Tagged: Captain America

Happy Birthday: William Woolfolk

Happy Birthday: William Woolfolk

Born on Long Island, New York in 1917, William “Bill” Woolfolk once claimed that he didn’t create many comic book characters but he did coin many of their most famous lines.

He was responsible for Captain Marvel’s exclamation of “Holy Moley!”, among other well-known lines.

Woolfolk started writing comic books in the early 1940s after he graduated from New York University. His first jobs were with Will Eisner and Jerry Iger’s company but he also wrote for Police Comics, DC (Superman and Batman), Timely (Sub-Mariner and Captain America), and Fawcett (Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., and Bulletman).

When Eisner went off to fight in World War II in 1942, Woolfolk and Manley Wade Wellman took over writing The Spirit. Woolfolk also served as chief scriptwriter for the 1961-65 courtroom drama The Defenders and wrote more than a dozen novels, including the 1968 bestseller The Beautiful Couple.

Woolfolk won many awards over the years, including a Scribner for short-story writing in 1940, two Emmy nominations for The Defenders, and an Inkpot in 2002. He died in 2003.

 

‘Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy’ Report – The Metropolitan Museum of Art

‘Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy’ Report – The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art set aside Sunday, June 22, for a day of panel discussions about superheroes, the people who create them, and what they wear.

In promoting the event on their website, the Museum took the unusual step of admonishing visitors as follows: "Please note that visitors in costume will not be admitted to the Museum."

They don’t tell that to people who attend lectures on the Egyptian collection.

ComicMix was able to attend two of the afternoon programs. The first, "Designing Superhero Costumes," was a conversation with Alex Ross and John Cassaday. It was moderated by Stanford W. Carpenter, assistant professor at the University of Chicago. He divided the talk into three sections: 1) Designing for characters with an established history; 2) Designing for referential characters; and 3) Captain America, a character for whom both artists have designed.

Ross described his process as photorealistic, working from live models. "I draw better when I’m looking at something," he said. To provide a sense of realism to how clothing would look on a body, he had a Superman costume built for his model. He now has a collection of several costumes.

Cassaday described how his aunt had given him a book on Batman from the 1930s to the 1970s when he was four years old. As a result, he became a fan of several different eras of Bat costumes. He used this affection in a Planetary story, one that paid special homage to Adam West.

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Happy Birthday: Al Gordon

Happy Birthday: Al Gordon

Born in San Francisco in 1953, Alan “Al” Gordon is actually the second comic book artist by that name—the first, who is no relation, was active in the 1950s and worked for Atlas Comics, Lev Gleason Publications, Toby Comics, and Trojan Comics.

The second Alan Gordon started out in the mid-1970s, working as a penciler and inker for independent publisher Star Reach. He began inking for Marvel in 1978, first freelancing on Captain America and then becoming the regular inker on Spider-Woman. In 1982 Gordon left Marvel for DC and began working on Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew.

He worked for Eclipse Comics next before going back to Marvel and inking Fantastic Four and other books. In 1987 Gordon began working on Justice League of America with Kevin Maguire and Keith Giffen.

A few years later he followed Giffen to Legion of Super Heroes, and even wrote four issues of the series. In 1992 Gordon created WildStar for Image Comics—Jerry Ordway penciled it and Gordon wrote, inked, edited, and produced it.

More recently he worked with Alan Moore at America’s Best Comics. In 2000 Gordon won two Eisner Awards, one for Tom Strong #1 and one for Tom Strong #4-7.

Happy Birthday: Mark Gruenwald

Happy Birthday: Mark Gruenwald

Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1953, Mark E. Gruenwald is a rarity in the comc book industry in that he spent his entire professional career with one company.

After graduating with an art degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Gruenwald moved to New York and applied at both DC and Marvel, with no luck. He then switched his focus from art to writing (he had been a Literature minor in school). He self-published a fanzine called Omniverse, which caught the eye of new Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter. Shooter offered Gruenwald a job as an assistant editor in February 1978.

Two years later Shooter promoted Gruenwald to full editor. In the late ’80s he became executive editor there. Gruenwald also wrote for Marvel, and is probably best known for his ten years writing Captain America, and for his work on The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. He also wrote the Squadron Supreme 12-issue series, which many consider his finest work.

Sadly, Gruenwald suffered a fatal heart attack in August 1996. According to his wishes, he was cremated and his ashes were mixed into the ink used to print the Squadron Supreme trade paperback, thus ensuring that he and his greatest work would always be together.

‘EZ Street’ Nominated for Harvey Award

‘EZ Street’ Nominated for Harvey Award

The 2008 Harvey Award nominations are out, and ComicMix is proud to have EZ Street nominated for "Best Online Comic." Congratulations to Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley!

Sure, EZ Street is up against some tough competition — Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Penny Arcade, Perry Bible Fellowship, and The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo — but we think it will do okay.

This year’s Harvey Awards will be handed out at the Baltimore Comic-Con, held September 27-28, 2008.  Convention hours are Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM, and Sunday, 10 AM to 5 PM.  The ceremony and banquet for the 2008 Harvey Awards will be held Saturday night, September 27, hosted once again by Kyle Baker.

If you are a comics creative professional and would like to vote, you can download the .pdf Final Ballot or download .txt Final Ballot (for email) and send it to pjcjmc3 [at] sbcglobal.net. Final ballots are due to the Harvey Awards by Friday, August 15, 2008.  Full details for submission of completed ballots can be found on the final ballot.  Voting is open to anyone involved in a creative capacity within the comics field.  Those without Internet access may request that paper ballots be sent to them via mail or fax by calling the Baltimore Comic-Con (410-526-7410) or e-mailing baltimorecomicccon [at] yahoo.com.

The full list of nominees is after the jump.

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Interview: Adam Freeman on ‘Genius’ and Top Cow’s Pilot Season

Interview: Adam Freeman on ‘Genius’ and Top Cow’s Pilot Season

Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman’s first big comics project, last year’s five-issue miniseries The Highwaymen, was one of last year’s biggest surprises — but not for the reasons you might expect.

Despite a massive marketing push by the series’  publisher, Wildstorm, as well as fairly positive reviews of the first issue, in the end the series was widely regarded as a commercial disappointment. After all was said and done, the series’ performance left many figures in and around the industry, including Bernardin himself, wondering what the difficulties experienced by The Highwaymen say about the industry as a whole.

Nevertheless, the pair has persevered, and this week marks the release of Genius, their original story about a 17-year-old girl in South Central Los Angeles who unites the region’s gangs in a war against the L.A. Police Department.

From the Top Cow solicit for the project:

Alexander, Hannibal, Napoleon, Patton. What if the greatest military mind of OUR generation was born in strife, surrounded by violence and combat since birth? When the gauntlet is dropped, the question isn’t "How did 17-year-old Destiny Ajaye unite the gangs of South Central into a killer army and declare war on the LAPD?" No, the question is, "Can anyone stop her?"

This Wednesday, Genius will hit shelves as one of the titles in Top Cow’s "Pilot Season" program, and readers will eventually be able to vote on which of the "Pilot Season" projects becomes an ongoing series with the publisher.

I spoke with Adam Freeman about Genius, where the idea for the story originated and the Top Cow program that once again puts a story he co-created with Bernardin at the mercy of comics fans everywhere.

COMICMIX: Can you tell me about the genesis of Genius? What was the spark that developed into this story?

ADAM FREEMAN: It was an idea that Marc had swimming in his head for a while, but I responded to instantly.  I have always been fascinated with prodigies and savants.  I am not a religious or spiritual person by any means, but the idea that someone — regardless of their walk of life — could be "chosen" to be the best at something is incredibly cool to me.

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The Weekly Haul: Reviews for June 12, 2008

An odd blend of comics this week, with four new series, a couple of landmark issues (Invincible hit 50 and The Goon hit 25) and Geoff Johns making sure we remember why he’s THE MAN when it comes to superhero comics. On that note…

Book of the Week: Action Comics #866 — As in Green Lantern, Johns mines DC’s history for revelations that make big waves for today’s heroes. This issue marks the start of his Brainiac storyline, which begins with Braniac’s shockingly brutal theft of Kandar from Krypton.

That campy relic of Superman’s Silver Age becomes a tense and believable moment even before Johns uses it to lay out a mystery in the present (a Brainiac robot steals a sample of Superman’s blood while the main Brainiac seems imprisoned in his own ship). Check out the ComicMix interview with Johns about the story.

It’s that rare first issue of a storyline that delicately lets readers know something big is in the works without ramming that point down anyone’s throat. It’s epic but never self important.

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s the best Daily Planet sequence in a Superman comic in years, highlighted by this exchange about the newly returned Cat Grant. Lois: "I bet she has TMZ tattooed on her butt." Clark (lifting his glasses): "I don’t see it… Kidding."

Runners Up:

The Goon #25 — The return of Lazlo has the Goon thinking about turning tail, which shows just how lousy Eric Powell has made things for his scar-faced protagonist. It’s not as funny as your typical Goon tale, but that’s a good thing. And the end speaks for itself: "The war starts now!"

Powell’s art is in its finest, breathtaking form in this issue, from action sequences to emotional lulls. With his smooth designs and slight exaggerations, Powell is something of a modern Norman Rockwell who likes to draw demons being chopped up with cleavers instead of idyllic slices of life.

Captain Britain and MI 13 #2 — This series is essentially an answer to the question: What would Secret Invasion be like if Neil Gaiman wrote it? The British heroes continue to struggle to protect their homeland’s stores of magic from the invading Skrulls, which is complicated by old disagreements in the magical world and, of course, the apparent death of Captain Britain.

Even more than that other Skrull series, this book is capturing the "fate of the world in the balance" vibe, and it creates an interesting dichotomy between the surgically precise Skrull invasion and the unpredictable world of magic.

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‘Incredible Hulk’ Director Discusses Deleted Captain America Cameo

‘Incredible Hulk’ Director Discusses Deleted Captain America Cameo

Many rumors have been spreading since the release of the latest Incredible Hulk television spot, in which the Robert Downey Jr. (as Iron Man‘s Tony Stark) cameo is revealed. But was this the big cameo we were all waiting for?

One of the big rumors was that a Captain America scene was more than definite after an interview with Incredible Hulk director Louis Letierrer on G4’s Attack of the Show, where Leterrier stated, “You will see Captain America in this movie."

Later at a press event, Leterrier was questioned by Collider.com about the quote and said, "That’s crazy.  Did I say that?"

"I threw [an Easter Egg into the movie] like this [and] I was like, ‘Let’s see how many pick it up,’" he added, confirming that any Captain America appearance in the movie is more an Easter Egg than a true cameo.

Collider then asked the director to get more specific, to which Leterrier replied, "No, I can’t.  Otherwise it’s not fun. Are you crazy?  It’s an Easter Egg."

He eventually offered, "It’s not like ‘Oh, it’s Captain America and it changes everything.’ It’s still a Hulk movie, but it’s really Captain America and it’s there, you’ll see. It’s the real deal. You have to look for it."

Finally, at the same press event, Brazilian news website SOS Hollywood asked Leterrier the same question, and got a very different response:

There’s a point when Bruce Banner gives up on his quest for the cure and decides to kill himself. So he travels far North and reaches the Arctic Circle. You might have seen bits of it in some of the promos. The result was a very dark and strong scene, which Marvel, me and everyone else’s considered to be too hard [for] young audiences to take, so we’ve cut it. Having that said, when Bruce arrives at his destination he meets up with Captain America! At some point this week, we will make it available on the Internet – but I cannot tell you where or when – and the material will definitely be on the DVD.

Other sources state that the DVD is now slated to have an extra 70 minutes of deleted footage (which will no doubt be where we can find the missing Doc Sampson footage as well). So will we have to wait for the DVD to get a glimpse at Marvel’s American Eagle? Or is this all part of a bad viral marketing plan to get more DVD or ticket sales?

You can also read a bit more about the alleged Captain America cameo at Cinematical.

10 Must-Read Stories Before You See ‘The Incredible Hulk’

10 Must-Read Stories Before You See ‘The Incredible Hulk’

EDITOR’S NOTE: Here on ComicMix, our lists of must-read Iron Man stories and recommended reading for The Dark Knight were so popular that we decided to put together the following list for Friday’s release of The Incredible Hulk in theaters. Enjoy! -RM]

He’s been in comics for decades. His cameos in series other than his own have always meant blockbuster action. He’s had a live-action television series, TV-movies, cartoons, videogames and now a new major motion picture coming out this Friday.

He is the Hulk.

Yet he is also Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, and long ago, he created the gamma bomb — the next step in nuclear warheads. But when he saw a kid named Rick Jones in the test area, Bruce condemned himself by saving the boy’s life and getting caught in the bomb blast. Bathed in gamma rays, he was mutated so that he would now transform into a gray-skinned, monstrous version of himself at night.

As time went on, Banner’s mutation shifted and he would turn into a green-skinned, savage, child-like creature whenever he was angered, which became the most famous take on the character. Later still, he struck a balance by becoming a gestalt, merging his different alter egos. In recent years, he has reverted to his "classic" status, the scientist who is terrified to lose his temper lest he become a destructive emerald beast.

Perhaps it’s this isolation, and his desperation to change his situation in life, that causes so many people to relate to him — both in the fictional world he occupies and the real world of his readers.

Here, then, are some of the most important, must-read stories involving the Hulk from the character’s long history, and a good place to start if this week’s release of The Incredible Hulk piques your interest in Marvel’s famous green-skinned goliath.

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Review: ‘Jack Kirby’s OMAC: One Man Army Corps Omnibus’

In the four volumes of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World omnibuses DC recently released, there’s a not-so-coincidental trend of the introductions being more thought-provoking than the comics themselves.

During this latest run of Kirby nostalgia, most recently marked by this week’s release of his OMAC omnibus ($24.99), some of the smartest folks in comics have jumped at the chance to write at length about the King’s deep philosophical messages and revolutionary narrative approaches.

Thank God there’s none of that on hand in the OMAC collection (Mark Evanier’s introduction is more behind-the-scenes insight than anything). OMAC was a simple enough creation, a mutation of Kirby’s unrealized story of Captain America in the future.

Buddy Blank is an average Joe in The Future who has the fortune of being randomly picked by a super satellite to be zapped and turned into a heroic brute with a mohawk. Why the mohawk? We may never know.

OMAC never really trucks in the existentialism or social mirroring of Fourth World, which too often became jumbled and rambling when it strived for deep and contemplative. OMAC was, as Evanier writes, a creation born of the necessity of Kirby’s contract, which demanded a whopping 15 pages a week! (And you wondered why some of his stories feel rushed.)

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