Artist Cliff Chiang (Green Arrow/Black Canary, Doctor Thirteen: Architecture and Morality) has an amazing comics-themed tribute to the late John Hughes up at his blog.
Seriously, just go look at it full sized.
It’s appropriate, with a comics convention in Chicago this weekend. Reports are coming from ComicMix staff there of a parade in downtown Chicago with pallbearers singing “Twist and Shout”…
Did you like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen? Are you chomping at the bit to see G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra? Do you just wish that more cartoons and movies would come out of existing toylines? Well, today’s your lucky day, as Hasbro recently announced the opening of Hasbro Studios, which is dedicated to doing just that, and just placed Stephen J. Davis, most recently CEO of Family Entertainment Group, as President.
To remind you, Hasbro owns a majority stake in your childhood nostalgia: apart from the previously-mentioned Transformers and G.I. Joe, their brands include Mr. Potato Head, Battleship, Clue, Pictionary, Dungeons and Dragons, NERF, and many more. They even own Magic: The Gathering!
But I think, of all the brands they own, we’re all most excited for a live-action Jem and the Holograms. Right, guys?
This one pretty much speaks for itself: Movieline’s got some concept art for that fan-made Thundercats trailer that further details the look he would have gone with in a full movie.
I especially love the Third Earth cityscape. Go check it out!
Marvel’s second quarter earnings reports are in, and while they beat expectations, it wasn’t by much. They made (almost) exactly the same amount in the first quarter as they did in the second, which is not really a good thing for a business to do.
Publishers Weekly summarized the reports thusly:
Publishing revenue at Marvel Entertainment was flat in the second
quarter, slipping from $31.8 million to $31.7 million. Operating income
fell more noticeably, dropping 6.8%, to $10.9 million. A lower level of
high-margin advertising and custom publishing sales was cited as the
reason for the decline in earnings. For the first six months of 2009,
sales in the publishing segment fell 1.4%, to $57.5 million, and
operating income declined 17.1%, to $17.9 million. The company said it
expects the publishing segment to finish 2009 with revenue between $115
million and $120 million; in 2008 sales were $125.4 million.
DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com’s Nikki Finke has more detail:
The company said it benefited from growth at its film production segment, primarily in initial revenue for Iron Man DVD
sales and domestic pay TV window. But Marvel’s profit fell 38% after a
decline in licensing sales for toys and character-related products
following its Iron Man and Incredible Hulk bonanzas.
Marvel’s 2nd-quarter revenue fell 26%, and net income fell. But Marvel
also raised the low end of its full-year profit and sales forecasts
with Iron Man 2 coming out in 2010.
Heidi MacDonald over at The Beat says it’s a sign of a slower Q2 for comics all around. What do you think?
We all knew that Michael Uslan, executive producer of the Batman movies (All of them. Yes, that one. That one too. Okay, not the Adam West one) was scripting the upcoming Archie #600, wherein the Eternal Teenager finally ties the knot with Veronica, settling more than seventy years(!) of wondering.
What we just found yesterday, thanks to the Archie blog, is that he’s also slated to revive Archie’s superhero alter ego, Pureheart the Powerful, along with his team, Pureheart’s Emergency Patrol, in the span of five one shots starting early next year. From the blog:
“Michael Uslan
explains ‘We’re not just talking ONE super-hero here! Archie will be
joined by Betty as
Superteen,
Jughead as
Captain
Hero, Reggie as
Evilheart,
Jr, and wait’ll you see the super-versions of Veronica,
Dilton
and Moose! Surprises
galore are just ahead!”
The one-shots will be taking the titles of the Golden Age books that originally contained the Archie Comics, then MLJ Comics, line-up of superheroes: Pep Comics, Jackpot Comics, Blue Ribbon Comics, Zip Comics, and Top-Notch Laugh Comics.
Who’s excited?
Don’t read any further if you don’t want to be depressed for the rest of your Sunday.
Still with us? Well, beloved Discworld author (and Good Omens co-author) Terry Pratchett told The Daily Mail that before he reaches the “endgame” of the Alzheimer’s Disease he was diagnosed with back in 2007, he wants to be allowed to die on his own terms. In his own words, per the article:
I
intend, before the endgame looms, to die sitting in a chair in my own
garden with a glass of brandy in my hand and Thomas Tallis on the iPod. Thomas’s music could lift even an atheist a little bit closer to
Heaven. Oh, and since this is England, I had better add, “If wet, in
the library.”
There’s some interesting stuff in the article about the assisted suicide debate in the UK, and I recommend you take a read.
Heroes has been losing viewers like Claire Bennet loses toes in the last season or two. A new volume might mean a new hope, but can they pull it out?
Tim Kring, the troubled show’s executive producer, along with panelists Jack Coleman (Noah Bennet), Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura), Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet),
Adrian Pasdar (Nathan Petrelli), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli), Robert Knepper (new villain Samuel), Dawn
Olivieri (new character Lydia), Ray Park (new character Edgar) and Madeline Zima (new character Gretchen Berg) were on hand at San Diego Comic Con to answer questions and show a trailer for Heroes Volume 4: Redemption. We weren’t there, but Newsarama was… (SPOILER WARNINGS, don’t say we didn’t tell you):
Face front, true believers, because Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau, along with actors Robert Downey, Jr. (Tony Stark), Scarlett Johanssen (Black Widow), Don Cheadle (James “Rhodey” Rhodes), and Sam Rockwell (Justin Hammer), were on hand to screen some previously-unseen footage at SDCC tonight. Newsarama was there, and thanks to the magic of liveblogging, we have some new tidbits for you:
The majority of the panel was Q&A, so if Don Cheadle dodging questions about Meteor Man floats your boat, go take a look.
While they had nothing quite as surprising to announce as the Marvelman announcement yesterday, the DC Universe panel at SDCC had some interesting tidbits come out of it. The highlights, as per CBR’s liveblog:
A Wonder Woman letter-writing campaign, unfettered love for Metapmorpho, and more at CBR.
If you’re anything like me, your interest in the upcoming animated Marvel Super Hero Squad Show was pretty low, based as it is on a line of toys and comic strips meant for kids too young to know that proper superhero stories involve lots of rape and horrible gory messes. Which is to say, I thought it would be fine for its target demographic, but a little too lowbrow to have the same level of grown men in tights and Neil Patrick Harris musical numbers that the discerning adult requires.
But then there was the Q&A panel at San Diego Comic Con.
Now, what if I told you that Stan Lee was voicing the Mayor?
What if I told you Kevin Sorbo was voicing Ka-Zar?
WHAT IF I TOLD YOU GEORGE TAKEI WAS VOICING GALACTUS?!
Well, if the Marvel liveblog is to be believed, it’s all true. Some other highlights:
Q&A action, reactions to the teaser they played, and some priceless Stan Lee quotes at the full liveblog.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
Stephen Colbert, we have your writer for “The Chronicles of Amber”!
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