Tagged: Iron Man

Tech Report: E-Ink and Comic Covers

Tech Report: E-Ink and Comic Covers

  • News
  • September 10, 2008

A few months back I had heard that Esquire magazine was going to celebrate their 75 anniversary with an experimental  electronic ink technology. Basically batteries are sewn into the cover that power a flexible LCD screen. I was interested but wanted to see how it came out. Well, issues are hitting the stands now. Take a look at the video below:

 

The “animation” is limited. Kind of like web page banner ads, not television. (Yet.) But the first thing that sprang to my mind was how long before a comic company puts out a special edition comic featuring this? Back issues bins are overstocked with prismatic, die-cut, hologram, lenticular special editions from the 90’s. Collectors may have been burned but those suckers sold for the publishers.

What comic covers that come to my mind immediately are an Iron Man cover with lots of parts lighting up. Or the Batmobile with motion blur background. Or seeing that star field effect seen with Donna Troy, Alexander Luthor, Captain Marvel and other cosmic characters actually twinkling.

The only drawback is that the batteries only last 90 days. But hey, put an E-ink comic cover in a comic shop front window and see how fast they’d sell anyway.

‘Iron Man’ DVD Sneak Peek

‘Iron Man’ DVD Sneak Peek

  • News
  • September 9, 2008

With Iron Man coming out on DVD (in a variety of formats and editions) on September 30, Paramount Home Video has begun letting websites sneak peek some of the extras to be found on the discs.

We have three such links for you this morning.  First there’s one on the costume design, then one on flying, and finally one on Robert Downey, Jr. being prepped for the suit.

Enjoy.

Waiting For The Phone To Ring, by Dennis O’Neil

Waiting For The Phone To Ring, by Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • September 9, 2008

So here we were, writer/editor Jack C. Harris and myself, caught in a warp of eternity. Had we committed some hideous transgression to be doomed to this Purgatory? Well, no. What we’d done is agree to be guests on a radio call-in program about 30 years ago. Subject, of course: comic books.

We arrived at the small, shadowy studio early, earlier than the host, who breezed in a minute or so before air time and then, without notes, he was speaking into a microphone, introducing Jack and me, urging listeners to ask us questions and giving a phone number they could call if they wanted to speak to one or both of us.

We waited for that ol’ switchboard to light up. And waited. And waited. And waited. It seemed that nobody was interested in comic books, not that night in that city. We waited, and tried to make small talk, which I do not include in my skill set, and waited and waited.

Then there was a call! Hallelujah! Oh joy, oh happiness – a call! For us? Unfortunately, no. Some guy wanted to tout a community event of some sort, and fine, say I – more power to him.

There may have been one or two more calls – as noted, this was 30 years ago and I had no reason to cherish the memories – but basically, Jack, Mr. Radio Man, and I sat in that studio for two hours and then Jack and I left and I got on a train back to New York.

Got on the Amtrak, did I, little knowing that Jack, Radio Man and I were pioneers. What we’d done was fill up airtime without imparting any information, without saying anything anyone wanted or needed to hear

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‘Iron Man 2’ Auction to Support Cancer Charity

‘Iron Man 2’ Auction to Support Cancer Charity

  • News
  • September 9, 2008

Marvel Comics is continuing its support of Stand Up To Cancer by offering an Iron Man 2 Vip Package over at eBay. Similar to the just concluded Spider-Man 4 auction, the winner and a guest will receive:

A one day visit to the set, a walk on part documented by the unit photographer, tickets to the Los Angeles premiere of the film in April 2010 and a chance to walk the red carpet. 

Earlier today, the bidding was in excess of $5000 and the auction ends on September 15.

What’s Wrong With Wonder Woman, by Mike Gold

What’s Wrong With Wonder Woman, by Mike Gold

  • News
  • September 8, 2008

In this space on Friday and Saturday, my esteemed colleagues Mr. Davis and Ms. Thomases waxed on about the political situation of the day. Whereas there is no more important issue facing us as Americans in this moment in time (and it has considerable impact on non-Americans as well), I will not follow in their wake this week. I’m sure I will in the future.

Instead, I’m going to take a point central to their themes, and those expressed to a somewhat lesser extent by Ms. Riggs last week, and talk about comic books. Specifically, about Wonder Woman.

Since I’m in a name-dropping kind of mood, I should point out that my comments have been heavily influenced by recent conversations with Ms. Adriane Nash, a frequent commenter here at ComicMix, as well as our new editorial proofreader (for those items that come in early enough to be proofread…). And, oh yeah, she’s my savvy and opinionated daughter.

So what’s wrong with Wonder Woman? Positioning. Not unlike what many people think the McCain campaign did by selecting a fundamentalist book burner as their vice presidential candidate, under the theory that women are so stupid they’ll simply vote for one of their own no matter what her position is on the issues. You know, just like the conservatives.

Ahem. Sorry. Back to comics.

Back in the 1940s, Wonder Woman was fabulously successful. She had as much exposure as any DC/AA hero (but not as much as, say, the real Captain Marvel). She had her own title, she starred in a monthly anthology book, she starred in a regularly published giant-sized star-studded superhero thing, and she briefly had her own newspaper strip. All she was lacking was a cheap movie serial.

By the time the 70s rolled around, DC had a hard time giving Wonder Woman away. As of this date, she’s undergone more revisions, reboots (one, quite literally, brought her original boots back), reinterpretations, and make-overs than Madonna. What happened?

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Free Multiplayer Expansion for ‘The Incredible Hulk’ Videogame

Free Multiplayer Expansion for ‘The Incredible Hulk’ Videogame

  • News
  • September 3, 2008

Remember The Incredible Hulk videogame? Based on this summer’s movie, the game received solid reviews but the bulk of its sales happened around the movie’s release. Hulk smashed New York City, but we’ve forgotten about him since then. But what if Hulk was fighting another Hulk?

Maybe it was a feature that didn’t make it in time for the street date. Maybe it’s hype for the game as we near The Incredible Hulk movie’s DVD release. But Sega has released a Hulk Multiplayer Expansion Pack. For free!

This multiplayer expansion pack for The Incredible Hulk adds additional online, two-player missions that will test the speed, strength, and skill of even the biggest Super Hero fan. The missions take place in one of 5 large arenas, each one a dynamic and fully destructible environment packed with non-stop action and ruthless enemies.

Hulk can fight Hulk, or grey Hulk, or Maestro, or even Hulkbuster Iron Man. The PlayStation 3 version has an exclusive Green Scar version, while the Xbox 360 has Hulk’s Mr. Fixit persona. Now we can really find out who is the strongest there is.

 

 

Turning Comics Into Manga, By Dennis O’Neil

Turning Comics Into Manga, By Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • September 1, 2008

If you’re a student, or a teacher, you may not be reading this when Mike Gold posts it. Unless there’s a glitch he’ll be doing digital voodoo-hoodoo that I don’t understand – me and Johnny Mac, Luddites and proud of it – and making these words available to interested parties, if any, on Tuesday morning. The reason you’re not reading this on Tuesday morning, if you’re a teacher or student, may be that you’re in school and presumably putting your laptop to other uses. (I didn’t say “better.” I said other. Let’s not be judgmental.) Here in Rockland County New York, school begins early this year and unless the unforeseen happens, Marifran is, on the Tuesday-to-come, down the hill, beginning her forty-seventh year of teaching and I’m… oh, eating breakfast. Reading the paper. Sleeping. Something. I hope Mari didn’t wake me when she left.

For comics professionals, these fine, crisp September days are often a lull – an easy interval between the frantic, convention-going days of summer and the rush to finish and get to press the upscale books that publishers hope will be under a whole lot of trees on Christmas morning. Not much happening. The only items of interest that have come to my attention recently are the demise of one of the new comics publishers and Marvel’s announcement that it will tailor its superheroes for the Japanese market.

That market has been something of an enigma. The Japanese are, as a nation, the world’s largest comics consumers and have been for decades. Why? One theory is that experiencing narrative through the medium of pictures is natural to many Asians because their written language is pictorial – it may have begun as actual drawings and has evolved into a series of highly stylized glyphs. Neither a new idea, nor one restricted to comics: the great Russian director and theorist Sergei Eisenstein offered a similar explanation for Asia’s quick adoption of movies.

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Given You A Number, by John Ostrander

Given You A Number, by John Ostrander

  • News
  • August 28, 2008

It’s a good thing for this column that I listen to NPR. I don’t know if I’d have the number of column topics that I’ve had without it. This time I was listening to a debate between a former college/university president and the head of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The topic was whether the drinking age should be lowered to 18. I like to think I would have been more Pro on the topic back when I was 18 myself, but the fact was in those days I was so square I was cubed.

Both sides had pretty fair arguments, but the one that struck home most for me was this: a young man or woman can sign up for the Armed Forces, be taught to kill, be put in situations where they can be killed, and are expected to exercise quick and accurate decisions between friend and foe, even when the foe dresses like everyone else. Yet, those same young people cannot be expected to responsibly decide how much to drink. They can die for their country but they can’t have a beer because they’re too young.

Is it just me or does anyone else think this is pretty screwed up thinking?

Both eighteen and twenty-one are “magic numbers.” Are we really “adult” by either one of those birthdays? Some folks are, some aren’t. Some never are. If you’re one of those whose criterion for voting for a particular candidate is whether or not you would want to have a beer with them, then you’re not old enough to vote. I don’t care how many birthdays you’ve had; you’re not old enough.

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Heroic Gloom, by Dennis O’Neil

Heroic Gloom, by Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • August 26, 2008

Tuesday, August 26: 146 days.

They continue to dwindle down, the days, but maybe not fast enough. If Dennis Kucinich is right in a New York Times interview, Georgie just might launch an attack on Iran sometime between now and the election because…well, we don’t want to switch leadership in the middle of a military crisis and we have to be tough on terrorism, et cetera. And lest we think that this is lefty paranoia from a vegan who is, after all, a friend of Shirley MacLaine’s, just look at the last eight years…

But enough gloom on this fine pre-autumn day, at least enough political gloom. Let’s switch to some nice television gloom. This is not a good week for Okay, I’m gonna bust in here. In case we haven’t met before, I’m Randy Hyper, a fictional character that dweeb O’Neil made up ‘cause he hasn’t got the cojones to tell you about the stuff he’s doing that he wants you to know about. (And if there’s a bigger loser in comics, don’t tell me ‘cause I don’t feel like crying.) Anyway…what el dweebo wants me to tell you is that he’s again teaching a course in writing comics and graphic novels at New York University, beginning next month, September 24, and running until December 3 on Wednesdays from 6:20 till 8:40. Course number is X32.9372. Phone is 212-998-7171. I can tell that he’s looking forward to this gig ‘cause last semester’s group were what he might call “cool” which just goes to prove that even he isn’t wrong all the time. Now back to our regularly scheduled blather. so if you like sports, this is your week. The last gasp of the Olympics, preseason football, the big tennis matches, plus the usual baseball action – lots to keep you sports fans amused. As for the rest of us…not wonderful.

And if you’re a Lois Lane – a superhero lover – the season beyond this week isn’t awfully promising, either. As far as I can tell, there are no new superdoers on the television schedule and one of last year’s, the revamped Bionic Woman, won’t be returning. This despite the fact that the summer movie schedule was pretty superhero-intensive and two of the entries do for this kind of fantasy-melodrama what the films of John Ford, Howard Hawks and maybe John Huston did for westerns: mature them. No longer are the cape-and-tights crowd fit only to provide the airiest of light entertainment; they now have a claim on art, of maybe even Art.

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Marvel Lets Japan Recreate Its Heroes

Marvel Lets Japan Recreate Its Heroes

  • News
  • August 25, 2008







Marvel Comics announced a deal with Japan’s Madhouse that will have their core super-heroes reimagined for Japanese audiences.  Originally designed as animated fare, the long-range plans call for the Marvel Japanese Universe to be found on mobile devices and comic books.

Essentially, the heroes will experience new origins taking into account Japanese culture and society.  Their problems, foibles ands villains will all reflect the country of origin, using “something that is part of the fabric of society” according to Jungo Maruta, the president and chief executive of Madhouse. He told the New York Times, “Marvel gives creators freedom to fly.”

The first characters to undergo transformation will be Iron Man and Wolverine in thirty-minute anime intended for Japanese television in 2010. “Although they say, ‘I want Japanese anime,’ it’s not what they actually want. They want a hybrid between Japanese and Western animation,” Alex Yeh, the chief operating officer of the studio, told the Times.

“Marvel has continuously looked to push the boundaries with the Marvel Universe and seek new mediums for our characters. Madhouse is helping us expand the Marvel brand with a truly global vision tailored to themes and artistic styles popular in Japan, creating a uniquely localized and cross-cultural adaptation of the Marvel Universe,” said Simon Philips, President, International & Worldwide Head of Animation, Wireless & Gaming for Marvel Entertainment in a release.

Marvel previously attempted this concept with an India-inspired Spider-Man which was a commercial and critical flop from Gotham Entertainment Group in 2004.

Madhouse was founded in 1972 and is seen as a creative powerhouse in Asia, perhaps best known for its Vampire Hunter D.

 

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