Tagged: Dark Horse

Marvel and Facebook Team-Up

  • News
  • March 6, 2008

First, Marvel launched its online comics subscription service last November where you could read over 3000 comics online. Now, the company is dipping another virtual toe in the Internet’s waters and has joined with social networking site Facebook to launch a new digital comics application.

This new application, according to Marvel:

…immerses fans in the world of Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, the home of the greatest collection of Marvel Comics ever assembled online. This new application page will serve as a hub to the Marvel Universe on Facebook.

Among the cool things this application will allow you to do is check out the entire collection of comics at Marvel’s Digital Comics site and read synopsies of the titles. You will also be able to pick and choose favorites, offer lists of "must reads" to other Facebook users and share comments.

John Dokes, VP of Online Operations and Marketing at Marvel, had this to say about the new venture:

“Facebook is an extraordinary outlet to communicate with and entertain Marvel fans,” said John Dokes, Vice President, Online Operations and Marketing, Marvel Entertainment, Inc. “This clearly extends our Internet reach and familiarizes a new fan base with all of the cool things happening with Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited and Marvel.com.”

The decision to go the Facebook route as opposed to MySpace, where several comic publishers such as Dark Horse Comics have already begun publishing content, is an interesting move. While MySpace is still the king of social networking sites, Facebook is quickly becoming the place where people go after they get tired of MySpace and its often painful to read custom homepages. So is this move by Marvel incredible foresight or a clever gamble?

Check out the new Marvel Facebook application right here.

 

Kim 2008, by John Ostrander

  • News
  • March 6, 2008
 
kim-and-nettie-in-hammock-copy-8808789This week’s marks eleven years since the passing of my late wife, Kimberly Yale. The best way to remember people, I’ve found, is through stories – stories you know or stories you’ve heard. Story is what I do. So here are some of the stories by which I remember Kim.
 
Kim and I had known each other quite a while before we started dating or became a couple. In point of fact, before Kim and I started dating, I had given up on the ritual. It simply had gotten too painful. I was well into my thirties at that point and none of my relationships had lasted more than six months. The common variable in that equation seemed to be me so I just assumed I was never going to find someone. I had not gone on a date for maybe eighteen months prior to Kim’s and my starting up.
 
In fact, Kim had earlier been one of those who had shot down whatever overture I was making. I had gotten back from a business trip to England and picked up a Doctor Who tchotke or two that I thought she would like. I called her up, said I was coming over to her apartment, and headed over in vague hopes of maybe possibly something might happen. Kim and I were more acquaintances than anything else at this point.
 

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Human Giant Blood+, by Ric Meyers

  • News
  • March 2, 2008
 
blood-6632034Eight years ago an anime appeared that has stood, and even reverberated, the test of time. Blood: The Last Vampire was a groundbreaking and engrossing effort that clearly left virtually everyone who saw it wanting more. Clocking in at a breathless, seemingly unfinished, forty-eight minutes (just enough to fill a network TV hour slot), it showcased a pretty, young high school co-ed who swung a mean samurai sword against vampires at a Vietnam-era military base.
 
It was so well done and memorable that the sequel clamor has rung loud and steady to this day. Now, finally, a box set of the first twenty-five episodes of the follow-up television series, cleverly titled Blood+, is ready to slice into U.S. stores. For all those readers who are cringing at the thought of a TV continuation, you obviously don’t know Japanimation. Although there have been a few near misses, generally the small screen adaptations of major action anime have been well inside the strike zone (Ninja Scroll, R.O.D. [Read or Die], and especially Ghost in the Shell have all nimbly survived the transition).
 
Blood+ may head that list, since the skeletal original has been nicely filled out with a backstory and mythology which deepens and broadens the story — aided and abetted by a design and animation style that can’t match the cgi-ness of the original, but more than makes up for it with blood-splatteringly good direction, editing, and an exceptional soundtrack produced by Hans Zimmer. It’s just a shame for me, personally, that the box set was seemingly created to delight the more superficial anime fan and not the movie lover.
 
The big box contains three slim cases for the six discs, an even slimmer twelve page preview of the Dark Horse comic book version of the translated manga, and a black t-shirt (size: L) boasting the series logo. Once the apparel is removed, the rest rattles a bit. Five of the discs contain twenty-five half-hour episodes. The sixth contains something they’re calling “Inside Blood+” – which is interviews with a whole bunch of the original voice actors.
 

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ComicMix Radio: ‘Battlestar: Galactica’ – The View From Apollo

Actor Richard Hatch has had the privilege of seeing the inside of the spaceship Battlestar: Galactica across three decades and two very distinctively different series. as the current show gets ready for its final voyage, he gives us his perspective on where it’s been and where it will end, plus:

— Hulk scores another sell out, and it’s four now for Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash

— Dark Horse continues to honor webcomics

— Fantasy Baseball season has begun – it’s like WoW, but without the orcs

— Don’t miss your crack at a brand new trivia question and another chance to grab an exclusive Graham Crackers Comics variant by e-mailing us at: podcast [at] comicmix.com

You know you are already humming the Battlestar theme in your head – so Press The Button and hear it!

 

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-8665997 or RSS!

 

Other People’s Sandboxes, by John Ostrander

  • News
  • February 28, 2008
 
This column has its roots in Mike Gold’s column this week. While it’s not necessary to read Uncle Whizzy’s Wazoo this week,  it is recommended – as it is every week. Loves my UWW on Monday!
 
I’ve spent a lot of my writing career in other people’s sandboxes and, in general, have had a great time. Sometimes I wonder if I haven’t spent a little too much time in those sandboxes. My career might have been better served with a few more original creations such as GrimJack (and I’m working on some that will appear here on ComicMix eventually) but, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. Hindsight also often sounds as if one is looking out one’s butt – which certainly explains many of the utterings we hear from political pundits these days. However, that’s a different topic for another time.
 
Brother Gold’s column this week was about whether or not a strip or a character or a series should continue after its creator’s death (or their choice to discontinue work on said property). His point was that in many cases we would not have some very fine stories using those properties were that not the case. Nor would we have had some very notable careers. For example, Frank Miller first made his name taking over the very moribund Daredevil book at Marvel and making it the most talked about book in the industry. Alan Moore was known to those us who could get their hands on 2000 AD and/or Warrior (and thus first saw Miracleman, a Captain Marvel rip-off character that he performed surgery on and made into something very new) but his first big American title was when he took over Swamp Thing and re-invented not only the character but its whole mythology.
 

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Review: Bryan Talbot’s ‘Alice in Sunderland’

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Alice in Sunderland
Bryan Talbot
Dark Horse Books, 2007, $29.95

Even for an artist as hard to pin down as Talbot, [[[Alice in Sunderland]]] is odd and unique: it’s one-half a local history of the town in northern England where Talbot lives now and one-half a popular history of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (a.k.a. Lewis Carroll) and Alice in Wonderland. And then both of those halves are wrapped up in a metafictional package, since there are two narrators (the Pilgrim and the Performer, both of them Talbot) and one audience member witnessing this performance (the Plebian, who is also Talbot). To make things even more confusing, about half-way through the book Talbot breaks down and admits that Sunderland, the town he claims he lives in, doesn’t actually exist!

Except even that is a trick: Sunderland is a real town in the northeast of England, on the coast near Newcastle upon Tyne. And the various facts Talbot presents, about the history of Sunderland and of Alice, and the many connections between the two? Well, there’s an extensive list of sources in the backmatter, so I think they’re real. At least, most of them. I think.

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Matt Kindt Reveals Two New Projects

  • News
  • February 26, 2008

kindt-4298643The writer and artist behind my favorite graphic novel of last year, Top Shelf’s Super Spy, just announced the two projects he’ll be working on this year.

On his Web site, Matt Kindt just revealed he’s currently putting together a book titled 3 Story: The History of the Giant Man for Dark Horse. Kindt writes the story "is all about a guy that keeps growing and growing until he’s three stories tall. It’s told from the point of view of his mom, wife and then daughter and spans the 1940 through the 60s."

In the same post, Kindt includes the artwork seen at right, a typical mix for him of watercolor and ink. That page comes from Kindt’s next project at Top Shelf, a book titled Super Natural. The only description of the project given is "Houdini under water!"

Speaking of Top Shelf books, Alex Robinson just posted an entry on his blog (look for the Feb. 24 post) that reveals a swath of easter eggs from his book Box Office Poison. On page 215 of that book, the main character hears a spate of stupid questions from customers at the book store where he works.

Robinson explains that all the questioners were based on indie comics creators and characters, and Robinson gives sources for each.

 

A World of WonderCon: The Coverage Round-Up

  • News
  • February 25, 2008

From the stories coming out of WonderCon, it looks like the San Francisco convention is quickly approaching the high profile of its San Diego counterpart, with similar big-name announcements, celebrity appearances and, well, masses of stormtroopers popping up during the show.

Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights:

Saturday night’s Iron Man panel featured director Jon Favreau answering questions about the film — and the potential for a sequel — before showing off new footage from the film. SuperHeroHype has a great recap of the panel and footage. SHH also sat down with Favreau for a recorded interview that they’ve made available in downloadable mp3 format.

As for your dose of convention drama, Blog@’s Graeme McMillan ignited a veritable sh*tstorm around the InterWebs when he chose not to report a portion of the Bill Willingham Spotlight due to the creator’s request. Apparently (and this is what I’m gleaning from the online chatter), Willingham revealed some spoiler-esque info regarding Fables and an upcoming Fables-related project and subsequently asked reporters not to report on any of it. McMillan obliged, and was later dragged from his hotel room by an angry mob of comics fans, savagely beaten, then tarred, feathered and dumped in the bay — or the online equivalent, at least.

McMillan’s Blog@ associate J.K. Parkin not only reports on all of this, but also makes sure to get a word-for-word recap of the information that caused all of the ruckus.

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Hellboy II Prequel Comic Preview

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Universal Pictures and Dark Horse Comics are distributing a 16-page Hellboy II: The Golden Army prequel comic to WonderCon attendees, but a five-page preview of the comic has been posted on the film’s official site.

Yes, that’s a preview of a prequel to a sequel, if you’re counting — and it’s written by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, based on a story by Hellboy II film director Guillermo del Toro.

Oh, and don’t worry if that last paragraph read like a calculus equation, the comic is far more comprehensible, I assure you.

 

(via SHH)

ComicMix at Toy Fair: Coverage Round-Up and Extra Photos

  • News
  • February 21, 2008

Well, Toy Fair is officially over, folks. All that’s left is to sweep up the wayward Legos, find a place for all of the free promotional swag, and calmly reflect on the passing of yet another convention.

Oh, and there’s always the "Clip Reel" — or, as we call it in the InterWebs News, the "Round-Up" article. So, just in case you missed any of our Toy Fair 2008 coverage, here are some of the announcements, audio, video and photos from Toy Fair ’08 we collected thus far.

We still have some audio and video wrap-up coverage, including today’s edition of ComicMix Radio, so keep an eye on the site over the rest of the week. As a special "bonus feature" of sorts, I’ve included a few photos after the round-up below of some sights, scenes, and, of course, toys that  were favorites of the ComicMix crew but didn’t quite fit into the rest of our coverage.

 

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