Tagged: Batman

Neal Adams Captain America art for Ostrander benefit auction at Chicago Comic-Con

  • News
  • August 4, 2009

neal-adams-captain-america-2938048At the 2009 Chicago Comicon, Comix4Sight has joined forced with Wizard Entertainment to hold a charity auction the evening of Saturday, August 8th.  The goal is to raise sufficient funds to help cover the costs of John Ostrander’s
treatments in his battle against glaucoma, and it is John’s expressed wish that should we raise funds
above his needs, that excess money is to be donated to The Hero Initiative to help them continue their great works aiding comic creators in their times of need.

Artwork is still coming in for the auction, and we’ll be showing you stuff prior to the auction. We already showed you this Batman/Hawkman piece by Andy and Joe Kubert, and Gonzo Davros by Roger Langridge, writer/artist of The Muppet Show comics from BOOM! Studios. Now, we show you Captain America by the amazing Neal Adams.

So if you don’t bid on this piece to help John out, we can only conclude that you hate America.

Roger Langridge Gonzo Davros art for Comix4Sight auction at Chicago Comicon

  • News
  • August 3, 2009

gonzodalekdavros-1425287Yes, it’s Doctor Who meets The Muppet Show!

At the 2009 Chicago Comicon, Comix4Sight has joined forced with Wizard Entertainment to hold a charity auction the evening of Saturday, August 8th.  The goal is to raise sufficient funds to help cover the costs of John Ostrander’s
treatments in his battle against glaucoma, and it is John’s expressed wish that should we raise funds
above his needs, that excess money is to be donated to The Hero Initiative to help them continue their great works aiding comic creators in their times of need.

Artwork is coming in for the auction, and we’ll be showing you stuff prior to the auction. We already showed you this Batman/Hawkman piece by Andy and Joe Kubert, now we have Gonzo becoming half Dalek, brought to you by Roger Langridge, writer/artist of The Muppet Show comics from BOOM! Studios. Roger did a bunch of other pieces for the auction as well, and we can’t thank him enough.

Kubert Batman and Hawkman art for Comix4Sight auction at Chicago Comicon

  • News
  • July 28, 2009

ostrander-auction-kubert-batman-hawkman-400px-5899120Now that San Diego is over, we can look ahead ten days or so to the next convention.

At the 2009 Chicago Comicon, Comix4Sight has joined forced with Wizard Entertainment to hold a charity auction the evening of Saturday, August 8th.  The goal is to raise sufficient funds to help cover the costs of John Ostrander’s
treatments in his battle against glaucoma, and it is John’s expressed wish that should we raise funds
above his needs, that excess money is to be donated to The Hero Initiative to help them continue their great works aiding comic creators in their times of need.

Artwork has begun to come in for the auction, and we’ll be showing you stuff prior to the auction. We start off with this piece by Andy and Joe Kubert.

#SDCC: DC Universe — now with the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents!

  • News
  • July 25, 2009

thunder1-4828226While they had nothing quite as surprising to announce as the Marvelman announcement yesterday, the DC Universe panel at SDCC had some interesting tidbits come out of it. The highlights, as per CBR’s liveblog:

  • DC has finally acquired the rights to T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. This has been a long time project for Dan DiDio.
  • Geoff Johns will be writing a Flash ongoing after Flash: Rebirth and Blackest Night: Flash conclude.
  • Sterling Gates, of Supergirl fame, will be writing a Kid Flash ongoing series to accompany Johns’ main title.
  • James Robinson starts his Justice League of America run with issue 38, a Blackest Night tie-in. His line-up will include Mon-El in a new, Superman-inspired costume, Dick Grayson/Batman, and Donna Troy.
  • An upcoming issue of Booster Gold will guest-star G4 TV personality Blair Butler.
  • Deathstroke will become the leader of the Titans later this year(?!).

A Wonder Woman letter-writing campaign, unfettered love for Metapmorpho, and more at CBR.

#SDCC: ‘Batman: The Killing Joke’ movie coming?

  • News
  • July 24, 2009

batman-killing-joke-poster-8302010A reliable source just told me: “Warner Premiere has a great many DC graphic novels in production or pre-production with WB Animation, including The Killing Joke. Scheduling through 2018– including Superman projects.”

A few notes:

  1. Well, it’s not like DC hasn’t made money on Alan Moore projects before.
  2. One wonders if an animated film would satisfy the Siegel lawsuit requiring a Superman film to be in production by 2011.
  3. Are they actually planning Superman films after 2013, after DC loses the copyright to the character?

Very interesting. We’ll try to find out more ASAP.

Review: ‘The Hunter’ by Darwyn Cooke from IDW

Let’s get the disclaimer out of the way first: Yes, ComicMix is publishing lots of stuff with IDW Publishing. Doesn’t matter, The Hunter
would still be on the short list for the best book of the year if it came out from Chick Publications.

I’ve had a preview copy of the entire book for a few months now, and I’ve held off on reviewing it because I didn’t want to tease you, even though previews of the first pages were up and about. You just would have wanted more. I certainly did.

The backstory is simple: it’s an adaptation of The Hunter
by Donald Westlake, writing as Richard Stark. It’s the first novel featuring his protaganist Parker. In this book he’s been betrayed by his wife and fellow criminals in the aftermath of a heist, and he hammers his way through New York circa 1962 to get revenge. A lot of it. With guns and fists and… you get the idea.

The book’s been adapted into film a number of times with varying degrees of quality, the two best known adaptions are [[[Point Blank]]] with Lee Marvin:

…and [[[Payback]]] with Mel Gibson:

(And before you ask, [[[The Hunter]]] with Steve McQueen has nothing to do with this book.) But this may be the closest adaptation of the source material, as evidenced by the fact that this is the first adaption that Westlake let use the name Parker.

It’s certainly faithful in (duo) tone. This is the time period Darwyn Cooke was born to draw, in the same way that Dave Stevens was born to draw the era of the Rocketeer. The book feels like 1962, and yet modern at the same time. If you know Cooke’s other projects– New Frontier, Selina’s Big Score, the Batman animated series, you don’t need the sell, if you don’t, picture here a blend of Jack Cole and Bernie Kriegstein, and you’ve almost got it. This book is clean and compact and accessible in ways that no other comic has, and should take the mainstream by storm. The preview almost makes reviewing redundant, let’s just say that Cooke keeps control of the pace all the way through.

I got my review copy early that I was able to call IDW and natter at them about a few production glitches, if the book hadn’t gone to press yet. When they said it hadn’t, I told them to save time in the future and just print “Eisner nominee” on the cover now.

Really. It’s that good. Buy copies for friends.

The Point – May 1st, 2009

WOLVERINE is on movie screens from coast to coast and now it is a wait for the numbers game. we talk to Michael Uslan who recalls what was like waiting for the same a few years ago with a film called BATMAN BEGINS and then great ready for the scoop on what his next super hero project will be (look here for a hint).  Meanwhile, since you are already in the theaters, check out BATTLE FOR TERRA  – but only after you hear our exclusive interview with the creator/director of the new animated film.


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Adam West faces his own economic lone justice

  • News
  • April 29, 2009

Okay, let’s say you were a costumed crimefighter, and you financed your crusade through your own personal fortune.

And then, for the sake of argument, you ran out of cash because of a nasty economic downturn, couldn’t pay the upkeep on all those wonderful toys.

Sounds like a great idea for a story, right? You could do an entire graphic novel about it, and chronicle the struggles as you struggle to make ends meet while still fighting the good fight against the forces of evil.

Or you could just sell everything off…

Review: ‘X-Men’ Animated DVDs Volumes 1-2

x-men-vol-11-7698575In the 1970s, Chris Claremont was arguably the first comic book writer to advance Stan Lee’s style of writing for the Marvel super-heroes, delving deeper into his characters and exploring what it meant to be born a mutant in a world that feared the different. As a result, much as everyone glommed onto [[[Spider-Man]]] in the 1960s, Chris’ [[[X-Men]]] in the 1970s became the new standard for popularity.

Television was slow to recognize the resurgent popularity in super-heroes, not really adding a comic book to screen adaptation for years until [[[Batman: The Animated Series]]] debuted in the wake of the wildly successful Tim Burton film. With its critical acclaim and ratings success, the networks began looking for other series and they finally learned how popular Professor Xavier’s students had become in the intervening years.

Marvel Animation produced a very faithful comic book adaptation which debuted October 31, 1992 and ran for five seasons, totaling 76 episodes. It was the tipping point in making the franchise a big deal for merchandise and eventually, the long-awaited live-action film version.

The first 33 episodes have been collected into two volumes, released Tuesday by Buena Vista Home Entertainment, cannily in time for the [[[Wolverine]]] hysteria. The first volume of X-Men covers the first sixteen episodes from the two-part pilot “[[[Night of the Sentinels]]]” through “[[[Whatever it Takes]]]”.  Volume two starts with “[[[Red Dawn]]]” and ends with “[[[The Phoenix Saga]]]” Parts 1-5.

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Review: ‘Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology’ on Blu-ray

The current era of the super-hero movie can trace its roots to 1989 and the release of Tim Burton’s [[[Batman]]].  For the first time since Richard Donner’s [[[Superman]]], the comic book heroes were taken seriously and adapted for the screen with love and care.  In between, there was failure after failure as no one in Hollywood seemed to understand the source material.

Even Michael Uslan, who did understand, spent 1980 through 1988 trying to mount the film with little success. The stars seemed to finally align as Frank Miller’s [[[Dark Knight]]] in 1986 showed people what could be done with the character and suddenly Warner Bros. was interested. They tapped Burton, coming off the success of [[[Beetlejuice]]], a director with exactly the right sensibilities to take the Dark Knight and present him in a way that made you forget Adam West’s interpretation (at least for a little while).

You’re reminded of what a masterful job he did by rewatching Batman on a new crisp transfer as part of the Blu-ray box set Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997, on sale today. Gotham City is a dark, scary place, and its populace needs Batman, a vigilante protector. The architectural look, from designer Anton Furst, coupled with the moody lighting and off-kilter sensibilities of its director made Batman something to marvel at. He got fans to get over their complaints that Michael Keaton was the wrong choice to portray Bruce Wayne.  Instead, Keaton was a conflicted everyman who had some serious issues driving him to don the costume and endure the withering barbs from Alfred (Michael Gough). Jack Nicholson’s Joker nearly stole the movie but was a terrific foil for the hero.  The movie’s far from perfect with story holes and logic gaps (one bullet can take down the Batwing?).

Burton and Keaton came back for [[[Batman Returns]]] which unfortunately offered us no new insights into the hero but did give us refreshed looks at both Catwoman and Penguin. Selina Kyle’s story arc is the strongest in the film and Michelle Pfeiffer gives a strong but sympathetic performance.  Danny DeDevito made for a creepy, grotesque Penguin but his arc was taken from a 1967 plot and felt it.  The uneven storylines never meshed well and the movie felt divided.

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