s baby, Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber and Batman.
Alfred’s signature slogan, “What – me worry?” exemplifies the satirical and care-free tone of the magazine.
Alfred has run for president every election since 1956 with the campaign motto, “You could do worse, and always have!”
Alfred’s eyes are not aligned straight, yet they always manage to make contact with the reader. He is never depicted in profile.
In 1983, a man wore an Alfred E. Neuman mask while attempting to hold up a gas station in Michigan. The attendant working at the station could not take the man seriously and the robber left the scene without any money.
In MAD #322 (October, 1993), the magazine asked readers which real life celebrity Alfred E. Neuman most closely resembled – David Letterman, Ted Koppel or Prince Charles of England. While TV personality Letterman was leading the vote for the majority of the polling period, a last-minute influx of votes from Canadian readers crowned Prince Charles the victor of the competition. This was ironic considering that in 1958, MAD received a letter from Buckingham Palace (reprinted in MAD #48) to shoot down comparisons between Charles and Alfred. To this day, nobody knows if the note in fact came from Prince Charles himself.
As MAD’s mascot, Alfred is often referred to by the Usual Gang of Idiots at MAD as the magazine’s “Playboy rabbit.”
FORTIER TAKES ON ‘THE SPY’!
ALL PULP REVIEWS by Ron Fortier
THE SPY
By Justin Scott & Clive Cussler
Berkley Novel
528 pages
The third adventure in this series created by Clive Cussler and taken over by Justin Scott is another fine entry relating the cases of Isaac Bell, the top agent of the Van Dorn Detective Agency. When foreign spies from Japan and Germany launch acts of murder and sabotage aimed at crippling the Navy’s battleship program, the noted detective agency is brought into the case. This happens at the request of a young lady whose father, a gun battery expert, is found to have committed suicide after taking a bribe. Incensed by this slur of her father’s good name, the woman begs the agency to dig deep and prove what she suspects; that her father was actually murdered and the charges against him false.
The start is slow going for Isaac Bell, but bit by bit, oddities in the case begin to surface while at the same time, supposedly unrelated accidents continue to plague the Navy’s shipyards on both the East and West coast until the pattern of these events is just too coincidental to be ignored. Once on the case, Bell becomes the bulldog man-hunter we’ve come to enjoy in his previous outings and he soon comes to realize he is chasing a deviously cunningly spy with no loyalties to any single government. This shadowy manipulator is in fact a mercenary attempted to create a world conflict that will line his own pockets with riches. War is good business.
From the docks of the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the ports of California, Bell and his courageous team of agents find themselves racing against the clock to prevent the Spy Master’s ultimate coup, a terrorist attack that will set the country’s defense plans back by decades and leave American vulnerable to its enemies abroad. Once again Scott sets his suspense thriller against a backdrop of historical accuracy, detailing the emergence of a young republic about to claim its place on the world’s stage. But will this Manifest Destiny end long before it is born?
Filled with colorful characters and a beautiful glimpse of another, more innocent time, THE SPY is a worthy addition to this already much acclaimed series. Issac Bell is clearly the Nick Carter & James Bond of his times.
CW To Reshoot “Arrow” Over Fashion Issues
Due to recent events in Florida, Warner Bros. has decided to put its foot down. With the first promotional image for the new CW drama “Arrow” debuting a few weeks back, some were questioning how politically correct it might be to have a hero donning a hood to fight crime.
DC President Diane Nelson held a press conference this morning to disway the rumor mill:
“DC Comics wants to make it clear that we have been, and will always be at the forefront of fashion for our original licensed creations. But our heroes exist in a very real world… one that reacts to all of today’s issues. Given the recent tragedy in Florida, we’ve decided to make some improvements across the board to ensure the utmost sensitivity to everyone affected. Simply put, a good guy can’t wear a hoodie.”
With that being said, it was learned that DC will be reshooting “Arrow” with a new to-be-released costume, as well as make several changes to existing characters. The new Shazam will have his costume altered once again. Co-Publisher and lead costume designer Jim Lee noted “Shazam will now feature baggy cargo shorts, a red and gold short sleeve tee-shirt with white long sleeve shirt underneath, and his new trademark Kangol hat. We felt it was time to really bring the character into today’s marketplace.” In addition to that, copies of Superman: Earth 1 will be recalled, and have it’s cover replaced, as it features DC’s flagship character donning the aforementioned fashion faux-pas. Also, Static Shock will be removed from continuity completely, and any mention of him will be disavowed.
“Ultimately we have a responsibility to our readers to reflect the common values everyone shares. At this time, this means having to ensure no character is dressed in an offensive matter. In any event, it will not keep us from delivering the finest product in the marketplace we can.” Nelson concluded.
FORTIER TAKES ON ‘OUTLAW BLUES’!
ALL PULP REVIEWS by Ron Fortier
OUTLAW BLUES
By Percival Constantine
Pulpwork Press
180 pages
Pulpwork Press is one of the leading New Pulp publishers and books like “Outlaw Blues” are fine examples of the fast-paced, action packed offerings they put forth. This particular novel, by Percival Constantine is the second in a gritty spy-vs-spy type series labeled Infernum. Infernum is an ultra secret organization of mercenary assassins operated by a shadowy spy-master called Dante.
Although I did like the first book, it had flaws common to most new writers. This is Constantine’s second book since that review and it is all too evident that his innate talent is quickly maturing with each new effort. I have no reservations in saying this is easily the best thing he has ever written.
“Outlaw Blues” tells the story of a former Army Special Forces vet who becomes a killer for hire after leaving the military. His name is Carl Flint and during the formative stages of his new career, he manages to rationalize his actions with the belief that the world is an inherently bad place and he’s doing what he must to survive and prosper. If Flint has a conscious, he’s found a way to bury it until that time he can take his ill gotten gains and retire to a more normal lifestyle.
Unfortunately life doesn’t always adhere to our plans and during a botched up assignment, he accidentally guns down a pregnant woman. Later, when he learns her baby was saved in the hospital, his dormant decency breaks free and from that point on he becomes a haunted soul. He goes into semi-retirement, opens a blues bar and proceeds to spend the rest of his days in an alcoholic daze. Then one day, one of Dante’s stooges surfaces to recruit him for one more mission; a job that will pay him enough money to set up a trust fund for the little orphan girl whose mother he killed. Flint takes the job, fulfills his contract and then, after setting up the trust fund, disappears into Mexico under a different identity.
Of course in all noire tales, the hero can never truly escape his fate and sure enough death and violence follow him to this sleepy town south of the border, compelling him to finally accept his fate. Carl Flint is very much a Heminway-like protagonist whose bloody finale is was set from the first time he picked up a gun. Constantine writes him with such clinical economy, never wasting a single adjective or paragraph of mindless exposition. By allowing Flint to define himself by his actions, we are given an honest look into his soul and by the book’s end come to respect him, if we are still unable to condone him.
The bible quote is, “He who lives by the sword, shall perish by the sword.” Around that one single theme, Percival Constantine has given us a truly memorable character and powerful tale that proves his emergence as a genuine master of noire fiction. Even though intended as part of a series, let me assure you this is very much a stand-alone book that should be read for its own merits. Not having read the first will not impeded your enjoyment in the slightest. Whereas missing this book would be a real crime.
Spoilers for “Game Of Thrones” Seasons 2 and beyond!
Season 2 of Game Of Thrones premieres tonight on HBO, and people have been chomping at the bit to find out what will happen this year after the events of last year. Never fear! We here at ComicMix have acquired detailed and extensive information on what will happen in the next seasons of the Emmy-award winning drama, directly from George R.R. Martin himself.
Click here for Game Of Thrones Season 2 spoilers, Game Of Thrones Season 3 spoilers, Game Of Thrones Season 4 spoilers, and Game Of Thrones Season 5 spoilers!
American Nazi Party Sues Marvel
In a landmark proceeding, the American Nazi Party has sued Marvel Comics and its owner, The Disney Company, over the latter’s use of the character Adolf Hitler as well as their use of the stylized “swastika.”
The American Nazi Party is claiming trademark violation, a claim attorney Frankie Abbott perceives as “vacuous.” The renowned First Amendment and Title 35 lawyer believes both Hitler and the swastika are in the public domain. Hitler was a historical figure who ran “The Third Reich,” an alternate name for the German Empire in the early 1940s. “The use of the so-called swastika dates back over a millennium,” Abbott notes, “and has been used in Asian and Native American culture ever since.”
Nonetheless, the American Nazi Party has filed in the United States District Court, Central District of California, seeking $45 million in damages and a permanent injunction ordering a cease-and-desist on the use of their alleged trademarks, including in reprints of previously published materials. Further, the American Nazi Party seeks an additional $250 million in damages from the motion picture Captain America: The First Avenger, produced by Marvel Studios, a division of Marvel Entertainment. The Party claims contractual representation for the estate of the German Führer und Reichskanzler, and is taking these actions on their behalf.
Neither Marvel nor Disney attorneys responded to ComicMix by deadline.
