Tagged: Avengers

Neal Adams Named New Guest of Honor at NYCC

Neal Adams Named New Guest of Honor at NYCC

  • News
  • December 1, 2008

Celebrated artist Neal Adams will be a Guest of Honor at New York Comic Con (NYCC) this year where he will be available to thousands of fans who are eager to meet the legendary artist.  Adams is best known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman and Green Lantern among others.  In addition to his Guest of Honor appearance, Neal Adams has also created the official artwork for New York Comic Con 2009 which will be highlighted in a unique poster featuring several heroes from DC’s Green Lantern Corps. The Green Lantern series was a breakout hit for DC last year with the "Sinestro War" storyline, and the Blackest Night storyline looks to be another huge success. 
 
New York Comic Con is the second largest popular culture event in the United States and will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, February 6 – 8, 2009.  Neal Adams will appear on panels as well as participate in autograph sessions throughout the weekend. 
 
“Neal Adams is one of the fundamental forces of comics: he’s helped reshape the visual vocabulary of the field with his illustrative style, improved its business practices as a leading champion of artistic rights, and godfathered an entire generation of new talent as they entered our field,” said Paul Levitz, President and Publisher of DC Comics, “Comics wouldn’t have been the same without him, and he continues to focus on important new work to affect the future of the field.”

“I can’t begin to say how genuinely honored we are to have Neal Adams create this poster for New York Comic Con, to say nothing of having him appear at our show as a Guest of Honor!” notes Lance Fensterman, Show Manager for NYCC.  “At the cusp of the 60’s, Neal and writer Denny O’Neil created some of the best loved comic stories featuring Green Lantern’s Hal Jordan, and the Green Arrow, as they tackled social issues of the day and set new standards with Neal’s photo-realistic artwork. The poster he has created is extraordinary and it allows us to stay at the forefront with original and innovative artwork for New York Comic Con.  We are enormously grateful to Neal who has been a great supporter of our show from day one.  This is a real collector’s item and a huge value for anyone who manages to ‘score’ one of these special posters.”

In commenting on the creation of the poster for New York Comic Con, Neal Adams notes: “Folks ask why I went all out on this poster for the NYCC?  First, I’m a New Yorker, and this is my hometown.  Secondly, I take tremendous pride in these characters.  Especially, Hal Jordan and John Stewart.”   

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Cherry Lane Makes Marvel Music

Cherry Lane Makes Marvel Music

  • News
  • November 28, 2008

Cherry Lane Music Publishing Co. entered into a long-term worldwide music administration deal with Marvel Entertainment according to Variety. They will oversee the lucrative music publishing from the Marvel movies starting with Iron Man and Incredible Hulk and extending through the 2011 live action releases. The deal also covers the currently in production animated series Wolverine and the X-Men, Super Hero Squad, Thor and The Avengers."

Cherry Lane also reps music for DreamWorks and Lakeshore Entertainment.

Scott Allie Talks ‘Buffy’

Scott Allie Talks ‘Buffy’

  • News
  • November 27, 2008

Scott Allie, Dark Horse’s editor charged with the Buffyverse, spoke with Fantasy News about his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The comic is essentially season eight of the WB/UPN series, continuing the storyline of Buffy Summers and her pals.

“Well, the advantage of the comic is that there’s less interference between Joss and the reader.,” Allie noted. “Less for him to overcome to get his vision across. The advantage of the show is that you have the actors, who the fans love as much or more than they love Joss, and you have the infinitely popular medium of television to deliver the Buffy preview stories. That’s speaking in terms of clear pluses or minuses. The differences, I guess, are extraordinary. Sound and motion exist in one, a near total freedom from the dull constraints of reality in the other. The two artforms have so little in common, it’s hard to move from one to the other. I think the writers who worked on the Buffy show — and I said this before Season Eight — have an incredible capacity to switch over. I said that before Season Eight, because I was doing everything I could to work with those writers, including on other properties. Doug Petrie wrote Star Wars for me, and Jane Espenson wrote The Lone Gunmen, the X-Files spinoff. Because they’re just great visual writers.”

Whedon has written stories but then brought in other writers of his choosing and oversees everything that happens while prepping the February 13 debut of Dollhouse on Fox. “His role as Exec Producer seems to fit,” Allie said. “He did have a hard time finding time to write the end of the Fray arc, but he’s been holding down the fort on supervising the other writers and artists pretty well.”

Allie went on to reveal that Faith and Giles, last seen in Brian Vaughn’s story arc, will be seen in Buffy #24, written by Jim Krueger (Avengers/Invaders).

Elsewhere in the Whedonverse, Allie said, “More Firefly comics are in the works — hopefully two different minis over the next year or so. Dollhouse, we’re still discussing with Joss. And by still discussing, I mean waiting until the time is right. No immediate plans there.”
 

‘Dark Reign’ Teaser Image Unveiled

‘Dark Reign’ Teaser Image Unveiled

  • News
  • November 26, 2008

Marvel today released this teaser image for the next big event, Dark Reign, just weeks before Secret Invasion #8 is released, ending the current big event.  New Avengers: The Reunion was mentioned as a new title at an Ireland convention but no details are known.

Jim Krueger Joins Ardden With ‘The Stand-In’

Jim Krueger Joins Ardden With ‘The Stand-In’

  • News
  • November 25, 2008

Ardden Entertainment announced The Stand-In, a new title to be written by Jim Krueger (Avengers/Invaders). Described as a four-issue spy thriller mini-series, the project twill be illustrated by Alex Cal (The Amazing Spider-Man Family).

The new title will chronicle the adventures of Dexter Laumb, a talented but troubled and out-of-work actor who’s desperate for money.  When he’s offered a job to "stand in" for a low level Senator who has double-booked two events for the same evening, Dexter is excited by the prospective paycheck and thinks the job will be a breeze.  Hair dye and make-up transform Laumb into a virtual double of Senator Joe Murphy.  However, he soon realizes that he’s bitten off more than he can chew when he’s partnered with one of the Senator’s senior aides, beautiful but acid-tongued Jennifer Forsythe.  The two quietly go at it like cats and dogs while Dexter acts the part of the Senator, schmoozing and boozing as necessary.  However, when a bullet rips through Dexter’s shoulder and the crowd scatters, he soon finds himself on the run with Jennifer, attempting to unravel the truth behind the assassination attempt, and finding himself in the middle of a conspiracy with earth-shattering consequences…

Brendan Deneen, Ardden’s co-publisher, said in a release, "It is a huge honor to be working with one of the most successful comic book writers currently working in the medium.  I’ve known Jim for years and we’ve been trying to find something to work on together that whole time.  The Stand-In is the perfect collaboration and I feel privileged that he’s publishing it through Ardden."

A zero issue will be released at the New York Comic-Con in February.  The issue will feature a story that takes places before the events of the miniseries.

Ardden Entertainment debuted earlier this year with a new take on Flash Gordon, written by Deenan.  Additional titles are expected to be announced between now and the convention.

October Comics Sales Soften

October Comics Sales Soften

  • News
  • November 20, 2008

As the economy went into free fall, ICv2 notes that October sales have shown some slippage. From their just released list of the top 25 titles, just two showed signs of improvement over September sales. One was Amazing Spider-Man #573 which featured the faux-Stephen Colbert for President cover while the other was Batman #680, the penultimate chapter to Batman RIP.

Despite somewhat stagnant sales, the dollars sold in to comic stores were up a “robust” 9% compared with a year ago, according to the industry watchdog. September and October were the first positive months for comic sales since January.  Of course, more titles were retailing last month at $3.99, rapidly becoming a standard, as opposed to last October. ICv2 did note that the unit sales for the title charting in the 300th position was 4200 compared with 3000 just twelve months ago which they interpret as a sign of overall industry strength.

Graphic novel sales showed an increase of just 5% compared with last October.  Combined with comic book sales, that creates an 8% total increase.

The site notes that the company crossovers, Secret Invasion #7 (154,675 copies) and Final Crisis #4 (115,666 copies) took the first two spots on the list. Marvel had seven of the top 10 and 17 of the first 25 with DC taking the balance. IDW’s G.I. Joe relaunch  and Angel: After the Fall were the first non-Top Two titles to crack the top 100 list coming in at 65th and 66th place. This further cements IDW’s fourth place standing among comic book publishers, after Dark Horse and now ahead of Image.

In graphic novels, DC’s Joker by Brian Azzarello, took first place with an estimated 17,000 copies sold, also nabbing the top spot for dollars earned. Marvel’s best seller for the month was the Marvel Zombies trade paperback, which likely hit the top Marvel spot given its three variant covers. Wile Watchmen slipped from first place to sixth, its 6000 copies remains impressive given its age.
 

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‘Captain America’ Scribes Announced

‘Captain America’ Scribes Announced

  • News
  • November 19, 2008

Just weeks after signing Joe Johnston to direct First Avenger: Captain America, Marvel Studios has announced that Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are likely to be the screenwriters. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the duo is in final negotiations to step in,

The film comes with many complicating factors starting with a locked in release date of May 6, 2011 and the need to include elements that have been established in Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk as well as setting up plot threads that will play out two months later in The Avengers film.

The movie will be set during World War II and feature scrawny Steve Rogers, denied enlistment in the army but invited to be a test subject for Project Super Solider.  He is then transformed into the star-spangled hero and issued a red, white, and blue uniform to inspire the troops and general public as Captain America.

Whether or not his sidekick Bucky will be included remains the one plot element not yet discussed by executives.  One can presume the Red Skull will be the villain along with hordes of Nazis.

The screenwriters have most recently handled The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian so they have experience with adapting works from others.  Much of their work will come from Captain America #1, published in 1941 by Timely Comics, now known as Marvel Comics. The character was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

George Perez, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee Added as NY Comic-Con Guests of Honor

George Perez, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee Added as NY Comic-Con Guests of Honor

  • News
  • November 16, 2008

Two more notable comic book celebrities will be joining the festivities at New York Comic Con (NYCC) this year as Guests of Honor. Affording thousands of fans the opportunity to meet them in person, Geoff Johns, who is well-known as a comic book writer of a number of DC Comics characters, including Superman, Green  Lantern and the Flash as well as for his work as a screenwriter; and superstar artist Jim Lee, known for his acclaimed artistic runs on titles including BATMAN, ALL STAR BATMAN and WILDCATS, will be attending NYCC to help launch the new Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing game, DC Universe Online (DCUO), produced by Sony Online Entertainment for PLAYSTATION 3 in collaboration with DC Comics and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. 

Both Johns and Lee will be signing autographs and they will conduct a large DC Universe Online event on Saturday, February 7, 2009.  New York Comic Con will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, February 6 – 8, 2009.  

“Having both Jim Lee and Geoff Johns at our show is a great ‘get’ under any circumstance, but it’s especially cool to have them here to as part of DC Universe Online,” notes Lance Fensterman, Vice President and Con Manager for NYCC. “They will do a fabulous job entertaining our fans and I know that they will attract huge crowds, not only for autographs but also for their demonstration.  I am enormously grateful to them for participating in New York Comic Con and we’re pleased to have them as Guests of Honor.” 

“Jim and Geoff represent two of the top talents in comics, so it only makes sense that they’d transfer those skills to the gaming world,” said Dan DiDio, SVP and Executive Editor for DC Comics. “It’s a perfect fit to have them named Guests of Honor at New York Comic Con.”

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Marvel Animation Announces Thor Series

Marvel Animation Announces Thor Series

  • News
  • November 14, 2008

Following the established pattern of creating an animated series in the wake of its live-action counterpart, Marvel has announced the arrival of Thor. The series has a 26-episode order, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and will debut in the fall of 2010, after the Kenneth Branagh-directed feature opens in July 2010.

The series appears to be faithful to the comic book’s use of Norse legend and high fantasy to tell its stories. Described by the trade as, “the Norse god of thunder, as he defends his mythical home of Asgard against fantastical villains, fiendish hordes, winged creatures and angry giants. The show will take place in various worlds — from mountainous landscapes to places of icy mists and fiery voids — and will include many of the comic’s supporting cast, including Balder the Brave, the Warriors Three and Thor’s evil adopted brother, Loki.”

Already in the pipeline are Iron Man and Wolverine for 2009 and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, for fall 2011.

Thor first had his comic book adventures animated in the original 1966 Marvel Super-Heroes show, airing Thursday evenings. He has appeared in other animated series ever since.

Joe Johnston to Direct ‘Captain America’

Joe Johnston to Direct ‘Captain America’

  • News
  • November 10, 2008

Joe Johnston will be directing  First Avenger: Captain America for Marvel Studios. The director has signed a deal according to The Hollywood Reporter for the film which will open May 6, 2011 setting up the final pieces prior to that July’s Avengers film.

There is no casting as yet nor is there a screenwriter.

Johnston made his name as a special effects designer for George Lucas on the original Star Wars films prior to shifting to directing and his credits include genre fare such as the underrated The Rocketeer and next year’s Wolfman film with Benicio del Toro. Johnston met with Marvel Studio execs two years ago and hit it off so this is the culmination of that relationship.

Kevin Feige told the trade, "This is a guy who designed the vehicles for Star Wars, who storyboarded the convoy action sequence for Raiders of the Lost Ark. From Rocketeer to October Sky to The Wolfman, you can look at pieces of his movies and see how they lead to this one."

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created the star-spangled avenger for Timely Comics in 1941 and produced ten issues prior to leaving for DC Comics.  The character, though, endured and became one of the three major stars of the comics line through the 1940s.  He was briefly revived in the 1950s but lay dormant until Stan Lee created the Marvel Universe.  For the fourth issue of the Avengers, he and Kirby told of how Captain America had been preserved in a state of suspended animation, trapped in a block of ice until the Sub-Mariner unwittingly tossed the chunk into the sea where the warmer waters melted the block. The Avengers found him and he returned to active duty. He has been a staple of Marvel Comics ever since.

Feige had previously indicated the film will be set during World War II and film students already saw a glimpse of the frozen form in an arctic sequence shot as an alternative opening for this summer’s Incredible Hulk.  We also saw Captain America’s fabled shield in Tony Stark’s lab in Iron Man and again, director Jon Favreau indicated Howard Stark had something to do with the shield as will be revealed in forthcoming films.

Captain America had been adapted twice before.  Once in two terrible telefilms for CBS and the aborted Captain America feature film from 1990 that never made it to theaters.  Matt Salinger portrayed the hero and was pitted against his immortal enemy the Red Skull, who was an Italian terrorist, not a a Nazi.
 

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