Well, we know who we’re voting for and ComicMix will be on hand, covering events and news happening at next month’s Baltimore Comic-Con.
BALTIMORE, MD (July 5, 2011) — The 2011 Harvey Awards Nominees have been announced with the release of the final ballot, presented by the Executive Committees of the Harvey Awards and the Baltimore Comic-Con. Named in honor of the late Harvey Kurtzman, one of the industry’s most innovative talents, the Harvey Awards recognize outstanding work in comics and sequential art. They will be presented August 20, 2011 in Baltimore, MD, in conjunction with the Baltimore Comic-Con.
Nominations for the Harvey Awards are selected exclusively by creators – those who write, draw, ink, letter, color, design, edit or are otherwise involved in a creative capacity in the comics field. They are the only industry awards both nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals. Thank you to all that have already participated by submitting a nomination ballot.
Final ballots are due to the Harvey Awards by Saturday, August 6, 2011. Full details for submission of completed ballots can be found on the final ballot. Voting is open to anyone professionally involved in a creative capacity within the comics field. Final ballots are available for download at www.harveyawards.org. 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 baltimorecomiccon@yahoo.com.
This will be the sixth year for the Harvey Awards in Baltimore, MD. Our Master of Ceremonies this year for the 3rd year in a row will be Scott Kurtz (www.pvponline.com).
This year’s Baltimore Comic-Con will be held August 20-21, 2011. The ceremony and banquet for the 2011 Harvey Awards will be held Saturday night, August 20.
Without further delay, the 2011 Harvey Award Nominees: (more…)
In a case of the shoemaker’s children going barefoot, we didn’t mention anything beyond the teaser on Monday, but: ComicMix contributors Robert Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, and Aaron Rosenberg have joined with comic book writers Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, and Howard Weinstein to form Crazy 8 Press, while we saw numerous writeups from The Beat, Bleeding Cool, and io9.
However, we can advance the story a bit further: a second preview of the first book, The Camelot Papers by Peter David, has been added to the Crazy 8 Press Facebook page. Just go there and like the page, and you’ll get access to Chapters 2 and 3. (Chapter 1 is still available on the Crazy 8 Press website.
The Camelot Papers will officially go on sale on July 8, both to tie in with the “8” and the Shore Leave convention in Hunt Valley, MD, where all six founders will be in attendance– and doing a special comic related project together which we’ll tell you about when the time comes.
People occasionally ask me: so how do you fill your days working for ComicMix? Here’s what I did yesterday…
After getting up around 10 AM (because I’d been working overnight on various programming changes for the web site) I went into New York City to have lunch with authors [[[Dave Smeds]]] (X-Men: Law Of The Jungle), [[[Aaron Rosenberg]]] (World Of Warcraft, Eureka), [[[David Alan Mack]]] (Farscape: Scorpius for Boom!, Star Trek: Vanguard) and ComicMix contributors Alexandra Honigsberg and Kim Kindya, among others.
Headed off to a post-lunch survey of comic book stores, where I discussed with the owners about DC’s digital plans, and the meeting that DC will be having on Friday between their executives and various comic book store owners. We expect there to be fireworks a bit early this summer.
At one of the comics stores, also caught up with [[[Michael Uslan]]] (executive producer of the Batman films and author of [[[Archie Marries…]]]) who revealed that he’s in town to speak at the United Nations on Friday with Jerry Robinson (Batman artist and creator of Robin and the Joker) to address political cartoonists from all over the world.
Then after a brief meeting with a possible investor, I hopped a subway to Citifield, where I sat in Joe Quesada-provided seats with Peter David and his family to watch the Mets battle the Oakland A’s. Joe was a gracious host, and Peter and I spent a lot of time discussing an upcoming project of his we’ll tell you more about later this week.
It was a looooong game– started an hour late due to rain, and went to 13 innings. (The Mets won on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch with two outs.) Between innings, I also played chess with Marvel Senior VP of Publishing, Tom Brevoort. I think it’s mate in seven moves, but I’m not sure for which of us yet.
But after the Mets victory, as I headed towards the number 7 subway station, I saw one more comics tie-in– our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was there, alternately serenading us with Take Me Out To The Ball Game and his own theme song.
Then back here, setting up a few more things for the site before I had to drive a friend to a 5 AM flight. And after I get back from the airport, the morning press releases will be coming in.
Coming this week is the home video release of The Warrior’s Way and 20th Century Home Entertainment thought it might be a good time to examine the ninja film genre and determine which are the ten best. Their hope is that audiences will want to add the film starring Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns), Danny Huston (Clash of the Titans) and introducing to American fans international sensation Jang Dong Gun. Our review will appear soon and you can always judge for yourself.
Meantime, here are 20th’s Top 10. Did they get it right or miss one?
SHOGUN ASSASIN
A story of honor, disgrace, vengeance, massacre and “the greatest team in the history of mass slaughter,” Shogun Assasin is by far a ninja movie classic. The swords swing and slice into action when a shogun’s wife is murdered and is forced into exile after being framed. He gives his infant son a choice between a ball, to represent freeing death and a sword, representing a life of threat and danger. His son chooses the sword and which marks the beginning of a violent struggle to survive in a sea of assassins. Of course, ComicMix fans also know this is adapted from the classic Lone Wolf & Cub manga first brought to the states by First Comics, with great Frank Miller cover.
SEVEN SAMURAI
From Akira Kurosawa, Seven Samurai tells the story of a group of samurai that turned their backs on fame and wealth to fight to protect a village of oppressed farmers. In what is easily one of the most epicninja-samurai films of all time, Seven Samurai weaves the violent genre with human emotion, courage and hope.
NINJA SCROLL
When demons wipe out an entire village with a mysterious plague, a wandering ninja, Jubei, teams up with the femme fatal, Kagero, to defeat the evil forces. With its mix of samurai action and supernatural fantasy, Ninja Scroll is the one of the most popular animated ninja movies around. Ninja Scroll is definitely an animated ninja tale meant for grown-ups!
REVENGE OF THE NINJA
In this martial arts action film, Revenge of the Ninja, a former ninja assassin begins a new life in America after his family is killed by other ninjas. He ends up working for drug traffickers that he gets caught up in a face off. Revenge of the Ninja is known for having one of the most memorable fight scenes in ninja movie history.
NINJA ASSASIN
With its release in 2009, this ninja tale about a trained assassin has recently won its spot in top ninja movies. Raizo waits the day he can get his revenge on a secret society for killing his child-hood best friend. Raizo ends up being hunted down through the streets of Europe in what is one of the most action and bloody-packed ninja movies around.
KILL BILL
Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill may not be an honorary ninja classic, but does play homage to earlier ninja films with its revenge-drama style plot. The story follows a former female assasin, ‘The Bride’, left for dead by her ex-fiancee, Bill, and his entrourage of assasins, as she seeks revenge until killing every last one of them. The two part bloody-action flick has one of the greatest sword action scenes to date when The Bride, alone, takes on 88 ninja assasins called The ‘Crazy 88’s’.
ENTER THE NINJA
Famous from his array of Spaghetti Westerns and Euro Crimes films, Franco Nero, made his ninja debut in Enter the Ninja. While visiting a friend in the Phillipines, Cole is a approaced by villain Charlies Venerius, and propositions him to kill his friend. Cole refuses which sparks a fest of ninja battles and one of a kind stunt choreaphy. Definitely one for the Ninjas!
AMERICAN NINJA
A Martial Arts drifter with little respect for authority gets sentenced to an enlistment in an American Army base in The Philippines. After his platoon is attacked by a group of rebels during a Convoy mission, the colonel’s daughter, Patricia, is kidnapped and his entire platoon is killed. Joe has to rely on his street wits and ninja training in order to survive and save Patricia before it’s too late.
AZUMI
The main slayer in this ninja flick isAzumi, a female ninja expert, which only adds to its cool factor.Azumi is a young orphan girl trained by a Samurai to be an assassin. After being forced to fight her best friend to the death, Azumijoins a group of killer assassins that go after warlords that threaten to unleash chaos on Japan.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
The least likely ninja flick makes the list with its story about four small turtles in New York City. After coming in contact with a strange substance called Ooze, they mutate into giant turtles with human mannerisms. A rat named Splinter becomes their mentor and trains them to be ninjas. The four pizza-loving turtles become super heroes in New York City.
One of the earliest hits on Nickelodeon was Rocko’s Modern Life and Shout! Factory is bringing out the first season on DVD next week. To celebrate, we have three copies to give away to ComicMix fans.
Flash back to one of the most beloved animated Nickelodeon series from the 1990s when Rocko’s Modern Life: Season One 2-DVD set arrives in stores nationwide for the first time on June 21, 2011, from Shout! Factory. Featuring all 26 wacky adventures of an Australian wallaby and his pals in 13 original episodes (two segments per episode), this DVD release has long been anticipated by fans but has not been available in stores until now. The collectible Rocko’s Modern Life: Season One DVD is priced to own with a suggested retail price of $19.93.
Created by award-winning animator Joe Murray for Nickelodeon, Rocko’s Modern Life is one of the most enduring Nick animated classics. The hit series boasts an all-star voice cast – Carlos Alazraqui (CatDog, Reno 911), Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants, Transformers animated series), Charlie Adler (The Super Hero Squad Show, Transformers), and Doug Lawrence (SpongeBob SquarePants, Camp Lazlo).
To win, all you have to do is post your favorite Rocko memory by 11:59 p.m., Monday, June 20. The judgment of ComicMix will be final. If you never saw the show, feel free to share your favorite Nickelodeon memory as a substitute.
A favorite with viewers and critics alike, Rocko’s Modern Life debuted in 1993. Over the course of its four-season run on Nickelodeon, the series garnered a Daytime Emmy® Award and an Environmental Media Award. Brimming with anthropomorphic social satire and offbeat humor, Rocko’s Modern Life follows the misadventures of Australian wallaby named Rocko, who encounters various dilemmas and situations regarding otherwise mundane aspects of life. His best friend, Heffer, is a fat and enthusiastic cow, while his other friend, Filburt, is an easily upset turtle who often feels uncomfortable or disturbed. Ed Bighead lives next door to Rocko and detests him. These folks live in a bizarre district known as O-Town, and most of the episodes revolve around Rocko trying to cope with the absurdities and dilemmas he encounters in life.
In the 1970s, NBC was the network you could turn to when seeking high concepts series that never lived up to the expectations of its audience. A perfect example was Man from Atlantis, a short-lived concept about a man who could live under the sea.
One of the interesting conventions of the time was that concepts would be allowed to grow and develop through telefilms before a show went to series. In this case, there were four such films produced for the 1976-1977 season before the strong ratings convinced the Peacock Network to let this go to a weekly series. When it arrived in fall 1977, the demands of producing 22 episodes proved too much and the show was weakened, the ratings fell and the series became a footnote; another wreck during the network’s decline (Supertrain anyone?).
Warner Archive has recently released the pilot film on DVD and it’s interesting to see what could have been. Patrick Duffy, in his pre-Dallas days, played amnesiac Mark Harris who displayed the ability to breathe underwater and withstand the crushing deep sea water pressure. The producers extrapolated that he would need webbed hands and feet and the deep sea environment would mean he would have super-human strength out of the water. Found by the government, Harris is asked to work for the Foundation for Oceanic Research, a front for top secret activity. He is accompanied by a team of humans (co-stars Belinda J. Montgomery and Alan Fudge) aboard the high-tech sub called the Cetacean.
The real delight in the show is Victor Buono, the rotund character actor ComicMix fans recall as King Tut, but was a mainstay on prime time for years. His Mr. Schubert, the series’ antagonist, was a charismatic villain. (About the only episode I ever liked was the one that displayed Schubert flat broke after all his previous schemes failed; I had never seen a villain displayed in this way before.)
The pilot’s pacing is slow and everything has to be spelled out for the audience, a common downfall to debut episodes. The 96 minute running time should have allowed more interesting character development but such was not the expectation of science fiction shows of that decade. Duffy was fine as Harris, a bit dull for a hero, but he swam really well.
Marvel did far more interesting stories in their short-lived comic adaptation and the series remains popular with some fans so if you’re curious, this is a fine way to sample the show for yourself.
Boy, migrate one server, and a lot of links can pile up while waiting for your computers to reboot. Here’s some of the stuff we have to do before we get to the stuff we didn’t get around to covering yet…
And finally so you can learn something: a team of neurosurgeons has completed an exhaustive study of the causes of traumatic brain injuries in the Asterix comics. All seven hundred and four of them. Yes, they counted.
For years, comics executives have quietly worried that the comics audience is aging out. We’ve been seeing surveys year after year showing that the average age of a comic book reader has been moving up year by year, leading many to conclude that we haven’t been bringing younger readers in– and thereby causing a lot of panic.
But that may not be the conclusion to draw at all.
According to a survey of 1,200 households compiled by the Entertainment Software Association, the average videogame player is now 37 years old, and the average buyer is 41. In fact, 29% of players are over 50. And the average gamer has been playing for 12 years. 42% of them are women.
Those demographics are disturbingly close to the comic book reading audience in general, and to ComicMix in particular– 32% of our readers are between the ages of 35 and 44, and 29% of our readers are over 45. We do tend to skew male, though, with 67% of our readers being male.
The study also notes that as games become ubiquitous on all platforms, especially smart phones, more players could eventually make that demo younger, considering games are now played, in some form, by 72% of American households, stealing away audiences from TV shows and movies, the trade group said.
With such similar demographics, DC’s move to focus so much on digital platforms, both the day-and-date reboot this fall and the DC Universe Online MMORPG, make a lot of sense– they want part of that $25.1 billion on game content, hardware and accessories that consumers spent in 2010.
Something to consider as everybody goes out to E3 this week.
Warner Digital and Warner Home Video celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange with the film’s release not only on Blu-ray but also available for download via iTunes with over 38 minutes of bonus content.
Our friends over at Warner Digital have provided us with a free download to give to a loyal ComicMix reader. Here’s what you need to do:
Go visit the official iTunes page and answer the following question: Which actors from the film are listed under CREDITS on the iTunes page?
You have until 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, June 4 to enter the contest and a winner will be randomly selected from the correct answers supplied.
Shout! Factory releases [[[Transformers: Beast Wars]]]– The Complete Series Collector’s Edition on DVD on June 7. This 8-DVD box set is full of content including extras, retrospectives, art galleries, a special collectible 24-page comic book and more as people anticipate the forthcoming release of the third love-action Transformers feature film. If you don’t remember the series, check out this handy trailer:
Shout! Factory has provided ComicMix with three sets of the DVDs and we want to give them away. Here’s what you need to do: tell us which is your favorite Transformer from this series and why. Give it a think and post your comments here no later than Friday, June 3 at 11:59 p.m. The judgment of ComicMix’s panel of judges will be final and the DVD prizes will be mailed sometime in June. And here’s the formal press release with all the details. (more…)
Well, we know who we’re voting for and ComicMix will be on hand, covering events and news happening at next month’s Baltimore Comic-Con.
