Tagged: DC

Cut Them Off At The Past, by Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • January 15, 2008

And the Screen Writers Guild lurches into a tenth week and if there’s any end in sight, I haven’t heard about it.

Last time, I mentioned the Academy of Comic Book Arts and its failure to do any significant negotiating on behalf of its members. ACBA wasn’t the first attempt, though, to organize those glorious mavericks, the comic book community. In the 60s…

Wait! Better issue a warning before I go further. Do not regard anything that follows as gospel. (In fact, you might consider not regarding the Gospel as gospel, but let us not digress.) I have no reason not to believe what I’m about to tell you except one: About a year before he died, Arnold Drake, who was a busy comic book writer at the time we’ll be discussing, told me that the story I had wasn’t the whole story, or even necessarily accurate. I don’t know why I didn’t press him for further information, but I didn’t.

Okay, the story:

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Legends of the Dark Fleece

  • News
  • January 11, 2008

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of ewes?  It’s the Ovine Princess, the Dark Fleece Detective.  We were lucky enough to meet this secretive heroine at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.  She seems to be a big fan of ComicMix, pausing in her contemplation of villainy (and the straw in the stall) to notice the logo on our t-shirt. 

Oddly, we never seem to see glamourous socialite Lani Lind (LL!) when this dominoed dare-doll puts in an appearance.

(Editor’s note: Martha, we told you we wanted you to work on promoting our online edition of The Black Lamb by Timothy Truman, formerly published by Helix/DC Comics. This ain’t what we had in mind. –Glenn H.)

 

 

Teen Titans’ Jamal Igle Speaks!

teentitans52-3524076Who’s your hero?

Starting today, that’s a question ComicMix is posing to a number of folks inside the comics industry and then sharing the results with you.

DC mainstay Jamal Igle steps up for the first crack at the query with some interesting results. Here’s a hint – his fave isn’t on this Teen Titans cover, but he is INSIDE.

Plus:

  • IDW unleashes their Second Stage for Star Trek!
  • Archie upgrades their web presence in a big way!
  • What comics were big sellers for the holidays? We’ve got your list!

All that and more is just a Button Press away!

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Oh God, if there is a god… by John Ostrander

  • News
  • January 10, 2008
Every once in a while, when I disclose or discuss my agnosticism, I get pointed little messages and jokes along the lines of “Agnostics are atheists who like bingo.” I hear that more often from atheists than theists, interestingly enough. Some folks consider agnostics to be the bisexuals of religion – like we’re trying to have the best of both worlds. “They should stop straddling the Theological fence,” seems to be the attitude. Shit or get off the metaphysical pot. Pick a side, damn it! This is America and we pick sides.
 
The suggestion seems to be that I haven’t thought this through because, if I had, I’d be one thing or the other. Charlie Brown probably grew up to be an agnostic. Good ol’ wishy washy Charlie Brown. Or maybe it’s Hamlet – forever philosophizing and never really doing until it’s way too late. The thing is, I have thought about. I continue to think about it, to question it all, including my questioning.
 
I don’t usually get into discussions about what I believe/disbelieve. These things almost never end well. However, I need a column for this week and this topic comes to mind so…off we go! We’ll start with the usual caveats that one must issue in this civil discourse-challenged era. When I state my position, I’m not attacking your beliefs or unbeliefs, whatever they may be. I’m not trying to insult you, Jesus, Yahweh, Allah, Buddha, Odin, Jupiter or whatever church you may belong to or shun. I’m not trying to convince, convert, or proselytize. I’m just stating my position.
 

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Marv Wolfman wins National Jewish Book Award

  • News
  • January 9, 2008

This just in from Marv Wolfman:

I don’t know too many details or the specific category as I just got the phone call but my book, Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel has just won the National Jewish Book Award. This is supposed to be the most prestigious of all the Jewish organizations.  Once I learn more I’ll put it up on my website, but as I just got the call I thought I’d share it.

Homeland has previously won the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award for  non-fiction, the USAbooknews.com adult award for history/politics and  last week received a Notable Book for teenagers by the Sydney Taylor  Book Award for the Association of Jewish Libraries. That means the comic-based book, actually inspired by my old History of the DC  Universe book, has won non-comics acclaim for kids, teens and adults. As I say I don’t yet know the category for the National Jewish Book award but in that world this is the big one.

Homeland is drawn by Mario Ruiz and published by Nachshon Press.

Mazel tov, bubby.

Ho Ho Ho, It’s Magic, by Elayne Riggs

  • News
  • January 9, 2008

elayne100-2528299In a comment to Mike Gold’s column on Monday regarding Marvel’s "One More Day" storyline, Michael H. Price noted, "It comes down to the question of ‘What is Sacred Screed, and what is negotiable?’ How far can the re-invention, or the seemingly likely evolution, of an established character go before the Powers That Do Be dictate a market-pandering reversal?" He even quoted the line that fanboy favorite Alan Moore borrowed for "Whatever Happened to the Man of Steel?" — the famous "This is an Imaginary Story … aren’t they all?"

Now, I must confess off the bat that I haven’t yet read the "One More Day" saga. I think I may have read the first issue, but I’m still waiting for delivery of most of my non-DC comics from December. It’s something I’ve learned to live with, this being one or more months behind the "early adopter" new-comics-every-Wednesday crowd of which I was once a part, ever since my former job moved out of Manhattan, rendering impractical my weekly visits to the local comics store. It makes responding to the fan outrage du jour a little trickier, as I can’t cite specific examples of one thing or another, so I’m left with responding to the response, as it were.

I like to think it’s a tribute to writers and artists of the past that the characters and situations they had a hand in creating have taken on such illusory "lives" of their own that inspire such passion in readers that they seem to argue endlessly over something that doesn’t exist. If only that energy could be harnessed for good!

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Solitary Pleasures, by John Ostrander

  • News
  • January 3, 2008
Well, foo.
 
I was working on this great C.O.M. (Cranky Old Man) rant for this week’s column about how technology was making us all more isolated. It was a nice rant, too – it started with the Luddite vision of how, in the old days, people sang together or told stories in order to entertain themselves. It was a group thing and it bound people together. The rant then traced how technology – movies to begin with – changed us from participants to observers and then radio changed it into small family sized units until it was replaced by TV. The rant went on – oh, how it went on – about how the dawning of iPods and cell phones and texting and the Internet was further fracturing us into isolated units and blah blah blah. Really, I was working up a nice head of steam. 
 
Then I looked at what I was doing. At this. At words such as these on the screen or printed on a page. Usually written by one person and then read by one person. What we’re doing, right now, you and I. Reading, in general, is an isolated act, a solitary pleasure. It made mincemeat of my rant.
 

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Blue Pills: review

  • News
  • December 28, 2007

Blue Pills was previously published in Europe, where it won the Premios La Carcel de Papel in Spain and the Polish Jury Prize at Angouleme. It has sold over 20,000 copies in its original French edition, and now Houghton Mifflin is publishing it in the United States. This graphic novel by Frederik Peeters is a personal memoir of his relationship with a woman and her young son, both HIV positive. Intimate, emotional, deeply personal, it’s exactly the kind of story I thought I wouldn’t like.

I was wrong.

Let’s start with the main thing I thought I wouldn’t like: the artwork. Peeters uses a very blunt line, without a lot of detail. The impression is rough rather than smooth, sketchy rather than finished. The pages are, for the most part, variations on the six-panel grid. It doesn’t feel like something that can easily convey complex feelings, and yet, cumulatively, it does. (more…)

The Top 10 Reasons I’m Glad it’s 2008, by Michael Davis

  • News
  • December 28, 2007

 

Happy New Year!!
 
Soon it will be 2008! An entire new year! A fresh start! A new beginning! A new lease on life! I love it, love it LOVE IT!
 
Before my last rant of 07 begins, I should address some things. I’ve been asked repeatedly as to why my last two columns were a bit, shall we say… reflective?
 
Somebody even asked me why last week’s column were gloomy and downright depressing. Well, as I said in my very first column 46 weeks ago, I would always carry a real point of view in this space. 
 
My point of view.
 
I just can’t join the crowd and march to the same beat as everyone else does. As Sammy Davis Jr. said “ I got to be me.”  
 
Who is Sammy Davis Jr.? 
 

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Young X-Men – fact or rumor?

girl-wolverine-8620106As the Big Ball looms over Times Square for next week’s plunge, ComicMix Radio begins our series of "What Were Your Favorite Comics Of 2007?"  with today’s rundown from DC and Marvel writer Paul Storrie.

Plus:

• Young X-Men – fact or rumor?

• The NY Comic Con begins building their guest list

• Dean Koontz Frankenstein lumbers into comics

And what did you enjoy reading in 2007? Right after you Press The Button, post a comment or write us direct here (podcast@comicmix.com) and we’ll share it with the world for you!

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