Tagged: Marvel Comics

Marvel and Disney getting ready for iPad

Marvel and Disney getting ready for iPad

  • News
  • February 10, 2010

It’s official. Disney CEO Bob Iger gave analysts a peek at what the company is planning around the iPad during a conference call yesterday discussing their 1Q10 financials. He mentioned that native iPad apps are being developed for Marvel Comics content.

As to his feelings on the iPad, Iger said:

“We find that iPad has a lot of potential, we think it’s a really
compelling device. We think it could be a game changer in terms of
enabling us to create essentially new forms of content. Obviously it
will be a great device to play games on and to watch videos because of
the clarity of the screen. But the interactivity that it will allow on
a portable device with such a high quality screen is going to enable us
to really start developing products that is different than the product
that you typically see on an internet connected computer or on a
television set.”

(And yes, I called this one early. Easiest prediction I ever made.)

The Point Radio: ‘Planet Hulk” Red Carpet With The Stars

The Point Radio: ‘Planet Hulk” Red Carpet With The Stars

Marvel ran a bi-coastal premiere of their newest direct-to-DVD feature, PLANET HULK and we were there, talking with creator Greg Pak and Editor In Chief Joe Quesada about where the company is headed in the animated market. Plus more LOST teasers, TWILIGHT breaks some new records and WALKING DEAD gets a “GO”!

PRESS THE BUTTON to Get The Point!

And be sure to stay on The Point via iTunes - ComicMix, RSS, MyPodcast.Com or Podbean!

Follow us now on and !

Don’t forget that you can now enjoy THE POINT 24 hours a Day – 7 Days a week!. Updates on all parts of pop culture, special programming by some of your favorite personalities and the biggest variety of contemporary music on the net – plus there is a great round of new programs on the air including classic radio each night at 12mid (Eastern) on RETRO RADIO and COMICMIX’s Mark Wheatley hitting the FREQUENCY every Saturday ay 9pm.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVE FOR FREE or go to GetThePointRadio for more including a connection for mobile phones including iPhone & Blackberrys

 

 

Marvel Comics Sues Jack Kirby!

  • News
  • January 9, 2010

Yeah, I know. Jack’s long-gone. That doesn’t mean he can’t be sued – or, at least, his estate. To be fair, Jack started it.

A whole bunch of copyrights expire between 2014 and 2019,
and Kirby’s estate sent notices saying those copyrights will revert to from the House That Jack Built to Jack’s actual house.

These copyrights pretty much include everything Jack ever
touched at Marvel: Amazing Adventures, Amazing Fantasy, Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Fantastic Four, The Incredible
Hulk, Journey into Mystery, Rawhide Kid, Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos,
Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense and The X-Men.

This action follows similar claims made by Jerry Siegel
(Superman), Marty Nodell (Green Lantern) and Joe Simon (Captain America). All have met with some degree of success for the litigants.

Marvel, of course, claims all this stuff was created as work-for-hire and therefore belongs to Marvel. Or, actually, now, Disney. “It is a standard claim predictably made by comic book companies to deprive artists, writers, and other talent of all rights in their work,” according to Kirby’s attorney Marc Toberoff. “The Kirby children intend to vigorously defend against Marvel’s claims in the hope of finally vindicating their father’s work… Sadly, Jack died without proper compensation, credit or recognition for his lasting creative contributions.”

In the world of litigation, Newtonian physics reigns supreme. Marvel lawyer John Turitzin said in a statement that the heirs were
trying “to rewrite the history of Kirby’s relationship with Marvel,” adding “Everything about Kirby’s relationship with Marvel shows that his contributions were works made for hire and that all the copyright interests in them belong to Marvel.” He then sought a court ruling that the Kirby notices have no effect.

Marvel is now owned by Disney, and Disney’s got more
hard-ass lawyers than Harvard graduated in 200 years. If the Kirby estate were to win, the $4,000,000,000.00 Disney just spent for Marvel goes up in smoke. Expect a big bloody fight – or an amusing settlement.

Quotes
courtesy of the Associated Press.

Marvel Unveils New Iron Man Armor

Marvel Unveils New Iron Man Armor

  • News
  • January 8, 2010

As the worlds of film and comics grow ever closer, Marvel this afternoon released this image of Iron Man’s new armor. If it looks awfully similar to the movie version of shellhead, that’s no doubt intentional. Ryan Meinerding, designer on the Iron Man and Thor films helped adapt the movie suit for comics and this debuts in April’s Invincible Iron Man #25.

The series, written by Matt Fraction, has been acclaimed to the point where director Jon Favreau had Fraction consult on the sequel, conveniently due out just weeks later. With a new storyline kicking off, the new mission requires a new kind of armor.

“The inspiration for the new design came from thinking about a sleeker, leaner, tougher Iron Man,” Fraction said in a Marvel press release. “If technology is increasingly getting smaller and lighter it seems like the Iron Man should do the same: ergonomic and aerodynamic. We were looking for something that felt as sleek and glossy as a sports car Tony Stark would covet.  I love what we’ve come up with. It feels like the next evolutionary step in the Iron Man’s design.”

Disney/Marvel official, and Disney’s getting Stan Lee as well. Now what about the freelancers?

Disney/Marvel official, and Disney’s getting Stan Lee as well. Now what about the freelancers?

  • News
  • January 4, 2010

It’s official. Marvel Entertainment stockholders approved the company’s merger with Disney at a special meeting held last Thursday, December 31, 2009.  Under the agreement, which is valued at an estimated $4.3 billion, Marvel becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney.

But in addition to acquiring Marvel, Disney also furthered its existing relationship with Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment (Purveyors of Wonder) by taking a 10% equity stake in POW! for $2.5 million.  Disney entered into a first look deal with POW! in 2007, and under the new deal includes enhanced rights to the creative output of POW! and certain exclusive consulting services.

The only hitch? Over the weekend, I was talking with a freelancer who was complaining about a recent job he did for a Disney subsidiary which still hadn’t paid him after many months, even after signing multi-page forms and four contracts, for what basically amounted to a lettering job.

One wonders what it’s going to be like for all the freelancers at Marvel who will suddenly find themselves thrust into Disney’s mammoth accounting system for dealing with outside vendors. If anybody has any experiences with the new regime, let us know.

The Point Radio: James Cameron On Life With ‘Avatar’

The Point Radio: James Cameron On Life With ‘Avatar’

For years now, James Cameron has been toiling on some form of the film we now see as AVATAR. In our exclusive interview, Cameron shares how he learned to both love and let go of his latest creation. Plus Marvel gives it up for the girls and Singer talks early X-Men.

PRESS THE BUTTON to Get The Point!

And be sure to stay on The Point via iTunes - ComicMix, RSS, MyPodcast.Com or Podbean!

Follow us now on and !

Don’t forget that you can now enjoy THE POINT 24 hours a Day – 7 Days a week!. Updates on all parts of pop culture, special programming by some of your favorite personalities and the biggest variety of contemporary music on the net – plus there is a great round of new programs on the air including classic radio each night at 12mid (Eastern) on RETRO RADIO and COMICMIX’s Mark Wheatley hitting the FREQUENCY every Saturday ay 9pm.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVE FOR FREE or go to GetThePointRadio for more including a connection for mobile phones including iPhone & Blackberrys

 

 

ComicMix Six: Best Geek-Themed Games for the Holidays

ComicMix Six: Best Geek-Themed Games for the Holidays

  • Uncategorized
  • November 19, 2009

With the holidays fast approaching, the question becomes: what do you get for the comic-loving gamer in your household?  Well, here are some of the best releases from this year to satiate their comic-gaming lust and keep you looking like the know-it-all Santa.  From purely comic-related titles to one of the year’s best surprises for film-fans, this is the collection to make your gamer happy.

1: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (DS, PS3, PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii)

Playing the previous title in this series isn’t necessary, as the events that unfold herein are actually the video game adaptation of Marvel’s ‘Civil War” event from a few years ago.  As players traverse the games environments, you’re tasked with choosing Pro- or Anti-Registration stance as you recruit new team members for your cause.  Gameplay is multiplayer-centric, as 4 players can team up together to take on all foes in this combat rich title.  As players pair up different members of their teams, stat bonuses reward the player for pre-existing groups (like having all the members of the Fantastic Four as a team, for example).  The control is refined from the previous title, so those who ARE familiar with the series will notice tighter control of their teams, as well ease in combining powers, one of the games newer features.  Here, timed special attacks can be joined with a selected partner for a larger attack, and bigger damage results.  While the ending won’t match the comic’s storyline, players will certainly enjoy all the Marvel references and characters throughout the title, and Xbox 360 and PS3 owners actually can download MORE characters to increase their player rosters.

(more…)

ComicMix Six: Classic ‘Star Trek’ comics you should read

ComicMix Six: Classic ‘Star Trek’ comics you should read

  • Uncategorized
  • November 17, 2009

After growing up from the little science-fiction show Gene
Roddenberry created in the 1960s, the venerable Star Trek franchise in recent years had just about worn out its
welcome in the eyes of all but its most devoted followers. Enter J.J. Abrams and
his high-octane, supercharged re-imagining of the classic series, resulting in
one of 2009’s most commercially and critically successful films, released today on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Star Trek’s
unprecedented popularity at the box office has also revitalized interest in
past adventures of Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Many such tales have been chronicled in comics form
since the 1960s—while the classic series was still on the air! After
boldly going into our vast archives, we have emerged with six stories that we
consider worthy representatives of the more than four decades of Star Trek comics history.

In order of publication:

1: “The Museum at the End
of Time” – Star Trek #15,
Gold Key Comics, August 1972

Love them or hate them, the Gold Key Star Trek comics occupy a special place in the hearts of old-school
Trekkies. The 61 issues—complete with crazy character likenesses as well
as the Enterprise belching fire from
its warp engines—helped to fuel fans’ needs for new Star Trek stories in the early 1970s. This story features the
Enterprise pulled through a cosmic vortex into a mysterious region where time
has no meaning. There, the crew finds all manner of trapped spacecraft and captive
beings—along with a ship full of angry Klingons! A tale typical of the
Gold Key run, this issue is noteworthy as being an apparent inspiration for
“The Time Trap,” an episode of the animated Star
Trek series produced a year later by Filmation Associates. 

(Reprinted in Star Trek: The Key Collection, Vol. 2
, Checker Book Publishing Group,
December 2004)

(more…)

‘Least I Could Do’ creators offers webcomic scholarship

‘Least I Could Do’ creators offers webcomic scholarship

  • News
  • November 16, 2009

It seems the least Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza could do was offer a full scholarship.

Ryan announced on the Least I Could Do website on Friday that they have created “The Rayne Summers Webcomic Scholarship”, at The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont:

Beginning in the fall of ’10, we will be covering the full tuition for
the selected applicant. The applicant who, I might add, is working
towards a career in webcomics. Over the course of the next 5 years, we
plan on adding 1 student per year, thus by 2015, the Scholarship will
be putting 5 students through the program per year.

This scholarship will be managed by Blind Ferret, though there will be
heavy involvement from others in our field, in the form of a board of
Directors and a selection committee.

More information will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks,
including fund raising events, application rules and deadlines and
more. Keep an eye on this space.

Applause, applause, gentlemen. And this actually hints at a bigger question– why hasn’t any other comics company stepped up to fund such a scholarship? There’s the Dave & Paty Cockrum scholarship at the Kubert School that’s funded from the sale of Dave’s personal collection and through the tireless efforts of Paty and Clifford Meth, and Diamond and First Second also had a scholarship at CCS, although it’s not clear if that was just a one time thing.

Why doesn’t DC or Marvel have any? Do they actually have some that are so poorly promoted that I’ve never heard of them? Or would they rather just draft straight from high school into the major leagues?

(Note: of course, DC and Marvel both have internship programs, I went through one from DC. But they do require you to be where the office is, and you have to be there during 9-5 hours, which is hell on a college class schedule.)

‘The Dark Tower’: J.J. Abrams out, new novel coming

‘The Dark Tower’: J.J. Abrams out, new novel coming

  • News
  • November 14, 2009

J.J, Abrams has left The Dark Tower according to comments made on MTV. During an interview, the producer said,” You’ll be hard-pressed to find a huger fan of The Dark Tower than me, but that’s probably the reason that I shouldn’t be the one to adapt it. After working six years on Lost, the last thing I want to do is spend the next seven years adapting one of my favorite books of all time. I’m such a massive Stephen King fan that I’m terrified of screwing it up. I’d do anything to see those movies written by someone else. My guess is they will get made because they’re so incredible. But not by me.”

King, now on the road in support of the well-received Under the Dome, has said he wishes to write one more book set between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla. Over at his message board, the moderator posted, “Stephen has given me permission to pass along that he has an idea for a new Dark Tower book, the working title of which will be The Wind Through the Keyhole. He has not yet started this book and anticipates that it will be a minimum of eight months before he is able to begin writing it.”

The author continues to oversee the adaptations of The Dark Tower cycle at Marvel Comics and will be writing an original vampire tale for Vertigo in 2010.

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks