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ComicMix Columns for the Week Ending May 11, 2008

Greetings from Asbury Park the wilds of New Jersey, where I’m visiting my Mom for Mother’s Day!  Hope all you moms out there are having a good one.  Here are some loving presents we’ve given you, and every other ComicMix reader for that matter, this past week:

Hey, why not take your Mom to see Speed Racer today?  After all, Susan Sarandon plays the protagonist’s mom, doesn’t she?

I Lost It at the Movies, by Martha Thomases

Last weekend, my son and I went to see Iron Man. We went in the middle of the day to a movie theater in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood that is rarely crowded, so the only other people there were geeks like us.

We had a great time, and that’s what this column is about. Tomorrow is Mothers’ Day, and last week is the last time I’ll be able to go to a superhero movie with my son, without involving an airplane. He’s moving to Los Angeles next month. That’s as far away as he can go without crossing an ocean or a border.

Our movie-going habits started early. When he was six weeks old, we went to see the original Ghostbusters, with the baby in a Snugli. It’s not that we were those horrible parents who take a screaming infant everywhere, as if the world deserves to share their headache. We knew his sleep schedule, and we knew that if we fed him just before the movie started, we should have at least two hours before he woke up. And we went in the middle of a weekday when there would be few other people, and sat in the back, near the aisle, so we could make a hasty retreat if our calculations proved wrong.

Later, as he grew older, my son developed a love of comics that rivaled my own. Even though he was barely five years old, there was no way he would let us go see the first Batman film without him. Being afraid of nightmares, I found a book that explained how the special effects were done, so he’d know that Jack Nicholson didn’t really hurt anyone. The effects didn’t scare him, but he did remark on how out of character it was for Batman to use a gun.

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Eric Reynolds on ‘How I Pissed Off Steve Ditko’

Fantagraphics’ upcoming Steve Ditko retrospective Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko will be available next month, so resident Fantagraphics jack-of-all-trades Eric Reynolds recently took the opportunity to share a story with readers that he’s called "How I Pissed Off Steve Ditko."

Reynold’s tale is one of those personal experiences with industry legends that I love to hear about, as it puts some substance behind the names and faces of people I’ve never been lucky enough to interact with myself.

About ten years ago we had the great fortune of publishing a new series by Mr. Ditko, STEVE DITKO’S STRANGE AVENGING TALES. This was incredibly exciting to me, having been a lifelong Ditko fan. Unfortunately, I did not get to interact much with Mr. Ditko. See, I do all of our promotion, and to say that Mr. Ditko is not big on promotion is like saying the Pope is not big on gay marriage. And, he preferred snail mail to phone. As such, I did not have many opportunities to interact with one of the greatest comic book artists of all-time. Except one.

You can also check out a 10-page preview of Strange and Stranger on the Fantagraphics website.

Of course, one of my main reasons for posting this is the fact that I’m fortunate these days to interact with a number of industry veterans every day here on ComicMix — many of which have had their names grace some of the greatest comics ever created — and I wonder what they’ll have to say about Reynolds’ story.

 

(via Journalista)

Free Graphic Novels: Sandman, Swamp Thing, Fell

I had a feeling that title would get your attention. Sure, sometimes a title like that is used just to get attention when the substance of the article doesn’t actually include anything free, but fear not, ComicMix reader, we have you covered.

Over at Daily Bits, they’ve highlighted 17 — yes, count ’em, 17 — free graphic novels available online for you to download, read and enjoy. And yes, they are all free for the taking — er, downloading.

Some of the graphic novels highlighted on the list include heavy-hitters such as Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes, Warren Ellis’ Fell #1 and a personal favorite of mine, Brian K. Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1.

The list also includes the popular Salamander Dream and, for ComicMix Managing Editor Rick Marshall, Swamp Thing, Vol. 1: Legend of the Swamp Thing. Go get ’em.

Of course, we’d like to also remind you that you can get free, original  comics by well-known creators here on ComicMix every single day of the week — so if "free" is your thing, don’t say we never gave you anything.

I Got Nothing… by Michael Davis

My mind is a blank. I can’t think of anything to write about. I read a bunch of comics and I came back with zip. I watched the news and was left with nada. I’m in the middle of a few great projects but don’t want to write about them yet.

Wow…writer’s block. I have never been at a lost for something to say or better yet to rant about.

This sucks.

Come on Davis. THINK, THINK, THINK!!

Nothing. I got nothing.

I know, I’ll make a list. That always sparks my imagination. Let’s see now, I can’t do a best dressed list or most sexy list. I have to do something that’s classy. I have to do something that shows that I am above the petty stupid lists that Hollywood produces.

Got it!

10 people I would like to pimp slap.

1. Paris Hilton
2. Kim Kardashian
3. Lindsay Lohan
4. Jeremiah Wright
5. The Real World Creator
6. Amy Winehouse
7. Charles Manson
8. Rush Limbaugh
9. Dr. Laura
10. Naomi Campbell

Damn. Still nothing. I am really barren today. What else can I do to spark my imagination?

I got nothing.

I’ll try another list.

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The Weekly Haul: Reviews for May 8, 2008

Simply put, a huge week in comics, with a full load of books even before we get into Skrullapalooza 2008. Though a few decent indies came out, superheroes dominated the shelves, and Marvel’s superheroes especially, including a couple of big debuts.

Book of the Week: Nova #13 — A comic has to be pretty dang good to overcome a cover like the one at right, which seems to show Nova and Silver Surfer en flagrante as Galactus serves as an interstellar peeping tom.

Despite that, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning’s space book shows no Annihilation hangover, keeping the pedal all the way to the floor. Back to trying to serve as a cop of the cosmos, Nova responds to a world being destroyed by Galactus. In a great catch, Nova realizes the world is already doomed, so he focuses instead on the rescue mission (with nice allusions to FEMA and Hurricane Katrina).

As if that wasn’t enough, the writing crew throws in the complicating villain Harrow, a malevolent and vague force that feeds off suffering — a clever parallel to Galactus’ appetite.

No kidding, this is one of the best superhero comics right now, and easily the most enjoyable space story in recent years.

Runners Up:

The Boys #18 — The comic known for its raunchiness is as bellicose as ever, with a constant peppering of cursing that almost makes Deadwood seem prim and proper. While that’s what the series has come to be known for, this issue surprises in how well it captures interactions among the characters in low-key ways.

Of course, there’s also a lengthy scene of a floating corpse peeing all over…

The All-New Atom #23 — Escalating craziness is the proper description for this series. Ryan is now in some sort of alternate universe, where his friends (thought to have been eaten by last issue’s monster) are fending off bizarre monsters. A classic bad-to-worse issue, with lively art from Pat Olliffe and another great cliffhanger ending.

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Them Bones, by John Ostrander

Oh, Your toe bone connected to your – FOOT BONE.

Your foot bone connected to your – ANKLE BONE.

Your ankle bone connected to your – LEG BONE.

Now hear the word of the Lord!

Remember that song? Dry Bones – a great African-American spiritual.Some of us remember it from the climatic episodes of The Prisoner, that great TV series starring Patrick McGoohan, the ending of which still befuddles the hell out of me. That’s alright; I like a lot of things that befuddle me – women have befuddled me a lot over the years but, dang, I like ‘em a lot!

What I like about the song is the word “connected.” It suggests we look at things in context. I can understand how, in academia, it’s useful to parse things out for study. Sometimes studying a tree can tell you a lot about a forest. However, I do wonder if we haven’t gotten too specialized in our daily lives. Special Interest Groups (SIGs) seem to have more pull in government than ordinary citizens. Their power comes from their myopia. They are not there to think of the general well-being; they are there to work for the narrow interests of one group, whether or not that benefits the whole, and sometimes despite the fact that it does not benefit the whole.

The same is especially true on the Internet. There is a niche for every conceivable group and sub-group and some groups of which I would never conceive or would want to conceive (child pornography being an example). I worry, however, about a fracturing of our vision. I’m concerned about our ability to see beyond our own narrow scope of vision and interests anymore. (more…)

The ‘Iron Man’ Merch: Where’s the Rum Gone?

There’s no denying that the Merry Marvel Marketing Machine went all out for Iron Man — to the tune of $75 million, in fact. From games and toys to Slurpee mugs, in the run-up to last week’s record-breaking release, it was difficult to go anywhere without being exposed to some sort of hype for Ol’ Shellhead.

Nevertheless, I’ll confess feeling a little old-school joy when I see some of the new movie merch making the rounds. Over at Cinematical, the movie blog’s crew posted a detailed look at one of the promotional Iron Man action figures they received a little while back, while EW’s PopWatch blog generated a bit of envy here at ComicMix with their treasure trove of Iron Man swag. Oh, and for the Iron Man completist, IGN posted a fairly comprehensive guide to the licensed Iron Man merchandise you can expect to see on shelves — at least until the collectors get their hands on them, that is.

As is often the case, however, my favorite piece of geekery fell a bit outside the range of mainstream Iron Man swag popping up around the InterWebs. In fact, it was something resembling love at first sight when I came across the Custom "Repulsive Iron Man" Marvel Legends Movie Figure seen here:

It’s a beauty, right? Not only is the figure packaged with a miniature bottle of Bacardi and a set of beer cans, but it also comes with a piece of original artwork by Shortpacked creator David Willis. It’s the perfect combination of comic in-joke and webcomic fun.

Check out the product pitch:

Decked out in sickly green metallics, inebriated shading, and vomitous brown highlights, Iron Man is loaded with disgusting detail. Load him up with the various miniature beer cans or his trusty bottle of Bacardi and he’s ready to battle the bad guys, just as long as you point him in the right direction first!

So, yeah… It’s too bad the auction ended last week. That would have been $152.51 well spent.

What I Can’t Write About, by Elayne Riggs

So last week my column was criticized for not being primarily about comics, the same day that my fellow columnist John Ostrander got over a dozen comments writing about politics, not one of which queried the appropriateness of his subject matter. Obviously people who have written and drawn comics for a living (Denny, Michael, etc.) can get a little more slack than someone who’s only ever written four comic book stories and had them all published. Not that I’m bitter! Oh no, indeedy; I’m actually grateful those critiques have given me fodder for this week’s column!

As I mentioned in my reply to this criticism, I understand some readers’ frustration with me not writing about comics more often. Even my mom asks me why I don’t focus on comics more often, and she doesn’t even read the stuff! But after all, ComicMix is a pop-culture site dominated by people heavily invested in the artform. Heck, that’s what CM 2.0 is all about, giving our readers original comics content. And we haven’t yet introduced a separate tab for our columns to distinguish them from our regular pop-culture news, so it’s probably reasonable to expect that we columnists will focus on comics as much as our news reporters do. And I love reading comics, but… but…

But nowadays, when I talk about my favorite reading material and hobby and community, I can usually only discuss what’s happened recently, not what’s going to happen in the near future or even Right This Very Week. As many of you know, this wasn’t always the case. About 10-15 years ago I did weekly comic book reviews on Usenet and CompuServe under the header "Pen-Elayne For Your Thoughts." I’d get the books on a Wednesday and most of the reviews would be up by Friday. My job at the time allowed me to do this, I was being somewhat under-used (technology and outsourcing would eliminate that position in ’97) and I had plenty of energy when I got home. Then I got a new job which proceeded to harness a lot of that energy, so the reviews had to go, I just couldn’t keep them up any more.

When I married Robin, I stopped buying most DC books the week they hit the stores, because as a regular freelancer for DC he receives a comp box each month of all the "pamphlets" they put out. For a time the comps were usually current to within a couple weeks of what was in the stores, so I could still keep up as plot discussions moved from Usenet to message boards. But by the time blogs became big, the synching had fallen a bit behind. (The new comp box arrived at our house on Monday, and I now have all the Countdown issues up until "04," when of course the current big discussion is about the final issue.

I also now have the first issue of Tangent: Superman’s Reign so I can finally read issue #2 which Robin inked and which came out in stores the Wednesday prior to the NY Comic Con. Just to give you an idea of the lag time here.) Four years ago, when my boss moved the office out to Westchester, my weekly visits to Midtown Comics to view the new books and collect my non-DC haul became an every other (or every third) week mail order. And because I no longer had the new comics when most of the active online discussions took place, I could no longer participate. By the time I acquire and read the book featuring the return of Barry Allen, or the mostly-Spanish issue of Blue Beetle that has this xenophobe’s drawers in a bunch, it will be well into June and everyone will have long since moved on. (more…)

Wrath, by Dennis O’Neil

Don’t stop me if you’ve heard this one…

Harry is homeless. Once, he was a successful venture capitalist with three lavish homes, a beautiful wife and a charming daughter, but then he lost his money in a bad real estate deal, his wife ran away with a televangelist, and his daughter started living with a crack dealer and not answering her phone. While panhandling near his old office, Harry met an friend who knew of a deal that would restore Harry’s fortune – hundred percent, guaranteed – and with his bank account restored, Harry was sure he could reclaim his family and his lifestyle. The problem was, Harry needed a thousand dollars to get in on the deal and he had no way to get it; his credit was maxed out and no one he knew would lend him another cent. He’s now passing a church, his head bowed in misery, when he sees a thousand dollar bill laying in the gutter. He can’t believe it! He is saved! He bends over to pick up the bill and…he’s hit by a truck. Laying there alone in the filth, Harry knows he’s breathing his last. He looks up at the sky and cries, “Why?” And a voice booms from beyond the clouds, “Because you piss me off.”

One of my favorite jokes and one I’ve been thinking of this weekend because, somehow, I’ve run afoul, again, of my old foe Crankus, the spiteful god of technology. Ol’ Mr. Macintosh in front of me has been acting up and the gentleman, polite but not terribly helpful, at the Mac store wasn’t exactly sure why. Larry and his friend Perri graciously offered to reinstall the Microsoft Word program, because I don’t trust myself with even elementary technological tasks, and so far, so good.

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