This Week’s New Comics: February 6, 2013
This week’s list of new comics in stores is sponsored by Manhattan Comics and Comixology. Buy new comics now!
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Tagged: comics
Emily S. Whitten: It’s a Cold! It’s a Kryptonian Virus! It’s The Winter Plague!
Remember that time when Superman caught a Kryptonian virus on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman? And he spent practically the whole episode laid out on the couch, barely conscious? And all he could manage to do was sort of thrash his head about and moan a bit? Having spent the entirety of this past week laid out at home with what I have not-so-fondly dubbed “The Winter Plague,” I suspect I know just how he felt.
I also suspect that when it comes to the Winter Plague, I have not been very heroic. Or at least that’s what it seems like when looking back at my pathetic tweets over the past week (tweeting being about all I’ve had the energy to do, since I can do it from my phone, while lying down in bed). But I guess I could look at the whole matter in another way. You see, because the Winter Plague might sneak up on people when they’re not paying attention, it could be argued that while I was suffering untold miseries I heroically catalogued for all of you, via Twitter, the most common Signs of the Winter Plague, which I can now share. This way, maybe you can recognize that you are coming down with the Winter Plague in time to get to a doctor before it brings you to your knees.
So here are the signs. Read them carefully, ensuring that none apply to you, for if you find yourself identifying with any of the following, you may just have become a victim of… (cue dramatic music here) …The Winter Plague.
Signs of the #WinterPlague:
- Too sick to want to watch TV and/or read comics.
- “So, self, what have you done all week?” “Uh, slept? Coughed? Sneezed? Slept more?”
- It’s 3 pm! I am up! …Because I have to take my meds. Now, where’s my bed again?
- Dry toast? Unappetizing. Toast with Nutella? …Still unappetizing. :(
- *blows nose* I can breathe! I can…! :( Never mind. *blows nose again* I can b…! …*sigh* *blows nose again*
- Not sure if head hurts from illness or blowing nose so much. Possibly both?
- Plague not immediately vanquished by @neilhimself magic. Dear Neil pls send more? 1st round scared Plague but it came back!
- Drinking orange juice. Don’t like orange juice.
- Can’t get through three bites without coughing. :(
- My oxen have died.
- Slept for five days, still tired. D:
- Considered turning on laptop in bed to watch show. Didn’t have energy to press button. Crawled back under covers.
- “Productive” things done in last week: 1) Read Dresden Files graphic novel. 2) ……..
- “Hey self! It’s 5 pm. Know what that means?” “…Naptime?” “Yep! How did you know?” “The answer’s always naptime.”
- “So, body, we just took a three-hour nap. What should we do now?” “…Take a nap?”
- Clearly my body needed More Napping. Just woke up from another coma-like sleep.
- Did NOT go to @PressClubDC to see Dave Barry today, despite really, really wanting to. Could not leave bed. :(
- “What day is today, self?” “……..?”
- I have never, ever had the heat on this high before.
- “Body! You’re finally a bit hungry! What would you like to eat?” “Toast.” “Just…toast?” “All the toast.”
- Oh, hello, cough. You wanted to get up now? I guess we will get up for a few then.
So there you have it! If any of the above seems eerily familiar to you, get thee hence to a doctor immediately (seriously. I’m not kidding about that part. Get some antibiotics, at the very least, so you don’t continue to spread the Plague to unsuspecting people like me).
And please note that other signs of the Winter Plague can include temporary insanity, so if the above column seems a bit loopy to you…well, I’m gonna blame it on the Winter Plague.
Until next time, stay healthy, and Servo Lectio!
TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Michael Davis
WEDNESDAY MORNING: Mike Gold
Dennis O’Neil: Iron Man Is A What???
So there I am, about to do a column themed to last Sunday’s episode of The Good Wife, when the telephone rings. It’s my main DNA-sharer and in the course of the ensuing chat, I mention the column idea and while we talk he does a Google search and – egad! – the digital oracle indicates that my premise is wrong.
Thank whatever benevolence caused Larry to call when he did, even if that benevolence is, in this instance, blind coincidence, because I really dislike being ignorant in print.
What I was going to impart to you is that on the aforementioned television program, a quiet revolution occurred. The title character, who is admirable and capable and sympathetic, came out of the ecclesiastical closet and pronounced herself an atheist. My thesis: with non-Caucasian and gay characters pretty common on the tube these days, the last barrier is the religious one. Your hero can be black or gay or female, I might have written, but your hero can not be a non-believer. Same is true in politics (I might have asserted): though the battle is not yet over, and I’m certainly not claiming that it is, race and gender no longer automatically preclude election to high office. But I can’t think of a single poobah who proclaims his atheism the way Mike Huckabee and Paul Ryan, to name just two of many, proclaim their Christianity. There may be the odd office holder here and there willing to deny faith in the almighty, as the great Senator Barney Frank denied heterosexuality, but they are emphatically in the minority.
But, alas, the revolution I was about to claim for The Good Wife didn’t happen. Rather, it’s been happening for a while now. Larry’s Google search revealed that there are at least 17 atheist characters on series television and – here comes the shocker! – nine in comic books. Among them is a fella I thought I knew pretty well because, for three years or so,I was his chief biographer. Tony Stark’s the name, and Iron Man’s the game.
When I was writing Iron Man for Marvel, the question of Tony’s belief system never arose, just as than the question of his favorite breakfast cereal never arose. That may be because comics are a very compressed way of delivering stories, and anything not germane to the plot is generally omitted, or it may be because somewhere in the pit of my psyche I thought that characteristics like religion were off-limits. Nobody ever told me that they were, but religion was never, ever mentioned in comics – or in movies or television or radio, and very seldom in genre novels. The no-religion stricture was one of those taboos that I assumed without really giving them much thought. However, I don’t believe that the taboo didn’t exist. My guess would be that the dudes in the carpeted offices feared that identifying a character’s religion would alienate anyone of a different faith. Maybe they were right.
By the way…the Wayne family were probably Episcopalian and if their surviving member, Bruce, were ever asked about beliefs, he’d identify with the family tradition. But he doesn’t get to church very often. Too busy jumping off roofs.
FRIDAY: Martha Thomases, Howdy Doody, and Corinthians.
This Week’s New Comics: January 30, 2013
This week’s list of new comics in stores is sponsored by Manhattan Comics and Comixology. Buy new comics now!
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This Week’s New Comics: January 23, 2013
This week’s list of new comics in stores is sponsored by Manhattan Comics and Comixology. Buy new comics now!
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The Point Radio: Tim Olyphant Is More Than JUSTIFIED
Tomorrow night, FX rolls out the start of season four of JUSTIFIED. Series star Tim Olyphant tells us about the changes in his role both on and off screen, plus PSYCHO gets a prequel on TV and The Batmobille gets pulled into court.
Take us ANYWHERE! The Point Radio App is now in the iTunes App store – and it’s FREE! Just search under “pop culture The Point”. The Point Radio  – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any other  mobile device with the Tune In Radio app - and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.
REVIEW: Dredd
Despite Karl Urban uttering, “I am the law” his overall demeanor was just one of the many disappointments in the new film take on the classic 2000 AD hero, Judge Dredd. Dredd is out on home video this week from Lionsgate and it is amazing how bored I was watching it. The majority of the 96 film takes place in the Peach Trees Block and is effectively Dredd playing John McLane, trying to survive a sealed off building under siege.
It’s hard to watch this without comparing it with the Sylvester Stallone misfire of the 1990s. While the story sucked and the star violated the character by taking his helmet off a lot, it looked like the weekly comic come to life. The high tech, futuristic clutter of Mega City One was expertly captured, reminding us of how much the visual of Blade Runner derived from the British comic which has been around since 1977. Also, the costuming was perfect. Here, everything is scaled down and the Judge’s uniform does not look anywhere near as imposing.
Urban, no stranger to the genre, gets credit for playing the character accurately, keeping the helmet on and the upper lip and jaw prominent. On the other hand, he is not physically imposing as Stallone was or as Spanish artist Carlos Ezquerra envisioned him.
We open with a voiceover setting the stage telling rather than showing and this vision is less imposing than the one in the comics. Somehow, the corridor from Boston to Washington has become this singular city with these 200+ story blocks that have become isolated communities. In this one, Ma-Ma (Lena Headey), a drug-dealer/gang leader has become the distributor for a new drug and a routine case pits Dredd and the rookie Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) against an entire community out for blood.
This is more Anderson’s story than Dredd’s and we learn about her mutant ability is that of the most powerful psychic the Justice Department has ever seen. She is deemed ready for evaluation and goes out with Dredd and becomes embroiled in the case. Thirlby, a rising independent film star, is the best part of the film, but then again, she has the most to work with. Her interactions with the prisoner Kay (Wood Harris) give the film any sense of character.
Everyone else plays a type, from the stoic Dredd to the stereotypical Ma-Ma. Headey, a genre veteran, snarls nicely but has little else to do and seems not to care. Dredd is the most feared Judge of all but here, he lacks that reputation which diminishes the character.
The movie is a hard R with exceptionally graphic violence and gore courtesy of director Peter Travis. He’s done this sort of thing before and he handles it well, but doesn’t seem to know what else to do with the characters so has them run, hide, shoot, bleed, repeat.
The best of the extras is “Mega-City Masters: 35 Years of Judge Dredd” (14:27) where creators Ezquerra and John Wagner, accompanied by Brian Bolland, Mark Millar, Jock, Chris Ryall and others, discuss the uniqueness of the character and the opportunity the series has given the writers and artists for topical social and political satire. Everything that is just over the top enough to remain entertaining and amusing in the comics is absent from the film. Screenwriter Alex Garland is exceptionally talented but appears to have read a Wikipedia entry about the series before writing the script. This is perhaps the biggest disappointment of the film, which died at the box office, as much for inept marketing as a poor adaptation of the source material.
The other special features include “Day of Chaos: The Visual Effects of Dredd 3D” (15:21), although this is wasted on those of us who don’t care about 3-D; “Dredd” (1:53), “Dredd’s Gear” (2:31), “The 3rd Dimension” (2:00), about the film’s stereo, and “Welcome to Peach Trees” (2:33).There’s a little more Ma-Ma character substance in the motion comic prequel (2:57).
The combo set includes the 2-D, 3-Dand ultraviolet digital copy. This is the first combo set I have seen without a standard DVD version offered, a portent of the future.
Also included in this set is a digital copy of the film and an Ultraviolet stream or download.
John Ostrander: Freelancers Live Without A Net
As the comics world knows, writer Peter David recently had a stroke. I’ve known Peter for a long time and I both respect and often envy his talent, skill and the breadth of his work. Peter has health insurance but there are plenty of bills that just won’t get covered and, as pointed out here on ComicMix, fans who want to show financial support can do so by purchasing his work at Crazy 8 Press. That’s incredibly easy; not only do your help Peter and his family but will probably get a damn fine read out of it at the same time. Like I said, Peter is a very talented writer.
Peter’s better prepared (as far as anyone can be prepared for something like this) than many in the field; he has health insurance and most other freelancers – including myself – don’t. It’s hard to get, and harder to afford, health insurance when you’re a freelancer. By it’s very nature, a freelancer’s life is precarious.
Take for example, job security. There isn’t any. Beyond your current contract (if you have one), there’s no guarantee you’ll have a job when it ends. You may be on a title for a long time, but that always ends. I had a “continuity contract” at one time with DC which guaranteed me so much work (and health insurance) within a given time frame, but that is long since gone. I don’t know if it’s offered any more. It was difficult for me to get a mortgage back when I bought my house (which I no longer own) and I dare say it’s tougher now if you’re a freelancer.
When you’re a freelancer, you only get paid for the work you actually do. There’s no sick pay, there’s no paid holidays, there’s no paid vacation. You sometimes get royalties ( or “participation” or whatever term a given company chooses to call it) and that’s nice. Amanda Waller’s “participation” in the Green Lantern movie sent me some nice bucks that were sorely needed at the time but that’s like finding an extra twenty in your jeans that you forgot you had. You never know when it’s coming and you can’t rely on it.
In some cases, you can’t even be sure you’ll get the check. The major companies are reliable but the smaller ones can be iffy. One company went into bankruptcy owing me thousands of dollars that I never saw. As I grow older, I continuously worry about getting work. For the past ten years I’ve done Star Wars comics over at Dark Horse but, with the sale of LucasFilm to Disney, that could change. (And, no, I don’t know any more about that than you do.) Will I be able to get other work? I’m going to be 64 this year and haven’t worked in an office for maybe 35 years. What office would hire me now?
When I was just out of college and aiming for a life in theater (another financially iffy occupation), my mother really wanted me to get a master’s degree in English. That way, I might be able to teach, have something to fall back on. My problem was – and is – that I know that if I had something to fall back on, I’d fall back on it. I had to work without a net, I felt, if I was going to make it at all.
Right now, it feels like I’m on the high trapeze and all the lights are out. At some point I’m going to have to let go of the bar and soar into the darkness and hope there’s another trapeze for me to grab. I have no pension, I have no life insurance or health insurance, I have no net.
This is not a pity plea. This is my life and I’ve chosen it. I’ve made my decisions and I live with them as best I can. I wish I had followed Peter’s example and branched out more into other media. I’m happy with some decisions I’ve made and regretful of others. That’s life.
What I’m doing is issuing a warning. There are many, many young writers and artists out there who want a career in comics. Very, very few can make a living off of it and, in many cases, that living only lasts a while. Some, like my fellow ComicMix columnist Marc Alan Fishman and his cohorts at Unshaven Comics, work day jobs while doing their comics work in their increasingly disappearing spare time. Once they’ve created the work, the Unshaven Comics crew also takes to the road, selling their comics at conventions. Ask them how tough that gets.
If you want to make comics a career, go for it. But you should understand what you’re getting into. I love my job and feel fortunate to have been able to do it for as long as I have. However, a freelancer’s life – whatever field – is precarious at best. It can be very scary.
If you want to try to make a living as a freelancer, just make sure you can deal with the idea of living without a net.
MONDAY: Mindy Newell
DOMINO LADY AND THE SPIDER TEAM UP
Moonstone Books’ Phases of the Moon #1 Domino Lady/The Spider trade paperback will ship to comic shops on January 11, 2013. Written by Steven L. Frank, Phases of the Moon #1 Domino Lady/The Spider features art by Remy Mokhtar and Bill McKay.
About Phases of the Moon #1 Domino Lady/The Spider:
A story arc so encompassing, it spans three flip comics, six Moonstone titles and several decades! A serial killer is terrorizing the city, but while The Spider investigates, all clues lead to his involvement and Domino Lady plans to stop him in his tracks. All is not as it seems, as the killer operates with equipment not of this time!
Learn more about Domino Lady here.
Learn more about The Spider here.
Learn more about Phases of the Moon here.
The Point Radio: CBS Tries Choose Your Own Stunt
We wrap our look back at 2012 as Ric Meyers (ricmeyers.com) covers TV drama, the good and bad, and how the movies of the year fared, too. Meanwhile, it seems everyone watched DOCTOR WHO, and which network TV action show is trying a “choose your own ending” trick on Twitter?
Take us ANYWHERE! The Point Radio App is now in the iTunes App store – and it’s FREE! Just search under “pop culture The Point”. The Point Radio – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any other mobile device with the Tune In Radio app – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.
