Tagged: comics

Ecocomics! (Or: where did they get those wonderful toys?)

scrooge-mcduck-8712282If you thought comics weren’t dismal enough nowadays, just wait until they meet up with the Dismal Science. Lo, we shall combine comics and economics and there shall be Ecocomics:

In the Marvel Universe, Canada is responsible for creating some of the
most deadly super-soldiers in history. Wolverine, Sabretooth, Deadpool,
Kane, and Agent Zero were all deadly assassins who were empowered by
Canada’s Weapon X program. This secret division of the Canadian
government went to great expense to create nearly unstoppable weapons
(and in almost all cases, allow them to escape shortly thereafter).
This gives rise to a single question: WHY?

What threat was Canada so afraid of that the government felt the need to constantly produce human death machines?

“Holy Crap, Quebec is getting uppity again, let’s coat another mutant in adamantium!”

Or:

It has occurred to me that building repairs must make up something like
90% of the economy in comic book universes. This must be true to combat
the rampant destruction in the comic book world. Nearly ever major
title from DC comics showcases this constant and overwhelming
destruction. Superman frequently levels Metropolis while “protecting”
its citizens. Riots happen in Gotham City roughly every five minutes. A
FRICKIN DARK GOD POSSESSED EVERY LIVING SOUL ON THE PLANET AND
DESTROYED TONS OF BUILDINGS WHILE BURNING EVERY BOOK EVER WRITTEN!

I can’t wait to see the psych workup on Richie Rich. (Hat tip: Amy Goldschlager.)

The Point – May 22nd, 2009

There’s more with Broadway’s newest star, The Toxic Avenger plus which Troma star might make it on the stage next? Plus there’s a few causalities in comics and on television – we’ve got the latest list on who’s coming & going.

PRESS THE BUTTON to Get The Point!

And be sure to stay on The Point via badgeitunes61x15dark-3352710, RSS, MyPodcast.Com or Podbean

The new Kindle DX: Closer to comic ready, but…

kindle-dx-1-6852613Amazon has released the Kindle DX, the 2.0 version of their e-book reader. And you already know if it works for books, but we know the really important question– is it the holy grail for reading comics?

Well, the screen’s bigger. It’s bigger than the average tankoubon manga page (5 x 7.5 inches) but smaller than the average US comic page. The screen auto-rotates when you rotate it, so it zooms nicely. And miracle of miracles, it has native PDF support. It holds over twice as much data as the original Kindle.

But. It’s still not color, it’s 16 gray levels. It still has all of the Digital Rights Management that allows Amazon to turn your machine into a paperweight if it so decides. There aren’t a lot of comic books available for it yet. And at $489 for the device alone, that’s a few months of comics buying right there.

So I’m torn. It might be the perfect manga reader, but I’m not sure it’s there yet for most of the books in America. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on it to give it a full test, but I still don’t think I’m giving up my MacBook Pro and ComicBookLover yet.

I still think Joy Of Tech has the best take on it so far…

Survey: How much of a discount are you getting for your comics?

This question was prompted by:

  • Free Comic Book Day, where a whole lot of comics were handed out at a 100% discount, and;
  • this comment from Vinnie Bartilucci about a firm being “the last chain in the history of the world to try and get list price for almost their entire catalog.  I despise them.”

So it got us to thinking– what are people actually paying for comics nowaday? Not how much are they consuming, we have decent numbers about that– but at what discount? That may give us a better idea as to what sort of margin stores are working on nowadays, and how comic readers are behaving.

So please, take a minute and
click here to take the survey
. We’ll post the results shortly.


online surveys

Free Comic Book Day…?

But at ComicMix, every day is Free Comic Book Day! Go and read them if you don’t believe me, the links are all in the sidebar. And there are bunches of webcomics you should be reading that are free every day…

Nevertheless, it is an annual rarity for stores to be handing out free comics and so attention must be paid. http://www.freecomicbookday.com has all the details, including a list of all the comics and the signings.

If you need to find a comic book store, call 888-COMIC-BOOK, go to comicshoplocator.com, or download the iPhone app.

And hey, FCBD even has a comercial this year!

Stories That Inspired ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’

  • News
  • April 29, 2009

So you’re excited for the new movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

You’re thinking, man, I can’t wait to see the full-out origin of the Canucklehead himself, the guy who is the best he is at what he does even if what he does isn’t very nice. Now, at least, you can see for yourself the truth behind the project that gave Wolvie his adamantium-laced skeleton, the famous Weapon X Program. And along the way, you get to meet fun guys such as Remy LeBeau (the card-wielding mutant called Gambit) and Wade Wilson, the “merc with a mouth” who calls himself Deadpool.

And yet, we all know films take liberties with the comics they are based on. Many of you are wondering what comic book stories this is lifting from and where you can find those same tales so that you can properly judge the adaptation.

Well, look no further, folks. Here is a small list of stories that are being used as the basis for the new movie. Enjoy!

(more…)

Let’s Rebuild Len Wein’s Comic Book Collection!

  • News
  • April 19, 2009

From Mark Evanier:

Earlier this month, my friends Len Wein and Chris Valada lost a pretty good sized chunk of their house and belongings in a fire. They’re moving (today, I think) into a rental home for what might be a year while their regular dwelling is rebuilt. Insurance is paying for most of the reconstruction but there are things that just plain weren’t covered. One was Len’s book collection, most notably his shelves of comic books he’s written over the years.

The loss in that category is not primarily financial. Some of Len’s comics — like the ones in which he co-created Swamp Thing or Wolverine or Human Target — go these days for hefty bucks but many do not. They’re sitting in the bargain boxes at comic shops or in collectors’ piles of duplicates. The big problem here is the time it would take to track down all the issues of everything. Len has enough other things to do, just to rearrange his life these days. So some of his friends decided to take that chore off his shoulders.

In that spirit was born The "Let’s Rebuild Len Wein’s Comic Book Collection" Project. The goal is to…well, you can probably figure out the goal. Go to that page. Read about it. See what you can send. And please spread the word.

Just a quick note: the list that’s currently up at the site is only of books that Len wrote, none that he edited. We expect there will be a modified master list shortly, even if we have to compile it ourselves.

I-Con 28: ‘Under the Radar: Comics You’re Missing’

  • News
  • April 7, 2009

alien-loves-predator-3955576Among the exciting adventures at I-Con was a panel titled "Under the Radar: Comics You’re Missing." The panelists (Carl Fink, Bob Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, Andy Weir, Bernie Hou, and me) and attendees came up with the following list, which we promised we’d post for reference. You should check them out if you aren’t reading them already:

Webcomics:

Print Comics:

Of course, the real takeaway from the panel was that you should be getting your comics news and reviews from ComicMix.com!

Glenn Hauman To Leave ComicMix

  • News
  • April 1, 2009

ComicMix co-founder, production manager and news site scribe Glenn Hauman will be leaving his position at the end of the week to focus on his growing career as a male nude model.

"I’ve been offered a stimulating position out in Long Island," Hauman stated, "and like all native Long Islanders I long for the opportunity to return. And I really mean long."

Glenn had been debating this prickly decision for some time. "I enjoy comics and I can tolerate my partners, but let’s face it — I won’t be young and handsome forever, and I owe it to humanity to squeeze every last drop out of my nature-given charms." Word has it he’s in negotiations with the renown Flava-Punisher agency.

In response to this announcement, ComicMix editor-in-chief Mike Gold stated "Are you kidding me? The guy’s 40! He can’t bend over, let alone dance! Good luck with this one, pal!"

 

Debbie Schlussel takes more shots at comics

  • News
  • March 27, 2009

air-2729750She’s baaaaaack.

Debbie Schlussel, the woman who claimed you were "probably a moron and a vapid, indecent human being" if you saw Watchmen, now has trained her sights on this Wall Street Journal piece on G. Willow Wilson and her book Air, calling it "ipecac in print". Why? Because Wilson’s a convert to Islam, and Debbie really doesn’t like Muslims. Oh, and according to Debbie, Obama’s a Muslim too. I think she also thinks Obama’s in thrall to his radical Christian preacher, and he’s probably a Marxist. Usually, you can only be one of those things at a time at most, but Debbie doesn’t let things like logic stand in her way.

This quote jumped out at me, though:

I’ve repeatedly written on this site how Marvel and DC–the two major comic book hero publishers–have repeatedly pandered to Muslims of the extremist variety (as if there’s any other kind) in storylines, characters, and even internships at movie studios.

Debbie, Marvel and DC do a lot of pandering, but trust us, it ain’t to Muslims.

Reading through her archives looking at her arguments, you can almost have fun if you do what I do: replace every instance of the word "Muslim" with "Mutant" and pretend you’re reading X-Men. I promise, it makes the reading experience bearable. And comical– you keep waiting for her to announce the Sentinel program to round up all the dirty Muslims. Mutants. Whatever.

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