Tagged: comics

The Rare Hulk

A Hero’s Hero

Originally, ComicMix Radio planned to survey the usual round of comic book insiders as to who their favorite characters were: artist, writers, etc. But when we had the chance to pose the question to an actual costume wearing crusader, we leapt at the chance. Find out who The Defuser  – the winner of Who Wants To Be A Super Hero? – admires. Plus:
 
• Everyone took a look at Spidey’s Brand New Day and now it’s sold out!
• There’s a rare Hulk #1 variant – we’ll tell you how to get it
• Another sign of doomsday: High School Musical on the big screen!
 
Warning: Not Pressing The Button makes you an outsider and do you really want that?
 

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Writers’ Strike and Comic-Con: The really, truly important questions

  • News
  • January 17, 2008

The ‘Net is buzzing this week over the potential implications of the writers’ strike on this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego. Sure, there’s a lot of chatter about the effect the strike will have on Hollywood’s participation in the event,with some arguing that less Hollywood means more comics, and that more comics means… well, more comics. Over at The Beat, however, Heidi MacDonald assesses whether there are any answers  to the big questions, then takes a look at some of the other, equally important questions on the peripheral of the discussion.

"At this point it’s quite likely — but depressing — that the writer’s strike will last at least as long as the last one — six months. Networks are filling the space with reality programming, so we could just see more stars of Beauty and the Geek and How Clean is Your House on parade at Comic-Con (These shows have the strongest tie to the core demographic, in our opinion.) There are a number of movies in production that will still need to be flogged, as well, WATCHMEN for one,

So our prognosis? If the strike doesn’t end soon San Diego may be a little less manic, but not a whole lot less.

But that’s not even the really IMPORTANT question:

What does this mean for your chances of getting a hotel room?"

 

The Museum Vaults Review

  • News
  • January 17, 2008

The Museum Vaults is the second of four graphic novels created through an unlikely publishing partnership: noted American art-comics publisher NBM and France’s cultural powerhouse museum the Louvre. All four of the stories will be about the Louvre in some way; the first book, Nicholas De Crecy’s Glacial Period, was published early in 2007.

Museum Vaults’ author, Marc-Antoine Mathieu, has been a prolific French cartoonist for the past twenty years, though very little of his work has turned up on this side of the Atlantic. (I’ll admit I didn’t previously know his work myself.)

As Museum Vaults opens, a young expert, Monsieur Volumer, arrives at a museum whose original name has been forgotten. His job is to delve into the subbasements beneath this museum to study, evaluate, and index the collections – to fully understand the museum. (more…)

Fight Bribery With… Comics?

  • News
  • January 15, 2008

The Collective ManChina’s Communist ruling party plans to start off the Lunar New Year holiday by distributing comics depicting graft and various other forms of corruption in an effort to reduce crime in one of the nation’s most troubled provinces. 

According to the Associated Press:

"The pocket-size comic book, which includes caricatures depicting common forms of graft and bribery, will be distributed as a gift to 100,000 party members in the central province of Henan, Xinhua news agency said."

 

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:

(more…)

Paris Review

  • News
  • January 14, 2008

Paris collects a four-issue mini-series set in that city in the early ‘50s, written by Andi Watson and illustrated by Simon Gane. Watson is fairly well-known these days as the writer-artist of such relationship-oriented comics as Slow News Day and Love Fights, but I haven’t heard of Gane before. (From a quick perusal of his blog I think that’s because he’s mostly worked in the UK and for music magazines.) Gane has a very ornate, ornamented, even rococo style, which is a good artistic choice for a historical comic – it clearly distances the action, and keeps it from feeling contemporary.

The story of Paris is pretty straightforward, and focuses on two young women from elsewhere living in that city. Juliet is an American, studying at the Academie de Stael by day and painting society portraits by night to pay her rent. Deborah is an English aristocrat chaperoned by her hideous aunt Miss Chapman. (more…)

The Rules of Travel, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • January 12, 2008

You can tell it’s January by the seed catalogs in the mailbox. No matter how dark and gloomy the day might be, Burpee and other seed spreaders assure you that someday, soon, the sun will shine and plants will grow.

I’m thinking about a vacation.

“But, Martha,” you say. “You’re a glamorous, successful woman! You have an exciting career that takes you all over the country, where you get to hang out with interesting creative people, all expenses paid. Your job is comics. Why should you need a vacation?”

It’s true that I’m extremely lucky. I get to work in my chosen field and get paid for my work. I get to live in New York City, the veritable Center of the Universe™. Every time I get up in the morning, I have the opportunity to see masterpieces of the visual, audio and kinetic arts. Some of the finest merchants on the planet have their flagship stores within a few miles of my apartment, easily accessible by inexpensive mass transit. Restaurants compete to see who can offer the most exotic, the most exquisite, the most yummy of foods. Why would I need a vacation?

All of this is true. I spent most of my adolescence scheming of ways to visit New York. As soon as I moved here, I met people in the comics business, and exploited them to the best of my ability so that I could learn how to get into the business (thanks, Denny!). I’m livin’ the dream, baby. (more…)

Happy 78th birthday, Tintin!

  • News
  • January 10, 2008

Today is the anniversary of a great comic debut: the funny pages revealed in 1929 the adventures of the worldly Tintin. That weird little mohawk, that smart, itsy dog, who knew the French could come up with something so, that is, tres, charming? Tintin was so popular in fact that it has been translated into over 50 different languages. But trulee, you ‘ahven’t experee-unst ze real Teenteen unteel you ahv red eet een zee oreejenal wan.

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.

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