When you think of the classic Marvel artists, you think of masters of the medium such as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita Sr, John Buscema, and Gene Colan. No wonder Marvel left all other American comics publishers in the dust.
This coming February, Marvel Entertainment will honor one of those gentlemen by releasing The Invincible Gene Colan, a visual tribute and biography of one of the most brilliant and influential comic artists in the genre’s history – and one of the nicest guys on the block. Edited by our pal Clifford Meth, the book includes observations from Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Neil Gaiman, Walter Simonson, Marv Wolfman, Tom Palmer, John Romita Sr., and Tom Spurgeon, as well as tons of Gene’s beautiful art.
Aardwolf Publishing will have the exclusive signed-numbered copies as well as the extremely limited double-lettered remarqued, book-plated edition (each containing a unique sketch from the hand of Gene Colan).
Here’s the details: • Signed/numbered: $60 plus $5 shipping • Double-lettered remarqued edition (contains Colan sketch; only 52 will be created): $140 plus $5 shipping • Special offer: With any order, add another $15 and receive The Uncanny Dave Cockrum hardcover numbered edition ($40 retail value).
J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Lost, Alias) is reported to be in discussions to produce a feature film based on the Micronauts toy franchise, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Micronauts toy line was created by Takara, later acquired by Tomy, and debuted in 1974 in Japan, where the line is known as Microman. Two years later the Mego Corporation introduced Micronauts to the US, and released five series of toys through 1980. Palisades Toys acquired the right to reproduce the toys in 2002, and the entire line was recently acquired by Hasbro. Additionally, Marvel Comics, Devil’s Due and Image Comics published Micronauts comic books, with several paperback books based on the property published by Byron Preiss Visual Publications.
At one point, they were so tightly integrated with the Marvel Universe that they crossed over with the X-Men and spun out a character that has crossed over with most of the rest of the line, Captain Universe.
No word yet on who will actually write or direct the film. But should we worry about these robots being handled by a production company named Bad Robot?
With her character on LOST left to an uncertain fate, it’s great to see that ELIZABETH MITCHELL is back and kicking alien butt in ABC’s new V mini-series. She shares the road from that Island to dealing with The Visitors in the first part of our backstage visit to V. Plus Marvel Comics come to the iPhone (at last), TV has a new “endangered list” and there’s that AVATAR trailer.
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With this many twos, you’d think the Harvey was Harvey Dent.
The 2009 Harvey Awards were given out tonight at the Baltimore Comic-Con in a ceremony MC’d by double nominee Scott Kurtz. Named in honor of the late Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards recognize outstanding work in comics and sequential art.
All-Star Superman repeated the win for best continuing or limited series, with Grant Morrison picking up the Best Writer award. Last year’s best writer winner, Brian K. Vaughn, picked up the award for Best Single Issue for Y: The Last Man #60. In the two-time winners, The Umbrella Academy won for best artist Gabriel Ba and best colorist Dave Stewart, the Mark Evanier biography Kirby: King Of Comics won for best historical/journalistic and excellence in presentation, and Al Jaffee won for best cartoonist and a special award for humor in comics.
Special awards were given by the Hero Initiative: the Humanitarian Award was given to Neal Adams for his years fighting for creators, and Baltimore Comic-Con organizer Marc Nathan received a surprise award just because he puts on a great show.
Nominations for the Harvey Awards are selected exclusively by creators – those who write, draw, ink, letter, color, design, edit or are otherwise involved in a creative capacity in the comics field. They are the only industry awards both nominated and selected by the full body of comic book professionals. This was the fourth year for the Harvey Awards in Baltimore, MD.
The full ballot is listed below, with winners listed in bold. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees.
An interview with Lauren Shuler Donner, producer of the X-Men movies, revealed that a) X-Men First Class will NOT be filming soon, as rumored, and b) she’s cooking up several other movies starring Marvel’s band of Merry Mutants, including X4 and a New Mutants adaptation, among others. This doesn’t mean they’ll all get made, obviously, but it’s nice to know that they’re working on it.
And sadly, legendary illustrator Bernie Fuchs, known for his nontraditional and inventive compositions and striking color palette, passed away last week.
What else did we miss? Consider this an open thread.
Jeff Trexler points to this New York Times piece saying that the Jack Kirby estate sent notice of copyright termination to Marvel, Disney, Sony
Pictures, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and
others who have been making films and other forms of entertainment
based on the characters Jack created or co-created for Marvel.
The Kirby estate lawyer is Marc Toberoff, the man representing the Siegel estate in the Superman copyright case, who has already done an excellent job of raking DC and Warner Brothers over the coals. Toberoff has an impressive winning tally; Nikki Finke reminds us that Toberoff has also won or settled lawsuits on Lassie, Get Smart, The Dukes of Hazzard, and The Wild Wild West.
Kirby battled Marvel for years over the return of the physical artwork to his comics,
and was asked to sign documents that would have irrevocable and
specifically signed away rights to the characters, something he refused
to do. This led to heavy coverage in the industry, including the ad at right from 1986.
Two immediate questions come to mind:
1. Does this potentially sour the Disney-Marvel deal? Disney said in a statement, “The notices involved are an attempt to
terminate rights seven to 10 years from now, and involve claims that
were fully considered in the acquisition.” Really? You think Disney shareholders are ready to spend four billion dollars on intellectual properties they’re prepared to lose in seven years? Related: there’s a $140 million dollar kill fee Marvel has to pay if the deal doesn’t go through. Does this mean that Marvel has an extra 140 million reasons to settle with Jack’s kids?
2. If the copyright reversion is settled with Marvel and/or Disney, does this give them additional leverage in breaking existing contracts with other movie studios? In other words, does that “right to make X-Men movies in perpetuity” hold up if they don’t control the rights to the underlying characters?
If you’ve ever craved cupcakes while watching your favorite movie or set out a themed feast for an afternoon with friends, or just happen to be in Brooklyn for today’s Brooklyn Book Festival, you should meet Daniellan Louie. She got her start baking confections for her friends and family and, in 2006, she opened Ivy Bakery. Now she has a menu with over 300 items, which she makes from scratch herself, specializes in custom orders, and has a list of many impressive clients including Marvel Comics, Columbia Pictures, and the Tribeca Film Festival.
I first ran across mention of Ivy Bakery on Twitter when some friends were tweeting about Princess Bride-themed cupcakes. Since then, I have been following the bakery on Twitter for daily updates on what she is baking ( today’s offerings include: “Red Velvet Cake with Vanilla Buttercream shaped like Kingdom of Hearts Key” ). I know that many people in fandom have dietary restrictions, and may be lamenting the lack of cupcakes in their lives, but Ivy Bakery also has many gluten-free, dairy free, vegan, and sugar free items as well as the traditional ones. I recently had a chance to ask Daniellan Louie a few questions about Ivy Bakery, and especially about her awesome movie-themed cupcakes – which she decorates by hand!
What movie-themed cupcakes have you made in the past? I
just started making the movie-themed cupcakes this summer, but have
made many cakes related to movie/tv characters. The movie cupcake
collection currently consists of The Breakfast Club, Twilight, and The
Princess Bride, the next set coming in the fall will be The Little
Mermaid. I put a pause on the work because it’s been a very slow and
rough summer. I’ve also done characters like Yoda from Star Wars and
would definitely like to do several sets on popular Sci-Fi movies like
Back To The Future, Ghostbusters, Harry Potter.
If you were to make movie themed cupcakes just for yourself, what movie would you choose? Hmmm,
one of them would be The Princess Bride, but I already made that. For
myself I’d actually be more interested in doing Mario Brothers theme or
classic video games from the past.
If you haven’t yet, would you ever do a Lord of the Rings trilogy triple batch of themed cupcakes? Definitely,
I haven’t made them yet, but it’s on the to do list, along with Star
Wars, Twilight Series & the Harry Potter Series
Of all the themed items you have made, what was your favorite? It
would probably be the first Twilight movie. I think the cupcakes came
out very well, I did a double batch with 24 cupcakes since there were
so many characters. I saw on your site that you had a Pac-Man themed cake. Do you get a lot of 80’s pop-culture nostalgia orders? I
do, the Pac-Man cake was one of my favorites to make. I’ve also done
Mario Brothers, Sesame Street and a few others that I can’t quite
remember off the top of my head.
Anime and Manga are very big right now. Have you ever made a cake based on one? I
haven’t yet, but it’s only a matter of time. I have a friend who
actually draws a lot of Anime and I’m always saying how we should get
together and do cupcakes or cake designs. It would be fun to do a
Sailor Moon cupcake set, I’m not sure if that’s cool or in, but I
remember watching that when I was younger.
Your client list
is impressive! I’m sure our readers are most interested in the fact
that you have baked for Marvel. Can you tell us what you made for them? Ahh,
Marvel, I’ve never done any custom designs for them, it was all just
corporate orders, cupcakes, cookies, brownies for the office. But if I
was ever approached to do something I would love to. My friend who used
to work at Marvel suggested I do a set of Marvel/DC Logos for the
different heros and villians.
Have you ever catered for a Science Fiction convention? No, I haven’t, but I would love to, it would be a lot of fun I bet.
I love following your Twitter feed of what you are baking throughout
the day! Most bakeries don’t seem to be online. Has your internet
presence made a difference for your business?
Definitely, I like
to keep up to date with what’s going on with pop culture in terms of
technology and the net. If everyone is on Facebook, Ivy Bakery has to
be on Facebook, same with Twitter and all the other networking sites.
Twitter has gotten me a number of new customers and exposure throughout
the country. I have so many people asking about my sweets from other
states and wishing that I was closer to them that I would love to go on
a baking tour and bake for anyone who wanted me to. All I need now is a
sponsor.
My question: does that kill fee have to be paid if government scuttles the deal? Say, if antitrust in the US or Europe says no? I gotta read the SEC filing more when I have a chance to breathe…
Since we haven’t picked on Disney in hours, and since we’ve heard people wondering if Disney is going to have trouble with potentially adult situations coming from Marvel, we’d just like to refresh people’s memory of the Disney character from the 90’s, Marsupalami…
The Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark may not be as dead as previously thought.
According to a report in Variety, the rumor mill is spinning with word that the financially troubled production will resume production this week or maybe next, with at least some folks being called back to work. The production stalled earlier last month due to “cash-flow” issues. There is no official word as of yet.
They’re saying there is no connection to production on the musical picking up again and Disney acquiring Marvel, but I don’t believe that for a minute. Disney has tremendous experience working on Broadway, including Julie Taymor’s previous adaption of The Lion King for Broadway.
No word yet on if the musical will open on time… it had been set to begin previews on February 25, 2010, and officially open in March.
When you think of the classic Marvel artists, you think of masters of the medium such as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita Sr, John Buscema, and Gene Colan. No wonder Marvel left all other American comics publishers in the dust. 
J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Lost, Alias) is reported to be in discussions to produce a feature film based on the Micronauts toy franchise, according to the Wall Street Journal. 
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Presented for your approval are these, the stories we didn’t get to yesterday.
And now, the other shoe drops.
I’m a sucker for extra details like this, and ICv2 picked up a doozy:
The Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark may not be as dead as previously thought.
