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JOHN OSTRANDER: The Digital Rubicon

  • News
  • July 17, 2011

A very intelligent man, one Dennis O’Neil (who you will also find here on ComicMix), and I were talking once about comics’ future. He noted that comics didn’t have to survive. Like the dinosaur, they could die out. Early cars had places for buggy whips; I doubt that you’ll find that feature on your car today. Food we need, water we need, air and so on. Story we need, I think, but comics as a venue for story? Not necessarily.

It’s no secret that comics sales are declining. The numbers of readers are declining, the numbers of stores are declining, the amount of cash being made is declining. It happened once before when comics were sold only on the newsstand, back in the Neolithic Era for you who are too young to remember. What saved it then was the Direct Market but that’s now killing it; the market is constricting and the numbers of readers are finite. What may save it this time is going digital – comics here on the web.

The reason is this is where the eyeballs are. As a product in comic books stores, comics are a very specific market – a destination shop for those who already know the product exists. The problem with selling comics on the internet is that will inevitably undercut the brick and mortar retailers, just as e-books are doing. (Amazon now says it sells more e-books than physical ones.) I love comic book stores. I admire the retailers who have put their hard work and passion into building businesses that cater to we the fans. I’ve made a living for more than twenty years because these people sell my stuff (and, okay, some other stuff, too). However, it’s going to happen. Comics are headed for the digital market big time.

Up until now, the majors have been releasing some titles on the web after the onsale date in stores but that changes in September. DC is renumbering its books and relaunching and all that but, to me, the bigger story is that they’re crossing the Digital Rubicon and putting everything on sale digitally the same day they’re in the stores. If that is successful, expect lots more companies to follow, big and small.

The big question in my mind is – will people buy comics on the web? If so, how much are they willing to pay? If all that happens is that those who go to the stores now buy online, this won’t fly. This has to increase the overall market – the number of eyeballs – or it will not only fail, it could sink much of what’s left of the retail market.

I’m thinking it’s part of the reason for the renumbering and rebooting (despite denials from DC) – to make the books more attractive to new readers. It will also attract some national media attention. It’s also necessary. In an era when superhero movies (and movies made from all kinds of comics – i.e. Cowboys And Aliens) attract huge numbers in the theaters, there is clearly a following for these characters. If even a small percentage of that can be attracted to the comics, it would make an enormous difference. I think DC is making a gutsy move.

Make no mistake, however; whatever happens in September, the comics biz won’t be the same. By this time next year, we may know if we’re still viable or making buggy whips.

MONDAY: Mindy Newell

New ‘Captain America’ Footage Released — See It Now!

  • Uncategorized
  • July 16, 2011

To lay the groundwork for next week’s premiere, or in anticipation of San Diego Comic-Con, or simply to take some of the wind out of Harry Potter‘s sails, Paramount and Marvel released four new clips from Captain America: The First Avenger.

First how Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) got the job from General Hammond (Tommy Lee Jones) and Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci):

Then how he got the body:

Then how he got the shield:

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MARC ALAN FISHMAN: Flash Fact – Barry Allen Sucks!

Hello all you crazy-awesome ComicMix fans. For those who don’t know me (and when you share a space with guys like Mike Gold, John Ostrander, Martha Thomases, Michael Davis, Denny O’Neil, and Mindy Newell? I don’t blame you!) allow me to introduce myself by way of witty, snarky banter. I figured if I am to come out of the gate anew with a comic focused op-ed piece, I might as well start by swinging for the fences. So, let me point to the rafters over center field, and take the biggest swing I can.

Simply put: DC’s Flashpoint is a ten-pound turd in a five gallon bowl.

I use this nasty language, mind you, because I “covered” the event for a podcast I do from time to time… and have spent my hard earned dollars on this bloated excuse to sell toys, and piss off fans.

In June, DC boldly told the world they are “star-wiping” their universe to engage the next era of fans, by removing that pesky continuity. So, while those new and shiny number ones are getting printed, why not release yet-another-epic-that-will-change-the-universe-as-we-know-it™ event? “Flashpoint” was to turn the DCU on its ears. It chortles in every issue with its logo emblazoned on the title card, that it gives us a world where “everything you know has changed in a flash…” My ass. What they’ve done instead, is created an unnecessary mega-crisis for no better reason than “going out with a bang”. So for all us fans who don’t mind a little history to go with our comics… we’re treated to DC choosing to end their current universe’s life on yet-another-Crisis.

In a nutshell, Flashpoint is DC’s attempt at taking an obvious Elseworlds story and shoehorning it into continuity. I honestly don’t care how many well-produced interviews they have Dan DiDio do celebrating the ‘ground breaking’ idea. I don’t care how many Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, or Bleeding Cool articles are written kissing the ass of all the creators involved (and yes, all three have since reviewed many of the series’ minis very poorly). To tell the fans that this event will matter, is akin to the DCU toking up a massive joint, and blowing the Funion fumes right in our face in hopes we’ll get the munchies. I’ve not seen better hype for a dumber product since The Phantom Menace.

On DCU’s “The Source” blog, they asked some hard hitting questions to this effect:

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THE SPIDER, DOC, CISCO KID, JOHNNY DOLLAR AND MORE FROM RADIO ARCHIVES!

  • News
  • July 15, 2011


July 15, 2011

The Latest News from RadioArchives.com!
* New Digital Downloads Now Available
* New Podcast Features the Creators of “Python Isle”* Coming Soon: Doc Savage in “White Eyes”
* Spotlight on The Spider

New Digital Downloads Now Available

For well over a decade, RadioArchives.com has been known for the amazing audio quality of our classic radio compact disc collections – and it’s no wonder. We insist upon finding the absolute best quality masters, then carefully restoring them so that they retain all of the audio luster of the original recordings with none of the crackle, pops, hiss, or muffling so often heard in radio shows from other sources.

So, when we decided to start offering digital downloads of these same collections, we knew that you’d accept nothing but the absolute best quality. That’s why every classic radio co llection you download from RadioArchives.com comes to you as a zip file containing each individual show, encoded as a mono 128 kpbs MP3 file with a sampling rate of 44,100.

If you often enjoy audio entertainment on your computer, your cell phone, or a portable device, you’ll be glad to hear that we’ve just added another sizable batch of selections to the digital downloads” page at RadioArchives.com. Included are such long-time customer favorites as the classic police drama “Calling All Cars”, the western adventure series “The Cisco Kid”, the high-flying adventures of America’s favorite free-lance insurance investigator “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar”, and many, many more!

Digital downloads from RadioArchives.com give you the best of everything. Top quality shows in sparkling audio fidelity, available to you for instant delivery around the clock – and, with digital downloads, you’ll pay no postage or delivery charges! Whether you live in Beijing, Basingstoke, or Bakersfield, just place your order and, within minutes, you’ll be enjoying some great entertainment.

Stop by RadioArchives.com often and see what’s new in our digital downloads section. Great shows, great sound, and great prices, too!

New Podcast Features the Creators of “Python Isle”
About a month ago, RadioArchives.com released “Python Isle”, the Doc Savage adventure that is the first in our new line of enhanced audiobooks. Your response to the set has been tremendous, with “Python Isle” quickly climbing to the top of the best-seller list on the Radio Archives website.

But the excitement about this engrossing and dramatic production has spread far beyond the customers of RadioArchives.com. Just this week, in fact, the creators of “Python Isle” were the guests of “Pulped!”, the new podcast hosted by Tommy Hancock and Derrick Ferguson. It was delightful fun to spend an hour with these two knowledgeable gentlemen discussing Doc Savage, audio production, and the details of how “Python Isle” came to be.

This new episode of “Pulped” can be heard in its entirety on our website at RadioArchives.com. Visit the Audiobook section and give it a listen! And if you haven’t yet purchased your copy of “Python Isle”, there’s still plenty of time to add it to your list of “gotta hear it” summer listening! Priced at just $25.98 for the 8 audio CD set or $17.98 for the digital download, this thrilling story of action and suspense is one that you’ll want to share with your whole family – and it’s only available from RadioArchives.com!

Coming Soon: Doc Savage in “White Eyes”

The place: New York City. During the depths of the Great Depression, in the shadow of streamlined skyscrapers, reporters scramble for clues about an insidious wave of bizarre deaths – everyday citizens struck dead, the eyes in their lifeless bodies turned a sightless and ghastly white. The Blind Death has the teeming city paralyzed with fear; in desperation, civic leaders turn to the one man who can discover who or what is behind this gruesome series of murders: Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze.

From his offices high above the city, Doc and his band of trusted colleagues soon uncover a terrifying scheme to gather together all of the city’s criminal elements as a single and seemingly undefeatable force. Their intent: to seize the wealth of the Man of Bronze and destroy him once and for all!

“White Eyes”, the second in a new line of audiobook adventures from RadioArchives.com, is an epic tale of crime from the pen of Will Murray, heir apparent to Lester Dent, creator of Doc Savage. Featuring dramatic narration by Richard Epcar, “White Eyes” is a roller coaster ride of action and excitement that will leave you on the edge of your seat. Produced and directed by Roger Rittner, who joined with Will Murray to bring you both “The Adventures of Doc Savage” radio series and the thrilling audiobook “Python Isle”, “White Eyes” will bring you ten hours of engrossing entertainment. Soon to be available as both a ten audio compact disc collection and a ten hour digital download, this new release from RadioArchives.com will also feature evocative cover art by Joe DeVito and two fascinating and exclusive audio interviews with the author.

Join the Man of Bronze for a suspenseful tale of action and adventure in “White Eyes”, the new Doc Savage audiobook coming soon from RadioArchives.com! 

Spotlight on The Spider

His name is Richard Wentworth III. Man-about-town, dilettante of the arts, and engaged to the beautiful Nita Van Sloan, it would seem at first glance that he is nothing more than another non-productive member of the upper crust – a wealthy young man preoccupied with casual and frivolous pursuits. But, in reality, Richard Wentworth is completely devoted to the pursuit of justice for the downtrodden, no matter what the cost to himself or to his loved ones. Secretly donning a tattered black hat and cape, a wig of stringy hair, sinister face makeup, and strapping on a pair of .45 automatics, Wentworth prowls the streets of New York as The Spider, chasing down criminal masterminds bent on enslaving or destroying humanity.

The pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s produced a number of memorable heroes, but none were as action-packed or violent as The Spider. For neatly a decade, he was the self-proclaimed scourge of the Underworld, doling out his own particular brand of justice and imprinting his dreaded red Spider seal on the foreheads of those he killed for the good of mankind. Unlike Doc Savage, who radiated health and well being, or The Shadow, who worked covertly with the police to solve crimes, The Spider was an obsessed loner, imbued with the spirit and the lawlessness of a vigilante. Offering a less optimistic and more
defiant take on the challenges of the Great Depression, the villains in the novels of The Spider were equally obsessive, committing acts of destruction on a massive scale. Essentially terrorists, they thought nothing of sinking huge ocean liners, toppling skyscrapers, and wiping out entire towns with germ warfare – and their motivation for such acts was often nothing more than sheer evil for its own sake.


The stories of The Spider plunge you headfirst aboard an emotional roller coaster, with scarcely a moment’s pause for respite. Oriental death traps, treacherous and alluring women, and rabid, machine-gun toting gangsters are all part of a typical day for this beleaguered hero. And, to make things worse, Wentworth is frequently suspected of being the dreaded Spider, his home is periodically destroyed, and his servants and friends – particularly the long-suffering Nita Van Sloan – kidnapped, tied-up, and threatened with horrible torturous deaths.

If you’re only familiar with Doc Savage or The Shadow, The Spider offers a fascinating and, even today, often shocking alternative for those who are fascinated by the pleasures of pulp fiction. RadioArchives.com is excited to offer an ongoing series of double-novel reprints featuring the timeless tales of The Spider, complete with the original full-color covers and reformatted for easy reading. And, coming soon, new Spider audiobooks, too! Make RadioArchives.com your source for the best in classic pulp fiction entertainment!



Listen to this Newsletter!


Sit back, relax, and enjoy this newsletter as an Audio Podcast! Click anywhere in the colorful banner at the top and you’ll automatically hear the Radio Archives Newsletter, enhanced with narration, music, and clips from our latest collections! This audio version of our regular newsletter is a pleasant and convenient way to hear all about our latest products, as well as the newest pulp fiction reprints, special offers, and much, much more!

Saying Farewell To HARRY POTTER

  • News
  • July 15, 2011

 pt071511-9040420It could be called one of the biggest movie franchises if all time, and this weekend HARRY POTTER comes to an end. We sit down with Emma Watson and Rubert Grint on their feelings about closing this chapter in their careers. Plus more with Zak Penn on the Bad Guys challenging his ALPHAS. And Marvel Comicsreally wants you to open up a comic store!

Check out The Point Radio for constant pop culture updates – and please check us out on Facebookright here & toss us a “like”.

MARTHA THOMASES: Who is Ana Mendieta?

  • News
  • July 15, 2011

martha-thomases-6057391The world of fine arts is even more male-dominated than the world of popular arts. Although both trivialize the work of women, there are more respected women working in creative departments of film, television, even comics than there are in the better galleries and museums.

As if to prove the point, there is a new graphic novel from the Feminist Press, Who Is Ana Mendieta? Ana Mendieta was a Cuban-born artist best known for her earthworks, which combined her cultural heritage, her body, and specific sites. And, to the broader public, she is best known for her marriage to artist Carl Andre and her death under questionable circumstances.

This book is part of Blind Spot, a series of graphic novels from Feminist Press, which, according to their press release, “reconstruct these cultural biographies to tell a different story.”

Who Is Ana Mendiata? uses the graphic novel medium to full effect. The perspective jumps around from the persona – Ana’s life and relationships – to the professional – the upward trajectory of her career, and her developing themes as an artist – to the political – the art world environment and its attitude towards women. The word balloon placement guides the eye deftly, so that none of this is the least bit confusing. The slightly cartoony art style makes it easy to accept the contradictory opinions of the different characters, even as it encourages a healthy skepticism in the reader.

It makes me a little bit nostalgic to see the debates of the late 1970s to mid-1980s about the importance of women’s contribution to the arts. Critics like Lucy Lippard (who wrote the introduction to this book), artists like Barbara Kruger and Judy Chicago (just a small sample, read the book for more), and the Guerrilla Girls collective, made it an exciting time. Anger makes good graphics.

The same anger also made great music.

It’s interesting that now, more than 25 years later, we still have these arguments. It’s now accepted that women work “outside the home,” as we used to say. And we accept that women can be artists and managers and executives and airline pilots and ditch diggers.

And yet.

Women are still defined primarily as creatures who breed other humans. Our professional accomplishments are limited by our fertility, and the law considers us little more than incubators. Men can be fathers and successful, but women are still expected to choose one or the other area in which to excel.

Life is a good thing, and I’m in favor of continuing the human species. However, I think we limit ourselves when we concentrate on women’s wombs at the expense of their brains. Rosalyn Yalow‘s commitment to life was profound. If she couldn’t type, those people – and her genius – would have been lost to the rest of us.

Whether or not Ana Mendieta created work that appeals to your aesthetic, you owe it to yourself to check out this book … and her art.

[[[Who Is Ana Mendiata?]]]
Christine Redfern & Caro Caron
Introduction by Lucy Lippard
Hardcover: $18.95
ISBN: [[[978-155861703-2]]]
The Feminist Press

SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman!

LOVELY AND INEFFABLE-RUCKA AND BURCHETT’S ‘LADY SABRE’

  • News
  • July 15, 2011
Eisner award winning writer Greg Rucka (Queen and Country, Atticus Kodiak) and Eisner award winning artist Rick Burchett (Batman, She-Hulk) have teamed up to unleash a new pulp-tastic webcomic, ‘Lady Sabre & the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether’. Updating every Monday and Thursday, the comic chronicles the exploits of the eponymous Lady Sabre as she journeys through a world quite unlike our own…a world of airships, aether-taken civilizations and adventure!

To learn more, visit http://www.ineffableaether.com/! Adventure ahoy!

Friday Public Service Announcement

  • News
  • July 15, 2011

As we approach the start of San Diego Comic-Con next week, we’d like to remind the women going to the convention of one of the greatest dangers lurking there…

We’d also like to remind you about Tarna the Tarakian, Catwoman, Storm, Dr. Harleen Quinzel, Emma Frost, Leeta, Shanna the She-Devil, Katma Tui, Dark Phoenix, Ursa, Rocket, Manhunter, Black Canary, Zatanna, Firestar, and if you want to make Gail Simone happy, Batgirl.

FORTIER TAKES ON TWIT PUBLISHING’S ‘PULP!’

  • News
  • July 15, 2011

ALL PULP REVIEWS- By RON FORTIER

PULP!

Edited by Chris Gabrysch

Twit Publishing LLC

213 pages

I make no bones about loving anthologies as I’m a huge fan of the short story format.  And with pulp anthologies of this kind you are bound to find some really amazing nuggets as well as an assortment of lesser quality entries.  Overall, if the number of excellent, fun tales outweighs the bad, you’re in good hands. Which is why it is easy for me to recommend this book edited by Chris Gabrysch as the majority of the twelve included within are truly worth your perusal.

My favorite was easily “A Shot in the Dark” by Peter Michael Rosenberg which features a marvelous protagonist in Cairo based Chief Inspector Walaa Yousesef.  This Egyptian Hercules Poirot won me over from his first appearance revolving around the body of an English photojournalist found crammed in an old cabinet in her hotel room. I hope Rosenberg writes many more cases for this unique detective.

Another enjoyable entry was “Balalaika” by Jennifer Loring.  It deals with vengeful vampire stalking the citizens of an isolated Russian village.  It is well written and haunting in its depiction of rural Russian settlement and the horror visited upon it. Whereas “The Schitzel Connection” by Cyril C. Young Jr. had me in stitches.  It’s a cautionary tale wherein we are warned evolution can easily go backwards instead of forward depending on how much pretzels and beer one consumes.  If you can’t chuckle after reading this, there’s something totally wrong with you.

“Install” by Drew Wilcox is a scary tale of a cable guy’s visit to a very bad address. Horror shorts are hard to do but Wilcox pulls it off and this one really had me flipping pages to get to the end.  Noire crime stories were also well represented with two nifty yarns.  “Smooth as Sharkskin,” by Slade Grayson is a classic crime pulp story and delivers as neatly as its title portents while “My Date with Red,” by Tom Swoffer, is an oddball, highly readable story of a drug dealer scared witless done in a Quentin Tarrentino style.

As this collection is eclectic in subject matter, I was pleased to find “Montana Jack” by Dave P. Fisher, a no-frills classic western tale; truly superb writing.  Another contender for my favorite in this book.  Fisher really should stretch his writing muscles and try a full length western novel.  He’s that good.

And finally there is the fantasy comedy “Whatever Happened to the Dark Lord?” by Frank R. Sjodin that has some really hilarious moments and twists nicely on its own logic.

The remaining four stories did nothing for me at all; obviously not my cup of tea. One, a long crime piece, “Double Take,” by Chris O’Grady was competently written, but in his attempt to mimic other successful hard boiled writers, he completely homogenized his tale so that it comes across bland and spiritless.  Even the toughest, most cynical writers of this genre know you need to inject some melodrama to grease the plot wheels.

So eight out of twelve gives this collection a big thumbs up in my accounting.  Try a copy and let me know if you agree with me.  Or not?

Don McGregor Needs Your Help

  • Uncategorized
  • July 15, 2011

Don McGregor‘s elderly mother and other family medical emergencies have forced this fine man and fierce writer of the Black Panther, Killraven, and Detectives Inc., to put his personal collection of art (from stories he wrote) on the selling block.

I will be representing Don McGregor’s personal collection of artwork–original pages from stories that he wrote for Marvel.

I am not taking a commission from Don. All monies will go directly from you to him and he will ship directly to you; I am just sitting in the middle because Don is a wonderful and kind man who has never been about money (imagine that) and I don’t want him to get a dime less than he deserves or might otherwise get.

When a man like Don McGregor sells cherished art that was gifted to him by the artists that drew his beautiful stories, you know it’s painful for him. Don loves this art and it should go to people who love it, too. It’s being sold because he needs the funds. Ain’t that America.

I won’t allow art dealers to steal these from him. And I am not expert enough, despite the posturing, to know what these pieces are really worth. So here’s the deal: Some friends of mine and I going to bid on Don’s art while spreading the word far and wide. We are hoping you’ll beat our bids because we want Don to get top dollar. We hope that you will help spread the word. The bidding can end at any time (when Don says, “That’s a fair price; I’ll take it!”) But let’s not let this drag out too long, chums. Let’s pretend we actually learned something from those superheroes we grew up reading when Don was still writing them.

What else can you do? If you’re an artist, a small drawing would be nice. Black Panther, Killraven…something that Don worked on for sentimental reasons. I’ll be the first bidder and I’ll bid generously…and then I expect others to do the same. Let’s make the world go round.

Contact me if you’re genuinely interested in buying art from Don at fair market value. And spread the word to other art collectors. This is a rare opportunity, and you will have my gratitude and Don’s. And you will have Gene Colan’s gratitude where he rests in the World of Truth.

Current bid on the piece you see on this page: $1750.

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