ComicMix

The Point Radio: 'Twilight New Moon' Exclusives

Mike Raub — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:35:00 EST

Love it or hate it, this weekend TWILIGHT NEW MOON dominates pop culture. We've got an exclusive visit from stars Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner direct from this week's whirlwind red carpet premieres, plus new air dates for LOST and CHUCK and it's true, a Whedon will be writing TERMINATOR.

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 - plus there is a great round of new programs on the air including classic radio each night at 12mid (Eastern) on RETRO RADIO and COMICMIX's Mark Wheatley hit the FREQUENCY every Saturday ay 9pm.

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

Review: 'Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Two'

Robert Greenberger — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:53:00 EST

Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Two
By Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, John Totleben
DC Comics, 224 pages, $24.99

DC’s hardcover collections of Alan Moore’s run on Swamp Thing continues with the release of the second volume next Wednesday. The nicest thing about these releases is that it prompts us to go back and reread the stories to conjure up memories of what it was like the first time we encountered these tales.

By the time these eight stories saw print in 1984 and 1985, the buzz had grown deafening and clearly this was the most talked about series and set of creators at the time. What Alan did was bring fresh thinking to American comic book concepts and played with the readers’ expectations for mainstream storytelling and horror.

Moore’s gift for words crowded the pages with allusions and imagery previously unseen and when we could look at the artwork, it was stunning. Stephen Bissette and John Totleben were ideally suited for the material and they were given free rein by both Moore and their editor, Karen Berger. The critical success encouraged the creators to take more risks and the company wisely backed them, letting Saga of the Swamp Thing be the first series to hit newsstands each month without the Comics Code. Instead, the covers proclaimed the series to be “Sophisticated Suspense”, a gesture to warn potentially offended readers.

Having reimagined Swamp Thing’s origins and exploring the dynamics between the shambling creature and the humans Abigail Arcane and Matt Cable, the stage was set for the return of an old foe. Anton Arcane, Abby’s uncle, was back and the slow realization that he had possessed Matt and therefore committed a form of incest with her was shocking, cold and chilling because we hadn’t conceived of anything so horrible. The trilogy that kicks off the volume is creepy and holds up.

The coda to the tale first saw print in an annual, allowing extra pages and giving Moore a chance to play with the other occult players in the DC Universe: Etrigan, the Spectre, Phantom Stranger and Deadman. All felt fresh and part of some other reality as Swamp Thing traveled to Hell to rescue Abby.

The artists, while incredibly talented, were not speed demons and 22 pages a month was a tough pace for them. The annual, therefore, meant they needed fill-in help. Chapter 2 of the Arcane trilogy was inked by Alfredo Alcala and Chapter 3 was pencilled by Rick Veitch, but at no time is the quality suffering. But they needed a break and Shawn McManus, who already drew the opening story in this wonderful collection, is back for the acclaimed “Pog”. Moore’s tribute to Walt Kelly’s Pogo is a challenging read and still packs an emotional wallop.

The book ends with the award-winning “Rites of Spring” wherein Abby confesses her love to the creature and he offers her a piece of himself as communion, letting her see the world the way he does. It’s touching and once more gives us a new look at the characters while advancing the storylines.

On a personal note, there are two pages that cutaway to the events being watched by the enigmatic Monitor and his aide Lyla. At the time, all of DC’s titles were featuring these teasers setting up Crisis on Infinite Earths. Alan and Karen could have argued against it or thumbed their noses the demand the way Mike Barr did in Outsiders. Instead, Alan complied without complaint and actually made the appearances work, maintaining the eerie feel of the moment. I was always grateful he was willing to play along and rereading them here, does in no way take away from the stories’ impact.

Why continuity matters, dammit

Glenn Hauman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:31:00 EST

Doris Egan, former producer on Smallville and current producer on House, sums up why fans care about continuity:

I’ve never forgotten when I was a kid, watching a show called It Takes a Thief. Throughout the series, the hero would say, “I’m a thief, like my father and my grandfather before me.” Then suddenly there was an episode where a woman asked him why he became a thief, and he told a story about having been a geologist and getting into thievery almost accidentally. And this wasn’t presented as a lie. You can tell the difference; even as a kid, I could tell the difference. They expected you to accept this – for this episode. A few episodes later we’d go back to the previous story.

I’ll never forget how betrayed I felt, because I loved that series with a love only a pre-teen can feel. And I thought, “Someone had to have noticed that. If nobody else, the star must have noticed. And yet nobody fixed it. Which means… I care more than they do.” It was disillusioning and depressing.

Which is why I’m a continuity believer.

Certain franchises should have that printed in giant signs over the doors to their offices. The fact that their audience cares more about the story and characters they are making than they do should shame them. They care more for free than you do getting paid for it.

And when the franchise holders take money from you for it, it's even more deplorable. How many times have you bought a comic book or novel tie-in that said "This is the real backstory! This is what really happened in the missing year between these two events!" only to have it waved away later by management fiat?

We hear people say, "oh, it's a tie in, it doesn't count" and I call shenanigins. You sold it with the franchise trademark on it. You have a reasonable expectation that it ties in with the story. It's particularly annoying in the case of tie-ins, because the folks who follow them often spend a LOT of money on them. And you know what? It actually benefits the franchise holder if it all ties in well. Look at Dark Horse's sales figures on Buffy The Vampire Slayer before Joss Whedon was closely involved and after, and see the sales spik-- er, skyrocket. By not having a strict continuity between properties, the franchises are leaving money on the table.

What say you?

Capcom Announces 'Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition'

Ian Bonds — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:27:00 EST

This morning, Capcom announced that new DLC (that's Downloadable Content to the layman) for Resident Evil 5 would be hitting not just Xbox Live and Playstation Network, but also be released on a standalone disc with the full game. The content includes two new episodic chapters, as well as an update of an older multiplayer mode.

The game was released earlier this year to critical acclaim, and one pack of DLC was announced at the Tokyo Game show about a month ago, so the additional DLC comes as a pleasant surprise. Fans voted on the Capcom website to have the new content only as DLC (rather than buying the game again with the content included therin) but Capcom also seems to be offering it on disc as an incentive for people who didn't pick it up the first time. You can see the new full press release with details on all the DLC after the jump.

Continue reading Capcom Announces 'Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition' ›

'Angel: After The Fall' fan film

Glenn Hauman — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:52:00 EST

Here's an odd one. Think IDW's Angel: After The Fall series as experienced by Gabe and Tycho.

Enjoy.

ComicMix Six: Best Geek-Themed Games for the Holidays

Ian Bonds — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:56:00 EST

With the holidays fast approaching, the question becomes: what do you get for the comic-loving gamer in your household? Well, here are some of the best releases from this year to satiate their comic-gaming lust and keep you looking like the know-it-all Santa. From purely comic-related titles to one of the year's best surprises for film-fans, this is the collection to make your gamer happy.

1: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (DS, PS3, PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii)

Playing the previous title in this series isn't necessary, as the events that unfold herein are actually the video game adaptation of Marvel's 'Civil War" event from a few years ago. As players traverse the games environments, you're tasked with choosing Pro- or Anti-Registration stance as you recruit new team members for your cause. Gameplay is multiplayer-centric, as 4 players can team up together to take on all foes in this combat rich title. As players pair up different members of their teams, stat bonuses reward the player for pre-existing groups (like having all the members of the Fantastic Four as a team, for example). The control is refined from the previous title, so those who ARE familiar with the series will notice tighter control of their teams, as well ease in combining powers, one of the games newer features. Here, timed special attacks can be joined with a selected partner for a larger attack, and bigger damage results. While the ending won't match the comic's storyline, players will certainly enjoy all the Marvel references and characters throughout the title, and Xbox 360 and PS3 owners actually can download MORE characters to increase their player rosters.

Continue reading ComicMix Six: Best Geek-Themed Games for the Holidays ›

Review: 'Logan's Run' on Blu-ray

Robert Greenberger — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:34:00 EST

What a difference a year makes. In 1976, MGM released a film based on William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson’s 1967 novel Logan’s Run. Generally lambasted by the press, it may have been a nadir in science fiction films putting studios off the genre until the following May, when 20th Century Fox looked forward with Star Wars.

Warner Home Video has just released Logan’s Run on Blu-ray and it finally gave me a chance to see the movie, something that somehow eluded me back in High School. It has most certainly not aged well and I can see why Roger Ebert called it a "vast, silly extravaganza", which changed the novel in some ways for the better but failed to visually interest us in the society.

In the film, directed by Michael Anderson, the biggest change was in the location of society: domed and hermetically sealed as compared with the book’s newly formed surface cities. The book also has people voluntarily ending their lives at age 21 which probably meant the culture could not be sustained because no sooner did people learn a trade, they had to die. Instead, the film changed the age to 30 at a time when people still spouted “Never trust anyone over 30” (while forgetting the second half: “Or under, either”).

The hedonistic society is said to be devoted to pleasure until the glowing crystal in palm denoted your time to enter an arena and become the night’s entertainment. Everyone else gathers in a stadium to watch you and others born on that date, float upwards towards an energy field that kills them. There’s a rumor that selected people can be “renewed” so people come back night after night to see if someone will be lucky enough.

Those who eschew this lifestyle, those who question the unseen authority that governs the domed world, are known as runners who flee in search of a place known only as Sanctuary. Law enforcement officers, known as Sandmen, are charged with stopping the runners, usually by killing them. And the film follows one such Sandman, Logan 5 (Michael York), as the Artificial Intelligence in charge asks him to go undercover as a runner and find Sanctuary.

Fortunately, he’s found a potential runner to follow in Jessica 6 (Jenny Agutter), whom he met only a night or two earlier. Her very questioning society got Logan to thinking so when the opportunity presented itself; he joined her in the escape. What complicates the assignment and spoils the film is Logan not confiding in his best friend, fellow Sandman Francis 7 (Richard Jordan), so Francis chases them, thinking he’s doing the right thing.

Along the way, our heroes are told by a recording to keep following the trail down but at one point they wind up on a platform taking them up. As a result, the movie starts going off the rails when no one ever questions what was “down there”. When they reach the surface, they find an ice cave (prompting them to strip down and wrap themselves in convenient bearskins) and a berserk robot, Box, who has decided freezing runners for eventual consumption made sense.

Escaping Box leads Logan and Jessica to a surface world they never knew existed and there they find the Old Man (Peter Ustinov), who shows them that aging isn’t all that bad. Unfortunately, setting this sequence in a vine-covered Washington, D.C. adds an unnecessary layer of subtext at a time when the country was already question the Federal Government.

Anderson, who did a far better job with George Orwell’s 1984, and screenwriter David Zelag Goodman completely failed to present a comprehensible society or characterization beyond two-dimensional surface traits for the three stars. York and Agutter are easy to watch but have little emotional range in this whereas Jordan’s pop-eyed style seems to come from some other film. Ustinov’s character is about the only one you care about.

A year later, the nature of science fiction film was turned on its head George Lucas’ Star Wars arrived, washing out the distaste left by this mess. Interestingly, Anderson’s earlier film, The Dam Busters, has been credited as inspiration for the Death Star battle at the end of Lucas’ film.

The Blu-ray edition looks like a basic transfer without digital enhancements or attempt to clean it up. The extras contain commentary from the DVD edition and a featurette produced back in the 1970s. There’s little to recommend adding this your growing Blu-ray library.

ComicMix and IDW on the iPhone and iTouch

Glenn Hauman — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:54:00 EST

We are proud to announce that our publishing partner IDW has launched new iPhone apps that will allow it to sell digital comics in dedicated storefronts; one for all IDW and ComicMix titles, and others specifically for Transformers, Star Trek, and G.I. Joe comics. Each app is free, and comes with different free comics. Consumers can then buy other IDW titles from within the apps.

ComicMix titles currently available are:

GrimJack: Old Friends (available for free)
GrimJack: Killer Instinct #1-6 (issue #1 available for free)
GrimJack: The Manx Cat #1-2
Jon Sable Freelance: Bloodtrail #1-6 (issue #1 available for free)

We'll be adding more in the future, of course. The app also has everything from Astro Boy and Bloom County to The Rocketeer and Tank Girl.

IDW is the first comic publisher to offer in-app purchases (although several third party companies, including Comixology, Panelfly, and iVerse, all offer in-app purchases of the titles they offer).

So please, download the free app and try it out, and post any and all feedback here in comments. We want to know what you think, and how we can keep improving what we're doing.

'Global Frequency' back to TV?

Glenn Hauman — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:25:00 EST

Global Frequency, the DC/Wildstorm comic, might be back in play as a TV series.

You may remember that in 2005, Mark Burnett (producer of Survivor) and John Rogers (who would go on to write the comic Blue Beetle and create the show Leverage) created a pilot for the WB. The pilot wasn't picked up; however, it got leaked to the Interwebs and became the most watched pilot that never got picked up.

Now the industry magazine Production Weekly has just posted the following on Twitter: The CW will again try to adapt Warren Ellis' comic book "Global Frequency," this time Scott Nimerfro will script the pilot. Scott Nimerfro has written for Star Trek: Voyager, Tales From The Crypt, Perversions Of Science, The Outer Limits, Stargate: Atlantis, and Pushing Daisies, and was an associate producer on the X-Men movie.

Warren Ellis, creator of Global Frequency, sent out an email with the headline "I couldn't possibly comment".

We understand. And we couldn't possibly embed a video with footage from the original Global Frequency pilot that should never have been released out on the Internet. That would be wrong.

Here's hoping Michelle Forbes is still available.

Review: 'Kevin Smith 3-Movie Collection' on Blu-ray

Robert Greenberger — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:46:00 EST

You have to admire Kevin Smith. Growing up in New Jersey, he found himself a circle of likeminded friends who took his scripts and performed them in a sort of comedy revue that wowed audiences in Red Bank. Inspired, he went on to Vancouver and film school where he met his producing muse, Scott Mosier. Back home, they scraped together $27,500, recruited Smith’s friends and shot the semi-autobiographical Clerks. The black and white film, mostly a series of vignettes tied together by the two leads, wowed audiences and became a cult hit.

From there, Smith got hired by Universal to make a second film, the $5 million Mallrats but Smith and the studio system clashed and the result was a critical and commercial dud. Still, Smith used many of his friends and made new ones, casting with a keen eye towards nascent (and cheap) talent. He also found a girlfriend, Joey Lauren Adams, and as we learn, a confluence of events led Smith to shoot Chasing Amy as his third film and second hit. Mallrats is now considered the multi-million dollar screen test.

Smith is good to his friends and apparently is a good director for actors, most of whom have stayed loyal despite going on to greater fame and fortune. He went on to direct the wonderful Dogma (which he wrote as his Clerks follow-up) which scared the beejeezus out of Miramax so they sold it off to Lionsgate and missed the cash. Instead, Smith gathered everyone once more for 2001’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, in some ways a farewell to the first chapter of his career.

We can watch the evolution of the director and some of his cast with the Kevin Smith 3-Movie Collection, out today from Buena Vista Home Entertainment which includes the Blu-ray debut of Clerks and Chasing Amy, plus Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. The three movies are individually packaged inside a cardboard box. Having never seen the bookend films, it’s interesting to watch how much surer a hand Smith has by the third film. Clerks is raw and very unpolished with genuinely horrible performances from the supporting cast. The writing is all over the place and you wonder how the clerks in question, Dante and Randal, maintain a friendship given what a screw-up the latter is. Still, Smith works in some harsh truths that give the movie its heart and soul. It’s truly the first close-up look at the slacker culture that exposes their wasted potential and lack of ambition.

Continue reading Review: 'Kevin Smith 3-Movie Collection' on Blu-ray ›

Ken Ober: 1957-2009

Glenn Hauman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:49:00 EST

Ken Ober, best known as the host of the MTV game show Remote Control, has died at the age of 52. No cause of death has been identified as yet.

Ober was the host of the series for five seasons on MTV, airing first in 1987. The series helped launched the careers of several notables, including Colin Quinn, Kari Wuhrer, Denis Leary and Adam Sandler. He followed the series as producer of Mind of Mencia for Comedy Central and also as a consulting producer for several episodes of The New Adventures of Old Christine on CBS. Ober got his start as a stand up comedian on Star Search in 1984 where he was named the Comedian Champion.

If you want to get a bit nostalgic with us, come on along with us back to the late 80's... and yes, there may even be an odd comic book tie-in for this episode:

ComicMix Six: Classic 'Star Trek' comics you should read

Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:57:00 EST

After growing up from the little science-fiction show Gene Roddenberry created in the 1960s, the venerable Star Trek franchise in recent years had just about worn out its welcome in the eyes of all but its most devoted followers. Enter J.J. Abrams and his high-octane, supercharged re-imagining of the classic series, resulting in one of 2009’s most commercially and critically successful films, released today on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Star Trek’s unprecedented popularity at the box office has also revitalized interest in past adventures of Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Many such tales have been chronicled in comics form since the 1960s—while the classic series was still on the air! After boldly going into our vast archives, we have emerged with six stories that we consider worthy representatives of the more than four decades of Star Trek comics history.

In order of publication:

1: “The Museum at the End of Time” – Star Trek #15, Gold Key Comics, August 1972

Love them or hate them, the Gold Key Star Trek comics occupy a special place in the hearts of old-school Trekkies. The 61 issues—complete with crazy character likenesses as well as the Enterprise belching fire from its warp engines—helped to fuel fans’ needs for new Star Trek stories in the early 1970s. This story features the Enterprise pulled through a cosmic vortex into a mysterious region where time has no meaning. There, the crew finds all manner of trapped spacecraft and captive beings—along with a ship full of angry Klingons! A tale typical of the Gold Key run, this issue is noteworthy as being an apparent inspiration for “The Time Trap,” an episode of the animated Star Trek series produced a year later by Filmation Associates.

(Reprinted in Star Trek: The Key Collection, Vol. 2 , Checker Book Publishing Group, December 2004)

Continue reading ComicMix Six: Classic 'Star Trek' comics you should read ›

Review: 'Gone with the Wind' 70th Anniversary DVD

Robert Greenberger — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:57:00 EST

Since Gone With The Wind’s release in 1939, David O. Selznick’s adaptation has become one of the most hailed and loved feature films of all time. Adjusted for inflation, it remains today the number one box office champion with a total gross of $1,450,680,400. It deservedly won 10 Academy Awards and continues to be included in Top 10 lists with many catch phrases entering the public lexicon followed plus a score that is instantly recognizable.

On Tuesday, in time for your holiday shopping needs, Warner Home Video is releasing the 70th Anniversary edition of the film in a variety of formats. What was provided to ComicMix was the standard two-disc “plain vanilla” edition. We can tell you that it looks and sounds great and we suspect looks even more spectacular in its Blu-ray format.

Is there anything left to say about this beloved film? I had heard of it growing up but until HBO first broadcast it for the first time, I had no clue what the fuss was about. I still recall a bunch of us gathering at Beth Zemsky’s house to watch this spectacular without interruption and we were all caught up in different ways. For me, I enjoyed the sweep and spectacle, some of the performances and the nostalgic look back at a bygone era. The girls loved the romance.

In rewatching the film now, I find zero chemistry between Trevor Howard and Vivien Leigh, still befuddled over why she loved him. I also find it confusing to see how both Ashley and Melanie were so blind, in their own way, towards Scarlett’s spoiled rich girl ways. Only Rhett saw her for what she was and loved her for it. Rhett Butler is also the only one to see the South as an unsustainable culture and apparently the only man in the whole of the Confederacy to understand they couldn’t compete with northern factories. As a result, his decision to enlist towards the middle therefore makes no sense.

Honestly, the best character arc is Scarlett’s and there’s little more stirring than her return to Tara, seeing what had become of the lifestyle she understood and then declaring, set against a beautiful backdrop, she would never go hungry again. As the music swells and the intermission sign appears, you could have sent everyone home and they would have been thrilled. Instead, we get the second half which is far too melodramatic leading up to the immortal final scene.

Selznick spared no expense and the film is sumptuous, well cast and filled with enough extras to give it the sense of scale required for the needed emotional impact. From a technical standpoint, there’s not a single false note and the movie holds up during repeated viewings. SO, the bottom line comes down to the Margaret Mitchell novel and the characters adapted to the screen. If this is your sort of story then you can’t miss seeing the film. As for owning the new edition, that’s a subjective call. The new digital master seems superior to the last version but it’s the extras that will decide it for you.

Continue reading Review: 'Gone with the Wind' 70th Anniversary DVD ›

The Point Radio: Scott Wolf Checks In From 'V'

Mike Raub — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:14:00 EST

We are halfway through ABC's first run of the V mini-series and series star, Scott Wolf, tells us how they plan to keep the momentum going so you'll come back to the show in March. Meanwhile, disaster is big business at the box office and what's with all these new DOLLHOUSE websites?

PRESS THE BUTTON to Get The Point!

'Least I Could Do' creators offers webcomic scholarship

Glenn Hauman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:21:00 EST

It seems the least Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza could do was offer a full scholarship.

Ryan announced on the Least I Could Do website on Friday that they have created "The Rayne Summers Webcomic Scholarship", at The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont:

Beginning in the fall of '10, we will be covering the full tuition for the selected applicant. The applicant who, I might add, is working towards a career in webcomics. Over the course of the next 5 years, we plan on adding 1 student per year, thus by 2015, the Scholarship will be putting 5 students through the program per year.

This scholarship will be managed by Blind Ferret, though there will be heavy involvement from others in our field, in the form of a board of Directors and a selection committee.

More information will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks, including fund raising events, application rules and deadlines and more. Keep an eye on this space.

Applause, applause, gentlemen. And this actually hints at a bigger question-- why hasn't any other comics company stepped up to fund such a scholarship? There's the Dave & Paty Cockrum scholarship at the Kubert School that's funded from the sale of Dave's personal collection and through the tireless efforts of Paty and Clifford Meth, and Diamond and First Second also had a scholarship at CCS, although it's not clear if that was just a one time thing.

Why doesn't DC or Marvel have any? Do they actually have some that are so poorly promoted that I've never heard of them? Or would they rather just draft straight from high school into the major leagues?

(Note: of course, DC and Marvel both have internship programs, I went through one from DC. But they do require you to be where the office is, and you have to be there during 9-5 hours, which is hell on a college class schedule.)