The Mix : What are people talking about today?

DOMINO LADY SPEAKS-COMING SOON!

For the first time ever on audio…The AudioComics Company presents THE DOMINO LADY

The AudioComics Company is proud to present the second characters in their original pulp audio project will be THE pulp vixen of the 1930′s, the scourge of LA herself, The Domino Lady!

First introduced by Lars Anderson in Saucy Romantic Adventures and Mystery Adventures, The Domino Lady is the alter-ego of Ellen Patrick, a wealthy UC Berkeley graduate out to avenge the murder of her father, District Attorney Owen Patrick, in the Raymond Chandler-esque Southern California of 1935. While she brandished a .45 and syringe of knockout serum, her greatest weapon was her sexuality, which she would use to disarm her unsuspecting opponents. Routinely stealing from her targets, she donates most of the profits to charity after deducting her cut, leaving a calling card with the words “Compliments of the Domino Lady” behind.

DL appeared specifically in “spicy pulp” magazines, pulps that typically featured semi-pornographic short stories. Such magazines had smaller print runs (and were as a result a few cents higher in price) and were usually sold “under the counter” upon request. Only a handful of Domino Lady were published, all of which were collected in Bold Venture Press’ Compliments of the Domino Lady, featuring a cover from the one and only Jim Steranko. In addition, Moonstone Books has published a new series of Domino Lady comics and prose stories. The AudioComics Company’s world-premiere productions will mark the first time that the alter-ego of Ellen Patrick has ever appeared in an audio format.

Portraying the Domino Lady will be San Francisco Bay Area actress and filmmaker Karen Stilwell, who has a unique tie to AudioComics; take a read of her bio…
Karen Stilwell began acting in San Francisco at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco as a teen. After winning a National Theater award for best ensemble work in regional theater (playing a maid in one of Tennessee Williams last plays called This is (an Entertainment)), she was propelled to continue acting after meeting Williams and Michael York and choosing, with the help of “A Chorus Line” summer touring cast members, to go to the Big Apple just after High School at age 17. Within a year she had joined both the Screen Actors Guild and The American Federation ofTelevision and Radio Artists recording voice overs, commercials, under five roles on soap operas like All My Children and The Guiding Light with some small parts in the films Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession and C.O D.

She became a core member of a theater company called Wild Hair Productions consisting of mainly fellow actors who had met in class and enjoyed writing and acting together in their own plays. The biggest hit to come from the troupe was Starstruck with Karen playing the original Erotica Ann 333, an android built for sex but re programmed to be the maintenance officer on the GOOD ship Harpy.

After several more years of off B’way work, more under five roles on soaps, and a few more national commercials, Karen did some stand in work for the lead ladies in Love Sick (staring Dudley Moore), was taken by the ensemble feeling the film crew had, and decided to get behind the camera herself taking off to film school in San Francisco. Soon Karen was making documentaries and shorts while raising her daughter Jenna. Two of her documentaries made it into the Library of Congress: The Real Jean Roe and Tear Gas Filled the Sky staring longshoreman, activist, writer & actor Bill Bailey. Acting picked up in San Francisco again in the 1990s with parts on television shows shooting in SF, not to mention many industrial films and commercials.

During the 2000’s Karen mainly worked in video post production with some corporate producing jobs and only acted when friends called upon her to jump in on low budget films and such. It wasn’t until reconnecting with Elaine Lee, her old acting troupe buddy, at the revived staged reading of Starstruck in Big Sur (which of course became The AudioComics Company’s debut audio play) that she finds herself ready to get in the nightgown and mask…behind the microphone that is…and play The Domino Lady.

The first Domino Lady project will be a three-part serial authored by one of the country’s leading DL historians, Rich Harvey, with the first part, “All’s Fair in War,” recording this fall in San Francisco, alongside AudioComics’ first two Green Lama audio adventures. The name Rich Harvey is synonymous with pulp stories and pulp history in the United States; a New Jersey-based graphic designer, writer, and publisher, his Bold Venture Press imprint specializes in reprints of classic pulp fiction, among  them Pulp Adventures magazine and Compliments of the Domino Lady, the reprint collection that thrust the Domino Lady back into the pulp limelight. He also sponsors an annual gathering of pulp enthusiasts, the Pulp Adventurecon, in New Jersey. Rich cites Dashiell Hammett as his favorite author and biggest influence, and next on the list is Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir’s The Destroyer series. www.boldventurepress.com is the handle!

“A warm west coast evening — a glamorous city bathed in silvery moonlight — a criminal element walking arm-in-arm with high society — and a masked woman who challenges their power the DOMINO LADY.”

The Comancheros

At a time when movie stars were truly larger-than-life and iconic, few stood taller and were more memorable than John Wayne. The Duke more or less played himself, the tall, laconic keeper of the moral code regardless of era or genre. He’s best remembered for his work in Westerns, ultimately earning his one Oscar for True Grit, a tribute to a career spent along the dusty trails of a bygone America.

Bit by bit, Wayne’s oeuvre is being preserved on DVD and now Blu-ray, with [[[The Comancheros]]] being the most recent offering. In time for the perfect Father’s Day gift, the deluxe package from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment offers up one of Wayne’s last big Westerns just as interest in the genre was beginning to wane. The movie is well regarded by many Western fans and Elmer Bernstein’s score has lived on, well beyond the film itself, used elsewhere ever since (including The Simpsons). It also has the historical footnote of being the final film from director Michael Curtiz, beloved for his earlier work on The Adventures of Robin Hood and Casablanca. He was laid low early on by cancer and Wayne himself took over much of the directing but refused credit. Second unit action sequences were handled by Cliff Lyons. The unfortunate many hands approach probably led to the film feeling incredibly uneven, talky without much punch to the dialogue sequences, and sluggishly paced for the first third. (more…)

ALL PULP REVIEWS-FORTIER TAKES ON ‘GHOSTS OF WAR’!

GHOSTS OF WAR
By George Mann
Pyr Books
231 pages
Available July 2011
Hot on the heels of earning a Pulp Factory Award nomination for Best Pulp Novel of 2010 for GHOST OF MANHATTAN, writer George Mann unleashes the second novel in this steampunk series.  Although considering the archetype pulp trappings these books are totally saturated with, one would suggest labeling them steampulp.
This new adventure of Gabriel Cross, the haunted veteran of World War One who protects New York City as the rocket-boot propelled, black garbed vigilante known as the Ghost, begins only a few weeks after the end of his last, horrific case.  He is still emotionally wounded having witnessed his lover, Celeste, sacrifice herself to save mankind from outer-dimensional monsters.
When a new threat to his city arises, he gratefully dons his Ghost garb and goes into action.  Weird hybrid mechanical flying creatures called Raptors are swooping out of the night sky and randomly kidnapping people with no apparent pattern or purpose other than to cause city wide terror.  The Ghost sets about catching one of these horrible monstrosities with the help of his friend, Inspector Felix Donovan, who shares his secret identity. 
At the same time, Donovan is given the task of hunting down a British spy by his superiors.  He is told the secret agent is a catalyst with information that will ignite a war between England and America.  When elements from both assignments suddenly come together, the Ghost and Donovan begin to suspect a much darker plot with tendrils leading to corruption among the highest ranks of City Hall.  In the end the Ghost allows himself to be captured by the raptors and taken to their hidden lair.  It is his one chance to uncover the evil mastermind behind the attacks and discover the true horror that awaits all mankind unless he and his small band of allies can save the day.
Hideous creatures from another dimension, a mad scientist more machine than man, an armed, massive airship on a mission of doom and more thrill-a-minute action than any other ten, oversized thrillers on the market today.  GHOSTS OF WAR is even better then its predecessor as Mann is truly warming up to this alternate world and his remarkable, colorful and appealing cast of characters that populate it.  This is new pulp fiction at its finest and I’m predicting there’s another Pulp Factory Award nod in its future.  Long live the Ghost! 

Rapture Ready Comics: ‘Dies Illa’ from Wasteland #3

There’s a lot of chatter about an event that may or may not happen tomorrow.

(SPOILER: It won’t happen. See Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32.)

For what will become obvious reasons, it reminded me of this story from John Ostrander and David Lloyd from Wasteland #3, February 1988 from DC Comics.

As for me, I plan to spend Friday night going out and leaving strategically placed piles of clothes and shoes.

Artwork ©1988 DC Comics.

Amazon Now Sells More eBooks Than Paper Books

Yesterday. the future arrived.

[[[Amazon]]] announced that eBooks are now the most popular sales format on Amazon.com, outselling the joint sales of hardback and paperback books. Since April 1, 2011, for every 100 print books Amazon has sold, it has sold 105 Kindle editions. It took Amazon just about four years to make that statement come true, and it represents the tipping point.

Related to that, the Association of American Publishers released new sales figures for March 2011, and eBook sales were up from last year, but down from February 2011. March eBook sales totaled $69.9 million, compared to $90.3 million in February 2011. Still, this was a big increase from March 2010, which saw $28.1M in sales (a 145.7% increase).

And yes, they’re cannibalizing paper sales.

So far, we don’t have numbers on what it’s doing for comic sales, although Apple has stated that the most in-app purchases have come from comic book programs, although no one’s quoting hard numbers yet. But it will only be a matter of time and display technology.

As for me, I don’t feel like Kevin McCarthy screaming in traffic quite so much anymore.

WHAT? NOT ENOUGH PULP ARK YET? YES, THERE’S MORE…

You say you don’t have enough PULP ARK yet?  Well, others agree with you…for instance…

THE BOOK CAVE
Ric Croxton (left) and Art Sippo in PULP ARK’s Dungeon

Ric and Art are running recorded interviews, panels, classrooms, and general chatter from PULP ARK all this week!  If you missed it, listen to the magic!  If you were there, relive the wonder one more time!
Or if you’re more of a visual person, then check this out from Friday night (recorded by Derrick Ferguson)
And if you want to watch a scene or two from the exclusive PULP ARK drama, THE CASE OF THE BLOODY PULP, you can watch these provided by Van Plexico!
Enjoy! 

PULP ARK DAY THREE-WRAPPIN’ IT UP

Sunday, May 15th, 2011

PULP ARK came to a close at 12 Noon, May 15th, 2011.  That was four days ago.  Still, the internet is alive with pictures, comments, ideas, threads, and remembrances of a three days that we will never forget.  There are even more pictures below.  I had planned to do a major article here, but I won’t.  Instead I’ll say-There will be a PULP ARK 2012, most of the guests who were there for the first time around have already committed to return.  And I’ll also say…

Thank you.  Thank you all.

Tommy Hancock

And for some, the Con went on!

RADIO LIVES AGAIN!

Derrick Ferguson and Art Sippo

Derrick Ferguson and Lee Houston, Jr.

Bobby Nash and Van Plexico

Fuller Bumpers and Bobby Nash

Ron Fortier and the Domino Lady

Lee Houston, Jr.

Terry Alexander and his lovely wife

And The Pulptress awaits your return next year
to PULP ARK 2012!

ComicMix Quick Picks: May 19, 2011

cat-1-3245233

Closing them in our browsers so you can open them on yours…

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.

‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Begins Shooting

christian-bale-batman11-300x212-6842725Here’s the release with all the current information, reminding us of how much we’re looking to seeing how this wraps up:

BURBANK, CA, May 19, 2011 – Principal photography has begun on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ The Dark Knight Rises, the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s [[[Batman]]] trilogy.

Leading an all-star international cast, Oscar® winner Christian Bale (The Fighter) again plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

The film also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle; Tom Hardy, as Bane; Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), as Miranda Tate; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake.

Returning to the main cast, Oscar® winner Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules) plays Alfred; Gary Oldman is Commissioner Gordon; and Oscar® winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) reprises the role of Lucius Fox.

In helming The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan is utilizing IMAX® cameras even more extensively than he did on The Dark Knight, which had marked the first time that a major feature film was partially shot with IMAX® cameras.  The results were so spectacular that the director wanted to expand the use of the large-format cameras for this film.

(more…)

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks