Author: Matt Raub

ComicMix TV: Neal Adams on Batman at NYCC

ComicMix TV: Neal Adams on Batman at NYCC

Comics legend Neal Adams was on hand at New York Comic Con today to talk Batman with the ComicMix TV crew. Our intrepid man on the scene talks him up about his upcoming secret Batman project, as well as all things Dark Knight…

 

 

ComicMix TV: New York Minute #1 – Captain Action is Back!

ComicMix TV: New York Minute #1 – Captain Action is Back!

This weekend, beloved 1960s hero Captain Action makes a triumphant return to the comics scene courtesy of Moonstone Books and a big debut at this year’s New York Comic Con. Manhattan comics mainstay Jim Hanley’s Universe recently hosted the Captain Action creative team of Fabian Nicieza, Mark Sparacio and Ruben Procopio for a pre-convention signing and celebration of all things Captain Action.

ComicMix was on the scene with this report:

 

 

 

 

For more on Captain Action, read our ComicMix interview with writer Fabian Nicieza.

 

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ComicMix Review: ‘Superhero Movie’

[Editor’s Note: While ComicMix columnist Michael H. Price devoted a recent column to reviewing the superhero parody film Superhero Movie, regular ComicMix film reviewer Matt Raub braved hordes of pre-teen Drake & Josh fans this weekend to provide some addiitonal insight on the film. With ticket prices as they are these days, we figured ComicMix readers would appreciate the extra review before they parted with their money. -RM]

To begin with, this movie isn’t terrible. But before we get into that, a brief history lesson:

Scary Movie is a horror-spoof franchise that began in 2000 and was helmed by six writers that included the Wayans brothers and their team from previous projects. Also included were writers Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. This team’s only previous credit was the 1996 spy spoof Spy Hard, starring Leslie Nielson. As a whole, this was the creative team responsible for the first two Scary Movie films, but they opted out of a third film, and the franchise continued with Airplane and Naked Gun creator David Zucker at the helm. Zucker brought along Pat Proft, who he had previously worked with, and a new guy named Craig Mazin, who worked on a quirky superhero comedy from 2000 called The Specials.

Still with me here? Good, because we’re almost to the point, I promise. Upon leaving the franchise after Scary Movie 2, two of the six writers decided they weren’t quite done with the “spoofing genres” game and went on to write and direct Date Movie. (The original trailer for Date Movie even tagged the film as “from two of the six writers of Scary Movie.”) They also went on to do Epic Movie and, finally, winter’s kick-in-the-face: Meet the Spartans. At this point, if you’re not bleeding from the ears, you may be asking yourself, “Why did I need to know any of this?” Well, because those hating on this film based purely on its existence need to know that [[[Superhero Movie]]] was not the brainchild of any of the people attached to the three terrible spin-off-genre-spoofing-machines, be they [[[Date]]], [[[Epic]]], or [[[Spartan]]]. Instead, it is that of Craig Mazin, who created 2000’s superhero comedy [[[The Specials]]], starring Thomas Hayden Church and Rob Lowe (pick it up on DVD, it’s pretty good).

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ComicMix TV: ‘Dark Tower’ Midnight Release

ComicMix TV: ‘Dark Tower’ Midnight Release

 

ComicMix TV is back once again with another episode!

This time we’re in the heart of Manhattan at Midtown Comics for the midnight release of Marvel Comics’ Dark Tower 2: The Long Road Home. Not only do we have video from the event, but we also have exclusive interviews with Dark Tower: The Long Road Home creators Peter David and Jae Lee.

SPOILER ALERT: For those of you who haven’t read the first Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger Born, there are spoilery pieces of plot contained in the interview. So, consider yourself warned!

Enjoy!

 

 

Film Review: Vantage Point

Film Review: Vantage Point

Not many trailers made in the past 10 years misrepresent the film they are promoting. Sadly, Vantage Point breaks that rule. By allowing me the room to figure out the entire movie through footage oversaturation, I didn’t have a huge urge to run to the theaters, hence the late review. But alas, seven days after the film’s release, I was able to go into the theater without a hint of outside ruination, no real mention of the big twists, nor who was evil and why. So to keep the film pure, and leave any future audience members unscathed, I’ll try to keep the dignity of the film intact and not give much away in the review.

With that in mind: This movie wasn’t very good. Albeit the concept isn’t exactly original (See Rashomon), the filmmakers here had a perfect opportunity to bring something as innovative and provocative as Rashomon to Hollywood and thus, to a Hollywood audience. Instead, the concept was left half-assed and basically unfinished, leaving holes in continuity that you could drive a Mack Truck through and backstory for only one character, reduced to a single line of exposition.

For those of you not entirely familiar with the concept of the movie, Vantage Point was adevrtised as featuring eight different perspectives (in truth, it’s only five) of the assassination of the President of the United States. Each gives a little more insight to the overall story, while leaving you at the edge of your seat each and every time you see a part of the story. At the end of the film, you’ll feel fairly manipulated, but that won’t compare to the complete lack of compassion you have for any of the characters.

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ComicMix TV: Toy Fair ’08 – 30 Days of Night, Halo and Marvel Sub Casts

ComicMix TV: Toy Fair ’08 – 30 Days of Night, Halo and Marvel Sub Casts

In this first full episode of ComicMix TV, we peek at some of the comics-related products on display at this year’s Toy Fair International event, including toys based on the 30 Days of Night film, Halo figures designed by Todd McFarlane and a line of cartoon-cool Marvel characters.

Missing all of the Toy Fair fun already? You can always look back through our archive of Toy Fair 2008 coverage and experience it all over again.

 

 

 And remember, you can always get more audio and video coverage of your favorite comics news by subscribing to ComicMix Radio podcasts via iTunes - ComicMix or RSS!

Early Review: ‘Justice League: New Frontier’

Early Review: ‘Justice League: New Frontier’

 

Like many of you out there, a bad taste was left in my mouth coming off of Superman: Doomsday, so of course I was wary of DC’s next direct-to-DVD flick. I wasn’t a huge fan of the graphic novels (Isn’t that what we call thick comic books these days?), but I am certainly a fan of the [[[Justice League]]] and its animated counterpart. 
 
I’ll start with a warning to those who aren’t totally familiar with The New Frontier and its universe, but ARE fans of the established animated DC universe: this is a whole new direction from shows like Justice League Unlimited and others, but it is full of exciting DCU fan favorites. In fact, my biggest complaint about [[[Superman: Doomsday]]] was that there were no outside DC heroes, even though they were all over the original story. But I digress.
 
Looking at the animation first, I was very pleased that Bruce Timm (main creator of the animated DCU) and Darwyn Cooke (wirter/artist of The New Frontier graphic novel) were able to find a happy medium between the already established look of the animated Justice League and the very stylized look of Cooke’s art, thought I do think the eye-slits works much better for Superman than the baby blues. The entire artistic feel practically beamed with that golden age look, which is what attracted me to the books in the first place.

 

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War on Scientology?

War on Scientology?

  • News
  • February 3, 2008

Anybody who knows their ear from their elbow when it comes to the world and how ridiculous some of us can be knows how creepy the world of Scientology can be. Those who are unaware of this wacky world and missed the episode of South Park that explained it all, it’s a religion based on the writings of famed science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard and is practiced in nearly 5,000 churches by some of the most powerful people in the world in over 100 countries.

And of course, with how open and freely accessible the Internet is, there will always be people with two cents that scream up and down about how evil and/or crazy this religion and its followers may be. While most videos and news pieces posted online against the Church of Scientology can be categorized as hogwash and petty, one-sided arguments, a new group calling themselves “Anonymous” is making quite the ruckus against the church and some of its biggest followers.
 
It all started when a video was “leaked” onto YouTube of Tom Cruise in an interview talking about his beliefs and practices with the church. The video was taken down several times after complaints from the church stating the content infringed upon their copyrights. That didn’t seem to stop some users, case in point here.
 

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Cloverfield Monster In Your House!

Cloverfield Monster In Your House!

  • News
  • January 22, 2008

Remember the giant, horrific monster from the recent box office smash hit Cloverfield? Well, if you thought the thing was as cuddly as I did, you’ll be pleased to know that Hasbro toys, in partnership with Bad Robot and Paramount Pictures, has announced a new 14-inch, super-articulated, highly detailed limited edition of the Cloverfield Monster for you to put up on your toy shelf between your limited Fing Fang Foom Heroclick and Jack Kirby minibust.

 
Now, while the info from Hasbro states that this is a fully articulated action figure, I see this more as a "look but don’t touch" kind of toy, which means I won’t be playing with this in the bath…The plastic bohemoth does come with 10 parasites, the detached head from the Statue of Liberty, and makes that creepy godzilla-esque scream. To save from spoilers, there is no image up yet, but those of you who have a hundred bucks burning a hole in your pocket right now can head over here and pre-order the plastic representation of all of our nightmares. Release is expected for September 30th of this month.
Abrams Shoots Hulk into Space…

Abrams Shoots Hulk into Space…

  • News
  • October 10, 2007

Now that I’ve got your attention, No: J.J. Abrams is not doing a line of Hulk books. Rather, he’s just announced that former Hulk star Eric Bana will be facing off against the new Captain James T. Kirk in 2008’s remake/reboot/re-imagining/re-whatever of Star Trek. Bana is signed to play Nero, the newest/oldest baddie who has a plan to take down Kirk and probably the whole enterprise.

So far, Abrams has been pretty good on keeping a lid on casting rumors and things we, the fans, don’t really need to know just yet. Back at ComiCon, he announced that Heroes‘ star Zachary Quinto would be playing our new Spock.. along side Nimoy, who will ALSO be portraying the role. This brings up theories that it could be a parallel universe, or alternate timelines, or they could all be lost on an island that has mystical powers… let’s hope it’s not that last one.

Also set star is Anton Yelchin (Huff) as young Chekov, Zoe Saldana (Pirates Trilogy) as the young Uhura, and it is rumored that Mike Vogel (from the new giant monster/alien/who knows movie Cloverfield/1-18-08) will take the helm as our new, less bloated James T. Kirk.

The film is currently set for a Christmas 2008 release.

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