Articles by van-jensen
Thu Jul 17, 2008 — by Van Jensen
The Weekly Haul: Comics Reviews for July 17, 2008
Rounding up the latest comics issues
A couple disappointments and a near no-show from DC aside, this was a pretty good week in comics, especially outside of the mainstream superheroes.
Still, this week more than anything is just a little whisper, as all eyes are on San Diego for next week's Comic-Con. All the same, books came out, so on to the reviews...
Book of the Week: Mice Templar #5
Last issue, it started becoming clear that writer Bryan J.L. Glass was veering away from the expected route of the young protagonist realizing his great destiny and triumphing over evil.
This issue, any and all signs of the archetypal fantasy narrative have been thrown clear out the door. Paradigms change in a big way for Karic, and to write anything about it would be to spoil the fun.
Mike Oeming is once again top-notch on art, and really the only question left is how many times the creative team can keep raising the bar.
Runners Up:
Captain America #40
Cap sees the big fight between Bucky and the new impostor (the old Nomad), but the real bout to watch is that between Sharon and the Red Skull's daughter. Ed Brubaker uses his skil with pacing to tell both stories at once, using each to heighten the drama of the other. And the ending? An out-and-out punch in the stomach moment.
Omega the Unknown #10 -- The weirdest Marvel series in a good, long while finally ends, with Jonathan Lethem and Farel Dalrymple taking a bow with a nearless wordless denouement that comes straight out of David Lynch's oddball mind. It's a fitting conclusion to the series, which was enigmatic for the whole trip.
Continue reading The Weekly Haul: Comics Reviews for July 17, 2008 ›
Wed Jul 16, 2008 — by Van Jensen
'Iron Man 2' Has a Writer
Writer/actor Justin Theroux signs on for armored sequel
Fans of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive might be surprised to learn the actor who played Adam Kesher will be writing the next Iron Man movie.
Writer/actor Justin Theroux has been signed on by Marvel to script the sequel, according to Variety. He's had quite a varied Hollywood career already.
Theroux, a thesp-scribe best known for roles in "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" and HBO's "Six Feet Under" and miniseries "John Adams," most recently wrote the DreamWorks comedy "Tropic Thunder," which Paramount will unspool next month.
In addition to writing and appearing in "Tropic Thunder," Theroux also exec produced the laffer, which stars Ben Stiller, Downey and Jack Black. He recently made his directing debut on "Dedication," which the Weinstein Co. distribbed.
"Iron Man," released in May, has earned more than $314 million at the domestic box office and collected another $252 million overseas.
The article also indicates deals are close to being finalized for Robert Downey Jr. and director Jon Favreau to return for Iron Man 2, which is supposed to make a 2010 release date.
Wed Jul 16, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Comics Creators on New Yorker's Obama Cover
Offensive or not?
Over at the Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon has done quite a service by compiling the thoughts of a huge (HUGE) number of comics creators on the controversial cartoon gracing the latest issue of the New Yorker.
You can see the image at right. It shows a Muslim, militant Obama and his wife in the Oval Office, giving a fist bump as the flag burns in the fire and a picture of Osama bin Laden hangs on the wall.
Paul Pope is one of the respondents:
I wonder if you are somehow sensing a connection to the Dutch cartoonist case. If anything, this again reconfirms the power of the pen, and how this ancient tool of protest and satire can be used to such controversial and potent ends. I applaud The New Yorker for this.
There's tons more, and it's all worth a read. Personally, I'm an Obama supporter, and I really like the cover. I've read so much about the stupid mistaken "facts" being perpetrated about Obama (like this story in the Washington Post by my pal Eli Saslow) that it's a relief to see them so effectively caricatured.
Wed Jul 16, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Comic-Con: 'As Important as Sundance'
MSN offers massive preview
MSN is the latest mainstream media organization to jump all over Comic-Con, announcing plans to post copious amounts of coverage from the event.
In an article under a headline that proclaims Comic-Con to be "as important as Sundance," MSN offers a preview of what's on tap in San Diego this year and a look back at how the con has grown.
125,000 people. That's the estimate Comic-Con International provides as the attendance for last year's massive four-day convention in San Diego. That's more people than the largest college football or NASCAR stadium can hold. Long portrayed as "geek chic" by the mainstream media, Comic-Con has more than evolved. It's exploded and it's gone mainstream. Big-time.
This kind of breathless reporting reminds of the infamous Bob Costas scene in Baseketball
Wed Jul 16, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Former Tokyopop Editor Joins Boom Studios
Paul Morrissey takes new editing role
Good news for at least one of the staff members fired by Tokyopop in that publisher's recent purge: Paul Morrissey has taken an unspecified editing role with Boom! Studios, according to a press release from Boom.
Morrissey was a senior editor at Tokyopop, working on books such as Fruit Baskets, Undertown and Pantheon High.
Boom sent out a redaction-laden note with the release, which was either a weird joke or just weird.
It's been a busy little run for Boom, which also signed on Matt Gagnon as managing editor recently.
Wed Jul 16, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Comic-Con and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Ryan Richards sets out in search of comics, dad
While everyone's getting excited about the big stars and events coming up at next week's San Diego Comic-Con, the best story of this year's con is just starting to unfold.
Ryan Richards is a relatively unknown comics creator, and he's on his way to San Diego. He's going for the con, but he's also headed west to meet his father for the first time. For the full story, you can check out Ryan's blog.
At the moment, he and his motorcycle, labeled "Stark Industries," is somewhere in Idaho or possibly Oregon. Here's a post titled "Dr. Strange Hands":
When you ride for eight hours, your hands don’t quite work right. they move like they’re frozen. I’ve been trying to eat more bananas for the potassium to prevent cramping, it works but I catch my hands twitching the little fleshy tendon webbing between the thumb and first finger will pulse and spasm irregularly. It doesn’t hurt or anything just feels like I’m trying to type with electrified jellied hams.
I’m now in Dillon Montana, which I am going to say was named after Steve Dillon. Stopped in Manhattan on the way.
He's taking donations to help pay for the trip, if anyone's interested.
(via CBR)
Wed Jul 16, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Marvel Debuts 'Ultimate Alliance 2' Video Game Trailer
Very sneak peak offered of upcoming superhero smashup
At New York's E3 video game expo, trailer's have debuted for a couple big upcoming comic book video games, with the more notable being DC's huge DC Universe Online game. Marvel also has Ultimate Alliance 2 in the works, though its preview was much shorter.
See the trailer below.
Wed Jul 16, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Platinum Studios' Financial Struggles
Auditor warns company may go under
A lot of questions have been thrown around of late regarding the financial status of comics publisher Platinum Studios, especially after Hero by Night creator D.J. Coffman went public with news that he hadn't been paid for work and was facing foreclosure.
I spent the past several weeks investigating Platinum's finances and interviewing Coffman, Platinum President Brian Altounian and other sources.
What came up is that Platinum is in a precarious financial situation, in the red by more than $10 million. An independent auditor warned that the company is a serious threat to go under. You can read the article at Publishers Weekly right here.
Platinum indicated to me that they wouldn't be giving any more interviews regarding the company's finances or the situation with Coffman.
Platinum has created a blog, where they give the unedited transcript of my interview with Altounian. You can read that right here. I haven't had a chance yet to check it against my record of the interview.
Tue Jul 15, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Catch 'The Spirit' Trailer While You Can
Frank Miller's adaptation slipped out early
The trailer to the upcoming The Spirit movie is set to debut at Comic-Con, but earlier today it leaked out early.
While it's been taken down just about everywhere (including one of its last homes right here at Film School Rejects), reviews of the trailer are, well...
I am not sold on this movie just yet. I dig the concept, I loved the comic and I am also a fan of Frank Miller’s work, at least the kind he does on paper. This however, isn’t doing it for me. The dialog sounds awkward, the effects seem forced and over-the-top and I don’t know if it is going to be anything but another excuse to go heavy on the use of green screen to make a “innovative” comic book flick. I am wondering whether this will end up on the Sin City side of the spectrum or the Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow side. At this point, it is still too early to tell for sure.
What he said.
Tue Jul 15, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Boom! Studios Puts More Comics Online
Previously published issues available for free
After the success of Boom! Studios' MySpace promotion for the comic series North Wind, no surprise that the publisher is adding more free comics online.
Boom just sent out a release noting the addition of Web comics, which you can read free online at Boom's site.
These aren't new comics, but online versions of previously published issues. The issues include:
2 Guns. Cthulhu Tales. Hero Squared. Ninja Tales. Schmobots. Zombie Tales.
It's interesting to note that at Heroes Con, Boom editor in chief Mark Waid scoffed at Erik Larsen's reluctance to engage with Web comics. Given the choice between going all pring or all online, Waid said he'd choose online "in a cocaine heartbeat."
Tue Jul 15, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods' Fares OK Online
Harper Collins has mixed results on Internet promotion
You may recall a while back that Harper Collins did a special promotion where Neil Gaiman's American Gods novel was available to read online for free.
Gaiman relays an e-mail from the publisher that gives some mixed results, which mirror the concerns given by ComicMix's own Rick Marshall. From the e-mail:
The Browse Inside Full Access promotion of American Gods drove 85 thousand visitors to our site to view 3.8 Million pages of the book (an average of 46 pages per person). On average, visitors spent over 15 minutes reading the book.
The Indies [ie. independent booksellers -- Neil] are the only sales channel where we have confidence that incremental sales were driven by this promotion. In the Bookscan data reported for Independents we see a marked increase in weekly sales across all of Neil’s books, not just American Gods during the time of the contest and promotion. Following the promotion, sales returned to pre-promotion levels.
Through an online survey, we know that 44% of fans enjoyed this browsing experience and 56% did not. Some of Neil’s fans expressed frustration with the Browse Inside tool for reading through a whole book. (This poor result is partially due to two problems which were fixed soon after the initial launch – mistaken redirect to the Flash-based reader and slow image load time)
The main concerns of those who didn't like the browsing centered on the difficulties of online reading, from lack of bookmarks to too much scrolling.
(via The Beat)
Tue Jul 15, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Review: 'Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko'
Great collection of art, but story is lacking
As a history of Steve Ditko's career as a comics artist, Strange and Strange: The World of Steve Ditko
Blake Bell's book ($39.99) features hundreds of beautifully reprinted Ditko pages, from his earliest horror stories to his triumph with Amazing Spider-Man
Yet, I came away from the book disappointed, because as well as it explains Ditko as an artist, it hardly begins to explain him as a man.
Admittedly, that's a tough task, as the reclusive Ditko hasn't been interviewed since bell bottoms were cool (or thereabouts), but it's the task Bell sets out upon. The chapters accompanying the art read more than anything like a more-detailed Wikipedia page, full of facts but empty of story.
We hear about all the important moments in Ditko's career, often fleshed out through the quotes of his acquaintances, but we hear less than whispers of his personal life or childhood. Perhaps Bell put on a reporter's hat and tried to find some such information, but if so, he includes neither that information nor an account of how he failed to obtain it.
The few included quotes from Ditko are flatly boring descriptors of his work, overladen with parentheticals. And, again, they only hint at who he is.
For people who come in with a familiarity of Ditko's story, like ComicMix editor Mike Gold, that's a pardonable offense. But for any more unfamiliar reader looking to Strange and Stranger as a true biography, they're sure to find it sorely lacking.
There's a clear narrative to Ditko's life; it's a tragic story of a man who followed the philosophy he thought would make him great, but instead Ayn Rand's objectivism would prevent him from achieving that greatness. And that story remains untold.
Van Jensen is a former crime reporter turned comic book journalist. Every Wednesday, he braves Atlanta traffic to visit Oxford Comics, where he reads a whole mess of books for his weekly reviews. Van's blog can be found at graphicfiction.wordpress.com.
Publishers who would like their books to be reviewed at ComicMix should contact ComicMix through the usual channels or email Van Jensen directly at van (dot) jensen (at) comicmix (dot) com.
Tue Jul 15, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Xeric Announces Grant Winners
Awards help creators self-publish
This year's spring Xeric grant recipients have been named, writes Heidi MacDonald at The Beat. Strangely, the Xeric site doesn't have the news yet.
The grant winners are:
Gary Scott Beatty – Jazz: Cool Birth
Marek Bennett – Breakfast at Mimi’s Doughnuts
Eroyn Franklin – Another Glorious Day at the Nothing Factory
Jason Hoffman – Mine
Jack Hsu – 8-9-3
Jenny Jaeckel – Spot 12
Dave Kiersh – Dirtbags, Mall Chicks and Motorbikes
Alex Kim – Wall City
Stef Lenk – TeaTime (art at right)
Justin Murphy – Cleburne
Felix Tannenbaum – The Chronicles of Some Made
Tue Jul 15, 2008 — by Van Jensen
New 'Superman' Movie Coming?
Call for extras says Bryan Singer, Brandon Routh return
Craigslist in Omaha, Neb., has a fairly mundane looking call for extras for a movie, at least unless you're interested in the Superman film franchise.
OMEL Courtesy Casting is looking for stand ins and extras, the ad says. But here's where it gets interesting:
Plot Summary: A sequel to the summer 2006 action-adventure. Bryan Singer returns to direct with Brandon Routh again playing Clark Kent/Superman.
Maybe that Warner Bros./DC meeting from last week really did speed things up. I grew up in Nebraska and have quite a few friends in Omaha, so with any luck one of them will check in on this and see if it's legit.
(via CBR)
Tue Jul 15, 2008 — by Van Jensen
Viz Looking for New Properties
Manga publisher eyes other content
Manga publisher Viz Media will be looking to take on new projects, and even possibly some non-Manga content, according to ICv2.
In a Q&A with Marc Weidenbaum and Eric Searleman, editor in chief and vice president respectively, ICv2 finds out more detail about these changes, and how they tie into Viz's announced talent search at the San Diego Comic-Con.
Are you looking for manga-style properties?
If by "manga" you mean what is generally considered manga in the United States (fantasy and romance aimed at teenagers), then no. If by "manga" you mean what is meant by manga in Japan (a broad range of comics that emphasize serial storytelling, cliffhangers, reader feedback, a supportive editorial process, and a rich creator voice), then yes we are.
The story also addresses the difficulty in selling any non-Japanese content in the Japanese comics market:
Japan remains the toughest market for material from other countries to crack. But even that may be changing, as the U.S. subsidiary of the two largest manga companies in Japan begins its search for original comics. Viz Media’s Marc Weidenbaum, VP Original Publishing, and Eric Searleman, Senior Editor, the execs handling the search for original content answered in the affirmative when we asked whether there is American material that would sell well in Japan. “Certainly,” they said. “Both countries have their own rich, indigenous graphic-storytelling cultures. There are bridges yet to be built.”
(via Blog@)
