Articles by mike-gold
Tue May 19, 2009 — by Mike Gold
Upfronts Day Two: NBC and Some Guy Named "Leno"
Law & Order Now A Family Show
With Jay Leno sucking up the entire 10 PM (Eastern) block on NBC weekdays, one would think the venerable and ever-mutating Law & Order would be in trouble.
Nope. It dodged the bullet. It’ll be in the family hour on Fridays. Law & Order: SVU (their sex crimes show, not their tribute to gas guzzlers) will be on Wednesdays at 9 PM, preceded by a new “family drama,” Parenthood. Southland will follow L&O, and Jay Leno follows everything.
The Biggest Loser grabs two hours on Tuesday, followed by Jay Leno. Monday will see Heroes return for a while, followed by a new medical drama, Trauma, which will be followed by Jay Leno. Chuck will bump Heroes after the winter Olympics.
A new comedy called Community will start off following The Office on Thursdays. Thursday editions of Weekend Update will take the 8 PM slot for about a month or so, at which time 30 Rock will return and take Community’s valued position. At that time, Community will take the Thursday Weekend Update slot, although Update will return from time to time. Parks and Recreation will take the in-between slot at 8:30, and everything will be followed by the omnipresent Jay “Mr. Overexposed” Leno.
Dateline gets moved to Saturdays to make room for Sunday Night Football on – wait for it – Sundays. Jay Leno will probably guest host both shows.
In NBC’s post-Olympics on-deck circle: the comedy 100 Questions, the reality show The Marriage Ref, and the medical show Mercy.
In a bit of non-network news, HBO has ordered 13 episodes of an animated series starring Ricky Gervais, based on Gervais's podcasts.
Mon May 18, 2009 — by Mike Gold
Upfronts Day One: Fox, ABC and a Bit of CBS
Human Target Returns In Reboot
This is the week the teevee broadcast networks announce their fall schedules at their fabled “Upfront” presentations to advertisers – well, the first drafts of their fall schedules. Starting with Fox.
Len Wein and Carmine Infantino’s DC series The Human Target has been picked up (it was on network a couple decades ago in a forgettable series staring Rick Springfield and Clarence Clemons); it will occupy the coveted spot after American Idol on Wednesdays. Past Life, a series about a psychic detective agency, will hold the same spot on Tuesdays. Slotting after Idol means both will be mid-season shows A new sitcom will be added to Fox’s schedule, Sons of Tucson will be plopped in the middle of their Sunday animation block, replacing King of the Hill. Another sitcome, Brothers, has been given a 13 episode order.
Fox has picked up House, 24, Bones, Fringe, Brothers, ‘Til Death, The Cleveland Show, So You Think You Can Dance and Dollhouse.
In other Upfront news, ABC has approved pilots for a new drama starring Dean Winters and Sam Neill called Happy Town and a comedy starring Courteney Cox called Cougar Town (bet you can guess what that one’s about). They’ve also picked up a second season of Castle as a mid-season replacement, a new V series, along with The Deep End, Jerry Bruckheimer’s The Forgotten (sort of a Without a Trace, but with amateurs), and Eastwick, an adaptation of the hit movie The Witches of Eastwick. They’ve got a comedy going starring Kelsey Grammer called Hank and another sitcom called The Middle. ABC also renewed a version of Scrubs, although much of the ongoing cast is likely to disappear after the first six episodes. True Beauty and Better Off Ted have also been picked up.
CBS has picked up an NCIS spinoff, a medical drama called Three Rivers and The Good Wife starring Julianna Margulies.
Mon Apr 13, 2009 — by Mike Gold
IDW's #3!
ComicMix joins up in the nick of time!
IDW Publishing, home to Star Trek, 30 Days of Night, Transformers, Doctor Who, G.I. Joe, Fallen Angel, Locke and Key, and ComicMix's upcoming line of print graphic novels and comics, today announced the 10 year old company hit the #3 spot in the monthly Diamond sales figures. That places them ahead of Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics, a remarkable achievement for a "back-of-the-catalog" publisher.
"This is a huge milestone for us, and the culmination of a decade of hard work by the many different people to have contributed to IDW over the years," IDW CEO Ted Adams stated. "This is clearly a great beginning to our second decade."
Last week, the company received no less than five Eisner nominations, and is just coming out with their 10th anniversary history. It's been a hell of a week for the San Diego based publisher, and to celebrate the staff went to the Los Angeles Dodgers / San Diego Padres baseball game.
"IDW has always focused on producing quality comics and books, and it's gratifying to see fans enjoying our books so much," IDW publisher and editor-in-chief Chris Ryall noted. "There is definitely a lot more great things to come for the company and our readers," no doubt referring to the upcoming release of GrimJack: The Manx Cat, Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden, and Demons of Sherwood.
Among other ComicMix projects, of course!
Wed Apr 1, 2009 — by Mike Gold
Glenn Hauman To Leave ComicMix
Focus On Nude Model Career
ComicMix co-founder, production manager and news site scribe Glenn Hauman will be leaving his position at the end of the week to focus on his growing career as a male nude model.
"I've been offered a stimulating position out in Long Island," Hauman stated, "and like all native Long Islanders I long for the opportunity to return. And I really mean long."
Glenn had been debating this prickly decision for some time. "I enjoy comics and I can tolerate my partners, but let's face it -- I won't be young and handsome forever, and I owe it to humanity to squeeze every last drop out of my nature-given charms." Word has it he's in negotiations with the renown Flava-Punisher agency.
In response to this announcement, ComicMix editor-in-chief Mike Gold stated "Are you kidding me? The guy's 40! He can't bend over, let alone dance! Good luck with this one, pal!"
Thu Mar 26, 2009 — by Mike Gold
IDW and ComicMix Join Forces
Renowned comics publisher to distribute online comics in print form
Well, we've been hinting at this for about six months now. Some of you traditionalists have been asking when and how and where and when you can buy printed versions of the ComicMix comics. I'm proud to announce that we have partnered up with our friends at IDW (where GrimJack and Jon Sable Freelance and Mars last appeared) to produce one graphic novel and two comic books each month, starting this fall. Plus hardcovers and omnibuses and such, as the market demands.
O.K., I'm one of those traditionalists as well, and while I love reading this stuff online (particularly on my iPhone), I'm looking forward to seeing them in print. And I'm looking forward to running my typical long-winded introductions in the trades and letter columns -- yet, genuine letter columns! -- in the comics.
So if you'd like to email us a letter for publication, just post 'em as comments to the comics. Oh, yeah, we're starting off with GrimJack: The Manx Cat and Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden in mini-series format. As if we should start somewhere else? IDW's press release, for the record:
SAN DIEGO, CA (March 25, 2009) – IDW Publishing, a leading publisher of comic books and graphic novels, has begun an innovative partnership with ComicMix.com, a free website offering new and classic comics. Through this multi-year agreement, IDW will publish graphic novels, books and comics for ComicMix.com properties, enabling both companies to expand their offerings to customers and retailers, and combine their audience reach.
“ComicMix has a great line up of original and classic brands that are currently only available online, and despite the shift to the virtual world, there is still something unmistakable about reading a real-life book” said Greg Goldstein, chief operating officer of IDW. “IDW is known for producing some of the highest quality books in our industry, and we are looking forward to offering this to fans of ComicMix properties.”
Beginning in the fall of 2009, IDW will release trade paperbacks of ComicMix comics, as well as monthly comics, including many new stories that have previously been only available online at ComicMix.com. Initial titles will include GrimJack: The Manx Cat by John Ostrander and Timothy Truman, Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden by Mike Grell, and Hammer of the Gods by Mark Wheatley and Mike Avon Oeming, among others.
“This is a bit of a homecoming for many of us at ComicMix, because we have had a professional relationship with IDW Publishing over the past several years,” ComicMix Editor-In-Chief Mike Gold noted. “We’re honored to be among such first-rate comics and graphic novels. Quite frankly, I don’t think the ComicMix properties could find a better publishing home than IDW.”
The partnership with ComicMix allows IDW to distribute comics via mobile devices, increasing the company's growing digital, downloadable publishing program, which already includes several major titles such as Star Trek: Countdown and Ghostbusters.
About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. As a leader in the horror, action, and sci-fi genres, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including television's #1 prime time series, CBS' “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation;” Paramount's “Star Trek;” Fox's “Angel;” Hasbro's “The Transformers;” and the BBC's “Doctor Who.” IDW's original horror series, "30 Days of Night," was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. In April 2008, IDW released "Michael Recycle," the first title from its new children's book imprint, Worthwhile Books. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.
About ComicMix.com
Organized in 2007, ComicMix.com is the free website for brand-new comics, news, opinion and historical research. Organized by comics veteran Mike Gold (DC Comics, First Comics, Image Comics), Internet pioneer Brian Alvey (WebLogs Inc., Blogsmith, AOL, Netscape) and print and online publishing vet Glenn Hauman (Random House, Simon & Schuster, BiblioBytes, DC Comics), ComicMix has been leading the comics industry in the production and online distribution of new comic book stories by major talent.
Wed Mar 4, 2009 — by Mike Gold
Rare Super-Porn Discovered!
To Be Released April Fool's Day - No Kidding!
We just got an email from our old pal, Craig Yoe!. Craig sez:
I'd like to tell you about my brand spanking new book and blog.
I recently discovered incredible, previously unknown, fetish art by the creator of Superman, Joe Shuster. The artist and his writing partner, Jerry Siegel, had sold Superman for 130 dollars. When they sued to get the rights back they lost and got drummed out of the comic book industry and Shuster fell on hard times. It was unknown that to get by and/or because of a personal interest in the subject, Shuster then did S&M porn for under-the-counter booklets called "Nights of Horror," sold in Times Square in the early fifties. The back story I uncovered involves the Mob, showgirls, neo-Nazi Jewish juvenile delinquents, inspired by Shuster's art, known as the Brooklyn Thrill Killers, the famed anti-comic book crusader Dr. Frederic Wertham, Senate investigations, cops on payola, the books being banned by the Supreme Court, teenage girls being horse-whipped in the park, two murders...and dare I say MORE?
I have a full color coffee table art book I wrote and designed coming out April 1 (no fooling!) about all this, Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator Joe Shuster.The publisher is the number one leading art book publisher in the world, the prestigious Abrams. I'm blogging about the book and revealing lots of rare art and info that didn't fit in "between the covers."
Craig’s too modest to note that his book also sports an introduction by Stan Lee.
Considering the fact that, at the time they purchased Superman, one of DC’s owners had been actively engaged in publishing what was considered by the post office censors “pornography,” this is a rather ironic story.
Sadly ironic.
Wed Mar 4, 2009 — by Mike Gold
Real Dalek Discovered
No Loch Ness Monster, Though
According to the London Daily Telegraph, a long-submerged Dalek was discovered among a ton of rubbish by a team of volunteers who were cleaning out a junk-filled pond.
Well, actually, just the head and neck pieces. The all-important eye-stalk was intact, but one of the dome lights was smashed. They’ve been looking for the rest of the Exterminator amongst the muck and the mould without success so far.
The exact location is being kept secret for reasons of maintaining neighborhood sanity. However, if you’re planning on a soggy vacation, back during Colin Baker’s run in the 1980s the BBC did a lot of exterior filming of Doctor Who in the Hampshire area.
There appears to be no truth to the rumor that a Cyberman has been spotted parking cars in Liverpool.
Tue Feb 10, 2009 — by Mike Gold
ComicMix At Two
Will We Soon See Phase Three?
Well, today ComicMix turns two years old. It’s a tad bittersweet, as the advertising cutbacks that have decimated other media outlets have had their impact upon this young site as well. So – as you’ve no doubt noticed – we’ve hunkered down for the long haul. We ain’t going to give in to this economy; we’re up for the fight.I’m glad to report that, lately, we’ve made some truly significant progress. We’ll be making a major announcement soon, with a touch of luck – meaning the lawyers and number crunchers do what they do in a timely fashion. Most of the folks who’s been working with us and hanging in there are aware of the broad strokes, and there’s been some Twittering and blogging and such, but you’ll get the full story right here as soon as it’s finished.
I’m told we’re getting significantly closer to the launch of the long-awaited Phase Three improvements and additions. This, too, is exciting stuff and has taken an enormous amount of energy from our Tech Team. We all want to get it right the first time, to the extent that’s technically possible.
So hang in there. You’ll be seeing the fruits of these labors very soon. As always, we want to thank all the writers and artists and tech folks who have been part of ComicMix, and we thank you, our worldwide audience, for your continued interest and support.
Tue Jan 20, 2009 — by Mike Gold
Review: Man Of Rock, by Bill Schelly
Let’s say comics fandom congealed in the early 60s, or nearly 30 years after the first comic book was published. That means organized comics fandom has been around more than half again that span. We have our own history, and much of it has been chronicled -- brilliantly -- by Bill Schelly.Now Bill has shifted his sights to a man whose own career has mirrored the growth of the medium: Joe Kubert. One of the first generation of comics artists by virtue of his seeking, and getting, employment when he was 11, he got into comics about the same time that Superman did. Joe has continued to write, draw and edit comics to this day. Best known for his work on Hawkman, Sgt. Rock, Tarzan and his own creation, Tor, Joe has also been a pioneer in the direct sales comics movement (Sojourn) and in the modern graphic novel movement.
Kubert is at least as well-known for his work as America’s primary educator of cartoonists: his Kubert School in New Jersey has given us dozens of first-rate talent – from Timothy Truman to Tom Mandrake, from Alex Maleev to Shane Davis, plus a couple of kids named Kubert.
Swell. Everybody’s got a favorite artist, and Kubert’s mine. I’ve waxed poetic about the man before. So, for Schelly to entertain and educate me, well, that’s quite a task.
One Bill met well in his biography Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert
We’ve recently been offered excellent biographies of comics masters Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Joe Kubert has deserved similar treatment, and he’s received just that in Bill Schelly’s hands. I heartedly recommend it to all fans of the medium, its history, and its masters. It's available through your friendly neighborhood comics shop, through Fantagraphics, and through Bill's own Hamster Press.
Tue Jan 20, 2009 — by Mike Gold
Dick Cheney: Now It Can Be Told!
Watching the Presidential Inauguration – and I realize I'm making fun of a dude in a wheelchair, but heck, that's just who I am – it occurred to me that our former (damn, it feels good to say this) vice-president Dick Cheney goes on to become... Davros!
No kidding. Look at the guy and imagine him on a diet, maybe 100 years older. Nosferatu trapped in the sun. Turns out this isn't an original observation; the graphic is from seedsofdoubt.com.
Bye, bye. Dick. Don't let the door knob slam you in the forehead on your way out.
Sat Dec 13, 2008 — by Mike Gold
Spirit Stories You Should Read Before The Movie
And After, Too
So Brother Glenn e-mails me with “...we do real well with those ‘stories you should read before you see the movie,’ and if anyone else but you did The Spirit list, you'd probably be insulted.” Maybe.
I’m a bit ambivalent towards this movie. I haven’t seen it, but like most of you reading this, I’ve seen the trailers. I’ve loved The Spirit ever since Jules Feiffer turned me onto the character, back in a 1965 article in Playboy magazine. My appetite completely whetted, the good folks at Harvey Comics stoked me up a year later with two “giant-sized” reprints that still remain the best of the many compilations of the character.
So now Frank Miller, a cartoonist known to be quite the Spirit fan (he even worked a reference to creator Will Eisner into RoboCop II), has directed the big Spirit movie that’s coming out any day now. It was co-produced by another comics fan-turned-writer-turned-movie powerhouse, Michael Uslan, of Batman and Swamp Thing movies fame. And those trailers – well, damn, they don’t look like Will Eisner’s creation at all. They look like Sin City with one extra color added. I try not to judge movies by their promotion (outside of triage), but this stuff’s been a bitter disappointment.
So, perhaps, this list should be perceived as “stories you should re-read after you see the movie so you remember why you went in the first place.” I hope not; I’ll be there to see the movie with the greatest hope.
Either way, coming and/or going, here’s ten of the original, truly worthwhile Spirit stories, as written and drawn by Will Eisner with the assistance of such folks as Jules Feiffer, Jerry Grandinetti, and Wally Wood. Ask me again tomorrow, and I’ll bet I give you at least five different stories.
Yep, The Spirit was that good.
These stories have been scattered among numerous reprint collections. The really cool part is, you can’t go wrong with any of them. However, for those of you who remain both employed and financially flush, I’m including The Spirit Archives volume numbers. If you want to pick up just one volume, I recommend volume 19.
1. Ten Minutes (September 11, 1949; volume 19)
2. The Story of Gerhard Shnobble (October 16, 1949; volume 19)
3. Plaster of Paris (November 7, 1948; volume 17)
4 & 5. Sand Saref and Bring In Sand Saref (January 8 and 14, 1950; volume 20)
6 & 7. The Name Is Powder and The Fallen Sparrow (January 4 and 11, 1948; volume 16)
8. Fairy Tales For Juvenile Delinquents: Cinderella (October 5, 1947; volume 15)
9. A DP On The Moon (August 10, 1952; volume 24)
10. The Story Of Rat-Tat, The Toy Machine Gun (September 4, 1949; volume 19)
Mon Nov 3, 2008 — by Mike Gold
The Last Word, by Mike Gold
Brainiac On Banjo (- 30 -)
Norman Mingo’s iconic image of Alfred E. Neuman was first used by Mad Magazine back in 1956 as comment upon the Eisenhower / Stevenson election or, more to the point, in parody of the typical Time magazine cover of its time. Mingo’s Alf is still in use to this day; as is the struggle between the donkey and elephant also depicted on that cover.
We’ve had presidents and presidential elections in comics since the staple was first applied to cheap newsprint. Recently we’ve had Lex Luthor as president in the DC universe, and Stephen Colbert running for the same job in the Marvel universe. The president is one of the most important of the American icons, perhaps even moreso than Alfred E. Neuman.
Tomorrow is Election Day, and you will be asked to pick from at least two clear and distinctive voices. Whichever candidate wins, his impact on our future will be immense. Your voice is needed. As an American citizen, voting is your highest obligation.
I don’t care who you vote for (well, actually, I do, but that’s not the point right now), as long as you make your voice heard. You might think your state is already committed to one candidate or another. History shows us you are wrong. You might think your one vote doesn’t matter. History shows us you are wrong.
Even if your candidate has no chance of winning, make your voice heard. For example, let’s say you are a Libertarian interested in voting for Bob Barr. You probably think he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. You would probably be right. But if the Libertarian Party gets noticeable support at the polls, even 5% of the popular vote in your state, we will have taken a significant step towards freeing ourselves from the two party system that severely limits our choice and our future.
You might think all of the candidates are idiots; that none of them deserves your support. Fine. Make your voice heard. Vote for the person you think best represents your point of view, even if that’s a write-in. You might think Bun E. Carlos would be the best person for the job (he’s my #2 choice); fine. Make your voice heard.
Mon Oct 27, 2008 — by Mike Gold
Growing Out Of Comics, by Mike Gold
Brainiac On Banjo
It was the very end of summer, I had just turned 11, and – heaven help me – I was just beginning to tire of comic books.
Not that I was considering getting that four-color monkey off of my back. My enthusiasm was waning. The Superman books were beginning to get silly, the Batman titles had already become silly, and Julie Schwartz’s books like The Flash and Green Lantern were beginning to feel repetitious. I had exceeded the five-year point in my comic book reading life, that moment when the publishers felt you were on your way out, trading comics for sports, girls, and/or life. Being a precocious reader, I was at that portal at an age somewhat younger than the norm, but there was no doubt about it, comics weren’t quite as exciting to me as they had been.
At that time, DC had the market on super-hero titles lock, stock and barrel. Few new titles were launched; indeed, DC’s two debut books – Showcase and The Brave and the Bold – often recycled previous unsuccessful attempts like Cave Carson: Inside Earth and the original Suicide Squad to give them another shot at the marketplace. Each run generally consisted of three issues, so at best there would be four debuts each year, and most of those (like Cave Carson and Suicide Squad) were not of the super-hero genre. Today, of course, we get four such debuts a week.
So when it came time to drive my sister to college, my father did something unique. He stopped at a drug store – one of those places that actually had a massive wooden rack plus two comics spinner racks exclusively dedicated to comic books – and told me to pick out a few for the ride, in the hope that I would not be a bother. He then dashed across the street to pick up a dozen bagels at Kaufman’s, the original one on Montrose and Kedzie in Chicago. They boasted the best bagels in the country, and they were right.
When he returned to the drug store, I had nothing. Absolutely nothing. I had read each and every superhero title in the vast expanse of rack space. Even Lois Lane. Even the war comics, about which I was ambivalent at best, although I was not ambivalent about Joe Kubert’s art.
Mon Oct 20, 2008 — by Mike Gold
Respect, by Mike Gold
Brainiac On Banjo
R-E-S-P-E-C-T / Find out what it means to me / R-E-S-P-E-C-T / Take care, TCB
When Otis Redding wrote that song back in 1965, I doubt he could foresee its impact on our culture. Everybody related to its sentiments, and today it’s common do see the word used as a major bone of contention in virtually all types of disputes, from labor negotiations to street gang antics. It makes sense. We all want to be respected for who we are and what we do.
Over the past couple years the comic book medium has started to receive its proper respect – but comic book fans have not. Matt Groening’s Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons is breathtakingly clever, but we forget that the guy is also a member of Mensa. I only know a few comic book fans that actually look like CBG, myself included, but a good many of those were Mensa members. One even dated Marilu Henner; sadly, that wasn’t me.
Mensa members deserve respect as well. They’re nerds; they don’t get respect. The only nerds that get respect are rich computer wizards, with the emphasis on rich. Wealth gets respect, and therefore I assume there’s a lot less respect going around this month than there was last month.
That shrine to our popular culture, the San Diego Comic-Con, is astonishingly successful. It pumps millions and millions of dollars into the local economy – a sum further enhanced by the several successful comic book publishers in the area – yet San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders felt it save to piss all over the comic fans last year. “We’ve put up with the superheroes and now we’re on to the people with actual talent,” Mayor Ungrateful Jerk said. What an ass. I guess he knew the Comic-Con was locked into a contract for several more years.
Mon Oct 13, 2008 — by Mike Gold
Spinner Rack Blues, by Mike Gold
Brainiac On Banjo
“Ah, you kids today, you’ve got it easy.”
I’m sure over the past several million years that line started more lectures than all the speed freak professors at all the Ivy League schools combined. It also inspired more than a few comedy routines, too, including a classic from Monty Python. But when it comes to comics, you kids today, you’ve got it easy – if you’re lucky enough to live within travelling distance of a friendly neighborhood comic book store.
For the first 40 years of this medium’s history (much longer for Archie Comics), comic book sales were dependent upon spinner racks like the one pictured above. They appeared at local candy stores, drug stores, toy stores, newsstands, train and bus stations, and even some grocery stores. They were low-profit, high-labor efforts that gave parents some place to park the kiddies while they were buying cigarettes and Sal Hepatica.
As comics fans, we rarely had any idea when new issues would appear and we hardly ever knew when brand-new titles would pop up. A handful would be advertised within the comics themselves, but the on sale date wasn’t necessarily accurate. Distributors received the books two to three weeks prior to release date, and sometimes would pass some of them along early if there was space on the truck. Or if there wasn’t, sometimes not at all. Some stores never received books from certain publishers: Harvey and Charlton were particularly difficult to find in my neighborhood.
But for the dedicated comic book collector, it was a way of life. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I’d be at the drug store across from my grammar school with my lunch money in hand. Every weekend, my friends and I would walk one mile down Chicago’s Devon Avenue from Kedzie to Western, stopping at seven different stores that carried comics. Oh we did a lot of other, more annoying stuff as well, but we never passed a spinner rack up.
