Jason Patric appears to have nabbed the lead in the FX adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Avon Oeming’s Powers. Initially, Kyle Chandler was rumored in March to be eyed for the part of Christian Walker but the news of Patric’s signing broke late last night.
Patric would be partnered with British star Lucy Punch, playing Deena Pilgrim, in the pilot which Bendis said should be shooting over the summer. At present, FX has not confirmed its interest beyond the pilot, which Bendis wrote before being rewritten by “Chick” Eglee.
Previously cast was Charles S. Dutton, playing Captain Cross, head of the Homicide Division where Walker and Pilgrim work. Also in the cast is 11-year-old Bailee Madison (Just Go With It.), playing Calista, a girl raised by her stepdad Eagle, a man with powers. She will come to live with Pilgrim after Eagle’s wife is murdered and the stepfather vanishes.
Powers was launched in 2000 from Image Comics where is earned the Eisner Award for Best New Series in 2001. Bendis subsequently won Eisners in 2002 and 2003 as Best Writer. By 2004, Bendis’ value to Marvel was such that they created the Icon imprint for creator-owned material with Powers being the first series to launch under that umbrella.
The book has evolved slowly through the years now publishing its third volume, which launched in November 2009, with just seven issues published since then given the creator’s other obligations. (more…)
Page 10 of the Special Issue 0 “Generational Glory”
Debra Clay watches in awe and excitement as FLYING GLORY arrives to rescue her concert and the school reunion. This story is nearly over as we get ready to celebrate the comic’s tenth anniversary starting in June. http://www.flying-glory.com
WEBCOMIC FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY
CELEBRATES TEN YEARS ON THE WEB
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2011 (Fullerton, CA) – The fourteenth issue of the webcomic “Flying Glory and the Hounds of Glory,” located at http://www.flying-glory.com, will celebrate the ten year anniversary of the storyline in an expanded 36-page issue.The story, entitled “Reverberations,” will show readers more of the past of Flying Glory as well as provide glimpses into what lies ahead. A mini-comic prequel Issue 0, entitled “Generational Glory,” launched at the start of the year in anticipation of this major event and shows the cast during the summer right before the series opens.
“Flying Glory and the Hounds of Glory” is a webcomic featuring the adventures of super powered teen Debra Clay, known as Flying Glory, and her backing band the Hounds of Glory. The webcomic launched in the summer of 2001 with a four page short, soon followed by a twenty-nine page first issue. Artwork is drawn by Kevin Paul Shaw Broden, who co-writes the adventures with Shannon Muir, she also pens the poetic lyrics sung by the band. Currently, each issue is twenty-four pages in length and generally posted as one page weekly in black and white, though the original few issues were later reposted in color. As of June 2011, the website features roughly 350 comic story pages. In addition, “Flying Glory and the Hounds of Glory” appeared in print for the first time this year as part of a charity cookbook by TGT Media (http://www.tgtmedia.com) entitled “Webcomics: What’s Cooking?” that raises funds to feed the hungry.
“What originally drew us into doing this webcomic was the idea of superhero as celebrity, and I think we are still true to that,” webcomic co-writer and lyric writer Muir says. “Teens look at those who are successful and want to emulate them. Our main heroine, Debra Clay, has now spent a lot of time trying to learn from her grandmother Elsie Carmichael Stokes, the previous Flying Glory. Like many teens, it gets easy to be impatient, and to think you know it all.Sometimes that comes with consequences, and you realize the value of experience. She’s also needed to struggle with finding her identity as a growing woman, independent of the powers, which only brings added depth to the adventure. There’s also a wealth of stories to be told about the Hounds of Glory, most of who were Debra’s friends before the whole superpower factor came into play, and how she relates to them when they have struggles.”
Flying Glory came out of Broden’s love for the ‘Golden Age’ of comic book mystery men of the 1930’s and 1940’s. “I developed an idea of such a heroine and wrote a script for the book based on her adventures.” He was surprised by how many people liked the story, including professionals in the comic book industry. There were also positive responses from publishers, but nothing ever came from that. So Broden and Muir developed a second comic book series about the heroine’s granddaughter taking up the mantel and the mask.
For artist and co-writer Kevin Paul Shaw Broden, “Flying Glory and the Hounds of Glory” has been a magnificent way to express his creativity while continuing to pursue his career. Broden began his professional career as an art assistant for Brian Murray, where he worked on early issues of “Supreme” for Image Comics. Before that, he storyboarded the video for BiGod20’s “One,” as well as videos for John Wesley Harding and Kristin Hersch as part of the Summer Arts program in Humboldt, California. More recently, he’s been contracted to do illustrations for commercials and television series pitches, and his work is featured in Muir’s two textbooks on the animation business – “Gardner’s Guide to Writing and Producing Animation” and “Gardner’s Guide to Pitching and Selling Animation”. He also has a successful New Pulp online serial, “Revenge of the Masked Ghost” (http://revengeofthemaskedghost.blogspot.com/). Broden and Muir also have shared writing credits on several episodes of the Japanese animated series “Midnight Horror School”.
In addition to her work with Broden and the previously mentioned textbooks, Muir’s worked in production on several animated television series for such major studios as Sony, Nickelodeon, and SD Entertainment. Muir also recently began self-publishing fiction work such as her recent release “Touch the Stars” currently available on Amazon and through Lulu.com (http://www.lulu.com).
Issue 14, “Reverberations,” is scheduled to begin on June 26, 2011.
Heat Vision reports that the percolating film adaptation of Rex Mundi, which is being produced by Johnny Depp‘s Infinitum Nihil for Warner Bros. Pictures, has hired screenwriters. Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, who were among the credited writers for last year’s Tron: Legacy, have signed on.
The series, from Arvid Nelson and Argentinian artist Juan Ferreyra, has run a total of 38 issues, evenly split between Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics. The story is all about the quest for the Holy Grail, in Europe’s dark days just before the outbreak of World War II. The difference is that this alternate reality of 1933 presumes magic is real and feudalism reigns supreme. The Protestant Reformation was crushed long before and the Catholic Church has a stranglehold over Europe.
The character’s name means King of the World when translated from the Latin and the acclaimed storyline and came about when Nelson visited Europe and the dry history lessons came to life for him. He then imagined the ancient cities and their beliefs co-existing in a more modern setting. He also applied his personal Bahá’í faith to the religious subtext making the characters unique and memorable.
At first, Nelson worked with artist Eric J. when the series debuted in 1993 but they split over creative differences and after a break, the series resumed in 2005 with Ferreyra providing the artwork. The entire run can be found in six trade editions from Dark Horse.
A movie version has been kicking around for years with Depp attached. Fight Club‘s Jim Uhls write a script five years ago but the project stalled despite talk surfacing every few years. Klugman and Sternthal share story credit on the critically reviled Tron sequel but to be fair, neither are experienced writers with Klugman better known as an actor. IMDB lists the film as coming in 2014 so there’s plenty of time to see what happens next.
FX has ordered a pilot episode for a series based on Powers, the comic series from Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming.
The network’s SVP of public relations made the announcement yesterday on Twitter. Bendis himself twittered:
Powers pilot was just greenlit by FX! it’s official! your window of reading Powers while it was still cool is running out :)
The potential series is a co-production between FX Productions and Sony, and the pilot episode will be scripted by Charles Eglee, who has bonafides in both mysteries and cop shows (executive producer of The Shield and Dexter and the creator of Murder One) and comics and SF (exec producer of The Walking Dead and creator of Dark Angel).
Powers follows a pair of detectives as they investigate a number of murders in a superpowered world. The creator-owned series was launched by Image Comics in 2000, before moving over to Marvel’s Icon imprint in 2004. A television series has been rumored for years, and was known to be Eglee’s next project after leaving The Walking Dead months ago.
Bendis writes too much stuff for Marvel to list, while Oeming is known for Hammer Of The Gods with Mark Wheatley for ComicMix, as well as Mice Templar, Thor, Alpha Flight, Bluntman and Chronic,Hellboy, Catwoman, and Quixote. Congrats to both of them.
AP: Tell us a little about yourself and your pulp interests.
KB: All my life I wanted to tell stories, and most of those stories were and are about masked mystery men and super heroes. From an early age I did what I could to make that my career. I began with the plan of being a comic book artist, though as I went through my education I discovered my passion was more about the story than the art.
I’m still an artist. My first professional comic assignment was drawing backgrounds and doing color comps for the early issues of SUPREME for Image Comics. I want to continue to draw more in comics, but I’m really a writer at heart. Maybe not the greatest of scribes, but I write the best stories I enjoy and hope others will too.
As a young kid I had trouble reading, but after starting to read comic books the teachers encouraged me to keep at it. It was helping. Yet it was even before comics that my love for the MASK began. Late at night our local news radio station would play their “old time radio theater” introducing me to the Green Hornet, The Shadow, Lone Ranger, and many others.
In comics I found myself far more interested in the Golden Age heroes that were then appearing in All Star Squadron, instead of their modern day counter parts. There was so much mystery in those heroes that had started it all.
I may not have regularly been reading the pulps, but I was drawn to them and I was drawing them far more than the current models.
Alan Scott is Green Lantern to me, not Hal Jordan.
AP: What does pulp mean to you?
KB: I suppose it was discovering the mysteries of what was in those pulp heroes that excited me, just as much as when I dug through the secrets hidden in my grandparents’ basement. It was the same magic. I remember the first time I bought a Comic Book Price Guide. The cost of the old books was staggering, but what I really got out of it was discovering the names of characters I had never heard of before; who was this Blue Beetle, Black Terror, Spy Smasher, Phantom Lady, Air Boy, and so on. I wanted to know each and every one of them.
On a more scholarly line, which the child in me would never have thought of, the pulp authors continued the thread of the pedestrian ‘dime novel’ going back to Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Dickens with the same magic and mystery for less than a penny a word. Which in my mind makes the pulps and comics very much literature.
I didn’t begin to read the actual pulp novels until much later, but with that same childlike love for them.
Which led to about six months ago and an idea for a pulp style mystery man of my own.
AP: Tell us about your serialized pulp novel, Revenge of the Masked Ghost.Where readers can find it?
KB: My Masked Ghost character came out of a question I asked myself one day. How do the families of our heroes handle them putting on masks and running off into the night and to certain death? Which led to the next question: What happens when the family discovers what he’s been doing only upon his gruesome death?
That was the kernel of an idea that in the next few hours grew into a two-page outline and what I thought would turn into a pretty good story. Working from there I knew it had to take place in the “golden age” of the pulp heroes and not in modern day.
While I have been working on a novel, I didn’t want this new story to take a back seat and wait. So I decided to put it on the web chapter by chapter as I completed each one.
So the REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST began.
Our hero stumbles into the apartment of his sister and brother-in-law and dies in their arms of multiple gunshots. Shocked to discover he had been going about town as this masked vigilante, they must find out why and who killed him. It may require that Masked Ghost come back from the dead to do so. Someone must wear the mask.
I began posting the chapters once a week, but now because of employment I am posting them every other week. I have warned my readers that what they are reading is a first draft, with all the grammatical errors that go with it. I’ll be making corrections on the early chapters over the next few weeks.
You can follow the story at: http://revengeofthemaskedghost.blogspot.com/
This past week I also provided what I hope to be the first of many illustrations to go along with the story. This first image has the feel of an old movie serial.
AP: You’re the co-writer and artist for the webcomic, Flying Glory and the Hounds of Glory, which has been running for nearly ten years. Tell us about it.
KB: As stated earlier I fell in love with masked heroes from childhood and it isn’t surprising I came up with many of my own. As Marvel and DC had their own universes I soon had notebooks and three ring binders full of my own heroes and story ideas, which I labeled “My Universe”.
Later, I joined an online writers group, on the GEnie bulletin boards, that included writer workshops, and one focused on comic book scripts. So I grabbed one of the heroes from of my notebook and turned it into a full script.
This would be the first story about the wartime super heroine known as Flying Glory.
I was surprised by the positive responses I received, some from well-established professional writers. Because of that, a while later I assembled a pitch package and brought it to the San Diego Comic Convention with the hope that someone might be interested in publishing a FLYING GLORY comic. It was a long shot, being really impossible to have meaningful long conversations with anyone in that crowded arena. However, I did get to hand out a few copies of my pitch.
Surprised once again, a few months later I heard back from one of the publishers. We had a few phone conversations about the property and what could be done with it. Unfortunately the publisher eventually passed on it. They closed shop within the year, so maybe it was a good thing nothing came from it.
Yet Flying Glory refused to go back into the folder quietly.
About the same time I had met up with fellow animation writer Shannon Muir through GEnie, and she happened to be moving to the Los Angeles area. Together we began looking for a way to update Flying Glory for a ‘modern audience’ (whatever that really means), including development plans for a movie and animated TV series, as well as a comic.
We soon learned that we needed more exposure on our own first, and decided after exploring several options (including the more traditional ‘ashcan’ sampler format), the best way for us both time and money wise was to tell the story as a webcomic. Our initial release only ran as a full color four-page mini-comic, at that point we didn’t envision posting a page a week coming up on a decade.
With that, the granddaughter of the original heroine put on the mask and FLYNG GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY began their musical entry on to the stage.
Shannon and I co-write every issue; she provides song lyrics included in each tale, and I draw every page of art using my computer, Corel Painter, and a Wacom tablet. I also do fully painted color covers for each issue.
The webcomic is about teenager Debra Clay who already has dreams of becoming a rock star when she discovers she has inherited the super powers of her grandmother the wartime super heroine Flying Glory. Convinced that it will help her celebrity status; Debra puts on the mask and gets her fellow high school band mates to also become super heroes as they perform on the stage. But they soon discover that they must become real heroes in and out of the mask.
AP: What’s the secret to keeping the webcomic going for nearly ten years and keeping it fresh?
KB: After the first story, we soon learned to listen to what our characters wanted to do. There was a plan of course, an outline of where we intended the stories to go, but that wasn’t always where they ended up.
We also decided to shorten the stories so that they could be published in single issues or collected together.
With each issue we tried something new and the characters went where they wanted.
In issue five we had our band of heroes meet a Japanese schoolgirl heroine. I attempted to switch back and forth between my own “western” art style to a manga style. As an artist, I will be the first to admit that it was a failed experiment. However, the story still told us a lot about our characters. Several secondary characters in the story have made their presence known.
As we were working on that Shannon pitched a story for Issue 6. She had recently returned from a convention in Las Vegas. Her experiences there gave her an idea for a far more serious story. I wasn’t too keen on the idea at the start. After bouncing it back and forth we found a story we both liked and could work with. It involved the pull and temptation of the celebrity life, which our heroine was already falling for, and the terrible things that could happen. It involved a potential date rape, which her friends save her from. We discovered that the best way to expand and grow our characters was to force our lead to her lowest point and shake her to the core and then follow her journey as she re-emerges as a stronger woman and hero. We also worked hard to make sure every page was done right carefully in both story and visuals. Even with my earlier reservations, we are both very proud of this story, and the resulting consequences are still affecting our characters now over half a dozen issues later.
We have a lot planned for FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUND OF GLORY, and even TALES OF FLYING GLORY about the original patriotic heroine and other characters around her. These characters have a lot more to tell us, and they could for years to come. Am looking forward to people following along whether it’s on the web or in printed form.
AP: In addition to pulp and comics, you’ve also worked in animation and film. Creatively, how different did you find each medium?
KB: Creatively, they all begin at the same point: with an idea that becomes a story. The medium has its own rules, but if you can’t start off with the story it doesn’t matter if there are pictures, sounds, or cave paintings. There are some animators who believe they can do great cartoons without a writer, but they don’t realize they themselves are writers with their art. We are all storytellers first, no matter the media used.
I certain wouldn’t say that either a prose story or a script is easier to write. With a script you rely on an artist to draw the comic or storyboards and the writer sets the stage on which they work. But they still need to understand the scene and the story they’re drawing. So the writer better have a good idea of what the artist is expected to draw because if they don’t understand you’re either going to get tons of e-mail questions, or the final production is going to be miles off from originally intended.
AP: Where do you (or would you) like to see the publishing industry in the next five years?
KB: Publishing more of my work from the previous five. Is that a good answer?
Truthfully, I don’t know where publishing will be in five years or in one year.
A lot of people are concerned for the future of book publishing, especially when reports are being made that Amazon now sells more e-books than actual hardback or paperbacks. But isn’t that an answer into itself, there are hardback books, paperback books, and e-books, what is important there is that they are all books. Books are being published in one form or another.
In the last two years that I have been on Twitter I found more and more authors online to network with. I’ve followed as many of them have published, some even their first books. Some go the traditional way, others through online companies doing print on demand, and still others go directly to the e-book form. Because of the computer and the Internet we are now in an age that anyone can publish his or her own stories. I know that my webcomic and my serial aren’t making me any money, but I do it out of pure joy knowing that even a few people will see what I have created. I would warn people however of the so-called ‘vanity presses’ out there, which you have to pay to publish, or take more rights from you than they should.
I don’t think the book, or even the comic book, will completely go away, someone will publish them, but now we just have more ways to get our creations out there.
As to digital comics, I have two concerns. The first out of ego: what happens to the collector? Maybe that’s a good thing, and we won’t have a speculator’s market again. What does it do to Comic Conventions? The second concern is; do I really own my copy of the comic when it’s just out there in the ‘cloud’ and I have access to look at it when I want but not really hold?
AP: What, if any, existing pulp, comic book, or other media characters would you like to try your hand at writing?
KB: I’d love to sink my creative teeth in to a whole assortment of characters, but most of all as mentioned earlier; would love to write the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott. The mystical magic lantern holds a close connection to many other pulp fantasies of the time, and I think there is still a lot there to be mined, both in the magic as well the man.
Writing the Shadow would be fun, I think, though in my mind he exists as this voice from the radio than from the pulps. Recently I thought about taking a crack at a Flash Gordon type character. I found it interesting that the ‘present day’ world existed while he fought on Mongo as well. I’d love to do something with that. Do it in the time of the original comic strips and pulps, not like the poor TV series from a few years ago.
AP: Who are some of your creative influences?
KB: My influences began in comics with artists Jerry Ordway and George Perez. Their art was perfect to show the difference between the Golden Age magical based stories on Earth 2 and the modern scientific stories on Earth 1. So they became a perfect pair on CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS when Ordway inked Perez, the combining of the worlds and the art.
In writing it started the same with Roy Thomas on ALL STAR SQAUDRON, and Marv Wolfman on THE NEW TEEN TITANS. Everything else was compared to the measuring stick these men handed me as a child.
In prose writing, my first and major influence comes from Ray Bradbury. For many years I saw myself as him while I read his stories and about how he got started. Mr. Bradbury once wrote me about a story of mine, and took the time to point out what I had done wrong and how to improve it. Harlan Ellison is also a big influence on my work, but more so in my non-fiction, even my blogs.
During college, I was also influenced by Douglas Adams, but I found that my humor was overpowering the story when I attempted to emulate him.
So there’s this melting pot of influences in my mind and what comes out is me. Maybe not the greatest artist or writer, but it’s me and I’m pretty happy with everything I write and draw. Hope people like it too.
AP: What does Kevin Paul Shaw Broden do when he’s not writing?
KB: What do I do when I’m not writing? The answer is I write.
Currently I am working for my local community college writing and designing their alumni newsletter. Starting in the next week or so, I maybe writing and designing two other projects for them. So I’ve been blessed to have a nice “day job” for a few months. Though I continue pursuing an ongoing job in the entertainment industry at one of the animation or television studios. The important thing is that this gives me the opportunity to write. Maybe writing will be my career after all.
AP: Where can readers find and learn more about you and your work?
KB: Much of my work can best be found here on the internet.
FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY:www.flying-glory.com
REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST: http://revengeofthemaskedghost.blogspot.com/
FOUR NAMES OF PROFESSIONAL CREATIVITY is my blog on writing, comics, and employment, can be found: http://kevinpsbroden.blogspot.com/
The online comic news site www.ComicBooked.com did an article on me at the new-year.
Suppose if you’re ever in Japan you might find a DVD of the series MIDNIGHT HORROR SCHOOL, which I co-wrote several episode of. Unfortunately it never aired here in the U.S. I’ve been told it’s shown up in Europe. (http://www.milkycartoon.co.jp/official/mhs/eng/op.html)
Other samples of my writing and art can be found in GARDNER’S GUIDE TO WRITING AND PRODUCING ANIMATION and GARDNER’S GUIDE TO PITCHING AND SELLING ANIMATION both books written by my partner and now fiancée Shannon Muir. You can find information about her books here: http://www.duelingmodems.com/~shan/books.htm
AP: Any upcoming projects you would like to mention?
KB: I wish there was something I could shout out and say to keep an eye on in the future, but right now there isn’t. Am currently finishing up a contemporary fantasy novel, but it doesn’t have a publisher yet, and I don’t have an agent. Soon, I pray, soon.
FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY which will be celebrating its 10th anniversary starting this summer with a special year-long ‘annual’ style story that will let us in on the background of several of our main characters and give hints of our future stories, preceded this Spring by as a mini Issue 0 showing a bit of Debra and her friends before the powers awaken. We are looking at ways of publishing the early issues as a trade.
Am also pitching a new comic about pulp style mystery men existing in the current economic recession.
AP: Are there any convention appearances or signings coming up where fans can meet you?
KB: That would be nice. Years ago I got to participate at the signing booth for Image Comics, back when Image and the ATM were the longest lines at Comic-Con. Seen nothing like it since; maybe soon.
AP: You have served as a writer and an artist. Are there any creative areas you’ve not worked in that you would like to try your hand at doing?
KB: Besides being a writer and artist, not much. Doubt I’d make a very good actor.
I’m a storyteller. I’m looking forward to writing for television someday (would love to write for Castle), but no more so than writing a book, comic, or animation. Just give me the opportunity to write. Paying me would be nice too.
AP: And finally, what advice would you give to anyone wanting to be a writer?
KB: The best advice is also the simplest, but a lot of writers don’t want to hear it. The advice is write and write all the time.
Write about anything, even if you don’t have a story yet.
Several months ago, when I began my blog about writing (http://kevinpsbroden.blogspot.com/), I made the suggestion to look around you and find something, anything, and write about it and discover the story in it. At the time, over ripe fruit was falling from a tree outside my window. So I wrote about the sound it made rolling down off the roof as an example for the blog. The resulting story, which I posted to the blog the next week, was about a woman being stalked by an ex-boyfriend, it doesn’t end well for either of them.
So write, write every day. It doesn’t have to be good. That will come later. Just write.
Now I need to go write about more masked mystery men.
MotherJones.com used this image to help illustrate and explain the current political unrest in Egypt.
It’s a Guy Fawkes mask, superimposed over the Sphinx. In the article, Mother Jones claims that the image of Guy Fawkes, the English Revolutionary, is from the movie, “V for Vendetta.” But clearly, it’s based on the graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd that later “inspired” the motion picture.
Normally we wouldn’t dream of sending you over to someone else’s web site, because we need every bit of traffic we can get, but we would be remiss in not pointing you to The Beat, who have done their usual great job of listing most of the events taking place around NYCC/NYAF, but are also throwing a great party of their own tonight to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund:
Come support Free Expression, the 2010 LIBERTY ANNUAL, and mingle with the greatest talents in comics, at the
CBLDF’s NYCC Welcome Party, presented by Image Comics & The Beat
this Thursday at The Village Pourhouse Restaurant Row! We’ll have
special gifts, copies of the Liberty Annual and special open bar
bracelets! Come out and support the CBLDF!
Starting at 8 p.m., this event is free and open to everyone! With
a suggested donation of $10 or more, you will receive a special gift
bag, full of goodies from Image Comics & CBLDF! In addition to great
gifts, an open bar will be available for donations of $30 and $50.
Preordering bracelets is strongly encouraged, as we’ll have a very small
quantity of them at the door. For information on Open Bar bracelets,
please visit: http://tinyurl.com/38rgblr. The Village Pourhouse
(http://ph46.villagepourhouse.com/ ) is conveniently located near the
Jacob Javits Convention Center and always provides an excellent time
with a fun atmosphere.
Start your New York Comic Con off right by celebrating with the
CBLDF, Image Comics, and The Beat. The CBLDF’s NYCC Welcome Party will
feature surprise guest artists from the pages of CBLDF’s LIBERTY ANNUAL
2010, as well as a chance to meet comics’ best creators, insiders, and
fellow fans, in a star-spangled festival of good comics and free speech!
What: CBLDF’s NYCC Welcome Party, presented by Image Comics
(http://www.imagecomics.com ), The Beat https://www.comicsbeat.com/ ),
and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund http://cbldf.org/ ) !
When: Thursday, October 7, from 8 to 10 p.m.
Where: Village Pourhouse Restaurant Row – 366 W. 46th St.
Who: Anyone who is 21 and over – IDs will be checked!
Why: Support Free Speech, Mingle With Top Creators, and Enjoy Free Food and Great Gifts!
The CBLDF’s NYCC Welcome Party is also a terrific opportunity to become a
member of the Fund or to renew existing memberships. You can also visit
our website to become a member, or support the Fund by shopping at our
Web Store. (If you cannot attend the party, please visit your Local
Comic Shop to pick up a copy of the 2010 LIBERTY ANNUAL, available 10/6
and featuring some of the most talented creators working today!)
Note: this is the MIDTOWN Village Pourhouse, not the one down on 3rd and 11th from years past.
Beau Smith, marketing advisor and writer, has joined IDW Publishing’s Library of American Comics imprint (which includes some pulp like comics within its vast amount of material) as its new Director of Marketing.
“We’re thrilled to have Beau onboard,” says LOAC Creative Director Dean Mullaney. “He and I go way back to the 1980s and Eclipse Comics, where I was the publisher and Beau the Marketing Director.” A graduate of Marshall University in his native West Virginia, Beau has worked in all realms of publishing and marketing in comics. In addition to Eclipse, where he got his start, Beau was the VP of Marketing and Publishing for Image Comics, Todd McFarlane Productions and McFarlane Toys. Beau was with IDW Publishing for many years as their first Vice President of Marketing, and is the former Director of Product Information for toy maker JUN Planning USA. As a writer, Beau has written Batman/Wildcat, Star Wars, and Wolverine, and his stories have appeared at DC, Image, IDW, Eclipse, Dreamwave, Moonstone, Dark Horse, and many other publishers. He created several well-received series, including Wynonna Earp, Parts Unknown, Maximum Jack, Courting Fate, and Cobb. If that wasn’t enough, he offers his opinion on pop culture in regular columns: “Busted Knuckles” at Comics Bulletin, and “From the Ranch” for Sketch Magazine, and Far From Fragile for Impact Magazine. Beau is also the author of the most common sense business book on the comic book industry- No Guts, No Glory: How To Market Yourself In Comics published by Blue Line Pro.
Beau will be focusing on retailers, and expanding the LOAC’s presence in libraries and universities, so all retailers, librarians, professors, and teachers are encouraged to contact Beau at: beau@loacomics.com 304-453-6565
Our dear friends at Marvel decided to share a little cryptic image… and you know how much we love cryptic images. So, let’s take a look at it, and see if we can guess what’s going on here.
Well right off the bat, the headline reads “All new. All different.” And the ‘T’ in different is a sword. It’s obvious to us that this means that this new team, for the first time in marvel history, will consist of members permanently on fire.
Front and center we see Warpath is his old costume, as opposed to his black and silver X-Force: Pointy Things Kill People costume. Last time we checked wikipedia, it seems Warpath left the team because he “was finally at peace”… Our guess, Warpath wasn’t at peace, he just was holding out for a team without Wolverine.
Behind Warpath is Banshee, who as you’ll recall, has never been cool. Wikipedia said Cyclops eye-beamed him off Utopia at the end of the last X-men mini series we didn’t care about. Looks like Banshee’s back… And with it, there’s goes the sales.
Behind Banshee are a collection of Multiple Men. Using both the newer costume and the “body sock” 90’s costume… we can only assume Marvel ran out of characters to put on teams… so why not fill out the ranks with Multiple Men! It worked in the 90s, and it’ll work now, damn it.
To the right of Banshee, Multiple Man and Warpath are … uhh… some women. On fire. They’re in v-neck tunics, top coats, and skirts. Our guess? It’s Firestar and Frankie Raye. Why? They’re the only fire-type girls we know, except for Jean Gray. And we’re pretty sure she’s dead this week.
We also note that all these folks are sporting glowing red eyes. This could mean they’re being mind-controlled, have all developed Cyclops-like eye beams, or that they’ve forgotten their Visene.
The term “All New. All Different.” is generally associated with the X-Men. Look, we admit we bailed on the X-Men when we heard they were fighting vampires… but when your new team is 4/5ths Multiple Man, and Banshee? Why not close the deal, and add some of our favorite members… Doctor Nemesis, Dust, and No-Girl (a literal brain in a jar.)
At the bottom of the image, it declare a street date of December 2010. Oh! We got it. It’s the Marvel Character end-of-the-year Fire Sale! Get any of these characters for your own project before they’re shipped off to Marvel Island. That’s right kids, Marvel Island™, where a licensee can go to quietly die until Bendis wants them on the Avengers.
Do you have any ideas? If so, post em’ below… because lord knows we ain’t gotta clue.
The Harvey Awards, named for famed writer/cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman, once again hit the Baltimore Comic Con in style. Emceed by PvP’s esteemed artist and writer Scott Kurtz (not only because his name is close to Harvey’s, but because he’s genuinely funny!), is held in tandem with a celebratory dinner and ceremony. Our intrepid Glenn Hauman was on scene tweeting the winners to us all, and shucks, he even joined the folks for the after-party. We here at ComicMix congratulate all this years nominees and celebrate the victories for this years winners! Did your favorite take home the ole’ Harv’? Find out below!
Best Writer: This years nominees are:
Jason Aaron, Scalped, Vertigo/DC
Geoff Johns, Blackest Night, DC
Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead, Image Comics
Jeff Kiney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid #3, Amulet Books
Mark Waid, Irredeemable, Boom! Studios
And the winner: Robert “Suck it Johns, I PWN Zombies” Kirkman!
He joins other Harvey Winners like Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Brian K. Vaugn, and Neil Gaiman!
Best Artist: This years nominees are:
Robert Crumb, Book of Genesis, W.W. Norton
Guy Davis, BPRD:Black Goddess, Dark Horse Comics
Brian Fies, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow, Abrams ComicArts
David Petersen, Mouse Guard: Winter 1152, Archaia Entertainment
Frank Quitely, Batman and Robin, DC
JH Williams III, Detective Comics, DC
And the winner: Robert Crumb!
He joins other Harvey Winners like Dave Gibbons, Alex Ross, Mike Mignola, and Brian Bolland… but c’mon. He’s already had a movie about his life. Gibbons, Ross, Mignola, and Bolland should be proud they now share this award with Robert.
Best Cartoonist: This years nominees are:
Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter, IDW
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid #3, Amulet Books
Roger Langridge, The Muppet Show Comic Book, Boom! Studios
David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp, Pantheon
Seth, George Sprott (1894-1975), Drawn and Quarterly
And the winner: Darwyn “Now who do I fight next?” Cooke!
He joins other Harvey Winners like Paul Chadwick, Jeff Smith, Chris Ware, and Sergio Aragones!
Jason Patric appears to have nabbed the lead in the FX adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Avon Oeming’s Powers. Initially, Kyle Chandler was rumored in March to be eyed for the part of Christian Walker but the news of Patric’s signing broke late last night.
MotherJones.com
Normally we wouldn’t dream of sending you over to someone else’s web site, because we need every bit of traffic we can get, but we would be remiss in not pointing you to 
Our dear friends at Marvel decided to share a little cryptic image… and you know how much we love cryptic images. So, let’s take a look at it, and see if we can guess what’s going on here.
The Harvey Awards, named for famed writer/cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman, once again hit the Baltimore Comic Con in style. Emceed by PvP’s esteemed artist and writer Scott Kurtz (not only because his name is close to Harvey’s, but because he’s genuinely funny!), is held in tandem with a celebratory dinner and ceremony. Our intrepid Glenn Hauman was on scene tweeting the winners to us all, and shucks, he even joined the folks for the after-party. We here at ComicMix congratulate all this years nominees and celebrate the victories for this years winners! Did your favorite take home the ole’ Harv’? Find out below!
