It’s no secret that top comics writer Mark Millar wants to write the next Superman movie. He’s given lots of interviews, and ComicMix has run a whole bunch of news items about this going back over two years. The story stalled when it appeared such a move was not going to happen.
Now, maybe, yes.
It turns out Mark was misunderstood when it was reported Warner Bros. could not afford him. That seems logical for two reasons: 1) Warner Bros. can afford damn near anything, and 2) with the clock ticking loudly on their Superman movie rights and their miserable track record with this movie franchise, meeting the Wanted co-creator’s financial demands just might inure to everybody’s benefit.
Might. It’s Hollywood. No guarantees. According to Mark’s
board: “I don’t think I said they couldn’t afford me now. If I did I was joking
because writing Superman would be a massive payday so if I said that I was
obviously laughing at the time. It’s possible though as I like being glib.”
Mark had also stated “a very well-known American action director heard about my love of Superman, approached me and asked me to team-up with he (sic) and his producer to make a pitch.” Hmmm… I’m sure Warner Bros. appreciates the consideration.
Of course, there’s no word either way as to Warners’ feeling about the matter. We should know soon. In the Siegel estate fight, the courts mandated Warner Bros. produce a new Superman movie by 2011 or lose their rights to one of their brightest corporate jewels.
For those not in the know, Heeb Magazine is the cleverly titled magazine for mostly young people (and me) of Jewish, and generally Ashkenazi, descent. It’s clever, relevant, and not terribly religious. They regularly cover the comics scene; I know of at least one comics shop that carries the magazine: Comix Revolution in Evanston Illinois.
For the past several years, our friends at Heeb have been ranking their favorite
graphic novels on an annual basis – defining “annual” by the Hebrew calendar.
Ergo, here’s their Top 10 list for the year 5769. More info here at the Heeb site.
1. The Complete Essex County by Jeff Lemire (Top Shelf
Comix)
2. Tales Designed to Thrizzle by Michael Kupperman
(Fantagraphics)
3. Asterios Polyp by Dave Mazzucchelli (Pantheon)
4. The Alcoholic by Jonathan Ames & Dean Haspiel
(Vertigo/DC)
5. Little Nothings Volume 2 by Lewis Trondheim (NBM
Publishing)
6. A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Drawn &
Quarterly)
7. Brat Pack by Rick Veitch (King Hell Press)
8. The Beats by Harvey Pekar, Paul Buhle & Ed Piskor
(Hill & Wang)
9. Fut Miso by Michel Fiffe (ACT-I-VATE.com)
10. Masterpiece Comics by R. Sikoryak (Drawn &
Quarterly)
Hmmm… Do you think we should tell them that John Gaunt is
Jewish?
Well, thus far the new teevee season has brought at least one pleasant surprise.
Generally speaking, I don’t care much for sitcoms. They’re predictable, they’re sophomoric even by my standards, and they’re usually are littered with obnoxious children. But I checked out the pilot to NBC’s [[[Community]]] because I really like Joel McHale and John Oliver, and I’ll admit to having some morbid curiosity about Chevy Chase.
The pilot wasn’t bad, with a few truly funny moments and
some great performances. McHale and Oliver didn’t disappoint me in the least.
But here’s what surprised me.
Chevy Chase turned in a first-rate performance, worthy of the reputation he gathered in the earliest days of SNL. He plays an aging businessman with the same sort of bewildering lack of reality he exhibited in Caddyshack. After a lot of redundant lame movies, this is classic Chevy Chase.
I think Community’s performers will hold the show together long enough to give the writing a chance to improve. Then again, it could go the way of most sit-coms and sink in the sea of predictable puerility. Community is worth checking out. Thursday, September 17, 9:30 PM EDT/PDT on NBC.
According to Doctor Who Magazine, the third series of the BBC’s Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures will start up on Thursday October 15th.
This year the show will run twice weekly, on Thursdays and Fridays, and therefore conclude its 12-episode commitment in six weeks. The series runs two-part adventures, so one full “story” will run each week.
More significant, the two episodes which co-star (note: not cameo, but co-star) David Tennant as the Doctor will be broadcast right before Tennant’s remaining three Doctor Who specials.
So this is as good a place as any for ComicMix to bury the final line of dialog of Tennant’s final episode of Doctor Who. Therefore…
Author Thomas Wolfe told us you can’t go home again. That certainly hasn’t stopped a lot of folks from trying.
After an absence of nearly 30 years, Tom Baker finally returned to the role of the Doctor in the five-part, six-hour BBC full-cast [[[Doctor Who]]] audio play, Hornet’s Nest. The first part, [[[The Stuff of Nightmares]]], was released in Britain earlier this month
and is available from www.audible.com and www.emusic.com.
Of course, Doctor Who fans are so hard to please they make
Star Trek fans look like they’ve had a Vulcan neck pinch. So how does the most long-lived and long-scarfed Doctor hold up after such a long layoff?
First, I should point out that the story, like Baker himself, is witty, charming, horrific, and over-the-top. If you don’t like that, you probably don’t like Baker. Here’s the high concept: taxidermied animals are reanimated with the implanting of origami-like brains infested with
malevolent hornets. Actually, it’s quite an effective horror story.
The Doctor recruits his old UNIT friend Mike Yates, reprising Richard Franklin’s role, by planting an ad in the local paper that
reads “Wanted: retired army Captain for light household duties and fireside
companionship. Must tolerate mild eccentricity and strong scientific advice.
Knowledge of Giant Maggots, Super Intelligent Spiders and Prehistoric Monsters a positive boon.” Both the Doctor and Captain Yates are obviously a lot older than they were when last seen, and the story takes place in contemporary time – Baker even notes it’s the 21st century. That makes Yates a pensioner, and the Doctor, well, a time-traveler.
It takes a lot of fine writing and even better acting to
pull off such a concept, but that’s what Doctor Who does at its best and that’s what happens here. My wife and I listened to the CD while driving from Connecticut to JFK airport in New York City, which is generally interminable but, this time, entertaining.
In a not-unexpected move, Warner Bros. has taken complete control of DC Comics, renaming the company DC Entertainment and promising to integrate the publishing house’s work into its existing divisions.
President and publisher Paul Levitz, an employee of the company for nearly four decades, is relinquishing those roles and will go back to writing comic books for the company. He will also be serving as both an editorial consultant and as a transition consultant for the new operation.
Rumors, of course, run rampant, the most persistent being DC’s possible move to Los Angeles. Levitz has had an “I don’t have to move west” clause in his employment contract, which adds fuel to this fire.
Unlike the Disney / Marvel situation, Warner Bros. is clearly moving DC’s various operations into its mainstream, so it is logical to expect that a great many changes lie ahead. When Disney announced its purchase of Marvel, they said they were leaving its management team in place.
Full details from Warner Bros’ official press release follows.
WARNER BROS. CREATES DC ENTERTAINMENT
Diane Nelson to Serve as President, DC Entertainment
Paul Levitz to Segue from President & Publisher of DC Comics To Writer, Contributing Editor and Overall Consultant to DC Entertainment
(Dateline – Burbank, CA) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI) has created DC Entertainment Inc., a new company founded to fully realize the power and value of the DC Comics brand and characters across all media and platforms, to be run by Diane Nelson, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, and Alan Horn, President & COO, Warner Bros.
DC Entertainment, a separate division of WBEI, will be charged with strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses. DC Entertainment, which will work with each of the Warner Bros. divisions, will also tap into the tremendous expertise the Studio has in building and sustaining franchises and prioritize DC properties as key titles and growth drivers across all of the Studio, including feature films, television, interactive entertainment, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products. The DC Comics publishing business will remain the cornerstone of DC Entertainment, releasing approximately 90 comic books through its various imprints and 30 graphic novels a month and continuing to build on its creative leadership in the comic book industry.
In her new role, Nelson will report to Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, in order to best capitalize on DC Entertainment’s theatrical development and production activities and their importance to drive its overall business with each of the divisions of Warner Bros.
Nelson will bring her expertise and more than 20 years’ experience in creative brand management, strategic marketing and content development and production to ensuring DC Entertainment’s dual mission of marshalling Warner Bros.’ resources to maximize the potential of the DC brand while remaining respectful of and collaborative with creators, talent, fans and source material. Additionally, Nelson will continue to oversee the franchise management of the Harry Potter property, which she has done since 2000, and also continue to represent the Studio’s interests with the author of the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling. Nelson will segue from her post as President, Warner Premiere but maintain oversight responsibilities of that division. (An executive succession plan for Warner Premiere will be announced shortly.)
Paul Levitz, who has served as President & Publisher of DC Comics since 2002, will segue from that role to return to his roots as a writer for DC and become a contributing editor and overall consultant to DCE. This transition will take place as expeditiously as possible without disrupting DC’s business operations.
In his new role, Levitz will be called upon for his deep knowledge and more than three-decade history with DC Comics, both as a comic creator and an executive. Besides serving as a writer on a number of DC Comics titles, he will be a contributing editor and consultant to DC Entertainment on projects in various media. Additionally, he will consult as needed on the transition and integration of the DC Comics organization into DC Entertainment and will utilize his unique experience, knowledge and relationships with the comics industry’s creative community to help achieve DC Entertainment’s goal of maximizing the value of DC properties. Further, Levitz will advise DC Entertainment on creative and rights-holder relationships, in particular regarding the legacy relationships that have been a part of DC Comics for decades.
Widely recognized and respected for his support of writers, artists and creators in the comics industry, Levitz is best known creatively for his work with DC Comics, having written most of the classic DC characters, including Batman, Wonder Woman and the Superman newspaper strip. At Comicon International in 2008, Levitz was awarded the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award as part of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the only industry executive ever so honored.
“DC Comics and its super hero characters are truly touchstones of popular culture, and the formation of DC Entertainment is a major step in our company’s efforts to realize the full potential of this incredible wellspring of creative properties,” said Meyer. “Diane knows our studio as a creative executive, a marketer and a senior manager, and this varied background will help her effectively and creatively integrate the DC brand and properties across all our businesses. We’re also thrilled that Paul will remain involved with DC and we’ll be able to tap his expertise to help us reach our goals for this new business.”
“It’s no secret that DC has myriad rich and untapped possibilities from its deep library of iconic and lesser-known characters,” said Horn. “While we’ve had great success in films and television, the formation of DC Entertainment will help us to bring more DC properties across additional platforms to fans around the world, while maintaining brand integrit
y and authenticity. Diane is a terrific choice to lead DC Entertainment, and with Paul in his new role as a valued consultant and contributing editor, both our company and comic fans win.”
“Based on the great success we’ve had working with DC Comics to create some of the most popular and successful super hero films of all time, I’ve long believed that there was much more we could do across all of Warner Bros.’ businesses with this great body of characters and stories,” said Robinov. “The prioritization of DC and the creation of DC Entertainment is a great opportunity that reaches far beyond the film group. There are endless creative possibilities to build upon the many significant successes already achieved by my colleagues Kevin Tsujihara and the Home Entertainment Group in the videogame, home video and direct-to-platform arenas and Bruce Rosenblum and the Television Group in live-action, animated and digital series. Collectively, we have the ability to grow a body of properties highlighting the iconic characters and the diversity of the creative output of DC Comics.”
“The founding of DC Entertainment fully recognizes our desire to provide both the DC properties and fans the type of content that is only possible through a concerted cross-company, multi-platform effort,” said Nelson. “DC Entertainment will help us to formally take the great working relationships between DC Comics and various Warner Bros. businesses to the next level in order to maximize every opportunity to bring DC’s unrivalled collection of titles and characters to life.”
“After so many roles at DC, it’s exciting to look forward to focusing on my writing and being able to remain a part of the company I love as it grows into its next stage,” said Levitz. “It’s a new golden age for comics and DC’s great characters, and I hope my new position will allow me to contribute to that magic time.”
DC Comics will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2010 (NEW FUN COMICS #1, the first DC comic, began publishing in 1935), at which time more explicit details regarding DC Entertainment’s corporate and management structure, film and content release slate, creative roster and business objectives will be unveiled at a multi-faceted anniversary celebration and press conference in the first quarter of the year.
Current DC properties in development and/or production at Warner Bros. Entertainment include:
– “Human Target” is being produced by Warner Bros. Television for a mid-season debut on Fox.
– “Midnight Mass” is in series development at Warner Bros. Television for consideration for the 2010-11 season.
– “Jonah Hex,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ supernatural Western starring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox and John Malkovich, recently wrapped production in Louisiana.
– “The Losers,” Dark Castle/Warner Bros. Pictures’ action-adventure drama starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans, began principal photography mid-July in Puerto Rico.
– “The Green Lantern,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ next big superhero tentpole release, recently cast Ryan Reynolds as the titular character. The film has a projected second quarter 2011 release date.
– “Lobo,” based on the DC Comics anti-hero, has Guy Ritchie attached as a director; Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona are producing for Silver Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.
– Warner Premiere’s direct-to-platform DVD animated release of “Green Lantern: First Flight” debuted July 28.
– Warner Bros. Animation currently produces “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” which airs on Cartoon Network.
– Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released “Batman: Arkham Asylum” on August 25, a dark, action packed videogame adventure for Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and Games for Windows.
Prior to being named President, DC Entertainment, Nelson most recently served as President, Warner Premiere since its founding in 2006. Warner Premiere is a Studio-based production company which develops and produces high-quality, direct-to-DVD and short-form digital content, including the highly successful line of DC Universe animated DVD titles, and also pioneered the development of the motion comics category. Under Nelson’s leadership, Warner Premiere functions as a full-service production entity with its own resources and release schedule, furthering the Studio’s mandate of being a destination for both established and up-and-coming talent to create stand-alone properties as well as experiment in new media.
Before that, Nelson served as Executive Vice President, Global Brand Management, Warner Bros. Entertainment, with the primary responsibility of working cross-divisionally and throughout Time Warner to maximize and optimize all the various windows and outlets available to the Studio’s signature franchises, brands and event properties on a global basis. In this post, Nelson’s primary focus was the management of the Harry Potter brand, which she has overseen since the brand’s launch at the Studio in 1999. These efforts have helped drive the success of the brand to become the most successful film franchise of all time, as well as a respected consumer property that has generated billions of dollars for the Studio.
At Global Brand Management, Nelson and her team of more than 15 employees worked in all media and platforms to support a number of other key franchise properties, including “The Matrix Reloaded,” “The Matrix Revolutions,” “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” “Happy Feet,” “Polar Express” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” among others.
Prior to overseeing Global Brand Management, Nelson had
served as Executive Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures. Nelson rose quickly through the ranks, having also served as Senior Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures and prior to that, Senior Vice President, Family Entertainment, Warner Bros. Corporate Worldwide Marketing and Planning. She was also Vice President, Worldwide Corporate Promotions, a post to which she was promoted in March 1998, after joining the Studio in September 1996 as Director of Worldwide Corporate Promotions.
Nelson came to the Studio from Walt Disney Records, where she served as Director of National Promotions. She is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications.
So the mouse is eating the spider. What does it all mean?
Poke around the Internets and you’ll see a lot of hysteria. Comics fans aren’t happy; they’re worried Disney will Disnify the whole thing. Movie fans are worried the Marvel flicks will have all the weight and depth of your average Disney movie. Theme park fans are concerned about Universal losing their franchise just so Ant-Man and the Wasp can fit into “It’s A Small World After All.”
Calm down. Assuming the deal gets approved by Marvel’s stockholders – which is likely – and the government – which is likely but not as certain – contracts are contracts and Disney would rather spend the next five years buying other things than paying for litigation. Paramount will still release those next five Marvel Films films, Universal will continue to maintain their current lifespan (however long that might be) with the Marvel rides and that fat lady who’s knocking the poo out of Captain America’s winged head in those commercials, and the comic books will continue to be published.
Well, most likely.
Marvel’s been trying to pattern itself after the Disney business model for at least the past four or five owners, so it’s no surprise that the House of Mouse took preemptive measures. Disney can’t mess with their theme parks right now – I mentioned the contractual obligations and, quite frankly, business ain’t what it used to be. The Disney characters and the Marvel characters are not a good theme park fit: the latter are not grandmother-friendly.
I doubt Disney will interfere with publishing very much, at least not in the short run. They have a very bad track record in the publishing fields, and the racks are littered with their cancelled product. They’re in the licensing business; that’s what they do and what they know. If the overall comic book publishing field continues to deteriorate they might do what they did with their other product and simply license it all out. It would be wonderfully ironic if Mark Waid’s Boom Studios gets the franchise, and I’ll bet you Mark feels the same way.
If there are any changes, they are likely to take the form of a reorientation of the Marvel characters towards the teen-age male market. Disney is weak in that demographic and can use some bolstering up. And bringing Marvel Comics back to the teen-ager friendly arena isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It worked for Lee and Kirby and Ditko and Thomas and Buscema; today there are more than enough really good writers and artists to address that market in a contemporary manner.
So I don’t think we’ll see Doctor Doom threatening The Little Mermaid. Don’t hold your breath for that Sinister Seven Dwarves movie. The Hulk probably will not stomp Goofy. Stan Lee will not be frozen and placed on the shelf next to Walt Disney and Jim Henson. All that’s a pity. Disney has no sense of humor. Just ask the Air Pirates.
The fact is, big business has never, ever been able to understand the American comic book industry. We defy the Harvard MBA mentality, and I’m proud of that. If DIsney does what Disney does best and the publishing business doesn’t implode, nobody will notice a thing. The Avengers 3 will make more money than publishing could lose.
Unless Dean Jones is cast as Nick Fury.
A 33 year veteran of the comic book industry, Mike Gold is ComicMix’s editor-in-chief. Portions of this blather appeared in today’s The Point podcast.
Disney Entertainment, owner of damn near everything in the entertainment world, is planning on purchasing Marvel Entertainment. The purchase price is purportedly $4,000,000,000. That’s four billion, for the zero challenged.
No word on what will happen to the current crew of Marvel employees, but as of this writing the House of Idea is not expected to move to the west coast.
The Brooklyn (New York) Public Library has removed Tintin au Congo from its shelves. If you want to read the graphic novel, you’ve got to ask for it and risk that “what are you, a bigot?” glower from the librarian.
In an act of insane political correctness, somebody looked at the tome and bitched about how Africans are portrayed as monkeys. So instead of actually reading the damn thing, the librarians protected their professional butts and pulled the book. If you want it, you’ve got to make an appointment to see it.
This isn’t the first time such a fate fell on Hergé’s popular munchkin. Borders, the always-on-the-verge-of-bankruptcy mega-bookstore chain, moved Tintin au Congo from the graphic novel section to their adult section. Hey, that’s where I go for my racist children’s fiction.
Stevie Spielberg, the well-known racist director of Amistad and Schindler’s List, remains on track to release his Tintin movie in 2011. Co-written by Doctor Who show-runner Steven Moffit, the movie stars the obviously insensitive Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Cary Elves, and Andy Serkis.
No word on whether the Brooklyn Public Library and Borders are going to hide the works of Mark Twain.
It’s no secret that top comics writer Mark Millar wants to write the next Superman movie. He’s given lots of interviews, and ComicMix has run a whole bunch of news items about this going back over two years. The story stalled when it appeared such a move was not going to happen.
For those not in the know, Heeb Magazine is the cleverly titled magazine for mostly young people (and me) of Jewish, and generally Ashkenazi, descent. It’s clever, relevant, and not terribly religious. They regularly cover the comics scene; I know of at least one comics shop that carries the magazine: Comix Revolution in Evanston Illinois.
According to Doctor Who Magazine, the third series of the BBC’s Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures will start up on Thursday October 15th.
In a not-unexpected move, Warner Bros. has taken complete control of DC Comics, renaming the company DC Entertainment and promising to integrate the publishing house’s work into its existing divisions. 
The Brooklyn (New York) Public Library has removed Tintin au Congo from its shelves. If you want to read the graphic novel, you’ve got to ask for it and risk that “what are you, a bigot?” glower from the librarian.
