Mindy Newell: Standby
Yesterday morning, our friend and ComicMix columnist Mindy Newell suffered a family medical emergency. Her column will be back soon, and of course we all wish her and her family the best. Hang in there, Mindy!
Tagged: ComicMix
Win a Copy of Willow on Blu-ray
Journey to the far corners of your imagination with Willow, for the first time ever on stunning Blu-ray! Written and produced by George Lucas and directed by Ron Howard, the film tells a timeless fantasy tale in which heroes come in all sizes…and adventure is the greatest magic of all. In celebration of its 25th anniversary, the unforgettable classic has been fully digitally restored and debuts on Blu-ray and DVD Combo Pack March 12, 2013 from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
The Willow Blu-ray and DVD include a dazzling array of extras with never-before-seen exclusive content such as deleted scenes with remarks from Ron Howard, a personal video diary of Warwick Davis, matte paintings and much more. In addition, look out for Ron Howard’s new introduction for the original 1988 featurette “The Making of an Adventure,” as well as special effect legend Dennis Muren’s new intro to his piece, “From Morf to Morphing: The Dawn of Digital Filmmaking.”
Special Features include:
- NEW – Willow: Deleted Scenes with Ron Howard
- NEW – Willow: An Unlikely Hero – Personal Video Diary of Warwick Davis
- The Making of an Adventure with an all new introduction from Ron Howard
- From Morf to Morphing with an all new introduction from Dennis Muren
- Matte Paintings
- Easter Egg
Our friends at Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment have given us two copies to giveaway. Entries must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, March 13. The decision of ComicMix is final. In order to win your very own copy of Willow on Blu-ray Combo Pack, simply answer the following question:
What did Ron Howard direct immediately after Willow?
- Gung Ho
- Parenthood
- Apollo 13
- Grand Theft Auto
- A Beautiful Mind
Michael Davis: Selling Out
I’m on the West Coast, Mike Gold, ComicMix’s Editorial Director, is on the East Coast and that’s the reason there is a good chance this piece won’t even run today.
My articles run on Tuesday so I try and get them to Mike no later than Monday morning East Coast time. Most times Mike gets them over the weekend but this one will show up to Mr. Gold after 9 p.m. Monday evening because… I’ve got nothing.
I drew a complete blank as to what to write about this week. I kept thinking something would pop into my head but nothing did. So what follows is not in any way a well thought out essay, it’s simply a rant on an industry event and the actions of those clueless individuals who, well, are just clueless.
The San Diego Comic Con sold out in two hours this year…duh.
Every year the biggest pop culture event in the world gets bigger so that should not be news to anyone, but as always people take to the net to bitch about how they could not buy tickets or the only ticket they did could get was for Sunday.
All you people, who think your inability to attend Comic Con is somehow the fault of Comic Con, grow the fuck up. A couple of hundred thousand people got tickets and as always the event sold out.
You simply lucked out. How is that Comic Con’s fault?
Duh.
The same goes for people who get tickets but can’t find a hotel room. There are only so many hotels in San Diego and once those hotels are sold out, you are assed out.
You can solve both having a ticket and getting a hotel room by simply becoming a major playa in the industry or building your own hotel.
Crazy? Bad joke? Unrealistic? Stupid thing to say?
Not as stupid as blaming Comic Con or the city of San Diego for your lack of ticket or hotel because they sold the fuck out.
WEDNESDAY: Mike Gold
THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil
Mike Gold: The Nerddom Intelligentsia
There’s a new sun rising up angry in the sky
And there’s a new voice saying we’re not afraid to die
Let the old world make believe it’s blind and deaf and dumb
But nothing can change the shape of things to come
We all know how our mass media portrays nerds: people who are brainy, obsessive, with a penchant for wearing merchandising-related merchandise. We come in two sizes: gangly or Christie-clone. We couldn’t get laid at an orgy on the dark side of the moon. We have a life-long lust for our popular culture and cannot distinguish between low-brow and high-brow.
Actually, I’m rather proud of that last bit. Cultural elitism really pisses me off. But this is America, where the bottom line justifies everything. The day nerds became bankable was the day we became legitimate.
We helped. Picking up a lesson from my fellow hippie freaks of 1967, we have redefined the term “nerd” simply by accepting it as a reference to ourselves. My fellow ComicMix columnist Emily S. Whitten embraces this wonderfully, in nearly everything she writes for this site.
The Simpsons helped quite a bit. Comic Book Guy exposed a previously hidden reality: a goodly percentage of those who hang our at the comic book shop are members of Mensa, and more would be if we had even the most rudimentary social skills. Mind you, I’d only been to a handful of Mensa meetings and I found them pathetically tedious, but they were at the University of Chicago so I was probably asking to be bored.
The fact is, comic book reading among those older than nine used to be associated with stupidity, arrested development, and the complete lack of a social life. Now many understand that it’s the upper end of the brain rack that finds this stuff appealing.
Nerds might not be cool, but then again, why is it that nerds invent all the cool stuff? We might have very short attention spans and we’re easily attracted to that which is bright and shiny, but we’ve taken over the popular culture and we’ve taken over technological innovation and, quite literally, our toys have become the tools of revolution all across the world.
Remember Doctor Doom’s little flying teevee cameras that would allow him to view his mayhem all over the world? He borrowed them from Ming the Merciless… but that’s not my point. Today, for good or for bad or for both, we’ve got our flying cameras. They’re called drones. Some of them are capable of bombing people back to the Flintstones. We’ve got GPS in our pockets, transponders in our cars, cameras at most of the traffic lights and highways and stores and office buildings and not only do “we” know where you are, but we know where you have been.
Hey, I didn’t say nerddom was a force for good. It’s a human force. And it’s mainstream.
And we’ve got these massively overpopulated conventions all over the world. We can organize.
We can take over.
Maybe… we already have.
THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil
Michael Davis: It Was Twenty Years Ago Today
Actually it was twenty years ago, but it wasn’t today. Look, any time I get to use a Beatles lyric in anything I write I’m using it. Nothing says witty and clever like a Beatles lyric or a Tupac and Biggie reference.
Case in point. One time too freakin’ many an ex-girlfriend asked me in an email if I thought she was getting fat. I was so sick of answering the same freakin’ question over and over again. She would ask when she and I would be on a date, in a car, on the phone, texting and one time I could have sworn she screamed it out during sex. I can’t be sure of that I couldn’t hear her clearly as I was, at the same time, screaming out my name. Yes, I scream my own name out during sex. Someone has to.
I was just sick to death of this shit so in my response I found a way to use a slightly altered Beatles lyric, which was, yes, you are the Walrus.
Twenty years ago, Denys Cowan, Dwayne McDuffie, Derek Dingle, Christopher Priest and I founded Milestone Media.
Hard to believe I was just five when I helped start the company, eh Jean?
Twenty years later, Milestone is still considered the greatest publishing achievement in African American comic book history. The Milestone deal was ground breaking and the universe is still alive and relevant. Milestone has achieved in comics the same kind of reverence the Tucker achieved in the automobile industry or Guns ‘n’ Roses achieved in Rock and Roll, all three burst on the scene, changed the game and for whatever reason lived a short life but has never been forgotten.
What many people don’t realize is Milestone still exists and is still alive in media if not in a monthly series of comic books. Static Shock is still seen on television, Milestone characters are often featured on other DC comics animated shows and Milestone comic book projects still are being created.
Milestone’s 20th anniversary will be celebrated and in the coming months happenings will be reveled. I just can’t tell you now; if I did Denys Cowan would see to it that I join Tupac and Biggie. Yes, I’ve used that line before and I will continue to use it until LAPD does it job and finds their killers…or someone comments how clever and witty that line is. I’m good with whatever comes first.
What I can say is ComicMix readers who are Milestone fans have a guy on the inside. As we all know with great power comes first hand knowledge premiering here at ComicMix before anywhere else.
That is, if I remember to write it after it’s finalized but before the press release goes industry wide.
I’ll try and remember but once I was told over the phone I just had a huge project green lit and could now talk about it. The very next call I was on not three minutes later was with an entertainment magazine doing a profile on me and like a dick I forgot to mention the venture when asked about what projects I was working on.
That omission was like forgetting to mention I own a dog when being interviewed for a cover story in Dog Magazine.
Last thing, for all you fan boys who are still a bit “girl challenged” if your girlfriend…wait, what am I saying? Girlfriend? Fan boys? Ok, if the girl you are smitten with or any girl asks you if she looks like she was getting fat or the classic, do I look fat in this dress?
The answer is always no.
If the heifer weights 300 pounds and is always sucking on a saltlick, the answer is always no.
Trust me, don’t say anything remotely like what I said, I’m lucky to be alive and ten years after the break up I’m still looking over my shoulder.
WEDNESDAY: Mike Gold and The Nerddom Intelligentsia
THURDSDAY: Dennis O’Neil
Michael Davis: Dark Horse Wants Me Dead, Part 2
Last week I started telling the tale of Mike Richardson, CEO, publisher and owner of Dark Horse Entertainment and the hit he has put out on me. Please refer to part one before reading this.
After years of back and forth Mike Richardson finally gives me the OK to proceed with my graphic novel, The Underground – A Story of The Underground Railroad.
I’ve written hundreds of pages and produced dozens of preliminary drawings for the project but now it was time to produce the book.
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
This was (is) a dream project and I wanted to do wonderful if not award winning work on it. I was so happy it was finally green lit I did the one thing I shouldn’t have: I became obsessed with the process.
I wrote the full script like a comic book script, breaking down each panel on the page complete with captions and word balloons. Didn’t like the first draft so I did another. Didn’t like that so I did another.
This went on for about a year. Then one day I realized my problem, the format the script was in was not working for me. I then wrote the story as a novel. After about three months I realized writing a novel was a stupid as shit way to do a graphic novel.
Duh.
Then I figured it out, write the script as a novella (short novel) then illustrate that.
Duh.
That process took another few years.
Before I go on it’s important for me to tell you that like Mike Richardson was busy with a multitude of projects during the years it took to green light my project, I had nowhere near the workload of Mike but while working on the Underground I also had numerous on my plate.
I don’t want to give you the impression that all I was working on was The Underground and was taking years to complete it. During the time I was working on the Underground I was also the head writer on a television show, creating content in a joint venture with a large entertainment company, not to mention writing two books and writing and illustrating another graphic novel and writing two weekly columns, one of which is for ComicMix.
However, Mike Richardson runs a massive entertainment company, yes he has a staff but Mike makes it a point to be involved and he takes the time to make sure the project is right before he green lights it. That’s why Mike’s involvement took the time it took.
After my project got the go ahead no matter what else I had to do it doesn’t matter I should be finished with the Underground by now.
And…I almost am.
Finally.
It will still be a few months but in an effort to show Mike some of what I’ve been doing I’m premiering some of the art here. Hopefully Mike will see this and call off the hit.
I hope so; the last two people who owed Mike a graphic novel were Tupac and Biggie.
WEDNESDAY: Mike Gold Goes Toonie
Marc Alan Fishman, Star Trek Virgin
So, a few weeks ago, I decided to give myself the night off. And in doing so, I granted myself the ability to indulge in a previously DVR’ed movie stolen during a free weekend some time ago. That movie was The Green Hornet by way of Seth Rogan. It was, to date, the worst adaptation I’d personally seen of a comic book(esque) character in a movie. The flick was so god awful, I spent the following evening searching for something to wash my mind out. And there, stuck in a marathon of its brethren, a movie I knew was a sure-thing.
The Wrath of Khan was to my knowledge a near-universally beloved film of nerdtopia. Furthermore, I’d never seen it. (Gasp). Surely this shining beacon of Trekkie culture would cure my explosion-riddled mind from the misadventures of Kato and Bro-Hornet. My fellow ComicMixers… set your phasers to stunned. I loved it.
I loved every minute of it. And truly, that is saying something. I am by all accounts not a Trekkie. That being said, I’m not completely ignorant of the brand either. In my short time on this blue ball, I’ve watched dozens of episodes of Next Generation, a handful of Voyagers, a pair of Deep Space Nines (and, heck, I actually saw the one with the Borgs), and the 2009 Abrams’ flick in theater. But the original crew? My only exposure prior to Wrath was an old X-Men/Star Trek crossover comic book from 1996, purchased mainly as a joke. I tried, once, to watch the original series on TV. I was aghast at the production values (forgive me, I was but a child of 24 or 25 at the time). So, to go into this movie as cold as a Bantha on Hoth (I bet that’s pissin’ a few of you off…), I had expected to hate the movie.
Yet something clicked. Immediately after absorbing the film, I went to YouTube to digest the original appearance of Khan in the episode Space Seed. I also set my DVR to record the once-a-week rerun of the retro-upgraded Original Series on cable. Subsequent discussion with actual Trekkies gave me insight as to why I’d suddenly become enthralled in the series. I discovered that one of the motifs of the show was the war of morals versus logic. Bones vs. Spock, with Captain Kirk in the middle. It’s a great concept, one that gave me perspective to enjoy what I previously thought was banal. Where I believe much of The Next Generation is rooted in the expanded (and better looking) aliens and psuedo-science driven plots (and again, I could be wrong, but this is based on the episodes I’ve seen…) the Original Series is more focused on the characters themselves. To be fair, each concept has merit, but it’s taken me until now to find the hook necessary to really sink my teeth into TOS.
And what of James T. Kirk? Removed from the stereotypes I was used to seeing in countless spoofs and parodies stood a Captain who was very much the product of a pulpier age. He fights. He makes love, apparently a lot. He battles his giant space ship with equal amounts of abandon and cool calculation. And in Wrath, it was a treat to see nearly all of these things happen. Suffice to say, without the prejudice of “He’s no Piccard,” I’m finding just why so many people are smitten by Shatner.
For what it’s worth? My money (and new found respect) is on Bones. Prior to my Trek-Immersion therapy, all I knew of the man was “Damnit Jim, I’m not a (insert something), I’m a doctor!” In a single scene during Space Seed, I found a character so compelling, I’m kvelling a little. In Seed, Khan awakes, steals a scalpel, and bates Bones to his bedside. He grasps his neck (with a strength supposedly five times a normal man) and puts the knife to it. Bones, without a flustered yelp to his name, suggests to Khan he should either choke him or just slit his throat, making sure to point out he should tighten his gasp a bit or slit right behind the ear to make it quick. Bones has balls. Amazing.
But let’s all be real; Wrath of Khan is all about Khan. The character himself is a brilliant trope – he’s a conqueror out of time. Following his first appearance via Space Seed, Wrath plays brilliantly. The fantastic turn that Kirk has in allowing Khan a planet to rule, was fascinating. And to use that as the catapult for the movie – where the best intentions are ruined by careless happenstance, and terrible luck – breeds a villain that we can almost sympathize. Even in Seed, we get that air of mystery to the man. He’s a product of another age, superior physically and mentally… but he’s still fallible against a man three centuries ahead of him. And while Wrath of Khan did not allow for the titular terror to match his still-amazing pecs to Kirk’s greying temples, we’re still treated to what makes the Star Trek universe so appealing to me now: Stories are built around savory plots and moral ambiguity, not action sequences and special effects.
So, I am on the verge of a new thing. A respect, and genuine interest in something I truly was never before intrigued by. Something that allows me access to a new sub-culture to both explore and debate with. Something that might just make me boldly go where so many others have gone before. But what could be next? Doctor Who?
Not likely. But that my friends… is a topic for another week.
SUNDAY: John Ostrander
REVIEW: Frankenweenie
Most of ComicMix’s readers know that Tim Burton made his live action Frankenweenie short (starring Barret Oliver, Shelley Duvall, and Daniel Stern) while at Disney and was too quirky for the Mouse House so left to carve out a career of his own. The short was visually stylish, creepy, and filled with affection for the horror films of his youth. Since then, he has created his own brand of horror (Edward Sciossorhands, Legend of Sleepy Hollow) and has reinterpreted classic works (Batman, Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows, Planet of the Apes) with varying success.
Last fall he finally released a feature-length version of Frankenweenie and while it underperformed at the box office, it is a creatively satisfying effort, and a great family feature. This can now run with The Nightmare Before Christmas as annual Halloween viewing for which I am grateful.
As with most great tales, this is a love story. In this case, it’s about a boy, Victor (Charlie Tahan), and his dog Sparky. When the beloved pet dies in a car accident, Victor uses his scientific genius to bring Sparky back to life. While some see this as a noble thing, Victor’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein (Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara), worry that their son is overly involved with the dog and lacks human friends.
A boy and his dog is classic and Sparky is your typical dog, although he now has trouble keeping all his parts intact, notably his tail.
When the local boys hear about the successful experiment, things begin to go off the rails. Victor may have Sparky back but things have certainly not gone as planned and that’s where the film’s charm and humor shines through in a well-plotted expansion of the original tale. That said, things do drag the further we move on, as if Burton said all he had to say and needed to stretch to get to a proper running time, 87 minutes, for a feature.
Burton stayed true to his vision, retaining the black and white, evoking the great Universal horror films of the past. And like them, this is filled with winning supporting character — Mr. Rzykruski (Martin Landau), Edgar (Atticus Shaffer) — enlivening the overall story.
The film is being released by Walt Disney this week in multiple formats including the four-disc combo pack — 3-D, 2-D, DVD, digital — and the Blu-ray comes packed with fun extras starting with “Captain Sparky vs. The Flying Saucers” (2:30) — a new short with Victor and Sparky watching the title home movie; “Miniatures In Motion: Bringing Frankenweenie To Life” (23:00) minutes), your typical behind-the-scenes featurette; Frankenweenie Touring Exhibit (4:30) 1/2 minutes); the original Frankenweenie short film (30:00); “Pet Sematary”, a music video from Plain White T’s. The first few featurettes are eye-opening in the effort that goes into making these stop-motion films. Burton, executive producer Don Hahn, producer Allison Abbate, and animation director Trey Thomas exhaustively cover the production, shot at the London-based Three Mills Studio.
This is the most entertaining video release of the week and comes highly recommended.
“Go Get A Roomie!” gets a Kickstarter
We are incredibly fond of Go Get A Roomie! here at ComicMix. The comic won our May Mayhem NSFW Webcomics Tournament back in May, and their fans voted with their pocketbooks as well, raising hundreds of dollars for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund to put them way over the top.
And now, they’re putting it all down on paper.
Since its first page, the comic has been there to corrupt the world with fond smiles and happy sighs. If it can continue to do so through a new printed form, it would make a dream come true. Not only will the first book of Go Get a Roomie include all of chapters 1-12, but countless other extras as well! Bonus chapter, illustrations and sketches, redrawn comic strips, drinking game, kitties, a sneak peek at a secret project, and much more!
via Go Get A Roomie! Book One by Hiveworks Comics — Kickstarter.
They’ve already blown past their initial goal of $20,000 in the first day, so it’s going to be funded, but they have lots and lots of stretch goals… at $30,000 they’ll throw in some extra charms and stickers free for everyone ordering at least a book. At $50,000 they’ll throw in a bonus book only chapter on top of the mini chapter already being put into the book, and at $75,000 they’ll get Little one plushies made and add them to anyone getting at least a book. Lord only knows what they’ll do if they hit $100,000– but I think they better start planning for it.
Watch the video– then go get your own Roomie!
Haters Gonna Hate
While we fully believe that you should help Peter David recover from his stroke by buying his e-books here at ComicMix, we also believe we should give equal time to opposing views.
In that spirit, we point you to The OutHousers and Ten Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Help Peter David.
