Tagged: Green Lantern

October Comics Sales Soften

  • News
  • November 20, 2008

secret-invasion-7-2-6303333As the economy went into free fall, ICv2 notes that October sales have shown some slippage. From their just released list of the top 25 titles, just two showed signs of improvement over September sales. One was Amazing Spider-Man #573 which featured the faux-Stephen Colbert for President cover while the other was Batman #680, the penultimate chapter to Batman RIP.

Despite somewhat stagnant sales, the dollars sold in to comic stores were up a “robust” 9% compared with a year ago, according to the industry watchdog. September and October were the first positive months for comic sales since January.  Of course, more titles were retailing last month at $3.99, rapidly becoming a standard, as opposed to last October. ICv2 did note that the unit sales for the title charting in the 300th position was 4200 compared with 3000 just twelve months ago which they interpret as a sign of overall industry strength.

Graphic novel sales showed an increase of just 5% compared with last October.  Combined with comic book sales, that creates an 8% total increase.

The site notes that the company crossovers, Secret Invasion #7 (154,675 copies) and Final Crisis #4 (115,666 copies) took the first two spots on the list. Marvel had seven of the top 10 and 17 of the first 25 with DC taking the balance. IDW’s G.I. Joe relaunch  and Angel: After the Fall were the first non-Top Two titles to crack the top 100 list coming in at 65th and 66th place. This further cements IDW’s fourth place standing among comic book publishers, after Dark Horse and now ahead of Image.

In graphic novels, DC’s Joker by Brian Azzarello, took first place with an estimated 17,000 copies sold, also nabbing the top spot for dollars earned. Marvel’s best seller for the month was the Marvel Zombies trade paperback, which likely hit the top Marvel spot given its three variant covers. Wile Watchmen slipped from first place to sixth, its 6000 copies remains impressive given its age.
 

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‘Eli Stone”s Marc Guggenheim on the Season so Far

  • News
  • November 19, 2008

"I think in many ways we’re following the Battlestar Galactica model of blowing the show up every other week and constantly raising the stakes," Marc Guggenheim told Sci FI Wire.

The co-creator and executive producer of ABC’s Eli Stone, Guggenheim added, "The name of the game here is just how can we expand the show in every conceivable way. How can we make the musical numbers bigger? How can we make the visual-effects sequences more cinematic? How can we expand and deepen the relationships among all of our characters? The show is going to bigger and bigger and bigger places."

The Tuesday night series features the title character, played by Johnny Lee Miller, as suffering from an aneurysm that also enables him to receive visions from Heaven, enabling him to come to the aid of others.  Of course, few believe him and hence drama ensues. After trying to get rid of the life-threatening spot in his brain, Eli accepted his role in life rather than see the responsibility shift to his brother. He’s also continued to practice law at Wethersby, Posner & Klein where several of his coworkers, notably Victor Garber and Loretta Divine, tend to burst into hallucinating song and dance.

The show has tried to gain notice with stunt casting such as Sigourney Weaver in the season opener followed by Katie Holmes a week later. Coming up will be singer Seal in the seventh episode. "We’ve got some cool visual effects happening in episode 207…where we literally put Eli in the middle of a movie," Guggenheim said. "We do it in a way that you’ve never seen on the show before, where we’re trying to push the envelope in terms of the way Eli has his visions."

Guggenheim, who works on the show with his pal Greg Berlanti, form two-thirds of the team behind the Green Lantern screenplay and continues to write Wolverine stories for Marvel.  Still, his weekly series is his baby and intends to get as many people to try it out as possible.  The character is out to make Earth a nicer place to live.

"I think it’s all a part of being true to the concept of the show, because the concept of the show is about changing the world," Guggenheim said. "In the first season, we did a flash-forward to the future, where Eli’s talking to thousands of people in Times Square in New York, and we’re always keeping that in the back of our minds as we plot out these stories. Like knowing that’s ultimately where we’d like to go."
 

George Perez, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee Added as NY Comic-Con Guests of Honor

  • News
  • November 16, 2008

nycc09-logo-ff-7082884Two more notable comic book celebrities will be joining the festivities at New York Comic Con (NYCC) this year as Guests of Honor. Affording thousands of fans the opportunity to meet them in person, Geoff Johns, who is well-known as a comic book writer of a number of DC Comics characters, including Superman, Green  Lantern and the Flash as well as for his work as a screenwriter; and superstar artist Jim Lee, known for his acclaimed artistic runs on titles including BATMAN, ALL STAR BATMAN and WILDCATS, will be attending NYCC to help launch the new Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing game, DC Universe Online (DCUO), produced by Sony Online Entertainment for PLAYSTATION 3 in collaboration with DC Comics and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. 

Both Johns and Lee will be signing autographs and they will conduct a large DC Universe Online event on Saturday, February 7, 2009.  New York Comic Con will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, February 6 – 8, 2009.  

“Having both Jim Lee and Geoff Johns at our show is a great ‘get’ under any circumstance, but it’s especially cool to have them here to as part of DC Universe Online,” notes Lance Fensterman, Vice President and Con Manager for NYCC. “They will do a fabulous job entertaining our fans and I know that they will attract huge crowds, not only for autographs but also for their demonstration.  I am enormously grateful to them for participating in New York Comic Con and we’re pleased to have them as Guests of Honor.” 

“Jim and Geoff represent two of the top talents in comics, so it only makes sense that they’d transfer those skills to the gaming world,” said Dan DiDio, SVP and Executive Editor for DC Comics. “It’s a perfect fit to have them named Guests of Honor at New York Comic Con.”

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‘Watchmen’ Tops 3Q Sales Charts

  • News
  • November 11, 2008

watchmen-trade-paperback-6870880

ICv2

reports that graphic novels tied to feature film release saw a massive increase in third quarter sales.

“Sales of the Watchmen graphic novel exploded after the trailer hit theaters and it will clearly be the number one graphic novel of 2008, but a number of Batman-related graphic novels including The Killing Joke and The Dark Knight Returns also showed huge increases in sales, while Mark Millar’s Wanted graphic novel published by Top Cow clearly benefited from having a hit movie adaptation,” the site noted.

As the summer features arrive on DVD for the holidays, additional trade sales are anticipated.  Marvel cannily released additional Iron Man product when the related DVD came out September 29.

Manga did not suffer according to the site’s analysis, saying “Viz Media’s shojo series Vampire Knight, the top Manga series to debut in 2007 gained strength in 2008 and Viz Media also has one of the best new series of 2008, Rosario & Vampire, but with the maturing of the Manga market, the number of new releases slated for 2009 is declining, though the quality of those new series appears to be going up.”

Top Superhero Properties–Q3 08

1 Watchmen, DC
2 Batman, DC
3 Spider-Man, Marvel
4 Wanted, Top Cow
5 League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, DC/Wildstorm
6 Iron Man, Marvel
7 Marvel Zombies, Marvel
8 Hulk, Marvel9 Superman, DC
10 Green Lantern DC

Top Genre Properties–Q3 08

1 Star Wars, Dark Horse

2 Y: The Last Man, DC/Vertigo
3 Indiana Jones, Dark Horse
4 Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dark Horse
5 Dark Tower, Marvel
6 Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Marvel
7 The Walking Dead, Image
8 Fables, DC/Vertigo
9 Sandman, DC/Vertigo
10 Angel, IDW

Growing Out Of Comics, by Mike Gold

  • News
  • October 27, 2008

It was the very end of summer, I had just turned 11, and – heaven help me – I was just beginning to tire of comic books.

Not that I was considering getting that four-color monkey off of my back. My enthusiasm was waning. The Superman books were beginning to get silly, the Batman titles had already become silly, and Julie Schwartz’s books like The Flash and Green Lantern were beginning to feel repetitious. I had exceeded the five-year point in my comic book reading life, that moment when the publishers felt you were on your way out, trading comics for sports, girls, and/or life. Being a precocious reader, I was at that portal at an age somewhat younger than the norm, but there was no doubt about it, comics weren’t quite as exciting to me as they had been.

At that time, DC had the market on super-hero titles lock, stock and barrel. Few new titles were launched; indeed, DC’s two debut books – Showcase and The Brave and the Bold – often recycled previous unsuccessful attempts like Cave Carson: Inside Earth and the original Suicide Squad to give them another shot at the marketplace. Each run generally consisted of three issues, so at best there would be four debuts each year, and most of those (like Cave Carson and Suicide Squad) were not of the super-hero genre. Today, of course, we get four such debuts a week.

So when it came time to drive my sister to college, my father did something unique. He stopped at a drug store – one of those places that actually had a massive wooden rack plus two comics spinner racks exclusively dedicated to comic books – and told me to pick out a few for the ride, in the hope that I would not be a bother. He then dashed across the street to pick up a dozen bagels at Kaufman’s, the original one on Montrose and Kedzie in Chicago. They boasted the best bagels in the country, and they were right.

When he returned to the drug store, I had nothing. Absolutely nothing. I had read each and every superhero title in the vast expanse of rack space. Even Lois Lane.  Even the war comics, about which I was ambivalent at best, although I was not ambivalent about Joe Kubert’s art. (more…)

Scary Monsters, Super Freaks. by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • October 25, 2008

Halloween is Friday. Before the American Marketing/Advertising Complex discovered that All Soul’s Eve was a terrific occasion to sell home decorations and slutty costumes, it was the National Holiday of Greenwich Village and the Vast Homosexual Conspiracy. Before that, it was a chance for kids to dress up and beg for candy from the neighbors.

What about the true meaning of the holiday? What about its spiritual roots?

Originally, Halloween was All Hallows Eve, the night before All Saint’s Day.  According to Barbara Walker, Christians appropriated the holiday from the Celts, who celebrated Sanhain, the feast of the dead. She says:

“The pagan idea used to be that crucial joints between the seasons opened cracks in the fabric of space-time, allowing contact between the ghostworld and the mortal ones.”

In other words, it was the time when ghosts came out and scared the living. These days, ghosts seem like the least scary things around. In fact, there’s a lot of ghosts I’d enjoy seeing again. But this stuff scares me:

• I was working at DC in 1990 when the new Robin costume was introduced. That was a few years after Miller’s girl Robin in The Dark Knight Returns. The new version of the new costume was its enhanced safety features, including a full-length Kevlar cape and covered legs. Then I see this.  I guess she’s not as frightened by bullets as she is by the possibility that someone might not see her ta-tas or nay-nays.

• Comic book companies used to have one mammoth super-hero cross-over in the summer, to amuse the kids at camp. Now, DC alone has Final Crisis, Trinity, Batman: RIP, Reign in Hell, and some Green Lantern thing about other colors of lanterns. At this rate, the Event That Will Change Things Forever will last forever. That’s pretty much existentialism but without the good wine and unfiltered cigarettes. That’s scary. (more…)

ABC Picks Up More ‘Eli Stone’

  • News
  • October 16, 2008

eli-stone-l-4913226It’s a good year for Marc Guggenheim. He’s got a brand new comic series at Marvel with Young X-Men and he’s one of three co-writers for the upcoming Green Lantern film at Warner Bros. Now comes word from The Hollywood Reporter that television series Eli Stone, which Guggenheim executive produces, is getting four extra scripts.

Stone, on its second season, received the order on the evening before its premiere on Tuesday night. The trade indicates that such a move shows confidence in the season’s new creative direction. We Alias fans know better: Victor Garber likely held the studio at gunpoint and forced the pick up. Gotta love Jack Bristow.

"It’s an incredible vote of confidence," Guggenheim tells EW.com. "I had told [ABC] that in order to keep production rolling [beyong Eli‘s initial 13-episode order], I would need to know by Wednesday [if they wanted more]. I figured at the very least that would give them a day’s worth of ratings to analyze. And they were like, ‘Nope, we’ll just order them now.’"

The show centers on lawyer Eli Stone who becomes a modern-day prophet after receiving precognitive visions. Jonny Lee Miller, Natasha Henstridge, Loretta Devine, and Victor Garber star. Former Dawson’s Creek and Batman Begins star Katie Holmes will guest star on next Tuesday’s episode.

Guggenheim talks ‘Green Lantern’

  • News
  • October 14, 2008

There’s been a lot of talk about new, darker toned movies being made of DC Comics properties based on the success of The Dark Knight. That’s had one aisle of comic fans pretty psyched, as the more mature direction of Batman’s big screen adventures have definitely upped the gravitas factor. On the other hand, not every character lends itself to a "dark tone," such as the impending Superman relaunch.

Luckily, it sounds like Green Lantern is going to shine through the blackest night for a full on "respectful approach to the character [of Hal Jordan, and] a loving approach to the entire mythos."

That’s according to Marc Guggenheim, the writer of the upcoming Lantern feature. He spoke to Newsarama about the film’s progress, saying that "it’s pretty far along." The television producer and part-time comic book writer has worked on the script with Greg Berlanti and Michael Green.

"We’re reasonably deep into [Green Lantern]," he tells the website. "I’m never really comfortable publicly commenting on the movie because unlike the TV show, I’m just one of three writers and I’ve sworn a blood oath to secrecy. But we’re in the thick of it. We’re moving along at a pretty hefty clip."

And, according to Guggenheim, the alleged "revamp" of DC film properties hasn’t effected Hal Jordan in the slightest.

"I know a lot’s been made in newspapers and magazines about a revamping of DC’s approach," says Guggenheim. "That hasn’t been my sense. Maybe a focusing; maybe a ratcheting up of pace and energy. Whatever it’s been, it really hasn’t affected this project in the least. All the drafts have come in on schedule. All the notes have been the same kind of notes that we would have gotten in the absence of any ‘revamping.’"

Guggenheim tries not to pay attention the rumors and speculation about the project, but couldn’t avoid hearing the biggest rumor of ’em all: Ryan Gosling as Hal Jordan.

"I read that online," Guggenheim says. "As one of the writers, I’m not really involved in the day-to-day pre-production on it all. But I think it would be pretty amazing [casting.] I’ll go on record saying that."

Regardless of how the production aspect shakes out, there’s no question that it’s a wonderful time for comics on film.

"The kind of summer we just had, with movies like Iron Man and Dark Knight, makes a fertile marketplace for all comic book movies," Guggenheim says. "the timing could not have been better for us with [Green Lantern]."

Earlier this month, Latino Review scooped that Green Lantern was aiming for a 2010 release date. By all accounts, it looks like Hal Jordan will be on time for lift off.

Giggenheim and Berlanti’s Eli Stone has its second season debut on ABC tongiht.

Superheroes Come Home, by Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • October 14, 2008

I guess we’ll have to get our superhero fixes from comic books for a while, though I’m not complaining, because isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be? My glances through the various newspapers and magazines that come to this house tell me that there are no superhero movies coming to a theater near me, and the closest thing to a new superhero on television is those can-do wheels on Knight Rider, whose ancestor is the Batman utility belt of the middle-period comics and the early Green Arrow quiver; whatever the situation calls for…well, here it is – just the thing. Some of last season’s superdoers are back, and some of them will be on our living room screen, though the plot(s) of one seem to be unfocused and the future of another, The Sarah Conner Chronicles, seems to be iffy, which saddens me because one of the stars makes my dirty old man merit badge pulsate.

Superheroes and summertime seem to be yoked. As usual, commerce rather than aesthetics seem to be the reason. Until recently, and maybe even now, publishers felt that their comic book audience – kids – had more disposable income and more leisure during the hot months and so they saved their annuals and double-sized issues and important stories – Reed and Sue get married! – for the time when the young’uns lucky or unlucky enough not to have jobs didn’t recite the pledge of allegiance every morning.

(Ah, I can remember – or almost remember – the feel of the cool concrete of a front porch under my prone body as I looked at the funny book and wondered why his shirt was red if his name was Green Lantern and couldn’t his cape at least be green? Was there an editor in the making here?)

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Routh to ‘Return’ as Superman?

  • News
  • October 10, 2008

The DC movie goodness keeps rolling in and for the second day in a row, Latino Review is spilling the beans.

At Monday’s Watchmen presentation in New York City, which you can read about here, the Web site’s Kellvin Chavez had the opportunity to speak with DC Comics President Paul Levitz. Over the course of the candid conversation, Levitz revealed something quite interesting about the oft-whispered Superman reboot.

According to the site, Levitz stated: "[Previous Superman] Brandon Routh has come around the offices in New York and Los Angeles as of late to talk about Superman and what we want to do."

This is the highest profile indication that the newest live-action Superman film would include members of the lukewarmly received Superman Returns. Chavez’s report continues to mention that "Mr. Levitz made it seem … that [DC Comics and Warner Bros.] loves Brandon Routh as Clark Kent and that he’s just a great guy." (more…)

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