Tagged: Martha Thomases

Lillian Baker and Martha Thomases On The Nation’s #1 Movie

Lillian Baker and Martha Thomases On The Nation’s #1 Movie

  • News
  • December 5, 2007

For the last two weeks, Disney’s Enchanted has been the top-grossing movie in the country.  A musical pastiche of animation and live-action, it’s the story of Giselle (Amy Adams), a young beauty rescued by the handsome Prince Edward (James Marsden).  Instead of getting married and living happily ever after as they planned, the couple is separated by his sorcerous step-mother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon).  Amy is banished to a terrifying realm – contemporary Manhattan – where she meets Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey) an uptight lawyer, and his shy daughter, Morgan (Rachel Covey).

Lillian Baker:  I thought it was pretty good.  Very funny.  It wasn’t very good if you’re one of those people who don’t like romance and/or fantasy.

Martha Thomases:  I liked the way it went from animated, in the Prince’s land of Andalusia, and then live-action in our world.

LB:  I liked the cartoons better.  It looked better.

MT:  They set things up very well.  In the fairy-tale world, we aren’t surprised that Giselle can talk to animals and get their help to clean her house.  When she comes to New York and needs help, she calls the local animals to help, and to her rescue come rats, pigeons and cockroaches.

(more…)

Oh, the weather outside is frightful…

Oh, the weather outside is frightful…

  • News
  • December 2, 2007

It’s snowing, albeit gently, here in the Northeast, and the temperatures are definitely of the stay-indoors variety, so why not do what I’ll be doing, catching up on ComicMix columns from this past week?:

May all your hot chocolates be filled to the brim with peppermint schnapps!

Baby, It’s Cold Outside, by Martha Thomases

Baby, It’s Cold Outside, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • December 1, 2007

Convention season is over.  The days are short, and dark, and cold.  I don’t have to leave the house very often except to get food, or yarn, or comics.  I have much time in which to brood.  Here’s a few thoughts …

*  Comics came out on Thursday this week instead of Wednesday, and threw off my entire sense of rhythm.  The reason, I’m told, is that UPS was closed on Friday because of the Thanksgiving holiday.  Was this a surprise?  Doesn’t Thanksgiving always fall on a Thursday?  Get it together, people!  I don’t know what day it is if I haven’t read (and cursed at) Countdown!

* I’m finding I like a weekly comic book as a format, just as I liked Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, Homicide, Buffy and other soapy serialized dramas.  It’s a shame they have to wreck the comic with fight scenes, when we could just have sordid interpersonal scandals, instead.  Tamper with a few paternity tests, and you won’t need those pesky parallel universes anymore.

(more…)

Giving thanks for good columns

Giving thanks for good columns

  • News
  • November 25, 2007

I find it nothing short of astounding that ComicMix columns continue to get stronger as the year goes on.  Here’s the past week’s worth of what’s shaping up to be a great legacy of reading:

Thank you again to all our readers for your participation via the comments!

Shopping Bag People, by Martha Thomases

Shopping Bag People, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • November 24, 2007

As you read this, the shopping malls are jammed. Many opened in the dark, with special sales to attract the first shoppers. The news programs will have stories about how many people got trampled trying to buy an item marked down a lot, and perhaps a heartwarming piece about a child who buys something for a poor family.

It’s the holidays.

Most of the world’s religions, major and minor, celebrate the passing of the Winter Solstice when the days stop getting darker and the light begins to return. It is a hopeful time. Whatever your traditions, you probably enjoy gathering with family and/or friends, eating and drinking, celebrating the return of the sun.

In the United States for most of the last century, the holidays are also the time to balance the books. Stores that might lose money all year count on the fourth quarter – October through December – to turn a profit. The day after Thanksgiving is dubbed, “Black Friday,” because that’s the day the red ink should stop.

(more…)

Unconventional reading

Unconventional reading

  • News
  • November 18, 2007

Some of us not being nearly as young as we used to be, yesterday’s National convention in NYC pretty much wiped us for the weekend.  Other ComicMix folks will be in attendance today, but we’re resting our aching back and legs and never-you-mind, and catching up on the past week of columns:

And, although it goes without saying, don’t forget to click on our free online comics as well!

Reasons To Be Cheerful, by Martha Thomases

Reasons To Be Cheerful, by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • November 17, 2007

It’s Thanksgiving week. Impossible to get anyone on the phone. News stories about crowded, delayed and cranky airports. Christmas music reaches overload levels.

Let’s talk about giving thanks, and what inspires it. Here are some of the things for which I’m grateful this year:

* It’s a great time to be a comics reader. Even during the birth of the direct market when there were all kinds of cool independents, I don’t think we had the variety we have now. A lot of this is due to the Interwebs, the series of tubes that provides a low cost of entry for new readers and creators. A lot of this is due to the success of graphic novels in bookstores, which opens the medium to new readers who might want more than superheroes (obviously, what they want is manga). There’s comics for kids, comics for historians, comics for soap opera fans – really, the list goes on and on. Dirk Deppey, at ¡Journalista!, separates “literary” and “pop” comics, a dichotomy with which I disagree, but not in a hostile way, more of a “let’s have a few drinks and argue all night at the bar” kind of way.

* It’s great to be back in the comics business after doing other things for nearly a decade. I’ve gone to a lot of conventions this year, and seen people I hadn’t seen for a long time. Here, in no particular order, are a few that I missed while I was gone: Marc Hempel, Mark Wheatley, Ted McKeever, Scott Hampton, David Glanzer, Richard Case, Bo Hampton, Denys Cowan, Dick Giordano, Eric Shanower, Axel Alonso, Dean Haspiel and Nick Bertozzi, Mark Millar, Joel Meadows, Stuart Moore, Maggie Thompson, Joe Illidge, Mimi Cruz, Michael Eury and a bunch more I can’t remember at the moment. And, of course, my pals here on ComicMix, like Mike Gold, John Ostrander, Glenn Hauman, Michael Davis, Brian Alvey, Denny O’Neil, Mike Raub, Kai Connelly and Elayne Riggs.

(more…)

Striking the right notes

Striking the right notes

  • News
  • November 11, 2007

As the WGA strike begins its second week, ComicMix staffers and columnists applaud our fellow writers, remind readers to keep turning to United Hollywood and Deadline Hollywood Daily for the latest news, and promise to keep entertaining you as best we can!  Here’s what we’ve had for you this past week:

May the WGA get everything it wants and well deserves!

TV Eye by Martha Thomases

TV Eye by Martha Thomases

  • News
  • November 10, 2007

A few thoughts on the Writers Guild of America strike, and what it means for comics – and you!

• If the history of comics has shown us anything, it’s the fact that the more satisfied the creative talent is with their deal, the better our choices in entertainment. The rise in independent comics that started with the undergrounds in the 1960s forced innovation on what had been a stodgy industry, not only in terms of subject matter but also in terms of revenue sharing and creator-owned properties.

• Television and movies are much more collaborative efforts than comics, so sharing copyrights and trademarks can be much more complicated. That’s why, in those media, the accepted standard payments are residuals and royalties. Even though the comics industry has been paying royalties for over a decade, I have not seen it make any difference in the bottom line at Warner Bros. or Marvel. When profits are shared, everyone profits. (Aside: Yes, I know studio accountants can magically make profits disappear. That’s a separate rant.)

• It’s kind of hilarious that people expect a flood of Hollywood talent to descend on comics during the strike. For one thing, most of the major publishers book up their talent on regular books for at least six months to a year. For another, the major publishers offer deals that are much worse than what the studios are offering. DC or Marvel may consider original graphic novels, but they’ll want to retain ownership, just as they do with all their other properties.

(more…)

An extra hour to read

An extra hour to read

  • News
  • November 4, 2007

Move those clocks back and use the exta time to settle in with ComicMix columns, why don’tcha!  Here’s what we’ve brought you this past week:

Now that’s an hour well spent!

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks