It had to happen. The Presidential Battle spills over into the comic shops with a one-of-a-kind new set of graphic novels from IDW, plus:
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It’s finally official. On Saturday in San Diego, IDW announced a new project based on Peter David’s Sir Apropos of Nothing series of novels, to be written by Peter with art by Robin Riggs. “Art” as in pencils, inks and colors — or, as those wacky Brits say, “colours.” Don’t ask me why, they have enough trouble pronouncing words correctly without trying to spell them right as well. Anyway, Robin and I are both pretty excited about this miniseries, and not only because the offer came at the same time as my current job offer so it means we both get to celebrate employment at the same time.
First of all, it’s Peter, whom we’ve both known for a long while and who’s an absolute delight even though he’s never introduced us to his equally-famous friends like Harlan Ellison and Billy Mumy. Secondly, I love the character of Apropos… well, not exactly “love,” he’s kind of a despicable rogue, but I love his adventures, and I love the conceit of a character who’s supposed to be secondary and an afterthought suddenly being the protagonist of his own stories. It’s kind of like if women were lead characters in their own right instead of love interests and fridge fodder! What a concept!
Anyway, the other reason I’m loving the idea of Robin doing a Sir Apropos comic book series is, even though it’s going to be parodying bits of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, art-wise Robin wants to bring to it a sort of Hal Foster Prince Valiant vibe. I think the first story Rob and I ever did together, a 2-pager called Sailor’s Wife, had this sort of feel to it, and the whole medieval atmosphere worked really well with his penciling style.
So Rob has been immersed in Foster these past few weeks, going over all his Prince Valiant collections, studying them for inspiration and visual ideas. He even taped together a number of 11 x 17 sheets to make a page (see photo) the size at which Hal Foster originally worked. It’s easy to see how much more illustrative you can get when you’re working 30 x 40. But it takes a true master to know how to draw so that no detail is entirely lost in the reproduction. (more…)
The biggest North American comic convention wraps up another show. The hall is closed and the lights are off. But the videos from the show floor live on.
Way back when Mortal Kombat Versus DC Universe was first announced fans worried that Superman would be a horribly unbalanced character. A veteran reader of many Silver Banshee attacks Superman storylines, I speculated that since the Mortal Kombat universe was steeped in magic, this would explain how Sub-Zero could freeze Superman or Scorpion could set him on fire. Turns out I was right.
Midway has released the video shown (seen below) at San Diego Comic-Con where creator Ed Boon explained to fans how his guys can beat up their guys. And it looks amazing! The video also explains new in-fight mechanics: close combat and free fall combat. Also in the video were fights featuring Batman, Flash, and Catwoman.
No word yet if the villain from the Superman Returns movie shows up: A rock. A really big rock.
Going into Comic-Con, we all knew IDW would be talking about their plans with the recently acquired G.I. Joe franchise. But another ’80s reboot came as a little more of a surprise.
In October, the publisher will trot out a four-issue Ghostbusters miniseries, by writer Keith Champagne and artist Dustin Nguyen. Newsarama caught up with Champagne in San Diego, who had an interesting take on the property:
Is Ghostbusters a successful franchise? It’s definitely generated a lot of revenue in different formats so I guess one could consider it successful in a bottom line kind of way, but creatively, I think it’s been hit or miss. Granted, I’m not the target audience for the cartoon stuff so maybe I’m wrong.
I think the greatness of the first movie has more or less born the weight of the entire franchise over the years. None of the other iterations has seemed to come close although I’m hearing that the upcoming video game is really good, basically a third movie in itself. And hey, there’s no shame in shooting for the stars and falling a little short. Let’s face it: guys like Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis and Bill Murray firing on all cyclinders, that’s a tough act to follow for us mere mortals.
Also, no Slimer, which is sure to please some and annoy others.
Comic-Con International officially kicked off last night, and already there’s plenty of news to report:
The early hit of the show? Heidi MacDonald of The Beat says it’s the model Owl Ship that Warner Bros. brought from the Watchmen film. "Cooler than dirt," Heidi says.
Ed Brubaker makes the jump to scripting live-action, as Sony has announced they’ll make an online series out of Brubaker’s Angel of Death. It’ll appear on Crackle, Sony’s online video outlet. More information right here.
Darwyn Cooke also announced his new project for IDW, a potential series of four graphic novels based on the Parker
On a related note: "And IDW did a nice job with the collateral material as well, handing out Cooke artwork with a disc, as well as Parker T-shirts to the press. Well done, guys." I guess the whole "journalists don’t accept gifts from sources" thing doesn’t apply to the comics world?
"Tossing a bus on an unsuspecting villain never gets old." And that’s the highlight quote from the DC Universe Online panel. Check right here for more.
Blog@ has a nice collection of photos from day one.
Bully makes a smart move with the California excursion and loads up on In-N-Out.
Twitters from Pop Candy, and be sure to note the uber-creepy Photoshopped image of Whitney turned to She-Hulk.
And, lastly, the legend of The Bag.
Writer and producer Jane Espenson has written, or co-written, episodes of some of the most popular and successful TV shows in recent memory. From her first writing work on Star Trek: The Next Generation through stints on the hugely popular Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Angel, to one of the most celebrated series currently on TV, Battlestar Galactica, Espenson’s career is certainly one which fans of quality writing, humor and storytelling can appreciate.
In addition to her continued professional writing accomplishments, Espenson also finds time to offer inspiration to fledgling writers by providing advice on the craft of writing, breaking into the businesss and what makes a good spec script via her personal website. Recently, I caught up with Espenson to talk about, among other things, how writers can break into "the business," her love of sci-fi and fantasy, and what episodes of Buffy are her favorites.
COMICMIX: Jane, thanks for taking the time to talk with me. For those who may not know, can you talk a bit about your background? Did you always know you wanted to write?
JANE ESPENSON: I grew up in a small town in the Midwest where I watched a heck of a lot of television — good and bad. For every MAS*H, there’s an Enos. You don’t remember Enos? The Dukes of Hazzard spin-off? Well, I was watching. I always knew I wanted to write for television.
I read an article once about spec MAS*H scripts that were submitted to the show, and I wrote one myself. I wrote "PUT COMMERCIAL HERE" after every scene. I never sent it to anyone. It’s just as well.
CMix: Were there any particular writers you admired when you were growing up? Anyone influence your work today?
JE: I didn’t notice the names of individual television writers back then, although all those shows certainly influenced me. My mother introduced me to the books of Jane Austen, which I love. Austen had that wonderful observational sense of humor rooted in character. I’d love to think that influenced me.
But I’m most strongly affected by the writers I’ve worked with and for. So much of this job is about seamlessly emulating the "voice" of the show’s creator, that I’ve spent years mastering how to write like Joss Whedon and Ron Moore.
There are worse influences to have!
CMix: How did you first break into the business? Was there someone who gave you your first break? (more…)
And there hasn’t even been a showing yet. We’ve got some interesting facts and figures in how the next Batman film is poised to make movie history over the next 72 hours, plus:
Our warmup act for San Diego continues with a few new surprises – just Press the Button!
And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via 
or RSS!
A couple disappointments and a near no-show from DC aside, this was a pretty good week in comics, especially outside of the mainstream superheroes.
Still, this week more than anything is just a little whisper, as all eyes are on San Diego for next week’s Comic-Con. All the same, books came out, so on to the reviews…
Book of the Week: Mice Templar #5
Last issue, it started becoming clear that writer Bryan J.L. Glass was veering away from the expected route of the young protagonist realizing his great destiny and triumphing over evil.
This issue, any and all signs of the archetypal fantasy narrative have been thrown clear out the door. Paradigms change in a big way for Karic, and to write anything about it would be to spoil the fun.
Mike Oeming is once again top-notch on art, and really the only question left is how many times the creative team can keep raising the bar.
Runners Up:
Captain America #40
Cap sees the big fight between Bucky and the new impostor (the old Nomad), but the real bout to watch is that between Sharon and the Red Skull’s daughter. Ed Brubaker uses his skil with pacing to tell both stories at once, using each to heighten the drama of the other. And the ending? An out-and-out punch in the stomach moment.
Omega the Unknown #10 — The weirdest Marvel series in a good, long while finally ends, with Jonathan Lethem and Farel Dalrymple taking a bow with a nearless wordless denouement that comes straight out of David Lynch’s oddball mind. It’s a fitting conclusion to the series, which was enigmatic for the whole trip.
The 2008 Electronic Entertainment Expo is underway. Just to start us off right, Midway released the first gameplay footage from the upcoming Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe videogame. Since we’ve seen the Mortal Kombatants before, the video wisely focused on the DC Comics characters. Superman, Batman, Catwoman, and Flash were shown in some exciting footage using their unique abilities. For instance, the Flash smashed his enemy through several walls while going through rooms in a few seconds.
But the Mortal Kombat characters got the last laugh as the final moment shown was Scorpion unmasking to perform his famous fire fatality on the Scarlet Speedster. Mercifully, the camera cut away before that happened. Flashes always seem to die in these multiverse crossovers, don’t they?
See the video for yourself below:
After the Grindhouse doubleheader films came out in theater, one of the big questions was whether any of the movie trailers for fake films would lead to real movies.
There’s no Machete on the way yet, but at least one of the properties will be expanded. Just not into a movie.
Cinematical reports that Werewolf Women of the SS, Rob Zombie’s contributed trailer, will be made into a comic book series. Zombie broke the news himself on his MySpace page:
Werewolf Women of the SS is back! This time it’s back as a comic book series! The wacky exploits of Commandant Hess, Lt. Boorman, Von Strasser Eva and Gretchen Krupp, Fu Manchu and even Hiltler will be coming you way. Everything you ever wanted to know about Project Pure Wolf but were afraid to ask!
No word on a publisher yet. Zombie previously worked with Dark Horse on The Nail and IDW on Bigfoot.
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