Tagged: San Diego Comic-Con

#SDCC: Semi-liveblogging the Eisner Awards

  • News
  • July 25, 2009

The 21st annual Eisner Awards, the “Oscars” of the comics industry, will be given out at a gala ceremony at a brand-new location: the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront. This year’s special them is “Comics and All That Jazz.” Scheduled presenters include writer/actors Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant (Reno 911, Balls of Fury), acclaimed comics creators Jeff Smith and Terry Moore, actor/comedian Patton Oswalt, actor/musician/writer Bill Mumy, actress/musician Jane Wiedlin, and G4’s Blair Butler, with many more to be announced.

Other prestigious awards to be given out include the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award, the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, and the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing. The master of ceremonies is Bongo Comics’ Bill Morrison.

We’re going to cover it as best as we can here… boldfacing the winners as they are announced.

8:46: Neil Gaiman tweets: “on my way to present eisner award. Car just pulled over for illegal left turn. Will we make it?”

9:03: Heidi MacDonald tweets: “No phone coverage in Indigo Ballroom so NO live Twitter Eisner Awards. #techfail”

Hmm. This will make life challenging. Time to get a goat to sacrifice…

9:12: Neil made it.

9:14: First winner of the night: Best Publication For Kids: Tiny Titans, by Art Baltazar and Franco (DC)

9:16: Best Publication for Teens/Tweens: Coraline.

9:28: Robot6 enters the liveblogging! And they report:

Best Coloring: Dave Stewart, Abe Sapien: The Drowning, BPRD, The Goon, Hellboy, Solomon Kane, The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse)

Best Lettering: Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library #19 (Acme)

Best webcomic: Finder, by Carla Speed McNeil

9:45: Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team: Guy Davis, BPRD (Dark Horse)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist: Jill Thompson, Magic Trixie, Magic Trixie Sleeps Over (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

9:51: Best Cover Artist: James Jean, Fables (Vertigo/DC); The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse)

9:54: Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism: Comic Book Resources, produced by Jonah Weiland
(www.comicbookresources.com)

10:06: Running back and forth posting here and tweeting each award individually is exhausting… but it’s all worth it for you. :-*

Best Comics-Related Book: Kirby: King of Comics, by Mark Evanier (Abrams)

Best Publication Design: Hellboy Library Editions, designed by Cary Grazzini and Mike Mignola (Dark Horse)

10:14: Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books: Creepy Archives, by various (Dark Horse)

10:17: I’m soooooo glad my iPhone app is updating me on all the Eisner winners.

10:24: Best Humor Publication: Herbie Archives, by “Shane O’Shea” (Richard E. Hughes) and Ogden Whitney (Dark Horse)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material: The Last Musketeer, by Jason (Fantagraphics)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan: Dororo, by Osamu Tezuka (Vertical)

10:47: Jane Wiedlin tweets: “Im @ Eisner Awards getting ready 2 present. Major wardrobe malfunction in pedicab on way here. Front zipper burst on dress exposed all 2 all!”

10:55: Whoops, missed some:

  • Tate’s Comics in Fort Lauderdale won the Spirit of Retailing Award.
  • Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award presented by Mike Royer — winner is Eleanor Davis, writer/artist of Stinky

Hall of fame inductees:

11:11: The home stretch! Here we go!

Best Writer: Bill Willingham, Fables, House of Mystery (Vertigo/DC)

Best Writer/Artist: Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library (Acme)

Best New Series: Invincible Iron Man, by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca (Marvel)

Best Limited Series: Hellboy: The Crooked Man, by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben (Dark Horse)

11:15: Best Continuing Series: All Star Superman. by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC)

Continuing?!? Since when? Take it away and give it to Miss Congeniality. (That’s Andrew Pepoy, right?)

11:22: Best Short Story: “Murder He Wrote,” by Ian Boothby, Nina Matsumoto, and Andrew Pepoy, in The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror #14 (Bongo)

Hey, Andrew did get an award right after I said to give him one! I promise to use my powers only for good…

11:33: The last batch:

Best Anthology: Comic Book Tattoo: Narrative Art Inspired by the Lyrics and Music of Tori Amos, edited by Rantz Hoseley (Image)

Best Reality-Based Work: What It Is, by Lynda Barry (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint: Hellboy Library Edition, vols. 1 and 2, by Mike Mignola (Dark Horse)

Best Graphic Album—New: Swallow Me Whole, by Nate Powell (Top Shelf)

Thanks to the liveblogging of Heidi MacDonald and JK Parkin at CBR and all the various Twitter folks who were eyes and ears for us tonight. I owe all of you. And I’m really glad I didn’t have to pay for the Eisner Award iPhone app.

Full list of nominees with winners bolded after the jump.

(more…)

#SDCC: The Scribe Awards for Media Tie-in Writers

  • News
  • July 25, 2009

iamtw-7889351The third annual presentation of the International Association of Media-Tie-in Writers (IAMTW) “Scribe” awards just went down at San Diego Comic-Con, honoring the best and the brightest in the world of property tie-ins. Awards are voted on by members of the organization.

“These writers, highly prized by fans, receive few reviews and
little acclaim, and the Scribe Awards are designed as a step toward
properly honoring them,” said Max Allan Collins, president of IAMTW, in a press release.

 I know this is what you’re waiting for, so here’s the list of winners:

Best General Fiction
Original – CSI: Headhunter
by Greg Cox 

Best General Fiction
Adapted – Indiana Jones and
the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by James Rollins 

Best Speculative Fiction
Original – Star Trek Terok Nor:
Day of the Vipers by James Swallow 

Best Speculative Fiction
Adapted – Hellboy II: The Golden
Army by Robert Greenberger 

Best Young Adult Original – Primeval: Shadow of
the Jaguar by Steven Savile 

Best Young Adult Adapted – Journey to the Center
of the Earth 3D by Tracey West 

The Grandmaster Award – Keith R.A. DeCandido

DeCandido, the recipient of the Grandmaster Award, is the writer of several Star Trek, CSI, and Supernatural books, just to name a few.

“Things like this make all the difference, there are plenty of days when I don’t feel up to my job and my belief in my own words is shaky at best, but now, when I’m down there, I will just have to look at the shelf and see this incredible gift from the guys in the trenches, and I’ll be able to shut up the doubting devils and get back to work,” said Steven Savile in an e-mail to the IAMTW mailing list after finding out about his win.

“This means a lot to me, coming as does from my fellow laborers in the tie-in trenches,” wrote Greg Cox to that same list. “But, boy, now I really wish I could have swung a trip to San Diego somehow…”

Congratulations to all the winners– and to ComicMix contributor Robert Greenberger, happy birthday!

#SDCC: ‘Batman: The Killing Joke’ movie coming?

  • News
  • July 24, 2009

batman-killing-joke-poster-8302010A reliable source just told me: “Warner Premiere has a great many DC graphic novels in production or pre-production with WB Animation, including The Killing Joke. Scheduling through 2018– including Superman projects.”

A few notes:

  1. Well, it’s not like DC hasn’t made money on Alan Moore projects before.
  2. One wonders if an animated film would satisfy the Siegel lawsuit requiring a Superman film to be in production by 2011.
  3. Are they actually planning Superman films after 2013, after DC loses the copyright to the character?

Very interesting. We’ll try to find out more ASAP.

#SDCC: Metalocalypse’s Murderous Multimedia Mayhem

  • News
  • July 24, 2009

Those of us who would Do Anything for Dethklok will now have
many more opportunities to share the love. (Why, yes, I do have a cartoon crush
on Nathan Explosion. He can “teach me who rock” anytime.) The creators of the
Adult Swim show Metalocalypse are preparing an assault on several platforms.

If you’ve actually bothered to read the Adult Swim bumps
instead of fast-forwarding past them on your DVR, you already know that in
Season 3, episodes of Metalocalypse will double in length to 30 minutes, and
the second Dethklok album is scheduled for this fall.

On Wednesday, Konami announced that they’ll be putting out the downloadable videogame
Metalocalypse: Dethgame, which will be available for Xbox and PlayStation. The soundtrack
will feature tracks from both the old and the new Dethklok albums. Game creators are promising a
thrilling and an exceptionally gory time as the player takes on the role of a
Klokateer, one of the band’s many masked minions. Here’s hoping that they will
be able to fulfill that promise: a very early version of the game is currently
being showcased at San Diego, and one IGN reviewer is already profoundly
unimpressed. Apparently, gameplay now mainly consists of urinating on, brutally beating, and slicing up Dethklok fans. Hey, that may be enough for some people.

Also on Wednesday, the one-shot The Goon vs. Dethklok hit
comic book store shelves. That was quickly followed by Thursday’s
announcement from Dark Horse that a Metalocalypse comic book series is in the
works. The Dark Horse San Diego Comic-Con panel takes place later today, and no doubt more
details will be released at that time.

#SDCC: Is McLovin ready to ‘Kick-Ass’?

  • News
  • July 24, 2009

27-mclovin-lgl-4797993

Who kicks more ass? McLovin’, or the Red Mist?

“There’s a reason why [Nicolas] Cage ain’t here…” So said Christopher Mintz-Plasse, co-star of Mark Millar’s comic-to-screen adaptation of Kick-Ass, brought to us at the San Diego Comic-Con in that room of rooms… Hall D! Director Matthew Vaughn presented alongside special guest Mark Millar, the aforementioned Mr. Mintz-Plasse (formerly McLovin’ of Superbad Fame…), as well as John Romita Jr., the comic book artist who brings Kick-Ass to life every month(ish) via Marvel’s ICON line.

Showing off Avid-fresh clips to a rabid audience, Vaughn was ensuring a final product that would bring a genuine adaptation that followed the comic to the letter, or in this case… the panels. “We are a genuine comic book adaptation with comic book authors involved
in the production of the movie… It’s really important to me that fans
of the comic like the film. I’ll be more upset if fans of the comic
hate the movie than anybody else.” Vaughn told MTV’s Splash Page blog prior to the screening.

And what a screening it was. Scenes including Nicholas Cage’s Big Daddy shooting his little girl, Chloe Moretz, begarbed in a bulletproof vest. A Paris Hilton joke warmed the crowd. And what of the titular hero? Aaron Johnson plays ‘Dave’, who in clips presented at the con, showed off the straight from panel to screen costume (no leather upgrades ala X-men here.), as well as comic-worthy violence. Tasers to a thug’s forehead? Check. Hit-Girl slicing and dicing bad guys enough to shame Beatrix Kiddo? Check. And McLovin’ as the hot-rodding Red Mist? Double check. The fans in attendance ate it up? How much? They demanded a reshowing of the trailer, and they got it.

But this begs to be asked… obviously Vaughn knew what to say and show the rabid comic fans in attendance, but Millar isn’t squeaky clean when it comes to his adaptations on film… lest we forget the curved bullets of amazing aptitude in Wanted: Not Quite the Comic circa 2008.

Look for ‘Kick-Ass’ at the tail end (sorry) of this year.

#SDCC: DC: Superman: Two Worlds panel

  • News
  • July 23, 2009

superman-dccomics-art-2286364It’s going to be an exciting year for the Man of Steel: Superman group editor Matt Idelson, writers Geoff Johns (Adventure Comics, Superman: Secret Origins), Greg Rucka (Action Comics), James Robinson (Superman), Sterling Gates (Supergirl), and Renato Guedes (Superman) discussed what the future holds for the current New Krypton status quo and answered fan questions. CBR has the liveblog, but here are some highlights:

  • “Hunt for Reactron” will be a Supergirl/Action
    crossover in October, with both series co-written by Gates and Rucka
    for the arc. “It’s a big story with a lot of big, crazy action. And a
    lot of fighting,” Gates said.
  • Geoff Johns briefly ran down what would appear
    in Adventure Comics, drawing laughter when he mentioned “the good
    Teen Titans.” He also said, “If you don’t like Krypto, don’t read our
    book.”
  • The final three issues of the 12-issue World of
    New Krypton     will be an arc tying together developments on Earth with
    those on New Krypton.
  • “Coming out of ‘Codename Patriot,’ we’re going to finish the finish
    the book up to #700, with ‘Mon-el, Man of Valor,’ which will see him
    return darker, with a new purpose, and a new costume.”
  • The Superman Annual will be about the history of Daxam with art by Javi Pina.
  • Sterling Gates mentioned September’s Supergirl Annual, which is
    the origin of Superwoman. “Secret Files” comes out in conjunction with
    “Codename Patriot,” with art by Jamal Igle, Francis Manapul, and more.

  • “You’ll see every Legion in Adventure Comics eventually,” Johns said.

There’s a lot more at the liveblog, so go forth.

#SDCC: Astro Boy Panel

  • News
  • July 23, 2009

astroboy-cgi-1-6729055A new CG-animated version of the classic manga and anime, “Astro Boy,” created by the “god of manga,” Osamu Tezuka in the 1950’s, debuted clips at Comic-Con 2009. This seminal work about a heroic boy robot was a generation’s first exposure to the Japanese art form when it aired in the U.S. in the 60’s, and is set to hopefully gain a whole new audience.

Director David Bowers, producer Maryann Garger, and stars Freddie
Highmore (Astro) and Kristen Bell (Cora) were there to answer audience questions.

Deb Aoki tweets from the panel:

  • Very
    nice clips from astro boy — saw at least 3 nods to tezuka in the first
    clip
  • Director david bowers: “macoto tezuka will be doing voice of the tezuka character in the japanese version of astro boy movie”
  • Also announced: Samuel l. Jackson, a.k.a. Mr. Comic-con is the voice of zog the junkyard robot in astro boy
  • Actually, this
    was the most positive, enthusiastic response to an astro boy movie
    preview that I’ve seen they’ve started to promo it
  • Nicolas cage,
    the voice of dr. Tenma was not at astro boy movie panel, but was
    described as a passionate Anime & manga fan. 

According to IGN news, Charlize Theron will also be voicing a character in the film.

USA Today has an article about the film, with lots of images.

(UPDATE 8/5: The artwork is early concept art for the movie, newer images (and a bit of an explanation) can be found here.)

Google goes comic crazy too for #SDCC

  • News
  • July 23, 2009

As part of iGoogle sponsoring the wi-fi at San Diego this year, they’ve also introduced a wide variety of comics themes that you can use to customize your iGoogle page– everything from Superman to Daniel Clowes (although, suprisingly, no Silver Surfer or Iron Man, and the web-slinger is Spider-Woman).

And they’ve noted the occasion by putting a Jim Lee logo on the Google home page today. Jim noted, “It will be the single most viewed image I have ever drawn!”

UPDATE: A full size version of the image. Thanks, Jim!

San Diego Comic-Con Tips, plus one or two extra

  • News
  • July 20, 2009

It’s that time of year again, the time when San Diego Comic-Con goers, grizzled veterans and fresh faced newbies alike, are reading Tom Spurgeon’s 100 tip list and seeing if they forgot anything. Tom’s list is long enough this year to qualify for a novella, but is either the most or second-most useful piece of reading for the con, right up there with the program schedule.

That said, Tom missed a few tips:

Keep your cell phone on vibrate. At all times. You may not be able to hear it ring on the main exhibit hall floor or any late night bars, and you will disrupt a panel if it rings there. Better: when possible, text a message instead of calling– again, because ambient sound levels where you are may be too high to hear anything or because they should be very low.

When asking a question at a panel, if it’s too long to put in a Twitter message, it may be too long to ask. Consider rephrasing.

And you have no excuse for not having a business card. No matter who you are. They’re cheap, easy and quick to get. You don’t have to go crazy on one, but you do have to have something. You never know when you’ll need one– buying a drink for a Playboy Playmate, for example. At worse, buy blank cards and prepare to write your name a lot– but write a few in advance, for speed’s sake.

Tribbles infesting San Diego Comic-Con

  • News
  • July 15, 2009

I told them they were going to have to spray for those things, now they’re everywhere…

So to promote season 2 of the original Star Trek on BluRay, Paramount is looking for pictures of people with their Tribbles. There’s no way this ends well… the best case scenario is that somebody’s going to grab a few hundred and do this:

tribble-rug-3888134

The worst case scenario? Tribble porn.

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