Tagged: IDW

‘Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe’ Joker: “Want to see a magic trick?”

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  • August 23, 2008

At the Liepzig Games Convention, Midway had revealed the latest characters to appear in Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe. And is cool as it was to hear that Deathstroke the Terminator will be getting his videogame debut (we’re not counting the animated Teen Titans game), nothing beats game producer Hector Sanchez demonstrating the Joker’s fighting moves for the Game Trailers television show.

Proving once and for all that some DC characters will have finishing moves, the Joker shows how to end a fight with style. See for yourself below. (Warning: It’s rated “M” for a reason.)
 
 

“Mortal Kombat vs. DCU” Adds Wonder Woman and Deathstroke

  • News
  • August 22, 2008

normal-greenlantern-render-00-7075831JK Parkin over at Blog@ reports that Midway Games has released the identities of two more characters in the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe videogame: Wonder Woman and Deathstroke the Terminator. A preliminary rendering of Wonder Woman is available on the site, as well as a rendering of Green Lantern (seen here) and a series of screencaps from the game featuring Green Lantern in battle, as well as other DC characters (including Joker, Superman and Catwoman).

The announcement was made at the Leipzig Games Convention, and along with the DC characters, Midway also announced the return of Mortal Kombat characters Raiden and Kano in the new iteration. The game is scheduled for release this fall. 

Framing The Question, by John Ostrander

  • News
  • August 21, 2008

There’s a lot of buzz on the Internet this last week stemming from new Image partner Robert Kirkman’s video-taped manifesto calling for … well, I’m not exactly certain what he called for. A subsequent article/interview on Newsarama said it was “a call to arms for fellow creators to focus solely on their original stories, instead of the licensed work from the big two comic book companies, Marvel and DC.” Although he is also quoted later in the article as saying, “I want everyone to understand, I’m not saying no one should aspire to write for Marvel and DC characters … I’m just saying that it shouldn’t be the pinnacle of a comic book career.”

The article adds: “While Kirkman sees contemporary creators who try to do both creator owned works, and books for the big two, he believes they’re hurting their opportunity to succeed with their original stories.” It then quotes Kirkman further: “You can’t put your feet on both sides of the fence you have to take that plunge … if I’m doing Invincible and I’m also writing Spider-Man, and I’m giving fans a choice to try my unknown book, or Spider-Man who they know, they’re going to choose Spider-Man.”

OR … maybe some of those fans try Invincible because they really like what the writer is doing on Spider-Man. The savvy ones follow the talent – whether it’s the writer or the artist. The majority, however, are reading Spider-Man because it’s Spider-Man and it doesn’t matter if a hundred monkeys are typing it – unless the monkeys do something really dumb with it like use a Mephisto ex machina to get rid of a pesky marriage or bring out a clone or something. Stoopid monkey!

The point is … more readers get exposed to the writer as a result of his work on Spider-Man. A fair question to ask is – did the sales go up on Kirkman’s own creator owned books after he started writing the webby wallcrawler at Marvel? If not, then he had no benefit from doing it. If they have gone up, however, then at least part of the reason will be his stint at Marvel.           

As I understand it, Kirkman wants to re-energize/save the comics’ industry. If all the established talent left DC and Marvel, he thinks the two companies would have to “re-focus the majority of their titles to the teen audience.” The established creators would then work on creator owned books, revitalizing the industry. (more…)

Oh, by Dennis O’Neil

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  • August 19, 2008

weill-1-4297233Sunday, August 17: 155 days left.

Our man the brush clearer is back in Crawford, taking it easy. Having already set a record for presidential vacation days, he’s obviously trying for a record that no future chief executive can possibly hope to break. This may not be how everyone would like to be remembered.

Back when I occupied the celestial throne that is the sinecure of all those noble beings known – here you may genuflect – as editors … make that Editors – this was the time of year when life got calmer. Big travel was done – no trips to distant cities to attend conventions – and the increased summer publishing load completed. We put out fewer issues in the fall because, conventional wisdom had it, the kids were too busy with school concerns to bother with funny books. The same logic dictated that during the summer we cram the newsstands because, presumably, the nation’s youth had nothing better to do with their long, humid days than to laze around getting massive four-color fixes and, besides, since they didn’t have to buy crayons or switchblades or whatever school kids bought, they had disposable income to spend on our productions. Which, of course, was why late spring and early summer demanded industriousness from editorial types. Those printing presses out there in the Midwest were maws…

All that was probably true once. But because the ways comics are marketed, and to some extent read, I doubt that it is true now. But I don’t know. Any editors – working editors, that is – care to enlighten the old man?

The point is, though I was a comics editor at the two major companies for about 23 years… I don’t know. I have a sense that the business has changed a lot in the seven years since I occupied the celestial throne mentioned three paragraphs ago (seven years already?). My skills might be more-or-less okay (though I’m not even sure of that), but my attitudes and assumptions would need work.

(more…)

Hey! Where is our ‘Dark Knight’ Video Game?

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  • August 10, 2008

Since the birth of Tim Burton’s movie Batman in 1989, there has been a video game tie-in with every incarnation of the Batman film franchise. So why is it that we haven’t seen one for one of the most popular (and profitable) films for the character, if not for comic book films in general? It’s not as if there wasn’t a plan for a digitized Batman during the film’s production. Game publisher Electronic Arts had the rights to make a game for the Dark Knight film, according to an unnamed developer for the EA-owned Pandemic Studios. Speculation says that the lack of a game caused up to $100 million in missing sales, and would be the first time that the caped crusader didn’t have a game.

 
Speculation ranges from missing deadlines to Heath Ledger’s death, and even to the fear of success due to the poor quality of the last tie-in game with Batman Begins. Sales of movie-based games often parallel their box-office brethren. Last year’s Transformers games sold 2.6 million copies while the Spider-Man III games sold 2.1 million, according to sales data from NPD Group market research analyst Anita Frazier. Even the Iron Man games have sold 697,000 units following their release at the same time as the film in May.
 
If a Dark Knight game is still in the works, Batman could take a cue from Superman. Because of delays, the EA console games based on 2006’s Superman Returns didn’t take flight until the DVD release — and only then sold 705,000 copies. However, a Dark Knight game isn’t on EA’s release slate through March 2009, according an EA press release.
 
This is all not to say that there will be a shortage of Batman and his foes in the world of video games. You can catch them all on your console in September for Warner’s Lego Batman: The Video Game, then in November for Midway’s Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, and finally later this year for Sony’s DC Universe Online.

“Welcome to Hoxford” Preview

Newsarama recently posted a first-issue preview of Welcome to Hoxford, the latest series by writer/artist Ben Templesmith. He’s one of the best there is these days when it comes to crafting scary stories that not only tell a tale, but make you feel it, too. Feel free to check out a few issues of Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse if you’re a doubter.

Here’s how IDW describes the series:

PREVIEW INTENDED FOR MATURE AUDIENCES — IDW has provided Newsarama with an exclusive preview of this month’s Welcome to Hoxford #1 – Ben Templesmith (writer & artist & covers) – Acclaimed writer/artist Ben Templesmith (Wormwood Gentleman Corpse) creates his newest horrific comic book right here! In the debut issue of Welcome to Hoxford, Raymond Delgado isn’t welcome at all. Rather, he’s the newest inmate at the Hoxford Correctional Facility and Mental Institution. He has no hope of release, parole, rehabilitation, or decent conversation. On a good day, he’ll tell you he’s Zeus and only bite your arm off. Literally. On a bad day, you won’t have time to scream to the prison guard for help. But Dr Jessica Ainley, his doctor for five years, wants to help Ray and can’t understand why the newly privatized, corporately run prison, won’t give her access to her patients. And why are people always transferred into Hoxford, but no records show anyone ever transferring back out…? Full Color · 32 pages · $3.99 * AUGUST 2008

As the solicit text indicates, the series is fairly graphic (and so are the preview pages) — so consider yourself warned.

The Weekly Haul: Comics Reviews for July 30

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  • August 1, 2008

A pretty slow week in comics, as everyone’s still gasping for breath post Comic-Con (including me, even though I stayed at home this year). Not even a dozen books worth reading this week, and I somehow missed the JSA annual. Still, some interesting stuff, with a strong DC showing.

9716_180x270-1950612Book of the Week: Blue Beetle #29 — This was a really strong debut issue from Matthew Sturges, which makes it all the more unfortunate that the finished cover (not the same as the image at right) lists the writer as "Rogers," meaning the departed writer, I imagine.

There’s also a bizarre bit of text added that says: "No trespassing: Violators will be Prosecuted." Except the last word is crossed out and "Persecuted" is written over it. Meaningless fluff that distracts from an attractive bit of art.

Like I said, though, the issue is good stuff aside from a few minor awkwardnesses as Sturges warms up to the series. Jaime keeps on adventuring, though he’s falling into a big mess involving Intergang and smugglers.

Sturges uses that to create a nice dynamic, as Jaime is forced to take a side in the immigration debate. This is a really good jumping-on point, if you’ve been thinking of giving the series a try.

Runners Up:

Green Lantern #33 — Geoff Johns keeps working his magic, digging through the unexplored patches of DC lore for this tale of Hal and Sinestro’s first teamup. It’s a very Obi and Anakin scenario, except if Obi was the one who turned evil.

Johns uses subtlety in examining the reasons Sinestro went mad with power, and the prophecy of the Blackest Night finally is starting to be revealed.

Thor #10 — Not a lot to say here, just another issue that somehow makes believable the idea of Valhalla appearing over the U.S. Reality and myth mingle, and the seduction of Balder deepens. Great stuff.

(more…)

Thoughts on IDW, Comic-Con and Publishers’ Presence at Conventions

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  • August 1, 2008

Yesterday I linked to Tom Spurgeon’s interview with Ted Adams, president of IDW Publishing, about Adams’ recent announcement that this year’s show might be IDW’s last. Today, Spurgeon posted some thoughts from various figures in and around the comics industry about IDW’s decision, what it says about Comic-Con International and the convention scene, and how it all ties together with the changing face of the comics scene.

At Spurgeon’s request, I offered up my own reaction to the interview (you can find it down at the end of the post), and was joined by noted representatives of the publishing industry and comics media.

Here are some of the thoughts contributed by Fantagraphics’ Eric Reynolds on the issue:

I feel very strongly myself that sometimes the amount of effort and money expended on cons like Comicon and BEA is fairly absurd and might be simply better spent elsewhere. But no one wants to blink, including us. If everyone in publishing agreed to take a year off of a Comicon or BEA and simply not hold it, would the industry suffer? I doubt it. So I admire Ted’s take on it.

We don’t have any plans to not attend, and it really is an amazing show in most respects, but when you really sit down and add up all of the expenses of time and money at the end of the show, it’s absurd. We spend so much money to potentially make a very little bit of money when it’s all said and done.

Head over to The Comics Reporter for more on the IDW/Comic-Con debate.

Onion: ‘Al Gore Places Infant Son in Rocket’

  • News
  • August 1, 2008

From the Onion:

EARTH—Former vice president Al Gore—who for the past three decades has unsuccessfully attempted to warn humanity of the coming destruction of our planet, only to be mocked and derided by the very people he has tried to save—launched his infant son into space Monday in the faint hope that his only child would reach the safety of another world.

"I tried to warn them, but the Elders of this planet would not listen," said Gore, who in 2000 was nearly banished to a featureless realm of nonexistence for promoting his unpopular message. "They called me foolish and laughed at my predictions. Yet even now, the Midwest is flooded, the ice caps are melting, and the cities are rocked with tremors, just as I foretold. Fools! Why didn’t they heed me before it was too late?"

Al Gore—or, as he is known in his own language, Gore-Al—placed his son, Kal-Al, gently in the one-passenger rocket ship, his brow furrowed by the great weight he carried in preserving the sole survivor of humanity’s hubristic folly.

"There is nothing left now but to ensure that my infant son does not meet the same fate as the rest of my doomed race," Gore said. "I will send him to a new planet, where he will, I hope, be raised by simple but kindly country folk and grow up to be a hero and protector to his adopted home."

Read the rest right here.

IDW Says “No More Comic-Con?”

  • News
  • July 31, 2008

idwlogo-3678262There’s been no shortage of discussion, complaints and analysis to be found around the ‘Net the last few months with regard to the changing focus of San Diego’s Comic-Con International, but the recent suggestion that this year’s show could be the last for publisher IDW still created quite a stir. Tom Spurgeon recently spoke with IDW’s president, Ted Adams, about his buzz-worthy proclamation, and the interview is must-read material for anyone interested in the evolution of comics’ place in both Comic-Con and the convention scene as a whole.

 

SPURGEON: How much has the way the show’s transformed itself the last half-decade had an impact on your decision?

ADAMS: It’s part of it.

I should make a point of saying that the people that put on San Diego Comic-Con are pretty extraordinary. This show, what they do every year is I think is flat-out unbelievable. You couldn’t pay me enough money to take on any of their jobs. They’ve done nothing but treat us with respect. The decisions I’m weighing have nothing to do with the way we’ve been treated by San Diego or really this sort of perceived — I see these things on-line about the perception that Comic-Con is getting away from comics and becoming an entertainment show, and there’s no question that’s true. But I don’t have the angst over those things. I think we’re just seeing the free market at work here with San Diego Comic-Con. The market is saying "We want to see Hugh Jackman." [laughter] I don’t know how Comic-Con could make that not be. What are you going to do, go to Fox and say, "You can’t have Hugh Jackman here"? [Spurgeon laughs] You’re going to disappoint the tens of thousands of people that want to see that.

 

Head over to The Comics Reporter for the rest of the interview.

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