Latest News
Thu Oct 22, 2009 — by Andrew Wheeler
Review: 'Stitches' by David Small -- a comics memoir of an amazingly bad childhood
Stitches: A Memoir
David Small
W.W. Norton, September 2009,
$24.95
You can’t write a memoir these days unless you had a bad childhood – call it the Law of Oprah. You have to have some horrible secrets, either your own or those of your parents/keepers/guardians, that you can reveal, tearfully, to an enthralled TV audience when called upon. You may not make it to that TV-show couch, since the competition for a bad-enough childhood is fierce, but that’s the aim. Memoirs of anything positive are utterly passé – even a book like Eat Pray Love needs to start with heartbreak before it can get to happiness.
Then there’s the unrelated but equally unsettling requirement that only non-fictional graphic novels can be taken really seriously by the outside world. From Maus to Persepolis, from Fun Home to Palestine, it’s only respectable if it’s real. As far as our mothers and cousins and next-door neighbors know, “graphic novels” means expensive comic-book stories about either superheroes or the author’s tormented relationship with his family.
Stitches is perfectly positioned at the intersection of those two publishing trends: it’s the true story of author David Small’s appalling childhood, told as comics pages with cinematic “camera motions” that will appeal to readers not used to reading comics. Even the art style Small uses in Stitches adds to the seriousness; Small has a sketchy, loose line of variable width here, strong to define the figures and lighter and looser for backgrounds, and washes in various tones of grey. In fact, the whole book is grey – even the black line looks like just another shade of the murk.
Thu Oct 22, 2009 — by Jenifer Rosenberg
ComicMix Six: Halloween iPhone Apps
Anyone who has been grocery shopping in the past few weeks has probably noticed that Halloween decorations and goodies have already started disappearing from the shelves to be replaced by Christmas merchandise. Most of you have probably already put together your costumes (All of my House Hufflepuff gear is ready for the big day!). Halloween is a hugely popular holiday, and that means there is a large variety of iPhone applications to go along with it. Apps are like the latest accessory to the perfect outfit - you can find something to fit with just about any ensemble - and the great thing about apps is that they don't disappear when the retail world decides to focus on the next holiday. I have selected my six favorite festive Halloween Apps to review for those who might be in the market for some extra Halloween spirit.
Zombie Me! by Portegno Apps: You can't go five feet in this day and age without there being zombies! This application allows you to take a picture or use a picture from your library and zombify it. There is a selection of facial features and body parts which can be re-sized, angled and tinted to match your picture, and with a little creative editing, you can make a very "realistic" looking zombie. This application is a ton of fun at parties, because you can snap a picture of your friends and then show them their zombie-self a few minutes later. You can even upload your zombie mug to Facebook for a laugh. Witness what I did to my cat.
Whack-O-Lantern by Decode Entertainment: In this Whack-a-mole style game, Halloween-themed characters peek up from behind curtains, gravestones and other hiding places in a spooky scene. The goal is to tap your main target, Percival Pumpkinhead, as many times as possible when he appears. You can also achieve a bonus from tapping a mustachioed skeleton named Boneski, but tapping a little grinning green guy called Zombish McBrain will cause you to lose points. The game features cute, clean cartoonish graphics and an excellent Elfman-esque backtrack that will put you in the mood to watch some Tim Burton films.
Thu Oct 22, 2009 — by Robert Greenberger
Review: 'The Marvel Encyclopedia - Updated and Expanded'
The Marvel Encyclopedia, Updated and Expanded
400 pages, DK Books, $40
These days, you can’t follow Marvel’s or DC’s continuities without a scorecard and thankfully more than a few reference sources have arrived to help out. The latest is DK’s 70th Anniversary contribution, a revised version of 2006’s The Marvel Encyclopedia. What a difference three years can make to continuity.
The key difference in the editions is the addition of pages, bringing the total to a hefty 400 pages. DK did everyone a favor and kept the cover price consistent at $40. Frank Cho’s cover is replaced with a Brandon Peterson piece that attempts to reflect the full history of the Marvel heroes. Matt Forbeck deftly took the original text, written by a quintet of experts such as Tom DeFalco and Peter Sanderson, and brought dozens of entries up to date in addition to adding entirely new ones where warranted. The crack design team replaced only a handful of images to existing entries but where they expanded or added new entries, the art nicely reflects the subject matter.
Forbeck’s updates take readers into the Dark Reign era but merely its beginnings so many of the events in the second half of 2009 are not reflected in the text. It might have been better to cut things off after Secret Invasion. As it is, some key events -- Aunt May’s wedding to J. Jonah Jameson’s father, Brother Voodoo not listed as next sorcerer supreme, Firestar’s cancer -- are missing. I also think Emma Frost, Nick Fury, Rick Jones and Speedball’s current situations get short shrift. And while many new entries are welcome, some stand out characters are missing such as Jameson’s father, Peter Parker’s new supporting cast, Ezekiel, Valeria Richards and each member of The Twelve. Also, the war and western characters are barely represented which is a shame. Similarly, only a few of the 2099 and M2 characters are here.
New spreads covering the significant modern day events – Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Annihilation – make the book feel nicely up to date but then older events such as the Kree/Skrull War and Secret Wars now feel overlooked. It would have been nice if the Fifty- State Initiative spread actually listed which heroes covered which states or which humans were replaced by Skrulls in the SI spread but these are minor nits. A larger nit is that a few characters receive spreads showing Key Moments and while I agree that House of M is major, I refuse to accept Spider-Man vs. Anti-Venom a key moment. Fortunately, the book ends with a spread on the more prominent parallel universes which will help the less devout reader.
Production demands meant that many entries had artwork reduced to fit in new entries but overall the pages do not feel overly packed and are easy to read. From what I can tell, just a few characters were dropped in favor of more current figures so say bye-bye to Marlo Chandler, Hornet, Libra, N’Garai, Candy Southern, and, Tana Nile.
Of the art chosen, I have very few quibbles over choices made but would have preferred a Gene Colan Dracula and would have updated the mis-proportioned Don Heck illo for Pepper Potts.
Clearly, this is a much neater and more effective updating than DK’s second edition of The DC Encyclopedia (which I was a coauthor on). You won’t want to miss picking up this fact-filled tome.
Thu Oct 22, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles global rights sold to Nickelodeon for $60 million
From Nikki Finke:
Viacom's Nickelodeon announced today it has acquired the global intellectual property rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from The Mirage Group and 4Kids Entertainment. The purchase price was about $60 million. Nickelodeon also announced plans to develop a new CG-animated television series based on the popular superhero franchise for 2012. Also, in partnership with Viacom's Paramount Pictures, a new release of a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature film is also planned for 2012. Nickelodeon has also acquired all merchandising rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and will continue to work with its original and long-standing toy partner, Playmates Toys, which has been the creative force behind the TMNT master toy program over the last two decades. The deal was done by Cyma Zarghami, the president of Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group, and Adam Goodman, the president of Paramount Pictures.
Not bad for a little black and white comic from the 80s.
Wed Oct 21, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
On sale today, just in time for Halloween: 'Frankenstein Mobster: Made Man'!
When policeman Terry Todd died, he became a monster with a body patched
together from three ruthless mobsters. Now he fights for inner control
against their evil souls in a conflict that could take corrupt,
haunted Monstoros City and dump it deeper into hell, unless his cop daughter
stops him first, in Frankenstein Mobster Book 1: Made Man
This massive tome includes additional art and comics, new story pages, and detailed behind the scenes information as well as deviant art by Adam Hughes, Mike Wieringo, George Freeman, Mike Oeming, Scott Morse, Angelo Torres, Alex Nino, and Bernie Wrightson.
Get it at your local comic book store or at Amazon
Want more of a taste? Watch the trailer!
Wed Oct 21, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
Exclusive: 'G.I. Joe: Resolute' comic by Larry Hama!
In conjunction with the release of the animated G.I. Joe: Resolute
Featuring a more sophisticated animation style and story than prior animation and intended for the adult fan that grew up with the brand in the 80’s, G.I Joe: Resolute is an intense vision of the raging battle between the G.I. Joe team and the menacing COBRA organization.
Hasbro developed the bold, state-of-the-art animation with executive producer Sam Register as well as a dynamic creative team including Joaquim Dos Santos, a veteran animation director, who worked closely with award-winning comic writer Warren Ellis, who penned the story. This highly regarded team brings an edgy, intense feel to the animation, which features the most popular characters from the G.I. Joe vs. COBRA saga such as Duke, Scarlett, Snake Eyes and COBRA Commander.
The G.I. Joe: Resolute
So go, read, enjoy.
Tue Oct 20, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
You have not experienced Eminem until you have heard him in the original Klingon
When I wrote Creative Couplings
With that in mind, I present to you Klenginem, a German who sings Eminem songs in Klingon.
Tue Oct 20, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
Big Apple Con 2009 wrap up
Yes, I was there. (You probably didn't recognize me.) My general feeling is that this was the best Knights of Columbus show I ever attended.
If you're of a certain age, you probably went to a convention like this a few times when you were young. Lots of fans, lots of comic book dealers, lots of pros and a few celebrities, and no big publishers. No movie companies. None of the corporate hard sell. Just enthusiastic people as far as the eye could see.
I found myself really having a good time there. Picked up a few trades at fire sale prices (which may be the new normal pricing-- good if you're buying, bad if you're selling, dangerous if you're producing), got to spend twenty minutes talking with Carol Cleveland about Monty Python and other work she's done, shared some gossip with Rich Johnston (with each of us knowing we had juicy stories we weren't going to tell each other), talked shop with the folks down Artist Alley making each other feel old (your daughter's in college now? you're forty now? I remember when you were a kid...) and did the comic book equivalent of walking into a Ferrari dealership, thumbing through Albert Moy's original art for sale (holy cow, John Buscema pencils and Neal Adams inks? Original Watchmen pages? The cover to the first Superman/Spider-Man team-up?) The new location was a bit off the beaten path, but spacious and well filled.
I really had a much more enjoyable time than I expected. Which is why the concept of next year's show being scheduled for the same time as New York Comic-Con is really ticking me off.
It feels like a dick move, a move done out of spite, a move that signals a war of attrition to see who goes bankrupt first. And we're already seeing casualties: since the news of the show dates was anounced on Friday, I had a chance to ask a number of dealers which show they would attend. Many of them said they wouldn't attend either show if they were both held the same weekend.
That's a recipe for twin disasters. If neither Reed Expo nor Wizard World can fill their floor spaces, they're both going to get clocked.
Mon Oct 19, 2009 — by Mike Raub
The Point Radio: 'Battlestar Galactica', 'Dollhouse' and 'Battle Chasers' all in NYC
The Big Apple Con Wrap Up
It was a chilly weekend in NYC, but that didn't slow down the Pop Culture Barrage at The Big Apple Con. We hosted a lot of great guests at our broadcast booth including Rekha Sharma and Michael Hogan from BATTLESTAR: GALACTICA, Miracle Laurie from DOLLHOUSE and plenty of cool comic folk like Joe Madureira (and we had to ask about BATTLECHASERS). Join us as we recap the weekend with these stars and more. 
PRESS THE BUTTON to Get The Point!
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.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVE FOR FREE or go to GetThePointRadio for more including a connection for mobile phones including iPhone & Blackberrys
Mon Oct 19, 2009 — by Andrew Wheeler
Comical Lives: A Paired Review of 'Little Nothings 2' and 'Giraffes in My Hair'
Autobiographical comics from Lewis Trondheim and Bruce Paley & Carol Swain
The impulse to anecdote is ubiquitous in mankind; we all
want to tell our own stories. Since those stories happened to us, we naturally think that they’re fascinating…and
sometime are surprised when the rest of the world doesn’t agree with us. Comics
creators have been spilling out their lives onto their pages for a few decades
now – since the undergrounds, if not before that – and the autobiographical comic
is now its own cliché. But there’s still room to do interesting things with autobiographical
materials – at least, I hope
there is, since it seems that we’re destined to be deluged with books of true
stories…
Little Nothings, Vol. 2: The Prisoner Syndrome
Lewis Trondheim
NBM/ComicsLit, March 2009,
$14.95
Trondheim mostly makes fictional comics – Dungeon and Kaput and Zosky and Mister O and many more – but he also has kept a comics blog in French, mostly focused on the small moments of his life. Three collections from the blog have been published in his native France; the first two have been translated so far for the English-speaking world. (I reviewed the first one here back in March of last year.)
For the “Little Nothings” blog, Trondheim works in watercolor, mostly in single pages – each one the record of a single event, or a short conversation. The emphasis is on observation – each strip is a crystallized instant, and clearly the blog as a whole is not intended to seriously chronicle Trondheim’s life. As with the Dungeon books, all of the people are drawn anthropomorphically – Trondheim and his family are various kinds of bird, and most of the others look like different kinds of mammals – rats and dogs and cats. (In the usual unsettling way of anthropomorphic comics, Trondheim’s family also has a pair of real cats, Orly and Roissy, and other actual animals show up from time to time.)
Either Trondheim travels an awful lot or travel is more conducive to diary comics than his regular life, since a clear majority of the comics here are about trips – to the Angouleme comics festival (a year when he was the Guest of Honor), several other comics events, and vacation in Greece, Guadeloupe, and Corsica. That does keep Prisoner Syndrome from being a succession of Trondheim-sitting-at-his-desk pages – there are a number of those, of course, since that’s where a cartoonist spends most of his time – and ties nicely into the title. In one of the early strips in this book, Trondheim learns about “Prisoner Syndrome,” in which people who spend all of their time in the same place gradually get more and more tired from doing less and less – and so he decides to go to more comics festivals, to keep himself healthy.
There are no grand gestures in Prisoner Syndrome, no deep thoughts or big moments – the series is called Little Nothings for a reason. But there are many thoughtful little moments, of the kind that make up all of our lives, and Trondheim is an artful and nuanced portrayer of his own internal life. It’s a lovely book of the small things that go together to make up an everyday life.
Continue reading Comical Lives: A Paired Review of 'Little Nothings 2' and 'Giraffes in My Hair' ›
Sun Oct 18, 2009 — by Robert Greenberger
Review: 'Peanuts 1970s Collection Vol. 1' on DVD
Charles Schulz always said he created his Peanuts strips adults but clearly, the comic strip struck a chord with readers of all ages so by the late 1960s, the franchise had become a pop culture hit with tons of merchandising. Notable among them were the television specials which continued for decades.
A key difference between the strips and the animated television fare is that the specials are clearly aimed at younger audiences whose demands on story logic are far lower. That could explain why several of offerings contained in Peanuts 1970s Collection cause you to wonder how things could be. The two-disc set, out on Tuesday from Warner Home Video (who kindly provided a review copy), contains the first six specials from the decade covering 1971-1974. Eight more are no doubt being saved for volume two.
As the 1970s arrived, Peanuts stopped being about the kids and their struggles with childhood and life itself. The existential suffering of Charlie Brown was slowly being replaced with the comical exploits of Snoopy, who had eclipsed his owner in popularity. At the dawn of the new decade, Schulz gave him a buddy, Woodstock the bird. More strip and screen time was taken from the kids and given to the pet buddies. For me, the strip suffered greatly and began its long slow decline in quality during this period.
In There’s no Time for Love, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, the absence of adults weakens the overall story. The former story involves a field trip to a local museum where Charlie Brown needs to write a top-notch report to salvage his grades. Somehow, he and Peppermint Patty, whose school is also taking a trip, wind up in a supermarket and Charlie can’t seem to tell the difference. But, where are the teachers and parent chaperons? Similarly, the holiday episode has Patty, Marcy, and Franklin somehow manage to abandon their families, having invited themselves over to Charlie’s house for the traditional meal while Charlie is expected to travel with Sally and his parents to grandma’s house. At no point does it make sense these kids would be allowed to leave family traditions nor would Charlie’s parents actively allow him to prep a meal (albeit one consisting of toast, popcorn, jelly beans and pretzel sticks). There’s also something just plain wrong about watching Woodstock eat turkey during the end credits.
Continue reading Review: 'Peanuts 1970s Collection Vol. 1' on DVD ›
Fri Oct 16, 2009 — by Mike Raub
The Point Radio: Edward James Olmos on 'Battlestar: Galactica' vs. 'Blade Runner' and the Big Apple Con!
In a few days, BATTLESTAR:GALACTICA fans are treated to the DVD release of THE PLAN - but did you know that there is a connection between BSG and Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER? Commander Adama himself, EDWARD JAMES OLMOS, draws the connection for us in our exclusive interview.
Meanwhile, join THE POINT RADIO broadcasting LIVE all weekend long from the floor of THE BIG APPLE CON (Sponsored by Wizard Entertainment) in New York City. Check broadcast times & updates on our website.
PRESS THE BUTTON to Get The Point!
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.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVE FOR FREE or go to GetThePointRadio for more including a connection for mobile phones including iPhone & Blackberrys
Fri Oct 16, 2009 — by Mike Gold
George Tuska, 1916 - 2009
One of the last of comics' first generation
Pioneer comic book and newspaper strip artist George Tuska died yesterday at the age of 93.
It’s hard to imagine an artist with a greater pedigree. Beginning in 1939, George worked on such features as The Avengers, Black Terror, Buck Rogers, Captain America, Captain Marvel (both Fawcett and Marvel), Challengers of the Unknown, Doc Savage, Green Lantern, The Hulk, Iron Man, Justice League of America (a.k.a. “The World’s Greatest Superheroes” newspaper stip), Luke Cage, Planet of the Apes, Scorchy Smith, Sub-Mariner, Superboy, Superman, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Teen Titans, Uncle Sam… and that merely scratches the surface.
George was a gentle man who once had taken the extraordinary step of punching out well-known wiseass cartoonist Bob Powell while working in the Eisner-Iger shop. Will Eisner said Powell, as brilliant an artist as anybody in that hallowed shop, absolutely deserved it. The stuff of legend.
On a personal note, George was drawing the Buck Rogers newspaper strip during its final years, from 1959 to 1967. During that last year, I was an unpaid intern at the National Newspaper Syndicate and was allowed to contribute story concepts and ideas. As a 16 year-old, I was amazed and thrilled to be working anywhere near George Tuska.
Thu Oct 15, 2009 — by Robert Greenberger
Review: 'Amulet Book Two: The Stonekeeper's Castle'
Amulet Book Two: The Stonekeeper’s Castle
By Kazu Kibuishi
Scholastic/Graphix, 220 pages, $21.99 (hardcover) $9.99 (paperback)
Kazu Kibuishi is a talented animator and comic artist who has produced several graphic novel series, including Flight, Daisy Kutter: The Last Train, and now Amulet. The first volume came out over a year ago and now Scholastic has released the second book in the run. This book could have benefitted from a previously page for new readers.
The story is familiar as Emily Hayes discovers a necklace and amulet with magical powers. In the first volume, she and her younger brother Navin have adjusted to living in their great-grandfather’s home with their recently widowed mother. The amulet speaks to her, warning of impending danger which immediately results in a ghastly creature swallowing their mother. The chase is on to rescue her and book one achieves that goal, but she is gravely ill.
Book two opens as evil forces conspire to hunt down the children and obtain the amulet, while they, in turn, seek a rare fruit to concoct a potion to save her life. Their journey brings them into close contact with many humans who have been slowly evolving into animal/human hybrids, part of a curse that threatens all humanity. As a result, no one blinks an eye when Leon Redbeard, a fox-like bounty hunter arrives in the nick of time. He proves to be not only plucky, but wise as he recognizes that Emily is The One who will save the planet from the creeping darkness.
The story moves quite well as we go from lush landscapes to foggy forests in search of enlightenment and safety. With a Japanese-tinged style and terrific use of color, Kibuishi invites us into a world that mixes magic with technology, where robots and talking mystic trees operate side-by-side. The story moves quickly and you find yourself turning the pages with increasing speed.
The problem, though, is that Kibuishi’s story is nowhere near as inventive as his artwork. He admits that he studied The Empire Strikes Back repeatedly while working on this second volume in a projected ten-volume series. It certainly replicates the feel of a second chapter, complete with advancing the story, adding some new characters, and exploring the backstory. The characters and pacing feel familiar and just when things look their darkest, the expected rescue comes in a comforting manner but it also lack tension and surprise. Even the struggle between Emily and the seductive nature of the amulet resonates of Frodo and the One Ring.
Emily, Navin, Leon and even the evil Luger and Prince Trellis all show us nothing new and play their roles like stock players.
While Amulet is engaging and a fun read, it doesn’t surprise us at all or present any new looks at the relations between siblings, friends or even families. No doubt, even the 9-12 year olds this is aimed at will not necessarily feel compelled to read the next chapter.
Thu Oct 15, 2009 — by Glenn Hauman
Emma Caufield, David Petersen, and David W. Mack on 'Crazy Sexy Geeks: the series'!
Emma Caulfield (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Robot Chicken), Mouse Guard creator David Petersen, comic
book artist/writer David W. Mack and others weigh in on comics with spandex. Ever wonder what
comics out there aren't about super-heroes? Hosted by Alan Kistler and
Jose Ramos!
