Tagged: DC

Vogue, by Martha Thomases

There is a special exhibition at the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Musuem of Art called Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. I haven’t been able to go yet, but according to the exhibit’s web site, the show features costumes designed around these groups:

•The Patriotic Body (Wonder Woman, Captain America)

•The Virile Body (they cite The Hulk and The Thing, which sort of creeps me out)

•The Graphic Body (Superman and other characters with logos)

•The Paradoxical Body (Catwoman and other hyper-sexualized heroines)

•The Armored Body (Iron Man, Steel)

•The Aerodynamic Body (The Flash)

• The Mutant Body (they cite Rogue)

• The Post-Modern Body (Ghost Rider, Punisher).

The show and its parties are sponsored by Conde Nast, DC and Marvel, and Giorgio Armani. The opening night was extremely glamorous, with attendance from stars like George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Tilda Swinton, and the Olsen Twins. Heidi has written great stuff about it at The Beat and the Fug Girls are all over it.

Some of these groupings I understand, and some seem to be redundant (really, is Rogue that much different from Catwoman in the way she’s presented in this show?). However, none of them seem to consider superhero garb the way I did, when I was considering being a superheroine.

It’s true that I was designing my costume when I was eight years old, when fashion was not my foremost concern, nor did I need to worry about where I was going to keep my breasts at that time. I wanted something that would allow me to hide in the shadows, mysteriously, even while showing off my beautiful blonde hair (I had a few blonde cousins, and thought all I needed was more time in the sun to achieve the same golden tresses). Midnight blue, I thought, was the perfect color, at least among those choices in my Crayola box.

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Cool Like That, by Michael Davis

 

What is cool?

As comic book fans we are pretty much in the forefront of what cool is. The history of comics is an encyclopedia of coolness. If it were not for rock’n’roll, comics would be the absolute standard of coolness. Take a look all the stuff that comics are responsible for in popular culture.

We each have our own gauge of what cool is. Me? I’m all over the place with what or who I think is cool. I think George Clooney is cool and I have little respect for “movie stars,” as any regular reader of this column knows. I think that Gary Shandling is cool and one of the funniest men on the planet. I think that DC comics are cool even if I have had issues with them and they have with me. I think American Idol is cool mostly ,because so many so-called “hip” people think it’s lame. I think HGTV is cool. I think that Stan Lee is cool because he has earned that title. I think that Prince and Patrick Swayze are cool. To me Alan Greenspan is cool and so is Brian Williams.

The shows Family Guy and American Dad are cool but so is every one of those Law and Order shows. Mike Richardson and Dark Horse comics are cool. The staff at Comic Con International and the staff at The Westin Horton Plaza Hotel (especially Jean) are cool. I think the Amish are cool. I know that ComicMix is cool.

 
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William ‘Willie’ Elder, R.I.P.

William "Willie" Elder, one of the illustrators instrumental in launching MAD Magazine, passed away today at age 86, according to various reports.

Elder was one of several creators hired by MAD founder Harvey Kurtzman when the popular parody magazine first launched in 1952.

No details have been released regarding Elder’s cause of death. His funeral will be held Sunday in New Jersey.

From the official statement on behalf of DC, the current publisher of MAD Magazine:

“Willie Elder was one of the funniest artists to ever work for MAD. He created visual feasts with dozens of background gags layered into every MAD story he illustrated,” says John Ficarra, Editor of MAD Magazine, “He called these gags “chicken fat.” Willie’s “anything goes” art style set the tone for the entire magazine and created a look that endures to this day.”

“Willie’s passing saddens all of us here at MAD,” says Sam Viviano, MAD Magazine Art Director, “Everyone who has attempted to draw a funny picture over the course of the last fifty or sixty years owes an enormous debt to Willie, who taught us all how to do it — and no one has ever done it better than he did.”

 

When Superheroes Get Old

Geriatric superheroes appear to be all the rage these days, as a number of sites are linking to Italian artist Donald Soffritti’s illustrations of Superman, Spider-Man and a variety of other super-types in their Golden Years. Soffritti’s work is great, and I can’t help but giggle every time I look at his take on DC speedster The Flash.

(And please, for everyone’s sake, don’t tell DC/Warner Bros. about this stuff.)

(via ComicNerd.com)

 

Along the same lines, BoingBoing points us to a similar piece that fast-forwards the age of popular cartoon characters, including Popeye, Felix the Cat and Dennis the Menace (my personal favorite).

 

Gene Colan’s Health Issues Prompt Industry Fundraising Efforts

colan_batman_cover-3861728While Warner Bros./DC is actively shutting down fundraisers, the friends and family of artist Gene Colan are continuing to put the word out about their need for donations to help with the cost of Colan’s medical bills due to dangerous liver problems.

Dirk Deppey over at Journalista has made it the top story for the entire week and like many other sites, provided a link to auctions of Colan’s original art that his family has posted. He’s also offered up an alternate strategy for getting much-needed money into the right hands:

Do as I did, and make a direct donation via Paypal, where the Colans are registered as genecolan@optonline.net — just log into your account, hit the “send money” button, and insert said email address and the amount you wish to donate into the appropriate boxes. Oh, and you might want to mention the word “donation” prominently in the comments box, so the Colans don’t have to sort through a bunch of listings to find the eBay payments.

Tom Spurgeon also offered up a host of links and information about Colan, his predicament and how you can help, while ComicMix pal Mark Evanier posted a long message about Colan on his website:

I don’t know what else to write here. It just seems appropriate to send a whole lotta love the Colans’ way this morning. I hope the dire reports on his health will prove to be overstated. I hope we’ll have Gene around for many more years. I hope — and of this, I am the surest — that Gene is well aware how many fans he has and how, whenever he goes, he’s leaving behind an incredible body of work that will be praised and studied and appreciated by comic book fans who aren’t even born yet. I just think we oughta postpone losing a guy like that as long as possible.

A message from Colan’s wife Adrienne can also be read here. (more…)

DC/Warner Bros. Shut Down Childhood Cancer Fundraiser

superdrunk-9327448BoingBoing recently put the spotlight on Warner Bros. decision to shut down a series of original art auctions on eBay benefitting a childhood cancer charity. Apparently, many of the pieces of art in the auction (which the organizer had requested of his contacts in the comics community and they were more than happy to provide) depicted DC characters such as Batman and Superman.

From organizer Thomas Denton’s blog, Say It Backwards:

I just got notice that two of the Superman related auctions have been removed from the site and the rest are probably next. I don’t know what to do now. I have to start canceling auctions and issuing refunds. That means all the fees and such I’m now responsible for which is money i just don’t have, and I have no idea if I’m still obligated to the middleman ebay uses for their charity auctions.

…

I am heartbroken. I am really sorry to any one this is any trouble for. Legally, I was in the wrong. I used their intellectual property without their permission. I’m not going to play the victim on that front. I swear I just wanted to do something good.

Denton offered some further thoughts on the whole kerfuffle in a later post, as well as notice that he would probably be shutting down his site — which had been a vocal supporter of all things Superman and DC over the years — once the dust had settled.

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‘DC Universe Online’ Needs Senior Artist

Comic book and videogame fans’ cyberspace dreams were crushed when Microsoft confirmed that the Marvel Universe Online videogame was canceled last year. The superhero-themed massively multiplayer online game, playable between computers and Xbox 360 consoles, could’ve been a serious contender to World of Warcraft. However, the developer is carrying on with that effort, sans Marvel license.

But don’t give up hope yet, fanboys. Evidence shows that Sony is still going forward with their planned DC Comics Universe Online MMO. This week, Rich Johnston noticed in his Lying in the Gutters column a Craigslist ad from Sony Online Entertainment looking for Senior Levels Artists to work on the game. Before you start assembling your resume so that you can work with game consultant Jim Lee, be aware that the position has some steep requirements:

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent development experience.
• 5+ years experience in game development using Maya and the Unreal Engine.
• Must have shipped at least two titles with heavy 3D content as a senior Artist with management responsibilities.

DC Comics Universe Online has been long in development with very few details released. It was announced for computers and the PlayStation 3 but it’s unknown if cross-platform play will be allowed. It’s not likely to come out any time soon, either, since no mention of the game was made at Sony’s recent 2008 media event in London last week.

ComicMix Radio: Controversy in The Comic Shops

Everyone at the racks this week is probably in agreement that Iron Man rocks and Speed Racer, well… doesn’t. But the opinions are much more divided on the topic of DC’s decision to apparently return Barry Allen to the land of the living. There are more clues to what they have planned in this week’s batch of new comics, which we cover, plus:

— Boom Studios plans a benefit project

— Eric Stoltz lands on Caprica

— Eli Stone is coming back

And then there’s Jim Bowie. No, really! Press the Button and we’ll show you…

 

 

 And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-7515341 or RSS!

 

homeland-1397145

Happy Birthday: Marv Wolfman

homeland-1397145Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1946, Marvin A. “Marv” Wolfman got his start in comic book fandom before joining DC in 1968. In 1972, he moved to Marvel Comics under editor Roy Thomas.

After Thomas left, Wolfman’s friend Len Wein became editor-in-chief, but  a year later he passed the position on to Wolfman. Wolfman missed writing, however, and chose to step down as editor-in-chief a few years later so he could return to creating the comics himself.

While at Marvel, Wolfman wrote for Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and Doctor Strange, but he is possibly best known for his work on Tomb of Dracula, including the creation of the vampire-hunter Blade.

In 1980, Wolfman returned to DC and created The New Teen Titans. He worked on Superman and Night Force, revived Dial H for Hero, and then launched the pivotal Crisis on Infinite Earths.

During the ’90s, Wolfman focused more on animation and television, and in the 2000s he has written a novel based on Crisis on Infinite Earths, the novelization of Superman Returns, and an animated movie, Condor, for Stan Lee’s Pow Entertainment. Wolfman recently took over the writing for DC’s Nightwing series.

In 2007, he wrote a nonfiction book, Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel, which won the National Jewish Book Award and the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award, among other honors.

Witchblade Hits the Big Screen with New Movie

Why should Marvel and DC be the only comic book companies making serious bank at the box office? Top Cow Productions has officially begun work on a live-action feature adaptation of their popular Witchblade comic book series.

The series already spawned a live-action television show on TNT that lasted for two seasons. Plus, half naked women beating up bad guys with an awesome glove is the type of can’t miss concept that Hollywood craves.

The producers hope to start production of the film in September.

(via SHH)

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