Tagged: Doctor Who

IDW’s #3!

IDW’s #3!

IDW Publishing, home to Star Trek, 30 Days of Night, Transformers, Doctor Who, G.I. Joe, Fallen Angel, Locke and Key, and ComicMix’s upcoming line of print graphic novels and comics, today announced the 10 year old company hit the #3 spot in the monthly Diamond sales figures. That places them ahead of Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics, a remarkable achievement for a "back-of-the-catalog" publisher.

"This is a huge milestone for us, and the culmination of a decade of hard work by the many different people to have contributed to IDW over the years," IDW CEO Ted Adams stated. "This is clearly a great beginning to our second decade."

Last week, the company received no less than five Eisner nominations, and is just coming out with their 10th anniversary history. It’s been a hell of a week for the San Diego based publisher, and to celebrate the staff went to the Los Angeles Dodgers / San Diego Padres baseball game.

"IDW has always focused on producing quality comics and books, and it’s gratifying to see fans enjoying our books so much," IDW publisher and editor-in-chief Chris Ryall noted. "There is definitely a lot more great things to come for the company and our readers," no doubt referring to the upcoming release of GrimJack: The Manx Cat, Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden, and Demons of Sherwood.

Among other ComicMix projects, of course!

The Point – April 10th, 2009

The Point – April 10th, 2009

This weekend the first new DOCTOR WHO episode of 2009 premieres in the U.K. and we celebrate with a visit from the sixth Doctor, Colin Baker,  who is still riding The Tardis. Mike Gold looks at just who is really downloading WOLVERINE and Twitter without typing – it’s here.

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April Fools Day 2009 Round-Up, part 2

April Fools Day 2009 Round-Up, part 2

Oh my lord, how did I miss the work at TÖRdötCÖM?

Either let us drag you willingly into the future, or be impaled upon the shiny, metallic spikes of our awesomeness. We will bludgeon all resistance with our second generation Kindles and Sony PRC 505s, slicing and dicing holdouts and naysayers with our sleek, sexy MacBook Airs. Now bow before our awesome new lögö. Note the umlaut—it’s totally Spinal Tap, “but way cooler,” according to our latest focus group, a culturally diverse assortment of popular sixth graders (twelve-year-olds being widely recognized as the eternal harbingers of Cool).

It must be understood that we’re not cutting ties with the geek community—rather, we like to think of ourselves as ultra-modern alchemists, painstakingly turning geek into chic. We would never attempt to trivialize the concerns of fandom. At least the fandom we care about—the kind that hangs out at the Apple Store, and look like those kids from Twilight. Young, pasty, sexy, tech-savvy, secret vampires…yes, that pretty much sums up our new target audience.

Where do we start?

 

IDW and ComicMix Join Forces

IDW and ComicMix Join Forces

Well, we’ve been hinting at this for about six months now. Some of you traditionalists have been asking when and how and where and when you can buy printed versions of the ComicMix comics. I’m proud to announce that we have partnered up with our friends at IDW (where GrimJack and Jon Sable Freelance and Mars last appeared) to produce one graphic novel and two comic books each month, starting this fall. Plus hardcovers and omnibuses and such, as the market demands.

O.K., I’m one of those traditionalists as well, and while I love reading this stuff online (particularly on my iPhone), I’m looking forward to seeing them in print. And I’m looking forward to running my typical long-winded introductions in the trades and letter columns — yet, genuine letter columns! — in the comics.

So if you’d like to email us a letter for publication, just post ’em as comments to the comics. Oh, yeah, we’re starting off with GrimJack: The Manx Cat and Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden in mini-series format. As if we should start somewhere else? IDW’s press release, for the record:

SAN DIEGO, CA (March 25, 2009) – IDW Publishing, a leading publisher of comic books and graphic novels, has begun an innovative partnership with ComicMix.com, a free website offering new and classic comics. Through this multi-year agreement, IDW will publish graphic novels, books and comics for ComicMix.com properties, enabling both companies to expand their offerings to customers and retailers, and combine their audience reach.

“ComicMix has a great line up of original and classic brands that are currently only available online, and despite the shift to the virtual world, there is still something unmistakable about reading a real-life book” said Greg Goldstein, chief operating officer of IDW. “IDW is known for producing some of the highest quality books in our industry, and we are looking forward to offering this to fans of ComicMix properties.”

Beginning in the fall of 2009, IDW will release trade paperbacks of ComicMix comics, as well as monthly comics, including many new stories that have previously been only available online at ComicMix.com. Initial titles will include GrimJack: The Manx Cat by John Ostrander and Timothy Truman, Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden by Mike Grell, and Hammer of the Gods by Mark Wheatley and Mike Avon Oeming, among others.

“This is a bit of a homecoming for many of us at ComicMix, because we have had a professional relationship with IDW Publishing over the past several years,” ComicMix Editor-In-Chief Mike Gold noted. “We’re honored to be among such first-rate comics and graphic novels. Quite frankly, I don’t think the ComicMix properties could find a better publishing home than IDW.”

The partnership with ComicMix allows IDW to distribute comics via mobile devices, increasing the company’s growing digital, downloadable publishing program, which already includes several major titles such as Star Trek: Countdown and Ghostbusters.

About IDW Publishing

IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. As a leader in the horror, action, and sci-fi genres, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including television’s #1 prime time series, CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation;” Paramount’s “Star Trek;” Fox’s “Angel;” Hasbro’s “The Transformers;” and the BBC’s “Doctor Who.” IDW’s original horror series, "30 Days of Night," was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. In April 2008, IDW released "Michael Recycle," the first title from its new children’s book imprint, Worthwhile Books. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.

About ComicMix.com

Organized in 2007, ComicMix.com is the free website for brand-new comics, news, opinion and historical research. Organized by comics veteran Mike Gold (DC Comics, First Comics, Image Comics), Internet pioneer Brian Alvey (WebLogs Inc., Blogsmith, AOL, Netscape) and print and online publishing vet Glenn Hauman (Random House, Simon & Schuster, BiblioBytes, DC Comics), ComicMix has been leading the comics industry in the production and online distribution of new comic book stories by major talent.

2009 Hugo Nominations — including the first Hugo Awards for graphic novels

2009 Hugo Nominations — including the first Hugo Awards for graphic novels

First the New York Times makes a graphic novel bestseller list… now the Hugos are getting int the act.

The nominees have been announced for the 2009 Hugo Awards, recognizing the best in science fiction and fantasy writing– and, for the first time, an award will be given out in the newly created Best Graphic Story (or graphic novel) category. ComicMix’s Andrew Pepoy, creator of The Adventures of Simone and Ajax, was nominated for his work in Fables: War and Pieces along with Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha and Andrew Pepoy, Lee Loughridge, and Todd Klein. No strangers to comics themselves, Neil Gaiman was nominated for Best Novel for The Graveyard Book, and Cory Doctorow was nominated for Little Brother; while comics properties The Dark Knight, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and Iron Man were nominated for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form.

The Hugo Awards celebrate the best in the field of science fiction and fantasy.  Hugos are presented each year at the World Science Fiction Convention, a.k.a. WorldCon, by the World Science Fiction Society, and are voted on by attendees of this year’s WorldCon in Montreal, Anticipation. The Hugos awarded at Anticipation will be for works released in 2008.

More information is on the official Hugo Award web site. If you’d like to vote on them, here’s how.

Nominations

Best Graphic Story
(212 Ballots / Bulletins)

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Real Dalek Discovered

Real Dalek Discovered

According to the London Daily Telegraph, a long-submerged Dalek was discovered among a ton of rubbish by a team of volunteers who were cleaning out a junk-filled pond.

Well, actually, just the head and neck pieces. The all-important eye-stalk was intact, but one of the dome lights was smashed. They’ve been looking for the rest of the Exterminator amongst the muck and the mould without success so far.

 

The exact location is being kept secret for reasons of maintaining neighborhood sanity. However, if you’re planning on a soggy vacation, back during Colin Baker’s run in the 1980s the BBC did a lot of exterior filming of Doctor Who in the Hampshire area.

 

There appears to be no truth to the rumor that a Cyberman has been spotted parking cars in Liverpool.

The Point – March 2nd, 2009

The Point – March 2nd, 2009

In like a lion with news on the resurrection of DEAD LIKE ME and how the stars feel about coming back from the dead. Meanwhile, Kevin Smith proves he still has it and makes our 5 Cool Things In The Comic Shop this week, and BATTLESTAR plus DOCTOR WHO equals LAW AND ORDER?

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Advance Review: Brave and the Bold Season Finale

Advance Review: Brave and the Bold Season Finale

If you are insistent that [[[Batman]]] always be portrayed as a dark, obsessive vigilante surrounded by nothing but psychopaths, then maybe the new cartoon series [[[Batman: The Brave and the Bold]]] isn’t your cup of tea. But I challenge you to watch an episode and tell me it doesn’t make you grin from ear to ear.

The new cartoon series has been loads of fun with over-the-top adventures that completely embrace their own absurdity. For those of us tired of never-ending angst, this series has been a great cure-all. And in the tradition of the comic book series of the same name, the show is based around team-ups. Each episode, the [[[Dark Knigh]]]t works alongside folks such as the [[[Green Arrow]]], Aquaman, Elongated Man, Plastic Man, the Atom (Dr.Choi), Red Tornado and the Blue Beetle (both Ted Kord AND Jamie Reyes).

This friday, 8:00 PM on Cartoon Newtork, fans will see part 1 of the two-part season finale. We here at ComicMix were given an advanced peek at this hour-long tale. Wanna see?

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ComicMix Politics: Zimbabwe’s Mugabe holding missing Dr. Who episodes?

ComicMix Politics: Zimbabwe’s Mugabe holding missing Dr. Who episodes?

This is a weird one. As you may know, Doctor Who has been running since 1963. A number of the earlier episodes are missing, because some bozo at the BBC decided to save money by destroying some old episodes to make room in their library, including a number of episodes starring the first two Doctors, William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. Once they realized what had happened, massive searches got under way to find what was lost. But despite years of searching, the broadcaster is missing 108 of 752 episodes.

Well, according to the London Sun, it turns out there’s a place where a bunch of them could be– Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe bought the first season of the show when it was still the British colony known as Rhodesia. The BBC suspects the historic series, together with later episodes not held anywhere else in the world, may still be locked away in a vault.

So what’s the problem? The current leader of Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe, hates hates hates the British. Mugabe still blames their former colonial ruler Britain for its economic chaos, and last year called the British Government “thieving neo-colonialists”. President Mugabe has banned the BBC from setting foot in the country. On the other hand, Mugabe and Zimbabwe needs money, and there would be a lot of money in DVD sales if copies do exist.

So we’ll have to wait and see. One day, he may really come back after all…

ComicMix Quick Picks – February 21, 2009

ComicMix Quick Picks – February 21, 2009

Today’s list of quick items that don’t fill a full post on their own:

  • Hugh Jackman to Do Oscars Drunk and Nude. Okay, maybe that would deserve a post of its own, if only it were true. Still, the post from E! Online wins headline of the week around here. Also, Ricky Gervais will write some of Hugh’s Oscars gags.
     
  • If you’re a fan of anime, manga and/or other Japanese pop culture in New York City, run, don’t walk to BookOff in Midtown – they’re having a 20% off sale on almost everything in the store until the end of this month.  This emporium for used Japanese language books, CDs, DVDs, manga and videotapes ALSO has a substantial selection of good-condition second-hand materials in English. Their usual US edition manga prices are around 40%-50% off  and the current sale takes the percentage off of that. They also sell $1 books and $3 CD’s, which don’t get the 20% discount but what the hey, those prices are already a steal.

    Since it’s second-hand, the selection is kind of catch-as-catch-can, but this reporter always ends up walking out of the store with SOMETHING cool. Just make sure you give yourself a strict spending limit…this reporter also has been known to get a little carried away with the bargains.

  • Are your pop-culture tastes more Anglophile than Japanophile? (Or, hey, it’s OK to be both — I loves me my Monty Python as much as my Mobile Suit Gundam) you will want to keep your eyes on BBC America. Ashes To Ashes, the BBC sequel/spinoff of the  time-travel (or something) series Life on Mars (the Americanized version of which is currently airing on ABC) will begin airing on the cable network in March. Check your cable or satellite system for BBC America On-Demand — you can catch a 25-minute sneak preview of the first episode of Ashes to Ashes now.
  • DOCTOR WHO MEETS THE BIONIC WOMAN! Well, no actually, it’s actually pictures from the set of the new Doctor Who Easter special, which also features Michelle Ryan, late of last year’s Bionic Woman reboot.
  • And, getting back to anime, in case you haven’t heard — a new Full Metal Alchemist TV series is coming in April!  The scuttlebutt seems to be that it will explore the continuity of the manga that diverged from that of the original TV series.

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.