Thu Sep 2, 2010 — by Glenn Hauman

Mark Waid's speech and the Napsterization of comics

Mark Waid's planned Harvey speech on copyright, piracy, digital distribution, and the like is now posted at CBR. Please note that this is his Platonic ideal speech, not what I heard in the room-- as I recall it and he himself noted, the speech he gave was significantly, shall we say, rougher. Sadly, no one has posted an actual transcript or video yet, which is a shame as I think that may have been even more important. (And yes, I have a lead on a copy.)

A while back, I wrote about a meeting I had with DC Legal talking about comics piracy, and I talked about how comics were being Napsterized. In the light of Mark's call to start a dialogue on these topics, I'd like to revisit that topic-- sadly, five years on, the issues are still with us.

Seth Godin recently talked about what publishing should have learned from the music industry:

1) We have a fresh slate at HarperStudio. What's your advice?

The huge opportunity for book publishers is to get unstuck. You're not in the printing business. The life and death of trees is not your concern. You're in the business of leveraging the big ideas authors have. There are a hundred ways to do that, yet book publishers obsess about just one or two of them. Here's the news flash: that's not what authors care about. Authors don't care about units sold. They care about ideas spread. If you can help them do that, we're delighted to share our profits with you. But one (broken) sales channel--bookstores--and one broken model (guaranteed sale of slow-to-market books) is not the way to get there. If you free yourself up enough to throw that out, you'll figure out dozens of ways to leverage and spread and profit from ideas worth spreading.

2) If everything is free, how is anyone going to make any money?

First, the market and the internet don't care if you make money. That's important to say. You have no right to make money from every development in media, and the humility that comes from approaching the market that way matters. It's not "how can the market make me money" it's "how can I do things for this market." Because generally, when you do something for an audience, they repay you. The Grateful Dead made plenty of money. Tom Peters makes many millions of dollars a year giving speeches, while books are a tiny fraction of that. Barack Obama used ideas to get elected, book royalties are just a nice side effect. There are doctors and consultants who profit from spreading ideas. Novelists and musicians can make money with bespoke work and appearances and interactions. And you know what? It's entirely likely that many people in the chain WON'T make any money. That's okay. That's the way change works.

3) How do you think publishers and authors could work more productively together?

Publishing is far too focused on the pub day. The event of the publication. This is a tiny drip, perhaps the least important moment in a long timeline. As soon as publishers see themselves as marketers and agents and managers and developers of content, things change.

4) What's the most important lesson the book publishing industry can learn from the music industry?

The market doesn't care a whit about maintaining your industry. The lesson from Napster and iTunes is that there's even MORE music than there was before. What got hurt was Tower and the guys in the suits and the unlimited budgets for groupies and drugs. The music will keep coming. Same thing is true with books. So you can decide to hassle your readers (oh, I mean your customers) and you can decide that a book on a Kindle SHOULD cost $15 because it replaces a $15 book, and if you do, we (the readers) will just walk away. Or, you could say, "if books on the Kindle were $1, perhaps we could create a vast audience of people who buy books like candy, all the time, and read more and don't pirate stuff cause it's convenient and cheap..." I'm a pessimist that the book industry will learn from music. How are you betting?

So let's think about the state of the industries-- where music's been the last few years, and where comics could be heading.

Recession? Check.

Screwed up and weakened distribution channels? Check.

High studio costs? Check.

Nearly free, widespread distribution system that the fans use? Check.

Major industry execs and creators that are either clueless about the Internet, or are years late to the party? Check.

A newly empowered bunch of creators doing it themselves and distributing online? Check, check, check.

So is there a solution? Yes, but there are some big hurdles to overcome. Start discussing it in the comment threads, and we'll be back in a bit with more.

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Thu Sep 2, 2010 — by Marc Alan Fishman

The Snark Files: The Flash in a Marathon

Because sometimes a picture is worth a 1000 snarks.

Well, my loyal ComicMix fans, it seems you respond to me when I get snarky. So, I figure if Daniel Tosh can rip off Web Soup and be popular, why can't I? Sure, I'm not standing in front of a green screen, making fun of YouTube clips, or filming it all in front of semi-drunk fans who thought they had tickets to the Daily Show... but hey, I can totally make off-hand comments when people put pictures in front of my face. Case in point? Everything the Source touts as being "Cryptic". See example A and B. But I digress! On to today's fun. We found this image thanks to the 'Obvious Winner' blog, and couldn't help ourselves.

• Look what poor Wally West has to do now that Barry and the "Silver-Age Only" Justice Leaguers buried him in backups.*
• Hey, no wonder Jim Parsons won that Emmy. He used his Flash costume to garner votes... that cad.
• Sorry, all you Ethiopians, Kenyans, and Nigerians... y'all ain't got nuthin' on the Speed Force.
• Actually, come to think of it, thanks to Flash: Rebirth, we don't even know how the damned "Speed Force" works anymore. And when we called Mark Waid for clarification, he only tried to sell us a copy of Irredeemable.
• Just to be a jerk about it, the Flash waited 3 hours, 32 minutes and 13 seconds after they fired the starting gun to begin running. He still won by 48 minutes.
• Not pictured here, but who's also running in the race in an attempt to stay fresh in readers' minds? Max Mercury, Impulse, Kid Flash, Jesse Quick, and Wally's one kid who isn't Impulse...who no one will care about until he turns into a Rogue, which is bound to happen since he had his power siphoned off by his greedy sister. And he's part Asian.
• Flash Fact: running in 90-degree heat in a bright red costume with only his face exposed equals bugs in your teeth and metahuman-level BO.
• We were sure this was Wally West, but after a careful look at the bright red suit and full-circle lightning belt, this is indeed Barry Allen. Turns out he thought this was another "Flash vs. Superman" charity race. Silly Barry, fun comics are for kids--from the 70s!
• In accordance with his new M.O. of "causing all the trouble in Barry Allen's life," the original Reverse Flash is waiting at the 2-mile marker with a cup of water to give to Flash. Little does Flash know...the water is stale and lukewarm. Bwa ha ha ha!
• Because he's still not "with the times," Flash was nearly laughed out of the marathon for using his original Walkman, loaded with a cassette of "We Built This City".
• Flash Fact 2: Barry uses Crisis on Infinite Secrets Antiperspirant (TM). Strong enough for a woman, but made for a boring relic, brought back because Geoff Johns can do no wrong.

Well, that ought to rile up some of you fine readers! Feel free to disagree in the comments below.

* We know that the Justice League contains plenty of non-Silver Age leaguers right now. But trust us, Hal, Ollie, and Barry sat in a diner four years ago and decided Kyle Rayner, Wally West, Conner Hawke, and Roy Harper should take a break. It's not like Hal, Ollie, and Barry had 20 or so years to gain a fan base.

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Wed Sep 1, 2010 — by Glenn Hauman

Baltimore Comic-Con 2010 summed up in three pictures

Even though the show is still very family friendly, you still get creepy old guys and fruits showing up...

...and by the end of the day, your kids look like this:

Continue reading Baltimore Comic-Con 2010 summed up in three pictures ›

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Wed Sep 1, 2010 — by Marc Alan Fishman

Lost 'Dial M for Monkey' Cartoon Surfaces!

We're sure this has been on the net for a while, but it was new to us!

Hey there kiddos. We were playing around working hard to find you awesome content the other day when we stumbled across this little gem! For those who recall the most excellent Dexter's Laboratory cartoon, once shown on Cartoon Network (now being shown on Cartoon Network's dump for it's old toons and Hanna-Barbara classics, Boomerang!), had within it several "mini-shows". While we were huge fans of the "Justice Friends" mock reality cartoon (in which Major Glory, the Infragable Krunk and the mighty Valhallan shared a small apartment...) the real gem of the extras was "Dial M for Monkey". Monkey, an homage to SHIELD, Dial H for Hero, and several spy/superhero thrillers in the 60s, always spoke to me. Why? Cause super-powered monkeys are hilarious. Even more-so, super-powered monkey's having to face off against a flamboyantly gay Silver Surfer homage, and his master, the planet eating Barbequor is too funny to pass up.

While the episode ran once in 2002 on Cartoon Network, it's since been pulled from the run, due in part to the portrayal of said Surfer, but probably more due to the Infragable Krunk getting intoxicated, throwing up, and having to be driven home. Kids these days... so innocent. Don't want them copying what they see on the the ole' teevee now do we? But we trust you, loyal ComicMix fan. We're gonna post up this "lost" episode for your enjoyment anyways. Cause we're rebels like that. Rebels that love monkeys.

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Wed Sep 1, 2010 — by Robert Greenberger

Review: 'Amulet Book Three: The Cloud Searchers'

Amulet Book Three: The Cloud Searchers
By Kazu Kibuishi
Scholastic/Graphix, 208 pages, $10.99 (paperback)

When last we left the cast of Amulet, they were in the forest being chased by the bad guys and things were slowly starting to make sense for Emily, keep of the powerful stone. They managed to survive the evil king’s forces but it took a toll, damaging the mechanical tree house they used for a refuge.

Now, a year later, the third installment in Kazu Kibuishi’s fantasy graphic novel series continues from Scholastic’s Graphix imprint. Across 200 colorful pages, Kibuishi manages to explain a bit more about what is going on, raising the stakes, and moving the players to a new level.

Unfortunately, the overly familiar story gets feels even less original as they wend their way to Mos Eisley in search of a pilot wiling to take them to the cloud city of Bespin.  That’s pretty much all that happens from a big picture standpoint but we also see Emily accept the power of her stone and begin to train with it. She and the prince, Trellis, forge an unusual bond.

The remainder of the cast is woefully underutilized so Emily’s mom, her brother Navin, the titular leader Leon Redbeard and others are all along for the ride but are given virtually nothing to do. Instead, we meet Enzo, the grizzled pilot of the Luna Moth, who of course has an unexplained history with Selina, owner of the floating fueling station.

Filling out the rest of the book are either chase scenes, fight scenes or aerial combat scenes that must be fun to write and draw but do little to make the world seem any more real or interesting. There are also all-too-brief interludes such as a nice bit between Emily and her mom, but doesn’t make either character any more interesting.

There’s no recap page so anyone starting with volume three is somewhat lost nor do we have a sense of how many volumes it will take for Emily the Stonekeeper to fulfill her destiny and rid her world of the evil king.

The world of Alledia, described as a land of “wildly imaginative and dangerous things”, is the most imaginative part of the series and Kibuishi is ably assisted by an army of colorists who do a nice job. The notion of an order of stonekeepers protecting the world is a timeworn concept that should offer some twists and turns but seems to be merely a semi-sentient object of power.

While these books remain top sellers for Scholastic, I can’t help but want something fresher and more imaginative for the 9-12 readers who seem to gobble these books up.

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Tue Aug 31, 2010 — by Marc Alan Fishman

Season 11 of 'Dancing with the Stars' Released!

From the C-List to ABC straight to the next Wizard World Chicago.

ABC's Dancing with the Stars announced the star-studded celebrity participants for the upcoming 11th season! This fall taking the stage will be:

• Brandy, who will reignite her career right out of the grave it's been sleeping in since it keeled over in 1998.
• Jennifer Grey, who will prove once more why "Baby" shoulda' stayed in the corner. 
• Margaret Cho, who will show off all the fat she shed back in 2005, when people still didn't find her funny. Cho, famous for calling herself a "fag hag" will be an instant fan favorite for the target of DWTS... the "hyper-gays".
• Audrina Patridge, who was on some show on MTV called the Hills. I had to look that up on Wikipedia, so that pretty much shows you just what class of celebrity passes for a "Star" on this show.
• Florence Henderson, who will remind us why she was on VH1's "Surreal Life"... because even on a show surrounded by Z-listers, ole' Carole Brady can brighten a screen long enough for you to remember her acting ability is much like her star power. By the way, did you know she's hocking internet service for seniors now? I rest my case.
• Bristol Palin, who will prove to America that with a little charm, a little limelight, and a mother who looks like Tina Fey... anything is possible. Just a quick network note, if for any reason Bristol needs to attend to her child, her spot will be replaced by someone with as much 'star cred' as Bristol; Remember Joe the Plumber?
• Michael Bolton, who will show the wit, class, and grace he's always shown when in the public eye. In order to combat the instant narcolepsy effect that will occur when people see him, ABC will cut all his performances in with clips from Pokemon.
• Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, who will, to no one's surprise, dance all numbers without a shirt. This should create high drama with the judges, and gay population rooting for Chunk-Lite Cho.
• David Hasselhoff, fresh off his comedy central roast, will dance as long as he is paid in plastic bottles of Vodka, purchased from the drug store down the street from the set.
• Kurt Warner, this season's token athlete, fresh off his 2008 Super Bowl loss as an Arizona Cardinal. We're not actually knocking his NFL career, he was amazing. But as a dancer? We're hoping for a career ending injury.
• Kyle Massey, who we also had to look up on wikipedia, is from Disney's That So Raven. Seriously? Is Raven Symone too good for the show, that they instead hire a 4th rate Keenan Thompson?
• Rick Fox, the second token athlete... with 3 NBA championships under his belt, and a recent 2009 loss on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Fox is set to ballroom dance his way back to the lowest tier of page 20 in People Magazine.

We can't wait to tune in to see who eventually takes home the golden dance shoes. In an unrelated story, Spike TV is bringing back the third season of it's hit show, 1000 Ways to Die. SPOILER ALERT. #957? Watching Dancing with the Stars, 10 seasons after it peaked.

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Tue Aug 31, 2010 — by Marc Alan Fishman

Henson Family Donates Original Muppets to the Smithsonian

It's not easy being green, unless you get a sweet spot in the Pop Culture Gallery!

Alongside his not-as-famous pals, Kermit the Frog was donated to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History by Jim Henson's wife, Jane, this past Wednesday. Originally cast as a post-news puppet show, Kermit and the original Muppets debuted in 5 minute sketches, usually lip-syncing to popular music, after the local news.

While most today won't recognize the other puppet-cohorts of Kermit, the museum plans to show clips from early appearances, and help promote the new display in the Pop Culture Gallery, set to debut in November. Curator Dwight Blocker Bowers (say that three times fast) said the Muppets would be a welcome addition to the museum's collection. "It certainly shows the Muppets at the beginning of the career of a large family of entertainers," he said. "More than anything, I think it shows the genius of Jim Henson."

In order to hype this donation, and future installation, a road show has been set up, with a first opening in the Windy City, opening on September 24th at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.

Jane donated this first batch of Muppets, with plans to continue the donation in the years to come. We hope in time to take out own children (when we have children, mind you) to the Smithsonian to see some of our favorites from Henson's workshop, including any Muppets who made their way into Bill Cosby's show. You know that episode we're talking about. Doc eats the sausage sandwich, and have some weird dreams, ala Muppetland. He's visited by the Hippocritic Oaf, and eventually opens the fridge to find all the contents to have been transformed into puppetry. But we digress... At very least,  expect Kermit's longtime female companion, the far-from-kosher Ms. Piggy to join her lime-green romeo soon (in tow, we're sure, with other actual major Muppet players). In the mean time... Expect Kermit and his pals to enjoy the sans-pig-silence.

Tip of the hat to artdaily, for sharing. Cause sharing is caring.

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Tue Aug 31, 2010 — by Robert Greenberger

Review: 'FlashForward The Complete Series'

In 1999, Robert J. Sawyer wrote FlashForward , a clever science fiction novel that showed how the world reacted to a suddenly global blackout and people glimpsing their futures 21 years hence. The catalytic event was centered at the CERN supercollider in Europe and largely focused on the scientists who worked there.

Interestingly, it was optioned for television and was being developed into a series at HBO, which decided it was trending more towards a prime time broadcast network show, so the rights got to ABC. With great fanfare and terrific initial reviews, the show debuted on September 24, 2009.

Maybe it should have stayed a limited run series on the premium channel. The resulting 22 episodes had lofty goals and a dynamite cast, but the sprawling story was messy, with way too many things not holding up well enough to sustain viewer interest. Ratings suffered after the show took a break at the midpoint and was finally ended on May 27. On Tuesday, ABC Studios is releasing FlashForward: The Complete Series as a five disc set.

One of the creative problems was that the producers had no idea how much time they had to tell their story. They received an initial order for thirteen and it was a month after the debut before ABC ordered the back nine and subsequently added three episodes to the order. As the ratings nosedived, the order was trimmed from 25 to 24 and finally the standard 22. The feeling that they were spinning their wheels makes sense now that you see what they had to deal with.

Additionally, the personnel guiding the characters and storylines also shifted which led to altered tones. The show was initially being run by Marc Guggenheim, David S. Goyer and Brannon Braga but shortly after the full season was ordered, Guggenheim left the show and Goyer took over until February when he moved away from the sinking ship, letting his wife Jessika, Lisa Zwerling and Timothy J. Lea complete the series.

What should have been a limited series run made substantive changes to Sawyer’s novel beginning with altering the flash forward from 21 years to a handful of months, April 29, 2010. The ensemble cast was centered not at CERN but at the Los Angeles branch of the FBI. Over the course of the first few episodes, it was fascinating to see people react to their visions or lack of visions. The FBI team, led by an overly dour Ralph Fiennes, discovered a vast conspiracy behind the event and their investigations let us meet many people around the world and get a greater sense of what was experienced and how society was being altered.

Continue reading Review: 'FlashForward The Complete Series' ›

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Tue Aug 31, 2010 — by Marc Alan Fishman

'Spider-Man' caught by Australians

Sinister Six quoted as saying "We knew we shouldn't have brought on Rhino."

Dateline: Sydney! It seems a fickle Frenchman, nicknamed "Spider-Man" was nabbed by Aussie Police after he scaled a 57-story building in Sydney, with his bare hands! Alain "So not Peter Parker" Robert is a noted building climber... having scaled over 70 buildings, (as only a spider can.) including the 41-story Royal Bank of Scotland building in Sydney, The Sears Willis (ugh) Tower in Chicago, and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lampur.

It seems this Spider-Man has had plenty of run-ins with the law, having paid a whopping $676 dollar fine once before to the Aussie Feds for his previous scaling of the aforementioned Royal Bank, as well as numerous arrests for his previous climbs. "I'm sad he's been arrested, but hopefully he'll get out soon and we can have some champagne," said his agent, Max Markson. We can only assume Robert and Markson's next scaling may be away from the land-down-under. We suggest Chicago's Trump Tower next. Why? Cause the Donald loves publicity stunts, and his half-filled building needs a little TLC from the media.

We stopped the editor of the Daily Bugle, one J. Jonah Jameson, who had this to say: "If we only knew the identity of our own city's wall-crawler we could fine him too for all the buildings he's scaled. I talked to our attorney, Matt Murdock, and he's certain that if that French kid gets arresting for just climbing a building, our web-spinning, car-flipping, joke-spewing 'Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man' would get an instant 'Go to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200' card! And we'll figure out WHO the web-crawler is too... All we need is one more day."

Kudos to Yahoo! for this one.

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Mon Aug 30, 2010 — by Mike Raub

The Point Radio: WHITE COLLAR Stands Out

Add WHITE COLLAR to the list of summer hits on the USA Network - and series star MATT BOMER talks about what he feels makes the show work, plus his possible return to CHUCK as well. And comics on Tuesdays - but not for most of us! Diamond sets the rules again!

And be sure to stay on The Point via , RSS, MyPodcast.Com or Podbean!

Follow us now on and !

Don't forget that you can now enjoy THE POINT 24 hours a Day - 7 Days a week!. Updates on all parts of pop culture, special programming by some of your favorite personalities and the biggest variety of contemporary music on the net - plus there is a great round of new programs on the air including classic radio each night at 12mid (Eastern) on RETRO RADIO COMICMIX's Mark Wheatley hitting the FREQUENCY every Saturday at 9pm and even the Editor-In-Chief of COMICMIX, Mike Gold, with his daily WEIRD SCENES and two full hours of insanity every Sunday (7pm ET) with WEIRD SOUNDS!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVE FOR FREE or go to GetThePointRadio for more including a connection for mobile phones including iPhone & Blackberrys.

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Mon Aug 30, 2010 — by Robert Greenberger

Review: 'Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season One, Part One'

Growing up in the 1960s, DC’s super-heroes were proud to don their uniforms and battle for truth, justice, and the American way. They had a relatively easy camaraderie with one another and they used their wits and their powers to get out the devilish death-traps they inevitably found themselves in every now and then.

While DC’s heroes and villains have been successfully translated to animation through the years, none have quite captured that colorful joy in being a super-hero. As successful as Warner Animations Batman, Superman and Justice League have been for the current generation of fans, Batman: The Brave and the Bold is the show that those of us from an earlier era have been waiting for. No Wonder Twins, no Wendy & Marvin – our heroes and villains doing what they do best.

The first thirteen episodes of the Cartoon Network series are collected on Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season One, Part One. The two-disc set, without any extras whatsoever, is being released Tuesday and is a joy to have. Producers James Tucker and Michael Jelenic have designed a show that celebrates the heroic and it is brighter, jazzier, and in many ways more action-packed than its predecessors. Each episode opens with a teaser that shows the conclusion of another successful team-up between Batman and a member of the heroic community then we get a complete tale with a different collaboration.

The show has taken great pains to explore the far-reaches of the DC Universe, across the stars and through the years. As a result, one never knows who will be seen next which brings a sense of delight to the viewing experience. Batman is equally comfortable in the past, fighting Morgaine le Fey alongside Etrigan the Demon, as he is battling in the years of the Great Disaster, aiding Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth. The writers have demonstrated not only a keen understanding of the core elements that make each hero and villain distinct, but adapts them well to television in order to avoid having them appear too similar to one another. The exception is Green Arrow, and the rivalry between the two heroes provides some welcome comic relief. Aquaman, king of the seven seas is also seen as a dim blowhard, eager for an adventure, always struggling to come up with an engaging name for it.

About the only adaptation that has failed to work for me is portraying Metamorpho, Black Lightning and Katana – the Outsiders – as a group of snotty teens. The most successful might be Jaime Reyes, the current Blue Beetle, who is one of the most frequent guest stars and is seen as a hero in training, struggling to gain the respect and approval of his mentors.

While bright and shiny, they still show death and its ramifications, as witnessed by the recap of Bruce Wayne’s youth and other random, senseless acts of violence. Batman has overcome those dark days and is a tireless, driven crimefighter, ready to take on any threat. His square-jawed design is evocative of how he was depicted by the likes of Sheldon Moldoff and Mike Sekowsky in the early 1960s, just before the “New Look” era began. The one element I feel does the show a disservice is the ability for his cape to morph into a jetpack while the Batmobile is an all-in-one sea to surface to air vehicle. While these are lovely animation shortcuts, they take us a step beyond the Batman they are celebrating.

And don’t think its all adventure as many stories also deal with emotional themes such as Red Tornado’s quest for humanity and Wildcat struggling with age.

The first half season ends with a two-part visit to a parallel world and the Injustice Syndicate, as batman struggles to fit in disguised as his counterpart Owlman. As one would expect justice triumphs but not without putting up a vigorous fight.

This set is a welcome addition to the DC video library and comes well recommended.

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Sun Aug 29, 2010 — by Marc Alan Fishman

2010 Harvey Awards Announced!

The Harvey Awards, named for famed writer/cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman, once again hit the Baltimore Comic Con in style. Emceed by PvP's esteemed artist and writer Scott Kurtz (not only because his name is close to Harvey's, but because he's genuinely funny!), is held in tandem with a celebratory dinner and ceremony. Our intrepid Glenn Hauman was on scene tweeting the winners to us all, and shucks, he even joined the folks for the after-party. We here at ComicMix congratulate all this years nominees and celebrate the victories for this years winners! Did your favorite take home the ole' Harv'? Find out below!

Best Writer:
This years nominees are:

• Jason Aaron, Scalped, Vertigo/DC
• Geoff Johns, Blackest Night, DC
• Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead, Image Comics
• Jeff Kiney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid #3, Amulet Books
• Mark Waid, Irredeemable, Boom! Studios

And the winner: Robert "Suck it Johns, I PWN Zombies" Kirkman!

He joins other Harvey Winners like Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Brian K. Vaugn, and Neil Gaiman!

Best Artist:
This years nominees are:

• Robert Crumb, Book of Genesis, W.W. Norton
• Guy Davis, BPRD:Black Goddess, Dark Horse Comics
• Brian Fies, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow, Abrams ComicArts
• David Petersen, Mouse Guard: Winter 1152, Archaia Entertainment
• Frank Quitely, Batman and Robin, DC
• JH Williams III, Detective Comics, DC

And the winner: Robert Crumb!

He joins other Harvey Winners like Dave Gibbons, Alex Ross, Mike Mignola, and Brian Bolland... but c'mon. He's already had a movie about his life. Gibbons, Ross, Mignola, and Bolland should be proud they now share this award with Robert.

Best Cartoonist:
This years nominees are:

• Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter, IDW
• Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid #3, Amulet Books
• Roger Langridge, The Muppet Show Comic Book, Boom! Studios
• David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp, Pantheon
• Seth, George Sprott (1894-1975), Drawn and Quarterly

And the winner: Darwyn "Now who do I fight next?" Cooke!

He joins other Harvey Winners like Paul Chadwick, Jeff Smith, Chris Ware, and Sergio Aragones!

Continue reading 2010 Harvey Awards Announced! ›

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Sat Aug 28, 2010 — by Marc Alan Fishman

A Few Guiness World Book Record For Your Consideration

According to our fine friends at Comics Alliance, a gaggle of costumed cohorts congregated at the corner of Hollywood and Highland in in L.A. yesterday. In order to top Australia's record for most people dressed in superhero costumes in one place at one time, a craigslist ad posted to bring as many cosplayers to the call as possible. While we weren't able to confirm if more than 1245 vigilantes showed up between 12:30 and 12:45 PM as called for, we have faith in our American cosplayers. If someone out there on the left coast wants to tell us how it went, please share in the comments!

In a related story, not to be outdone by us silly Americans, last week, 519 Marios, Warios, Luigis, and WaLuigis gathered in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. They gathered not only to score the record of "Largest Gathering Of People Dresses As Mario", but to celebrate the Fifth Hongshan Culture Festival and Chifeng Animation Festival. Oddly enough this explains how Mario is able to fall into various pits of death, and flaming traps in his misadventures... It simply appears if one of him "game overs"... he's replaced!

So, should any of you fine ComicMix fans out there happen to have caught the cossies in L.A., or would like to beat some of the other odd records stored within the Guiness Book, let us know, and we'll celebrate it!

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Sat Aug 28, 2010 — by Marc Alan Fishman

Today is Read Comics in Public Day-- and we're doing it in Baltimore!

Show the masses your serious nerd cred.

What started out as a joke between editors of the Daily Cross Hatch blog, Brian Heater and Sarah Morean, has stormed across the land to become a for us nerds to celebrate in tandem. Read Comics in Public Day is exactly what it sounds like. Remember to the "norms", "muggles", and "non-nerds" comic books are but mere childish things. While they may have heard of "Graphic Novels", and probably have seen more than one film lately that was once based on some form of comic literature... they themselves wouldn't be caught dead perusing an issue of Action Comics or Ghost World whilst out and about. And while hipsters flick and pan on their iPhones, iPads and Kindles, and the spinsters cling to their romance novels whilst whisking themselves on planes, trains, and buses... They look down their noses at we who de-bag our copy of Ultimate Spider-Man, and revel in the mid-adventures of Peter Parker. They don't "get" our Hellboy BPRD patch sewn lovingly on our Messenger Bag of Holding. They scoff at our mock Blue Lantern Ring, which we wear on Mondays, to remind us to hope for a good week. And when they gaze that steely gaze... we may feel... less good about our choices.

But Not Today.

On this day, I tell you to don ALL your extra giveaway rings. Put that mock Mjolnir on your belt. Don your favorite Kirby-era 70s faded in the wash New Gods shirt. And more than any of that... pull out one of those "kitsch-rags" whilst you are in public. And if you find yourself in the Baltimore Area, take some public transportation, in full cosplay gear, and read that new Brightest Day you had squirreled away. Laugh out loud when Scott Pilgrim makes a funny declaration. Snort and chortle as loudly as you've ever chortled before when Deadpool breaks the fourth wall. And then when those who choose to mock you do so? Look them in the eye, and exclaim "Excelsior!" Then... get off that public transportation, and find your way to the Baltimore Comic Con! Join your brothers and sisters in arms, and celebrate all the goodness that can be had at a great convention. And while you're there? Say hi to some of the ComicMix family in attendance. On the floor, and at their own tables are Mark Wheatley, Robert Tinnell, Adriane Nash, Mike Gold, Timothy Truman, John Workman, Andrew Pepoy, and Glenn Hauman! Shake their hands. Take their picture. Then have them snap a shot of you, reading that new Lone Justice trade you needed. Better yet... Go outside with that copy of Lone Justice, and read it in a nice public park. Snap the picture there, and then send it on to the folks at readcomicsinpublic.com.

You have your marching orders. Now go make us proud.

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Sat Aug 28, 2010 — by Marc Alan Fishman

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Did He-Man Touch You?

It's ok to tell me, Billy. I'm here to help.

In the past, we've celebrated those excellent YouTubers who've gone above and beyond to take some of our favorite childhood cartoons and twist them up real good. Other times, we've dusted off some cartoon classics from our own childhood (not too long ago, but classics still!) just to put a smile on your faces. Today, we found an actual PSA that in this day and age, bears repeating. It seems sometimes when you're a young prince, prancing about in purple pantaloons, you may in fact be a victim of naughtiness. No matter how many times Man-At-Arms tells you he's a professional... well, you get the picture. Now let He-Man and She-Ra tell you how-it-is:

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