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Archie Rock And Rolls All Night With KISS

  • Uncategorized
  • July 22, 2011

This may be one of the stranger announcements out of the San Diego Comic-Con, and we think you actually can judge this book by its cover.

KISS  returns to comics later this year with two major projects from publishers Archie Comics and IDW Publishing. This marks the first time that two major publishers have entered into such a groundbreaking, simultaneous deal with such a popular property and trademark.

No stranger to the comic book medium, KISS’ latest foray into four-color adventures will build on the group’s epic and unparalleled legacy, which continues to grow among the band’s fanbase – also known as the KISS Army.

“KISS has a comic book history that spans almost four decades…but it was time to do things better than ever before,” said KISS founder Gene Simmons. “What’s bigger than two different companies sharing the KISS license? Archie and IDW will tell two unique and in-your-face tales of KISS, and we’re thrilled to be working with them on these projects.”

KISS arrives in Riverdale this November in the pages of ARCHIE #627, which kicks off the four-part “ARCHIE MEETS KISS” storyline, written by Archie’s own Executive Director of Publicity and Marketing, Alex Segura, and featuring art by Archie superstar Dan Parent. When one of Sabrina’s spells goes awry and a cabal of monsters invade the town, the Archie gang and KISS join forces to try and save the day. Full of adventure, humor and – of course – rock, the story is certain to appeal to fans of the band and the Riverdale gang.

“We’re ecstatic to team up with Gene, Paul and the entire KISS Army for this project,” said Archie Comics Co-CEO Jon Goldwater. “KISS is such a huge part of Americana and that goes hand-in-hand with Archie and friends. We’re honored and excited to help bring KISS back to comics in a huge way.

“This is a unique arrangement but one that we’re proud to be a part of. IDW – like Archie – know their audience and create high-quality and mass-appeal product. We’re looking forward to bringing two great KISS comic series out in the coming months that’ll appeal to the biggest audience possible.”

IDW’s KISS series will kick off in a very special way in 2012. “Having done comics with Gene Simmons for a number of years already, I’m ecstatic to now be involved fully with the ‘hottest band in the world,’” said Chris Ryall, IDW’s Chief Creative Officer. “We’ve found a very unique way to launch our KISS comics, and have big plans for the series that we’ll be revealing soon. I look forward to bringing KISS back to comics in a huge way!”

Ryall added “I think this is the first time two comic publishers have shared a license at the same time, and I’m happy that setting this precedent are Archie and IDW. We both have very different audiences and distribution methods to reach our unique audiences, as well as both of us reaching traditional comics fans, too. We’ll be able to reach all ages of the KISS Army in ways never before equaled. We’re both ready to rock and roll (all night).”

Disclaimer: IDW is the print publisher for ComicMix.

Superman: Man of Steel Moved to 2013

  • News
  • July 22, 2011

Time to adjust your movie calendars as Warner Bros admitted today that having Zack Snyder’s Superman: Man of Steel film for Christmas 2012 was impossible. The new date is now June 14, nestled between two Marvel sequels.

Given the effects-heavy movie’s post-production requirements and the fact is has yet to start shooting, it seems likely that production concerns forced Warner’s hand. It’s also theorized that the testosterone-laden film might not play as well during the holidays given the Academy Award contenders that normally crowd multiplexes during that time of the year. There are also other genre competitors that will suck up screens, complicating the planned release including Warners’ own first installment of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit in addition to Disney’s planned reboot of The Lone Ranger. Back in the far simpler 1970s, Superman the Movie opened for the holidays and performed quite well and Warners was hoping for lightning to strike twice.

Instead, it will now face off against similar competition bringing May 3 with Iron Man 3. DreamWorks’ kid-oriented Turbo precedes Superman on June 7 and is followed by Pixar’s Monster University on June 21 so there’s little live-action, adult competition and now studios know which weekends to avoid. Marvel’s Thor 2 follows a month later on July 26.

The extra six months will afford Snyder plenty of time to perfect the script, which has to be note perfect after the disappointment of this summer’s Green Lantern. It also means producer Christopher Nolan will be done with his The Dark Knight Rises in plenty of time to have a more active role in overseeing the production.

TimeWarner has to release the film in 2013 to satisfy legal obligations arising from the Siegel Estate’s lawsuit that saw elements of the Superman mythos awarded to them, the repercussions of which are being seen this fall in the Superman reboot from TW’s DC Entertainment division.

MARTHA THOMASES: Must The World Have A (Mrs.) Superman?

martha-thomases-1682431The staff at my regular comic shop wants to know what I think about the DC re-launch. I’ve been shopping there for decades, and I buy DC comics every time I go in there. I don’t only buy DC, but I buy almost everything they publish.

That’s the way it’s been for me for more than 50 years. I’ve liked Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman and the Legion of Super-Heroes for that long. As I’ve grown up, I’ve liked other characters, and I’ve learned to follow not just the heroes I like, but also the writers and artists.

So here’s what I tell them when they ask me what I think: “It doesn’t make any difference to me.”

Superman has relaunched once in my lifetime. I can’t count how often Wonder Woman has been rebooted. The Legion is so complicated that I have trouble keeping it straight and I’ve been reading it for 50 years!

I predict that, within five years, everything that’s important will be the same in the DC Universe as it is now, or as it was at some time in the past.

In the meantime, DC’s publicist, David Hyde, is kicking ass with his publicity efforts. I hope that enough people sample the new comics to see if they like them. It’s been a very long time since new readers have been courted so aggressively.

Unfortunately, there is one aspect of this I don’t like. Dan Didio and Jim Lee have described their characters as “brands.” This is the way the MBAs who run Warner Bros. talk about their properties, and I understand how, when one wants to appear savvy to one’s boss, one appropriates the bosses’ jargon.

“Brand” is a marketing term. Tide is a brand. Nike is a brand. It’s a corporate identity that promises consumers something they want, whether that something is reliably clean clothes or athletic shoes that let the wearer perform like a superstar.

super-charleses-5201928Superman is not a brand. He’s a character. He’s a character that changes according to the whims of the creative teams making his stories. He may implicitly promise consumers something they want (truth, justice and the American way), but he keeps them as readers because of his human qualities, the details of his life that fascinate us, amuse us and excite us.

As his publicist, I observed these phenomena in the 1990s. When Clark Kent and Lois Lane got engaged, the world went crazy. They didn’t do this because of branding, but because it was a sweet, human story. It’s always been my opinion that the reason the “Death of Superman” story was such a big deal was not because Superman died (he’s died plenty), but because the public had been following his relationship with Lois, and felt the loss along with her.

I’ve enjoyed Superman’s marriage. I enjoy stories of happy couples, whether they are detectives or ghosts or super-heroes. Millions of people watched Smallville to see Clark and Lois get married.

So I’m disappointed that the marriage will no longer be. That said, I trust Grant Morrison to write great stories.

And I’d bet we see another marriage in my lifetime.

Martha Thomases, Dominoed Daredoll, would also like to see The Dibnys’ back.SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman

Derrick Ferguson Takes A Trip To The DIRE PLANET

  • News
  • July 22, 2011

·  Paperback: 248 pages
·  Publisher: PulpWork Press; 1St Edition edition (September 15, 2009)
·  Language: English
·  ISBN-10: 0979732948
·  ISBN-13: 978-0979732942
Not being an historian I’m not sure if Edgar Rice Burroughs created the Planetary Romance genre.  But I am certain that he refined it into something so unique and special that all anybody has to do is say “John Carter” or “Dejah Thoris” or “Barsoom” and most everybody even remotely acquainted with Pulp will know what you’re talking about.  Planetary Romance or Sword and Planet as some like to call it is a wildly popular genre in its own right.  Burroughs having struck great success with his Mars books pulled off the same trick with his Carson of Venus books.   In the 1980’s I discovered other books/series in the genre written by Lin Carter, Michael Moorcock, Alan Burke Akers and even…sigh, the “Gor” books written by John Norman.
Suffice it to say without going into detail that some of them I enjoyed and others I shook my head in downright disbelief that they ever got published.  I can happily say that DIRE PLANET by Joel Jenkins is one that I’m glad got published as it’s a wonderful example of what New Pulp is about.  Joel embraces the conventions of Burroughsian Planetary Romance but it does it with a modern day eye.  As a result it’s a book that at once feels familiar and fresh.  Just when you think you know which way the plot is going to go, Joel manages to find another fork in the road that takes you someplace else.
The Earthman taken from his native world to the planet Mars this time around is Garvey Dire and he doesn’t get there by mystical means.  He gets there by spaceship, the NASA Mars Orbiter.  Garvey Dire’s mission is not just one of exploration and discovery.  His mission is one of vital importance to the continued security and safety of The United States.  China wants to establish their own base on Mars.  And so the race is on.
It’s a race that ends in disaster when Garvey’s ship crash lands on Mars.  With his leg broken, losing air and blood, it seems as if Garvey’s story is over.  But that all changes when he sees the image of a gorgeous green skinned swordswoman in armor.  And it’s because of that image his life is saved as he’s transported 50,000 years back into the past and to a Mars unlike any he’s ever dreamed of.
It’s all here; flashing swords against ancient super science.  Hideous beasts and their even more hideous masters.  Noble warriors battling against grotesque humanoid creatures of astounding cruelty.  Captures.  Chases.  Escapes.  Fates worse than death.  And romance.  Garvey Dire finds it all on ancient Mars.
But what really makes DIRE PLANET a cut above other Burroughs inspired Sword and Planet stories is the political element.  Once Garvey gets hurtled back to ancient Mars, Joel doesn’t forget the U.S./China conflict and indeed, the way he cuts back and forth between the two time periods is in true Burroughs tradition as he was expert at juggling two sets of characters, leaving one set in a nail-biting cliffhanger at the end of a chapter then bouncing over to the other set of characters for a chapter then leaving them in a inescapable trap then going back and-
Well, you get the idea.  It’s a good technique that never failed to work for Burroughs because it’s a surefire way of keeping the story going.  Joel even manages to resolve the conflicts in both time periods in a manner that while it’s clever it also involved just a little too much bouncing back and forth through time for my taste.  Not that I’m opposed to time travel, mind you.  But I think that Joel figured that the only way out was to pinball various characters back and forth between the two time periods.  It’s a little bit dizzying but hey, if you’ve hung on with Garvey Dire all that way, you’re going to go on to the end and you won’t be disappointed.
I can’t finish this review without mentioning two of my favorite bits in the book; Number one is the revelation of who The President of The United States. And number two is that Joel apparently is psychic because he predicted one of the most popular devices in use today way back in 2005 when this book was first published.
So should you read DIRE PLANET?  You certainly should.  If you’ve never read anything by Joel Jenkins this is the perfect place to start.  Joel has been writing what we’re now calling New Pulp as long as I’ve known him and we’re talking roughly around 15 years.  And in all that time he’s built up quite the respectable amount of work.  DIRE PLANET is one of his best.
For more information about Joel Jenkins please visit:
The Vaults of Caladrex  http://www.joeljenkins.com/
Pulpwork Press   http://www.pulpwork.com/

SDCC Dating Ettiquite

  • News
  • July 22, 2011

It’s the first night of the convention proper…

…which means it’s the start of all the parties…

…which means it’s the start of free booze flowing…

…which means a lot of people think that they’re the Doctor’s, ahem, companion…

…which means it’s time for Comic-Con Hookup Bingo!

Special points if you find “The Chosen One”.

Sadly, there seems to be no squares for getting it on with either comics pros or wannabes.

Certainly not for people who just blog about comics… because anybody can be a blogger.

 

First Comics, First Second Books, First Comics News, and firstcomics.com — Confused Yet?

  • News
  • July 21, 2011

first_comics-8400115Before the panel starts at San Diego Comic-Con, we hope somebody addresses the issues of potential for confusion in the marketplace and possible violation of trademark.

To start, we have First Comics. First Comics was a publisher co-founded by ComicMix’s own Mike Gold in 1983, notable for series like GrimJack, Jon Sable Freelance, Nexus, Badger, Whisper, Dreadstar, Shatter, Munden’s Bar, Classics Illustrated, and American Flagg! It published early work from John Ostrander, Timothy Truman, Norm Breyfogle, Mike Saenz, Mike Baron, as well as the first color appearance of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It went out of business in 1991, and has published nothing in the twenty years since. Some of the series previously published by First have found their way to being published elsewhere, including ComicMix publishing GrimJack, Jon Sable Freelance, and Munden’s Bar.

It has been announced that will be a panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con heralding the second appearance of First Comics, which will be starting in a few minutes.

comics_first_second_books-8505723And speaking of second, we have First Second Books, a publisher of graphic novels, and an imprint of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, one of the largest publishers in the world. Since it started publishing in 2006, First Second has published a number of acclaimed titles including the Eisner and Harvey Award winning [[[American Born Chinese]]] by Gene Luen Yang, The Black Diamond Detective Agency by Eddie Campbell, [[[Tiny Tyrant]]] by Lewis Trondheim and Fabrice Parme, [[[Life Sucks]]] by Jessica Abel, Gabe Soria, and Warren Pleece, [[[Little Vampire]]] by Joann Sfar, and Drawing Words and Writing Pictures: Making Comics: Manga, Graphic Novels, and Beyond by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden. They’re up for four Eisners this year.

0a65017-3278721Then just to add to the confusion, we have First Comics News, which has been running for a little over a year, and which is using a logo that’s very similar to the original First Comics one.

Incidentally, I’d link to First Comics as well as the other two publishers, but they don’t seem to have a web site– for that matter, they don’t even seem to own the domain: firstcomics.com is for sale for just under $2000. The current owner has had it since 2007, but since First Comics hasn’t published anything in that time, they will have a very hard time getting it back under domain squatting rules since they haven’t done anything to hold onto the trademark. It’s a bit surprising, considering the way the industry has been stampeding to digital, that this hasn’t been locked down yet.

And now we’re hearing whispers that because of the potential for trademark confusion, Diamond will not be carrying their titles– which is not unlike what happened a few years ago when there were two companies laying claim to being the heir and name rightsholder for Valiant Comics.

So with this many potential trademark pitfalls, one has to ask: can the name First Comics be resurrected? Can there be a second First if there’s already a First Second? And where should we go for First Comics news?

We look forward to any answers the panel might provide.

“Demon Circle” story by Crazy 8 Press To Benefit CBLDF — Buy It Here Now!

  • News
  • July 21, 2011

Athis, an apprentice wizard in the Crimson Keep, isn’t the brightest flame in the candelabra. So when he and another apprentice named Belid summon a demon and then panic, trouble ensues—trouble that threatens to snowball wildly out of control. Will they and their fellow student Klaria be able to deal with the consequences before their master finds out? Will the Crimson Keep still be standing when it’s all over?

ComicMix is proud to offer “Demon Circle”, an original novella from Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Bob Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, Aaron Rosenberg, and Howard Weinstein, the writers behind the new author-driven publishing venture Crazy 8 Press. Written live at ShoreLeave33, Crazy 8 Press and ComicMix are donating all proceeds to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which protects the First Amendment rights of comic book writers, artists, retailers, and fans.

You can get it for 99 cents, although you can choose to make a larger donation to the CBLDF by putting a different price below. After your purchase, you’ll receive an email telling you where to download the file.

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NEW PULP PARTNERS WITH STAN LEE FOUNDATION

  • News
  • July 21, 2011

NEW PULP ANNOUNCES ROUND ROBIN TO BENEFIT STAN LEE FOUNDATION

New Pulp, a recently organized Branding Movement to unite creators and publishers of modern Pulp fiction under a collective banner, announces today its first collective New Pulp publication. According to New Pulp founder Tommy Hancock, this project is a twenty chapter novel currently being written in a round robin style, that meaning each chapter is written by a different author. This multiple author narrative, entitled PARIAH AND THE PURPLE PRINCE, is the inaugural project of writers and publishers under the New Pulp Banner.

“New Pulp,” according to Hancock, “is a designation that applies to creators and publishers who, having found their inspiration in the stories and style established by the writers of classic Pulp stories in the early Twentieth Century, are continuing to write, draw, and publish tales of action and adventure in that tradition. New characters, new stories, new ideas, all owing a debt to the Pulp greats, but also written to be the two fisted, high octane adventure stories of today and the New Pulp classics of tomorrow.”

“This current project,” Hancock states, “actually sprouted out of the first New Pulp convention, Pulp Ark, held this past May in Arkansas. Possibly the single largest gathering of New Pulp creators to date, more than 25 creators representing at least nine publishers attended this convention and, of course, many ideas and concepts were discussed and debated. One of those discussions centered around how this collection of writers, artists, and publishers, now standing together under the banner of New Pulp could not only present and produce a unified product, a work representative of all the variety that New Pulp has to offer, but also a way that we could contribute something worthwhile, not just great stories. That desire quickly became an idea for a novel, round robin style.”

PARIAH AND THE PURPLE PRINCE is a novel in progress that started with a bare bones minimalist plot suggested by Hancock. Twenty authors were invited to participate in this project, their names being written individually on single strips of paper. As these names were drawn, each writer was assigned a chapter in the order their name was selected, the first writer getting Chapter 1 and so forth. Each writer gets a month to complete their chapter, although Hancock reports that the fourth writer is nearly done with Chapter Four and the project is just over a month along. “We are all taking this very seriously,” Hancock reports, “not only because we want the world to see what New Pulp is about, but also we are excited about the opportunity to give of ourselves, our time and effort and whatever money this novel might raise to not only a worthy cause, but toward something we all have a stake in-Improving education and literacy.”

All proceeds resulting from the sale of PARIAH AND THE PURPLE PRINCE will go to The Stan Lee Foundation. Founded to carry on the legacy of Stan Lee, the creative genius behind Marvel Comics and creator of a literal universe of iconic characters, the Stan Lee Foundation’s primary goal is to make literacy, education, and involvement in the arts accessible across America. A non-profit organization, The Stan Lee Foundation develops, designs, and sponsors programs and events with the singular purpose of bringing literacy, knowledge, and artistic enrichment to Americans from coast to coast.

“It is an honor,” Hancock states, “for each and every writer and creator involved in this project to be a part of giving something to an organization started by a man that has given us as fans and the world itself so much. The chance to contribute to The Stan Lee Foundation, to help this group further the fantastic efforts into education it has already initiated, to be just a little part of the progress and success that its various endeavors will see, is the best payday any of us could receive. With the opportunity of New Pulp working with the Stan Lee Foundation in other ways in the future also being possible, we truly want to give our best to this novel project and intend for this work to benefit future artists, learners, and readers everywhere.”

PARIAH AND THE PURPLE PRINCE will be published by Pro Se Press, the New Pulp publisher Hancock is a partner in. The writers contributing a chapter each to the novel include Hancock, Joshua Reynolds, Ron Fortier, Barry Reese, Thomas McNulty, Megan Smith, Wayne Skiver, Terry Alexander, Sean Ellis, Van Allen Plexico, Derrick Ferguson, Nancy Hansen, Adam Garcia, Wayne Reinagel, Mike Bullock, Andrew Salmon, Jim Beard, Bill Craig, Rich Steeves, and Tim Byrd. Collectively, these writers represent work in nearly every genre imaginable, from western to science fiction to crime to horror and beyond within New Pulp and as a group have worked with multiple prose and comic publishers producing the finest New Pulp has to offer.

For more information concerning New Pulp or the round robin novel PARIAH AND THE PURPLE PRINCE, contact Hancock at proseproductions@earthlink.net and follow New Pulp on http://www.newpulpfiction.com/.

DENNIS O’NEIL: Green Lantern’s Pink Stash

  • News
  • July 21, 2011

It’s about Sinestro’s moustache.

The Sinestro to whom I refer is the comic book villain who morphed into a character in a film that recently abandoned a multiplex near you titled Green Lantern, as opposed to all the other Sinestros in your life. He is humanoid except for a truly odd complexion and he has the kind of moustache that was sported by such luminaries of yesteryear as Clark Gable, William Powell and Thomas E. Dewey, who was a politician and thus not like all the other Thomas E. Deweys of your acquaintance.

I have no trouble with the complexion – after all, the dude was born on Korugar – but that moustache kind of niggles me. I am an evolutionary (he boasts, thrusting out his chest) and so have no problem believing in the theory of parallel evolution (which, according to Wikipedia, posits “the development of a similar trait in related but distinct species descending from the same ancestor” and that’s all the classroomy stuff I’ll inflict on you this week, I promise.) So what we have here is an ancient something-or-other that left… what? seeds? germs? – on both Korugar and Earth, and these eventually spawned sentient bipeds and what we jokingly refer to as civilizations, and so forth…As noted above: no problem.

But can we stretch our parallel evolutionary hypothesis so far as to accommodate the belief that on both Korugar and Earth there evolved alpha males with a penchant for decorative lip hair? If we can, the story might go something like this: Sinestro’s mom had a schoolgirl crush on the Korugarian version of Gable, Powell, or Dewey (or could this wannabe vixen have had a crush on all three? could she have been that profligate with her unrequited affection?) She gave birth to the infant Sinestro and, as the lad was growing up, continually impressed on him that real men – we’re talking macho studs who are suave, witty, sophisticated and ooze testosterone – these magenta-complexioned winners insist on having hirsute upper lips?

Oh, my… we could spin the speculation further and guess that the adolescent Sinny found that he could not raise decent facial hair and the frustration of having to disappoint Ma caused him to mull the possibility of becoming evil and by the time his hormones kicked in – on Korugar, puberty often comes late? – he had pretty much decided on a career in villainy? (Could the tale take a Faustian turn and narrate young Sin’s bargain with a Korugian devil who traded a handsome ‘stache for the lad’s immortal soul? Oh, my, my, my…)

We will resist further speculation and merely suggest, hat in hand, head bowed, that regardless of what may or may not have occurred on Korugar (and are you sure it doesn’t exist) the makers of Green Lantern might have decided against adding a moustache to the already cumbersome makeup they inflicted on actor Mark Strong and…

But wait! The fellow in the Simpsons t-shirt is telling me that according to one version of the Sinestro origin, the character was actually modeled on British actor David Niven. Well! I’m glad we cleared that up.

FRIDAY: Martha Thomases

X-Men: First Class hits Home Video September 9

  • News
  • July 21, 2011

September is shaping up to be a marvelous month for comics fans. Not only does the DC Universe reboot,ut while awaiting issues to be released, you can rewatch your favorite heroes on DVD. 20th Century Home Entertainment just announced X-Men: First Class is coming to disc on September 9 ( a rare Friday release) and on the following Tuesday, the 13th, Thor will arrive from Paramount Home Entertainment. Here are the details:

Before they were superheroes, the fate of humanity depended on an extraordinary group of youngsters who went on to become X-MEN: FIRST CLASS.  Based on the international bestselling Marvel Comics franchise, this box office hit bursts onto Blu-ray and DVD Friday, September 9 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. For the first time ever, “X-Men” fans will have the power to choose a side between Professor X and Magneto with two versions of premium collectible Blu-ray packaging.  Also exclusively on Blu-ray, fans receive access to over two hours of special interactive features PLUS ten Marvel “X-Men” Digital Comics including a never-before-seen “X-Men: First Class” backstory— redeemable through each Blu-ray’s unique packaging code.

Director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Kick Ass) tells the true origins of the multi-billion dollar film franchise, guiding exceptional performances by Golden Globe®-nominee James McAvoy (Atonement), Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds), and Golden Globe®-winner Kevin Bacon (“Taking Chance,” Mystic River).  A “rare movie event that balances an intelligent story with solid performances, first-rate action and top-of-the-line special effects” (Ben Lyons, E!), X-MEN: FIRST CLASS has drawn an impressive $150 million at the domestic box office and nearly $350 million worldwide.

(more…)

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