Tagged: Star Trek

Interview: Peter David on Stephen King, ‘X-Factor’ and ‘Dark Tower’

  • News
  • April 7, 2008

Peter David has had many successes during his long career as a writer. From his beginnings as an assistant in the sales department at Marvel Comics, through his character-redefining run on The Incredible Hulk, to his bestselling Star Trek novels, David’s talent, wit and style continue to serve him, and his readers, very well.

More recently, he’s taken on the task of helping to bring Stephen King’s The Dark Tower to the pages of comics and jumped back into the X-Universe by writing the re-booted  X-Factor title for Marvel. ComixMix recently caught up with the multi-talented author to get the latest on X-Factor, how he works with artists and the legendary Stephen King, and what makes a good story.

COMICMIX: Peter, thanks for taking the time to talk. Getting right to it, take us back a bit — how did you get started writing comics?

PETER DAVID: Well, I was working in the sales dedepartment at Marvel Comics under Carol Kalish and writing was something I was doing on the side. Long story short, I started pitching ideas around at Marvel and wound up impressing Jim Owsley, the then-editor of Spider-Man, and was assigned to Spectacular Spider Man as a writer.

I did that for about a year or a year-and-a-half. After that, I was offered the Incredible Hulk, which I, of course, took on. During that time, I also started to send out inquires to other publishers like DC and asked if they would be interested in hiring me.

They said they would so I decided to become a full-time writer and never looked back. That was in 1986 or 1987, something like that.

CMix: Was there one particular moment when you realized you could do it for a living?

PD: People coming to me and asking me to work for them kinda tipped me off. It was primarily when I approached DC to see if they would be interested in me as a writer and they said they were.

If they had said no, that might have been it. I might still be in the sales department at Marvel.

CMix: Did working at Marvel at the time help you make the transition to full-time writer? Did it help to already have your "foot in the door"? (more…)

The Rights Stuff, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • April 5, 2008

This has been a stimulating week for any discussion of artists’ rights in the comics field. The courts awarded a share of the Superman copyright to the heirs of Jerry Siegel, and Warren Ellis left Marvel’s Thunderbolts series, saying, “It’s as simple as this – if I don’t own it, I’m not going to spend my life on it. Joe Quesada and Dan Buckley know that, they’re fine with that, and they hire me on that understanding.”

It’s my temptation now to brag, to tell you about the time I walked around the San Diego Comic Con with Joanne Siegel, how Warren Ellis is not only someone I know, but also my Facebook friend. Then you’d envy me for my fabulous life, and my weekend would be that much better. However, that’s not really a very good premise for a column. People haven’t worked so hard, risked being blackballed by major publishers and put their careers on the line just so I can feel better about myself (although, perhaps, they should consider doing so, since it would make me very happy).

The artists and writers in the comics community face the same trials and tribulations as the creative talents in any of the popular arts in this, our American capitalist society.

The blues musicians who created the tunes still used in popular music never received the copyrights for their work. If they were lucky, the assigned those rights (in contracts they never read) to the producers of their work. In that case, they at least got paid for their recordings. More likely, a white man heard the song and sold it as his own. (more…)

ComicMix Six: Worst Moments in Skrull ‘Invasion’ History

  • Uncategorized
  • April 2, 2008

Yes, we’ve all heard the big news: Skrulls have invaded the world. They’re everywhere, hidden from magic and telepathy, ready to do their worst. They’ve infiltrated the highest levels of government and they’ve replaced all of our planet’s best and brightest with sleeper agents, ready to bring down all that we hold dear.

But that doesn’t mean you should be worried.

Here at ComicMix, we know that the Skrull Empire doesn’t exactly have the best track record. Heck, they once replaced Alicia Masters, one of the best friends of the Fantastic Four, with a Skrull agent, then seemed to forget she was even there until years later when she was found out — which led to the FF blowing up the biggest space station in the aliens’ Empire.

And that’s not even the tip of the Skrull Empire’s iceberg of ineptitude. For the first in our new series of ComicMix Six features, we present some of the Secret Invasion villains’ least-impressive diabolical schemes through the years.

(more…)

‘Star Trek: Year Four’ Review

  • News
  • March 26, 2008

When I was a wee lad of, oh, let’s say 13, to hear the words "untold tales" was a thrill in itself.

"What’s that, you say? In this story, I will discover that Wolverine met Spider-Man’s parents for about an hour several months before the web-spinning super-hero was even born? And it turns out Green Lantern’s landlord was once involved with the Russian mob? Awesome! How did I live before now?"

But now, I am in my mid-20s, long past the prime of life, and my standards are a mite higher. A story that fills in gaps of the past for its own sake just isn’t enough. It must also be a good story by itself. It must be able to entertain me and interest me and, if at all possible, elicit emotional reactions from me that would make even a positronic android react with a cry of "Neat!"

And so, let’s talk about the first comic book miniseries entitled Star Trek: Year Four (IDW Publishing), which was written by David Tischman and penciled by Steve Conley, and which has recently been collected as a trade paperback. In the original Star Trek TV series, Kirk informed audiences every week that the Enterprise was engaging in a "five-year mission" of exploration. Sadly, the show was cancelled after its third season. Tischman and Conley’s series attempts to inform us all about just what happened next, long before the time that the Star Trek films picked up. (more…)

To Boldly Go Backward Again, by Mike Gold

  • News
  • March 24, 2008

They say there’s nothing new under the sun. Well, now I’m saying that as well, but I’m saying it about science fiction.

S-F was supposed to look forward and, at its best, teach us something about today’s human condition. You can look forward by looking into the past, but you’re not looking forward by burying your nose in your belly button. Sadly, our popular fiction has been spending the past decade or so snorting lint.

After a lengthy rest, Star Wars returned to us with a three-part prequel renown for its tedium and lameness. Star Trek countered with Enterprise, which told us the secret origin of a starship. It was pretty good – after two exceptionally lame seasons. At least those who hung in there were slightly rewarded. Boosted by the enormous success of the show’s concept (it was the most short-lived of those that followed the original series), now Paramount is polishing up a “major” motion picture about Kirk, Spock, McCoy and friends at boarding school. I think Mickey Rooney and Liza Minelli are playing instructors.

Now we see that our friends at Battlestar Galactica are doing a pilot for a spin-off show. No, make that another spin-back series. Entitled Caprica, instead of capitalizing on all the careful and intricate concepts established in the original series (itself a remake of one of the worst S-F shows of all time), it’s set 50 years prior. The big deal: the Cylons are created. I’ll bet you didn’t know the Cylons were created. Certainly not, if you hadn’t watched either of the original shows. (more…)

Son Of Filling The Big Shoes, by Mike Gold

  • News
  • March 3, 2008

Remember my column last week ? I’m sure you committed every hallowed word to memory. Well, this is a sequel. Fittingly, it’s about Hollywood.

I’m staring at this massive schedule of movies of interest to your average ComicMixer that are due to be released in the next 12 months or so: Iron Man 1, Indiana Jones 4, Incredible Hulk 2-but-1, Get Smart 1, Hellboy 2, The Dark Knight 6-but-2, X-Files 2, The Mummy 3, James Bond 22, Harry Potter 6, The Day The Earth Stood Still 1-but-2, Star Trek 74, Will Eisner’s The Spirit 1, and Green Hornet 1 (serials don’t count). I’m looking forward to about half of them, which is a pretty good average for me. But there’s one that I’m looking to with trepidation.

No, it’s not The Day The Earth Stood Still, the original of which is the Citizen Kane of science-fiction movies. Let them take a shot; I wish ‘em luck. Nor is it Star Trek 74: The Reboot-To-The-Rear. I’d scoff at this attempt but, frankly, after the majority of Trek movies what the hell, maybe it’ll work. It did for James Bond in Casino Royale 3. Nope, I’m trepidatious about Will Eisner’s The Spirit. Make that Frank Miller’s Will Eisner’s The Spirit.

There’s absolutely no slight here against Frank. Of all the folks in comics, he has been one of the most publicly and most aggressively pro-creator rights activists around. His passionate arguments about the Comics Code and about the way Marvel treated Jack Kirby still ring loudly in my inner-ear. In fact, I’m glad to see The Spirit in the hands of a person who knows how to make comics work yet also has a solid background in movies. 

No, I’m afraid of Hollywood. (more…)

ComicMix Broadcast Blog: Dark Tower, Hulk and Hawaii Five-O!

  • News
  • March 2, 2008

Another sure sign of spring – the second big convention of the year, plus another Marvel Midnight Release. Let’s lay out the links:

In case this blew past you, the second story arc of the comic book series adapted from Stephen King’s magnum opus, The Dark Tower, begins now from Marvel Comics. Just like last year, they  will offer a midnight release of Dark Tower: The Long Road Home #1 on the early morning of Wednesday, March 5, 2008. Participating retailers across the country will open at midnight on Tuesday (effectively 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, March 5, 2008) so Stephen King fans can get their hands on the next issue of this historic comic. Watch for a special ComicMix TV report on Wednesday, and to find out if there is a store near you, go here.

Work has begun on the 100 original Hulk covers created for The Hero Initiative and the very first covers received will be on display publicly for the first time at the Orlando MegaCon, taking place March 7-9 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. For more information on that even, visit www.MegaConvention.com or watch for coverage all weekend on ComicMix.

CBS Interactive is dusting off a selection of its own classics from the CBS Library for distribution across the CBS Audience Network. Full-length episodes of Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, MacGyver and Melrose Place will be available for free on an ad-supported basis through more than 300 member sites. Got some time to kill? Catch an episode here: www.cbs.com

 

Johnny Knoxville and MTV are bringing Jackass to the digital age with JackAssworld.com. The site, which you can see at www.jackassworld.com, has 24-straight hours of continuously updated video of the latest stupid stunts. Users can view and comment on the video via message board, email or text message.

And how about if we toss in a little hint for the answer to our latest Trivia Question, which could win you a limited edition, Graham Crackers Comics variant?  For full details, catch yesterday’s ComicMix Radio, get your answer to us at podcast [at] comicmix.com, and be back here on Tuesday for the winner, a new question and much more.

Peter David to Pen New ‘Star Trek’ Series

  • News
  • February 27, 2008

Marking the 10th anniversary of Star Trek: New Frontier, IDW announced it will be publishing a New Frontier comics series written by Peter David. Trekweb has a full report on the series, which is set to debut next month.

The five-part series will feature art by Stephen Thompson (Beneath the Valley of the Rage). The story picks up from the Star Trek novels published by Pocket Books.

David has written several Star Trek novels in addition to his extensive comic book work. The story of the new series is described in a press release:

In the new story, Turnaround, the most dangerous experimental vessel in the galaxy – a prototype time ship – has vanished, and it appears that the man who stole it is none other than Starfleet Admiral Edward Jellico. Only Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the Excalibur have a hope of finding him before the ship, intended purely for scientific exploration, is used to disrupt the space-time continuum.

 

ComicMix at Toy Fair: Coverage Round-Up and Extra Photos

  • News
  • February 21, 2008

Well, Toy Fair is officially over, folks. All that’s left is to sweep up the wayward Legos, find a place for all of the free promotional swag, and calmly reflect on the passing of yet another convention.

Oh, and there’s always the "Clip Reel" — or, as we call it in the InterWebs News, the "Round-Up" article. So, just in case you missed any of our Toy Fair 2008 coverage, here are some of the announcements, audio, video and photos from Toy Fair ’08 we collected thus far.

We still have some audio and video wrap-up coverage, including today’s edition of ComicMix Radio, so keep an eye on the site over the rest of the week. As a special "bonus feature" of sorts, I’ve included a few photos after the round-up below of some sights, scenes, and, of course, toys that  were favorites of the ComicMix crew but didn’t quite fit into the rest of our coverage.

 

(more…)

ComicMix Radio: World Of Warcraft Wave Two Revealed

There’s more from Toy Fair 2008 as we jump into the newest Star Trek & Seinfeld DVD games and a talk with DC Direct on the next phase for the World Of Warcraft Action Figures — they are going to stun you, plus:

— DC plugs the holes between Final Crisis and Countdown

— Millar and Hitch score a sellout on Fantastic Four

— Dora The Explorer hits live-action, prime-time TV

— Another brand new trivia question and a chance to grab an exclusive Graham Crackers Comics variant by e-mailing us (podcast [at] comicmix.com)

—  And finally, a new winner of our ComicMix Radio contest

So drop-kick an Orc and Press The Button!

 

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-6840657 or RSS!

 

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks