Tagged: comics

DC keeps moving to LA, but will there be any comics when they get there?

  • News
  • December 9, 2010

Two business stories making for an interesting juxtaposition.

First, ComicsBeat reports:

More and more ch-ch-changes at DC, as various folks in the online department have announced they are heading to the West Coast office as the DC Online department moves to Burbank next summer. Ron Perazza will become VP of Online for DC Entertainment, Dave McCullough will become Director of Online for DC Entertainment, and Kwanza Johnson is Digital Editor. Heading up the department, you may recall, is Hank Kanalz, Senior Vice President, Digital of DC Entertainment These are the first announced westward personnel changes, although at least two DCU editors are also moving west to work more closely with CCO Geoff Johns.

diamond-comics-7075568Of course, by the time they get there, Diamond will have shut down their west coast warehouse.

Diamond Comics Distribution has informed comic stores that the warehouse will be closed from next March.

It’s been a good long while since Diamond closed any such warehouse.
In 2008 they consolidated a few into the new massive Olive Branch
centre, but at one point they used to have 24 warehouses. Now they’ll
have 4. The impact of this move will mean there will be no storage
facility for comics and their like on the West Coast.

Affected retailers will notice a change immediately in the new year,
with January the fifth delivering the last shipment from Diamond Los
Angeles. The next week, all deliversies will come from their new,
expanded Olive Branch center in Mississippi. Customers who pick up from
the Los Angeles warehouse can continue to do so until March, and then
will move over to a new LA-based pick up point.

Merry Christmas to everybody who’s losing a job right before the holidays.

One additional problem, not discussed or considered: there are a lot of books that are coming from Asia– not just manga and manwha, but a lot of books from DC, Marvel, and IDW that are printed overseas. One has to wonder what this will do to shipping times and costs for trades, etc.

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The Best Present You Can Give A Kid This Year

  • News
  • December 6, 2010

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This is a longbox full of random comics. Your local comic book store has tons of them– various stuff he’s picked up and hasn’t filed yet, or overstock that he couldn’t sell, or low grade books, what have you.

My father used to go to Port Comics, a little store off of exit 64 of the Long Island Expressway (the same store where I first met Tom Brevoort, when we were both young punk fans) and every so often he’d buy a longbox or two from Bill the owner and give them to me.

And as you’d expect from someone who now runs a site like this, I devoured them. I had no idea what I might find– DC horror books, Marvel reprints, Archie superhero titles. Didn’t care. It was all new to me, it was all neat to read, and it got me discovering wondrous stories and characters and art and more, and getting even more involved in a medium that I loved.

And right now, you can probably pick up one for around $30 and give it to a kid this holiday season. Or you can wait until he’s home sick with a bad cold this winter and give it then, when he’ll have time to read. Or drop it off at your local Toys For Tots drive, and imagine the look on the volunteer’s face who first tries to pick it up.

So go to your local comic store and ask for a longbox or two filled with random stuff. Be sure to ask for few duplicates, you don’t need 200 copies of Spawn #1. If you don’t know where your nearest comic store is, go to the Comic Shop Locator to find out. Or go to eBay and search for “comic lot” and find something in your price range.

Just be prepared to answer questions:

“Who’s this Darkhawk guy?”

“Where does the Black Widow know Daredevil from, I thought she hung around with Iron Man?”

“How does Cosmic Boy keep his uniform up?”

And hopefully you’ll get the best question of all– “Hey, when can I get some more?”

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Review: ‘Superf*ckers’

[[[Superf*ckers]]]
By James Kochalka
Top Shelf Productions, 144 pages, $14.95

superf-ckers-lg-3363487Reading the reviews about previous editions of James Kochalka’s Superf*ckers I was thinking this was going to be an amazing satire of the super-hero genre, poking fun at teams from the Justice Society of America to the Thunderbolts.  Over the years, Kochalka had been doling out one issue at a time, starting with Superf*ckers #271 in 2005 and released a fourth issue in 2007. Top Shelf has collected the four issues with the previously unpublished [[[Jack Krak #1]]] in a new collection released earlier this year.

I don’t get the praise. Not at all. Kochalka’s robbery figurework is good for his childrens’ books and other independent works but when it comes to super-powered, hyper-sexualized characters, it feels entirely wrong.

Over the course of the collection, these spoiled, nasty would-be heroes act like whiny, horny, spiteful high school students. None seem to be using their powers for the public good, but instead, to outperform each other in the hopes of gaining acceptance in the club. They are a uniformly unlikeable bunch and the satirical elements are so broadly played they’re more slapstick than witty commentary on modern comic book tropes.

Kochalka cuts between combinations of heroes one-upping each other, excreting with abandon and he paces these various threads nicely enough. He crams each page with plenty of panels and action, brightly coloring everything in what must have been a painstaking manner.

Amazingly, at the outset, Kochalka thought this might be an all-ages title but as he got further into this, he couldn’t prevent his annoying heroes from cussing so it has remained a book aimed at older readers. “And it makes the action more dramatic,” he told Comic Book Resources. Not at all. The cursing and invective permeates every pages as do the acts that should never be attempted at home.

I remain baffled why anyone things this is a laugh-out loud must-read series. In the same interview he said, “On the surface it’s fun and breezy romp, but underneath it’s a layered satire of American society, the comic book scene, power and pathos and the human condition.” That might have been his intent but the execution fails to measure up.

‘Warehouse 13’ Opens its Doors for Dynamite Entertainment

  • News
  • November 19, 2010

While no creative talent has been named, we think this is a pretty cool announcement.

November 18, 2010, Runnemede, NJ – Dynamite Entertainment has signed a comprehensive license agreement with NBC Universal Television, DVD, Music and Consumer Products Group for comic books based on Syfy’s hit dramedy series, Warehouse 13. Warehouse 13 premiered on July 7, 2009 on Syfy as the most successful series in Syfy’s history and will return for a 3rd season in the Summer of 2011. A holiday-themed episode will air next month.

“We’re very excited to be working with our friends at Dynamite Entertainment, again,” said Chris Lucero, Director of Global Licensing, NBC Universal Television Consumer Products Group.  “With Dynamite’s stable of thrilling storytellers and talented artists, we’re confident that Warehouse 13 will stand side-by-side with some of the best comics in the industry today.”

“It is a fantastic opportunity for Dynamite to bring a popular TV Show such as Warehouse 13 to the comics market,” said Dynamite President Nick Barrucci.  “Dynamite’s Warehouse 13 comic books will be an excellent companion to the TV Show, and I am excited for fans to see what we have up our sleeves!”

Warehouse 13 follows two Secret Service agents who find themselves abruptly transferred to a massive, top-secret storage facility in windswept South Dakota which houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and preternatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. The Warehouse’s caretaker Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek) charges Agents Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) and Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) with chasing down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects to cache at the Warehouse, as well as helping him to control the Warehouse itself. Allison Scagliotti plays Claudia, Artie’s apprentice.

Warehouse 13 is produced for Syfy by Universal Cable Productions. Jack Kenny (The Book of Daniel) is Executive Producer and Showrunner.

ComicMix’s Glenn Hauman at PhilCon this weekend

  • News
  • November 19, 2010

Yep, on the road again. PhilCon lasts for three days, I’ll be there tonight and Saturday. Here’s my schedule:

Fri 7:00 PM in Plaza V (Five) (1 hour)
UNSTOPPABLE FORCE SUPERHEROES (455)

   [Panelists: Glenn Hauman (mod), Jonathan Maberry, Alexis Gilliland, Andre Lieven]

   The Silver Age Superman could juggle planets. Sufficiently enraged, the Hulk has no upper strength limit. How can such invincible characters be given sufficient challenges and obstacles to make satisfying stories without de-powering them? Is this merely an enlarged version of the eternal ‘how can there be tension if we know the main character will survive’ quandary?

Fri 9:00 PM in Plaza IV (Four) (1 hour)
WEIRD SCIENCE COMICS! (512)

   [Panelists: Bill Spangler (mod), Stephanie Burke, Glenn Hauman, J. Andrew World]

   The Influence of EC Comics on Science Fiction

Sat 11:00 AM in Plaza II (Two) (1 hour)
OFF THE SCREEN: MOVIE/TV TIE-IN COMIC (424)

   [Panelists: Keith R.A. DeCandido (mod), Glenn Hauman, Bill Spangler]

   For years, TV shows and movies have had comic-book adaptations, and sometimes even long-running titles.  These days, however, it’s been taken to a whole other level, with comics like “Buffy” and “Firefly” actually being written or overseen by the show’s creator.  Can comics act as way to tell stories that can’t be told on the screen

Sat 1:00 PM in Plaza III (Three) (1 hour)
BUT THAT’S NOT SCIENCE FICTION (462)

   [Panelists: Michael J. Walsh (mod), Diane Weinstein, Carl Fink, Glenn Hauman, Barbara Barnett]

   Certain types of non-Science Fiction works such as the Sherlock Holmes series, the Regency Romances of Georgette Heyer, much of Kipling and  the Hornblower series are widely read by many science fiction fans and writers. Is there something these works have in common with science Fiction? If so, what is it?

Sat 2:00 PM in Plaza III (Three) (1 hour)
MARVEL/DISNEY: A MATCH MADE IN HOLLYWOOD (419)

   [Panelists: Andre Lieven (mod), Phil Kahn, Glenn Hauman, J. Andrew World]

   Earlier this year, The Walt Disney Company purchased Marvel Comics and Marvel Studios.  What is this going to mean for some of Marvel’s popular characters, like Spiderman, the Xmen, or Capt. America? What about films based on some of Marvel characters?  And what effect, if any, will this have on DC Comics and it’s corporate parent, Time-Warner?

Sat 4:00 PM in Plaza III (Three) (1 hour)
HOW REAL WORLD INVENTIONS HAVE INFLUENCED SCIENCE FICTION (513)

   [Panelists: Glenn Hauman (mod), Tom Purdom, Andre Lieven, Bernie Mojzes, Linda Bushyager]

   Science fiction has not always had a great track record of anticipating technological advances. Sometimes an invention has to show up in the real world before science fiction writers begin to write about it.
   Then what happens?

Sat 6:00 PM in Plaza I (One) (1 hour)
NOT JUST CAPES: THE BEST IN NON-SUPERHERO COMICS (427)

   [Panelists: Tony DiGerolamo (mod), Glenn Hauman, Jared Axelrod, James Chambers]

   Not every comic book features spandex and superpowers.  Some of them are about everyday people.  Some are about… other things.  But what are the best comics out there without superhero characters?
   Come and find out!

Sat 8:00 PM in Plaza VII (Seven) (1 hour)
WHY THE THEME ANTHOLOGY? (517)

   [Panelists: Eric Kotani (mod), Lawrence M. Schoen, Mike McPhail, Glenn Hauman, Danielle Ackley-McPhail]

   Why do we see so many anthologies on pre-chosen subjects?

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Review: ‘Legends of the Superheroes’

legends-of-the-super-heroes1-5014371The 1970s was not a kind decade for live-action television based on comic book heroes. First there was the Cathy lee Crosby misfire of a [[[Wonder Woman]]] telefilm then there were the Reb Brown[[[ Captain America]]] telefilms.[[[Spider-Man]]] made it to prime time as a series but it didn’t resemble the comic in tone or style and died a swift death.  But the absolute most mind-numbing and cringe worthy hours featured DC Comics’ stalwart heroes and villains.

I’ve never seen an NBC executive explain what made them think the two specials that aired in January 1979. The Challenge and The Roast, aired as [[[Legends of the Superheroes]]], were probably the first time mass audiences were introduced to [[[Green Lantern]]] or[[[Flash]]] or Hawkman but they certainly knew Adam West’s Batman, Burt Ward’s Robin and Frank Gorshin’s delightful Riddler. As a result, the aging trio donned the tights once more to anchor the two specials. A veritable who’s who of B-list performers and outright unknowns filled the remainder of the costumes.

Comic book fans probably loved seeing Captain Marvel, Hawkman, Huntress, Black Canary, and others in real life but the shows did not earn great ratings and have been derided by those who recall seeing them. While illegal bootlegs have circulated for years, Warner Archive has collected them on a single disc from the best source material available.

You have to love kitsch, bad writing, awful acting, and comic books to enjoy (or endure) these specials.

The Challenge pits a gaggle of villains led by Mordru the Merciless to once more destroy the world. The heroes split up and run around like idiots in an attempt to find and disarm the doomsday device. Mike Marmer and Peter Gallay, who wrote the script for both specials, apparently never learned that humor is derived from character and situation. Not a single hero or villain has a personality depriving the story from any humorous opportunities. The heroes act like dim-wits and never use their powers when they would be needed. The laugh track is badly handled since it is triggered by the lamest of activities. The costumes are authentic but clearly done on the cheap as were the visual effects. (And why on earth is Batman’s cowl worn over his cape?)

The Roast, hosted by Ed McMahon, has some genuinely funny lines but far too few and again, mostly ignoring their characters so are generic jokes. The villains and others arrive to roast the collected heroes, causing mayhem and nonsense.

Nicely, the disc does contain some deleted scenes and outtake, making this a true collector’s item but this is really for the die-hard fans only.

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National Graphic Novel Writing Month Day 29: It’s NOT A Novel, by Keith R.A. DeCandido

  • News
  • October 29, 2010

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My biggest problem with the term “graphic novel” is that it’s wrong.

Graphic, yes. Novel, not so much.

A novel is generally defined as a work of prose that is 50,000 words or more, and most novels are much more than that.

Yet the average item that is referred to as a “graphic novel” rarely has
a novel’s worth of story. Back in the 1990s, when I reviewed these
things for Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, we tried referring to them with the more accurate term “trade comics.” But it didn’t take for very long, and that fight has long since been given up.

Which is a pity, because the term is really misleading. And that affects the writing, because when you’re writing a so-called “graphic novel”—or just writing an issue of a monthly comic book—your ability to tell the story is somewhat more proscribed than it is in prose.

Indeed, while there are significant and important differences between screenwriting and comic book writing—as expertly outlined by my buddy David Alan Mack earlier this month—one thing they share is that there are limits.

Graphic novels and movies have more flexibility, but ultimately there’s only so far you can go. Each has a range of pages or minutes that it can legitimately run, with very rare exceptions.

With, say, a TV episode or a monthly comic book, that’s a much harder limit. A “one-hour” episode must be 42 minutes, no more, no less. A monthly comic book must be 22 pages, no more, no less. (And yes, I know some shows have more minutes, and some comics have fewer pages, but work with me here.)

That’s probably what you most need to take into account when you’re writing any kind of comic book. You only have a set number of pages (or a range, anyhow), and that means you need to boil your story down to what will fit in that range.

The lack of flexibility is perhaps the hardest adjustment to make when you go from writing a prose novel to a graphic novel. If you need a new subplot in a novel, you can just add the 10,000 words or whatever—with a graphic novel, that option isn’t there.

Keith R.A. DeCandido has written more than 40 novels, including more than a dozen Star Trek novels, as well as half the Supernatural novels that have been published, and tons more. He is currently the scripter of the monthly Farscape comic and wrote the first arc of the Cars: Adventures of Tow Mater comic and the recent Star Trek: Captain’s Log: Jellico one-shot. Look for his Dungeons & Dragons novel in 2011. You can read his inane ramblings at kradical.livejournal.com or cyberstalk him on either Facebook or Twitter under the handle KRADeC.

Remember: you can follow all the NaGraNoWriMo posts here!

Is Apple Going To Own Marvel?

  • News
  • October 26, 2010

Far be it for me to report on Wall Street rumors… but I’m going to report on a Wall Street rumor. This one’s too good to pass up.

Apple, the people who make the computer I’m typing on right now, is the world’s second largest company when measured in market capitalization. They’ve got $51 billion in cash and investments, an amount that is somewhat in excess of comprehension. It is likely that the hot shit gizmo maker will use some of this money to buy something cool – they do that all the time.

Leading the pack of rumor dogs is Sony, which owns Columbia Pictures. That’s not a great fit – Sony is heavily invested in retro technology and, besides, international hostile takeovers rarely succeed in Japan. They also developed Blu-Ray, which Apple hates. Barron’s, the Rupert Murdoch owned business weekly, noted several potential takeover targets: the aforementioned Sony, the software manufacturer Adobe (which is in a blood feud with Apple right now), Facebook… and Disney.

Apple honcho Steve Jobs is Disney’s largest stockholder. He’s on Disney’s board. He used to own Pixar, before he sold it to Disney.

Disney owns Marvel.

Last week, Jobs stated Apple will use that $51 billion for “big moves.” Acquiring Disney takes enormous ego, and if there’s anything Apple has in excess of cash reserves, it’s ego.

We note that when Apple launched its revolutionary iPad (which, by the way, I regard as a wonderful comic book reader), Marvel’s comic book app was one of their very top “sellers.” That’s in quotes because the app is free, although most of the comic books are not and Apple gets 30% of the “cover price.” So Marvel received great exposure in the Apple App Store. Remember, Marvel is owned by Disney and Jobs is the biggest mouse on their lot.

Disney’s ABC-TV has a bunch of Marvel properties in development
and Marvel has promoting Disney’s new Tron movie as though it starred Iron Man.

There’s a lot of reasons why this could happen. There are a lot of reasons why it wouldn’t: quite frankly, there are better investments than Disney. But still, it’s a real nice fit.

I can hardly wait for the inevitable Disneyland Justin Long “I’m A Mac” thrill ride.

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National Graphic Novel Writing Month Day 18: Starring Roles– The Importance of Character Analysis

  • News
  • October 18, 2010

nagranowrimo-6249152“It’s the
characters, stupid.”

    – Ronald D. Moore, Executive
Producer of Battlestar Galactica
(2004) and Caprica

Comics are
always filled with over-the-top superpowers, bright spandex costumes, and
universe-spanning storylines. While these flashy props were enough to sustain
the comics industry in its infancy, the modern comic reader expects more. Many
of the biggest, most complex stories are known for their iconic moments with
their characters.

DC’s Final Crisis saw the return of Darkseid
and a time-travelling bullet, but we all remember it for the simple image of
Superman holding the lifeless body of his best friend – Batman – in his arms,
sorrow filling Big Blue’s face. Marvel’s Civil
War brought heroes toe to toe with one another, splitting teams and
friendships alike. What became iconic was the bitter struggle between two men
who used to be best friends: Iron Man and Captain America, then Stark’s grief
over his actions leading inexorably to the death of Steve Rogers. 

Imagine a
photo in a frame. A couple is standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, quite
happy. The frame is a fun pewter souvenir from the Tower itself. The focus –
however – is still the couple. Stories are just the same. We may set it in a
creative, dramatic setting. We may dress it up with superpowers, costumes, or
deep philosophic meanings. None of this works, however, without the characters
to drive the story. If the characters don’t ring true, the entire story falls
apart. Characters are how we – the reader – access, understand, and empathize
with a story. 

When dissecting your characters, whether protagonist,
antagonist, or a mere cameo appearance; they need to feel real. The
three-dimensionality of a character can make or break your story, no matter how
brilliant of a plot you’ve devised or how epic the setting. Creating a
believable character involves a precarious balance between two not-so-small
aspects: uniqueness and universality. (more…)

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Movie Review: ‘RED’

red-bw-online-banner1-6275640For those of you who haven’t read the three-issue comic book miniseries Red, by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, don’t worry. The movie version is to the comic book as [[[Blade Runner]]] was to Philip K. Dick’s novel [[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]] That is, Red takes the comic book’s basic concept—a retired CIA assassin, Frank Moses, finds himself under attack and comes out of retirement to deal with the problem—and then spins it off in a new direction. In this movie’s case, that direction is a fast, fun film with a fantastic cast, great action, great lines, and more than a little bit of humor.

Let’s start with the cast. You’ve got Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren. That’s a fantastic lineup all by itself. But then throw in Mary Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Brian Cox, and Richard Dreyfuss, and this movie could be about pretty much anything and it would still be fun. Hell, I’d watch that group doing an improv of strangers meeting in a supermarket checkout line!

But don’t worry about the plot. It’s there. Oh, is it there. And it all works. It’s straightforward enough to follow without a problem, but has plenty of depth to keep you interested. There aren’t any of those cinematic asides Hollywood is so fond of these days, either—I think there’s all of one flashback, and it’s short and to the point.

There’s also a lot of humor to this movie. Plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, especially with Willis and Mirren’s droll delivery, Freeman’s cheerful amiability, and Malkovich’s off-kilter antics. If anything, Malkovich steals the show, but only barely. This isn’t a group you can steal much attention from.

red1-4414641There’s a lot of violence, of course. But no real gore. No nudity either, and not much profanity. Plus the light tone and the romantic element offsets all the talk about killing and killers. The film’s rated PG-13 and I think that’s fair.

One of the best things about this movie is that you can tell everyone had a great time making it. Willis is definitely on as the calm, cool, slightly amused Frank Moses. Malkovich is perfect as the addled but still deadly Marvin. Parker is delightful as the confused but sweet Sarah. Mirren is wonderful as the wickedly serene Victoria, Freeman is endearing as the easy-going but utterly competent Joe, Urban is excellent as the focused and competent Cooper, and Cox is charming as the smooth-talking Ivan. And watch for a cameo by screen legend Ernest Borgnine.

Red is definitely a movie well worth seeing. If you’re anything like me, you’ll walk away grinning—and with a new appreciation for postcards from cities around the world.

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