Tagged: DC

NYCC — Early sightings

NYCC — Early sightings

  • News
  • February 23, 2007

Annnnd we’re off!

A librarian friend of mine used to sigh that his job would be perfect "if it weren’t for the patrons."  One is tempted to say the same about a convention that’s only in the trade show stages — right now it’s very comfortable and easy to move around and seems pretty organized. But it also has the air of anticipatory set-up to it.  The comics industry works better when it’s inclusionary, and as nice as it is to meet and greet pros there’s just more excitement in the air when the fans add to the mix.  But let’s start with some photos, if the Javits Center wi-fi connection holds out:

This is what you see from the entrance.

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Michael Davis: Nut jobs

Michael Davis: Nut jobs

  • News
  • February 23, 2007

I said in my first article that I was a pretty simple guy. I see clear distinctions between right and wrong, good and evil, love and hate, and Republican and Democrat. Blah, blah, blah. To that end, I think there are some things that people don’t talk about but should. Clearly in comics there is a subject or fifty that we don’t talk about. Well I’m going to talk about one right now. That subject is… nuts.

Not the nuts that come in a can, but rather people who are nuts… as in crazy.

No, I am NOT talking about people who have a real mental illness. I am talking about those people who have convinced themselves (sometimes with plenty of help from friends and family) that they are entitled to something that nobody else sees. Or their way of doing something is the only way something should be done regardless of any logical reasoning.

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Seven Heroes of Victory

Seven Heroes of Victory

  • News
  • February 21, 2007

Wired Magazine’s Annalee Newitz believes the plotline of Heroes bears more than a few similarities to that of the recent Grant Morrison-written DC series 7 Soldiers of Victory.  Because, you know, nobody’s ever done assemble-the-squad plotlines in the history of  television or comic books. 

Actually, her point is "the fact that I could fruitfully compare them means that Heroes is finally coming into its own as a good comic book story".  Or as, one would assume, a good dramatic story — period.

Counting down with DC

Counting down with DC

  • News
  • February 21, 2007

Wizard has a nice overview of DC’s upcoming weekly series Countdown, including an interview with head writer Paul Dini, who will supervise other writers (including Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Tony Bedard and Adam Beechen) plus a revolving cadre of artists (including Jesus Saiz, Jim Calafiore, Carlos Magno and David Lopez) working over Keith Giffen breakdowns, the same way that the company’s current wildly popular 52 is arranged.  Buzz and expectations are already high for this one, and it isn’t even coming out until May!

For those who still can’t get enough, Newsarama has an interview with DC Senior VP-Executive Editor Dan Didio and Senior Editor Mike Marts (who will be editing the series) talking about the project in greater detail. The first block of four covers will be done by Andy Kubert and Tim Townsend.  This is a very big deal for those of us who’ve only ever seen Tim’s magnificent and award-winning inking work at DC’s "crosstown rivals."

Sales spurt continues into ’07

Sales spurt continues into ’07

  • News
  • February 20, 2007

Good news from our friends at ICv2 — the rise in sales of periodical comics last year is continuing, thanks largely to event comcis like Marvel’s Civil War and DC’ 52.  There was a less than 5% drop between Civil War #s 5 and 6, and the most recent issue sold more than twice as much as the #2 title (another Civil War tie-in), Civil War Return.  

As expected, Marvel titles constituted 7 out of the top 10 best-selling titles and 15 out of the top 25.  Six titles sold over 100,000 units to retailers, and the next six sold above 90,000, including four issues of the weekly 52.  Full details at ICv2!

Podcast #4

Podcast #4

Marvelous May, DC’s scheduling nightmare, Stan Lee and tons of news and previews — we it all in the fourth Comicmix Podcast, now downloadable right here, right now:

 

Plus — Timeline, a guide to new variant covers, a reveal on Battlestar Galactica, Buffy and … John Wayne?

If you missed any of our earlier ComicMix Podcasts, here they are.

Mike Gold: War is over

Mike Gold: War is over

  • News
  • February 19, 2007

No, not that war, I regret to say. That war is going to take a while. And probably a major turn-out at the polls late next year.

According to our good friends at Diamond Distributors, Marvel’s Civil War ends this week with the shipping of the seventh issue of the core mini-series. Joey Quesada and his roommates are to be congratulated, not only for finishing it off (believe me, I know how much work is involved) but for pulling off a remarkable task.

This whole mega-crossover event thing started inadvertently back in the summer of 1963 as a two-issue meeting of the Justice League and the Justice Society. It was a great story and an even better event. It put into action a bunch of characters most of us had only heard about, and it changed the nature of the DC universe forever. Twenty-one years later, Marv Wolfman and George Perez did a 12 part mini-series called Crisis on Infinite Earths, purportedly to straighten out DC’s continuity hiccups and train wrecks. They did a fine job. In fact, Marv and George established the benchmark for all future mega-crossover events.

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RIP Bob Oksner

  • News
  • February 19, 2007

Mark Evanier reports the sad news of the death of comics great Bob Oksner at age 90. 

Oksner began drawing around 1940 for Funnies, Inc., an art service that supplied comic book material to a number of publishers, including Timely (now Marvel) Comics, who hired him to work on various strips throughout much of the decade.

In 1945, he began work on a syndicated newspaper strip, Miss Cairo Jones, that caught the attention of DC editor Sheldon Mayer, who invited Oksner to work for DC — where he wound up for the rest of his long and storied career,on titles as varied asThe Black Canary, The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Sgt. Bilko, Leave it to Binky, Stanley and His Monster and many more. Oksner co-created The Angel and the Ape in the late sixties, received the National Cartoonists Society Award in its Comic Book Division for 1960 and 196, and won the Shazam Award in 1970 for Best Pencil Artist (Humor Division).

Mark has much more on his site.

Hollywood does comics

Hollywood does comics

  • News
  • February 18, 2007

There was a great deal of hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth when word leaked out of Hollywood that Joss Whedon had left the Wonder Woman film project and David Goyer would no longer write and direct a Flash film. Similarly, people reacted in horror at the notion of Joel Schumacher having anything to do with a Sandman movie.

Here’s the thing: none of this is shocking. Disappointing, yes, but we long time fans have gotten our hopes raised and dashed countless times through the years.

For those less familiar with Hollywood’s inner workings, the studios are always looking for the next great thing, uncertain of what it might be and where they may find it. So, in addition to buying original stories from screenwriters or ideas from producers and stars then assigning the stories to screenwriters, Hollywood goes shopping. They will receive yet-to-be-published books in galley form, they will scour the news for stories to dramatize, and they will see what their kids are listening to, and so on.

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Michael Davis: I’m not that guy

Michael Davis: I’m not that guy

  • News
  • February 16, 2007

I’m a pretty simple guy. I see clear distinctions between right and wrong, good and evil, love and hate and Republican and Democrat. In this age of political correctness and doing the right thing I don’t make decisions because they’re popular. I make decisions because I think something is right.

Remember the days when someone punched you in the face and you could punch him  (or her) right back without having much to worry about — well, besides getting your ass kicked. After the fight (or, in my case, ass whipping) you and the other party would decide to be friends or continue to hate each other. Either way you knew where you stood with that person. NOW if someone punches you in the face — YOU may get sued — and worst, with the current state of our world you don’t know where you stand. I don’t know about you but I would like to know where I stand after I’m punched in the face.

I grew up in the projects in New York City during the days when a threat sounded like this: "I’m going to kick your ass, Davis." Back then my response was "You will have to find me first, lady." Now I simply call my lawyers.

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