Tagged: San Diego Comic-Con

Notorious Bigots To Picket San Diego Comic-Con

News
July 10, 2010

You’ve probably
heard of Fred Phelps and his Topeka Kansas Westboro Baptist Church. He and his followers have well-earned a reputation as the most notorious, tasteless bigots in America. They get their thrills by showing up in force at funerals to protest the lifestyle or the politics of the diseased. These un-American vultures prefer going to funerals of gay American servicemen who were killed in combat overseas. They also protest at the funerals of those who “tolerate”
homosexuality. Just ask the family of the late Meet the Press host Tim Russert, who also committed the additional
crime of being Catholic.

It turns out they don’t like comic book fans either.

These astonishing assholes will be showing up in force on Thursday, July 22 at the San Diego Comic-Con from 1:15 pm to 2 p.m. I guess they’re on a tight schedule.

Why, you might ask. Here’s what it says on their website and, no, I’m not going to give you the link. You’ll have to Google this latest bit of hate-thy-neighbor.

“They have turned comic book characters into idols, and worship them they do! Isaiah 2:8: Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. Isaiah 2:9: And the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself: therefore forgive them not.

“It is time to put away the silly vanities and turn to God like you mean it. The destruction of this nation is imminent – so start calling on Batman and Superman now, see if they can pull you from the mess that you have created with all your silly idolatry.”

Previous to this announcement, my contempt for these lowlife scum knew no bounds. Now it’s actually gone into the 4th dimension: I hate their fathers for getting all liquored up, going home, raping their mothers and producing a movement unseen since the Reichstag fire.

But that’s just me. What do you think?

Preview: ‘Rubicon’

News
July 6, 2010

It’s getting closer to San Diego Comic-Con, which means we’re going to start seeing more leaked movie trailers and TV shows. Here’s one of the newer entries, Rubicon.

The show is a conspiracy thriller starring James Badge Dale (who earlier
this year headlined HBO’s The Pacific) as an analyst at a New
York City-based federal intelligence agency who is thrown into a conspiracy
where nothing is as it appears to be. Henry Bromell (Homicide,
Chicago Hope, Brotherhood) has signed on as showrunner. The
one-hour, 13-episode weekly series is produced by Warner Horizon
Television and premieres August 1 on AMC.

But because we like you, here’s the first episode in its entirety. Enjoy.

Oh, and SPOILER ALERTS for everything in the comments.

San Diego Comic-Con is less than three weeks away…

News
July 2, 2010

…are you ready? (Hat tip: DarkStitch)

Is a Live-Action Blue Beetle TV Series on the Horizon?

News
June 17, 2010

When Geoff Johns, DC Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer, disclosed on his Twitter page that DC and Warner Bros were “hoping to develop a live-action show” starring the Blue Beetle, the news spread aggressively quick. To alleviate fans’ growing excitement and curiosity, Johns posted photos and more news about the proposal on DC’s official blog, The
Source. The site has indeed been the source of Blue Beetle related hubbub, as screenshots of Blue Beetle’s transformation sequence have spread widely across the net. Johns and his team created a clip showing Jamie Reyes’ scarab activating his suit, a clip that Johns will showcase at the San Diego Comic-Con.

With Smallville ending after its next season, WB could replace it with another DC Universe television series. However, would a Blue Beetle live-action show be received as well as Smallville was? Superman is an iconic character, while Blue Beetle is comparatively lesser known. There is also the issue of the Blue Beetle comic book cancellations. Some speculate that if Blue Beetle comics ultimately get canned due to poor sales, then how well would a television series fare? On the other hand, Blue Beetle gained a loyal fan following after Infinite Crisis back in 2006. Reyes also made several appearances in Cartoon Network’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Johns tweeted, “Blue Beetle’s going to appear in most of the Brave and the
Bold’s this year,” which is promising news for the superhero. The new publicity may give Blue Beetle a chance to make it to the small screen.

Perhaps we shouldn’t get too ahead of ourselves. Johns stated in his post on The Source, “This isn’t final. This isn’t greenlit. It’s only a test that was done.
We still have a long way to go to see if we can get this off the
ground and a lot of people to jump on board.” While it’s exciting to witness superheroes come to life, maybe we shouldn’t get our hopes up just yet with this teaser alone?

Exclusive: Hallmark Ornaments to debut at SDCC 2010

News
May 28, 2010

Hallmark will return to Comic-Con this summer with a line up of exclusive DC Comics, Star Wars, and Simpsons products for the event to introduce enthusiastic collectors (that’s you,
fanboys…) to the world of “Keepsake Ornaments”. Just in case your calendar isn’t marked yet, Comic-Con
International falls on July 21-25 this year, at the San Diego Convention Center in California. Here’s the run-down:

75 Years of DC Comics features the publisher’s three most iconic heroes bursting into action from the very comic books in which they made their first cover appearances—Wonder Woman in Sensation Comics No. 1 (January 1942), Superman in Action Comics No. 1 (June 1938) and Batman in Detective Comics No. 27 (May 1939). Limited run of 750.

(more…)

Archie hits postage stamps in July

News
January 4, 2010

Man, he won’t even choose on a stamp, will he?

Archie is now part of the 2010 Stamp program from the US Postal Service. The stamps are expected to go on sale in July during the San Diego Comic-Con.

If you didn’t have someone getting you freebies at San Diego Comic-Con…

News
August 14, 2009

…the nice folks at Random House & Suvudu have set aside a few things for you:

• Mark of the Demon signed by author Diana Rowland
• Child of Fire signed by author Harry Connolly
• Luck in the Shadows signed by author Lynn Flewelling
• Black and White signed by authors Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge
• G.I. Joe vs. Cobra signed by author Pablo Hidalgo
• Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi/Death Troopers Double-sided Promotional Posters signed by authors Aaron Allston, Christie Golden and Troy Denning
• Star Wars-The Essential Atlas signed by authors Daniel Wallace and Jason Fry
• G.I. Joe Above and Beyond signed by author Max Allan Collins
• The Comic-Con Exclusive: Talisman Issue #0 signed by colorist Nei Ruffino
• Mirrored Heavens signed by author David J. Williams

All you have to do is submit your name, email
address, mailing address and which prize you would like to win to info@suvudu.com between 12:00 AM on August 10, 2009 and 12:00 AM on August 21, 2009.

An Unshaven Rant: Should I worry about the 2009 Chicago Comic-Con?

News
August 4, 2009

Hello ComicMix dwellers (and loyal FOMAFers…). I come to you today a bit… deflated. Why you ask? Because I just took a sneaky-peak over at the Chicago Comicon’s exhibitor list and program schedule. Long story (…forthcoming…) short? It’s not looking great on paper. This angers and frustrates me to no end, but I digress. The more I get angry at this, the brighter the silver lining comes creeping in. Confused? Now, I ask unto you my loyal readers, all seven of you, to take this brief journey with me on the anger-train. After we reach the end of the journey, you’ll see why our last stop is in Happyville.

The Backstory

The Chicago Comicon (as long as I’ve known it, mind you) was built on the ‘Wizard World’ platform. (Yes, I know it predates Wizard, but that’s not how I experienced it.) Growing up on comics in the 90’s meant Wizard was my one-stop shop for all the hip and trendy news about comic books… whilst the “internets” was still in it’s primordial-ooze phase. My first con, sadly, was right prior to my senior year in high school. Even back then (and if you ask Glenn, or Mike, or Russ, or really, a lot of people patrolling this site) it wasn’t that long ago, this con was pretty darned cool. I’m a mid-westerner mind you, so trekking to SDCC is NOT in any Chicago-kid’s budget. But it never mattered. SDCC was always at the beginning of the summer, and Chicago’s was at the end. There was enough time for people to calm down, and as Dan DiDio says (said) every year… “Chicago’s con is always about the books. Always about the fans.”

Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and Image all put up HUGE booths where fans could grab free schwag like buttons, posters, and bookmarks. Samples and previews of forthcoming issues adorned tables behind which our favorite creators were signing piles of their own penned materials. Beside these mammoth booths sat smaller publishers, just as happy to show off their wares. And of course beyond that lay the monstrous sea of dealers, and beyond that still, the indie and mainstream friendly confines of Artist Alley. When time came that one could be sick of this massive room of geekocity, there sat a bevvy of panels where the pros came to sit and talk to their fans nearly face to face on a multitude of topics. Some came for the sneak peaks of the years books to come, some (like me) came for the free hints and tricks to learn in the schooling panels, and some came for screenings of geek-laden cinema. All in all, it was wrapping up Christmas Channukkah, my birthday, and your birthday all in one long weekend.

And every year since, for the next 7 years, I went as a fan. Last year I went for the first time as a “semi-professional (having published a graphic novelette in 2008. Over the course of these last 8 years now, looking onto my 9th, I’ve begun to see my “Rome” begin to crumble. (more…)

Cease and desist letter to ComicMix for posting ‘Astro Boy’ image

News
August 4, 2009

UPDATE 8/5/09: The issue has been resolved between Imagi and us. See here for more details.

So we got this in our feedback form recently:

From: Rebecca Henning

Email: XXXXXXXXX@wwllp.com

To Comicmix.com:

This law firm represents Imagi Crystal Limited (“Imagi”), the exclusive owner of the copyright in the as-yet-to-be-released CGI Astro Boy Movie and various images and depictions of the anime character Astro Boy, including the depiction at this link: http://www.comicmix.com//news/2009/07/23/sdcc-astro-boy-panel/ (the “Image”).

It recently has come to our attention that without authorization you have posted the Image at the link set forth above and represent that it is related to and/or connected with the Astro Boy Movie and/or sponsored or endorsed by Imagi (the “Posting”).

Please be advised that the Posting constitutes, among other things, false advertising and unfair competition in violation of Imagi’s exclusive rights, and further constitutes infringement of Imagi’s protected rights under the Copyright Act, all of which subjects you to a claim for injunctive relief and damages. Accordingly, on behalf of Imagi, we hereby demand that you immediately remove the Posting from your website, and further, that you immediately provide written confirmation that you have done so.

Be further advised that if you do not comply with the demands set forth above, Imagi will have no choice but to institute an action against you — and any persons or entities acting in concert with you — which will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Please confirm to us right away that you have complied with the demands of this letter. Otherwise, Imagi will have no option other than to act promptly to protect its rights.

This letter is not intended as a complete statement of the facts or of Imagi’s rights, remedies and causes of action, all of which are hereby expressly reserved.

Very truly yours,

Rebecca Henning
Weissmann Wolff Bergman Coleman Grodin & Evall LLP
9665 Wilshire Boulevard, Ninth Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Tel. 310.858.7888

And here is our reply:

Ms. Henning:

The image in question has been removed.

To play it on the safe side, we have also removed the article in question, and every article related to the Astro Boy movie from our web site.

Obviously, we will be unable to trust any Astro Boy images that we get from third parties, because they may simply be claiming to have permission to promote Astro Boy and we simply don’t have the time to check to see if, say, Summit Entertainment is in any way connected with Imagi… so it would just be easier to not cover the movie at all. Or the DVD release. Or the comic book adaptation, which will certainly be entertaining to explain to the publisher.

For that matter, we should probably be concerned about showing any images from other Imagi productions, such as Gatchaman, Highlander, TMNT, or Gigantor. We’ll just skip covering them as well. And we should also notify all of the other people and news organizations who are providing press coverage on the web for any Imagi properties to be careful running any images related to their properties, lest they run afoul of lawyers. I can think of a few large websites running your precious image right now, I’m sure their thinking will mirror ours.

It’s a shame. You could have handled this like the nice folks at Guinness World Records. When we used an image on their web site to promote an article about them, they wrote a very polite letter, did not threaten legal action at all, and provided us with alternate images to use. Even though our usage of the image clearly fell within fair use, we were happy to replace the image because we appreciated the tone and their efforts to find a useful solution.

But hey, you’re just doing your job. So are we. And right now, it’s going to be a lot easier to do our jobs by not having anything to do with Imagi products, certainly not by promoting them in any way. And I’m sure it’s going to be a lot easier for other folks to do the same.

Glenn Hauman
ComicMix

#SDCC: ComicMix Six: The must-see videos from San Diego Comic-Con

Uncategorized
July 30, 2009

If you’re like us, you couldn’t possibly have seen everything going on at the San Diego Comic-Con– but luckily, enough people with cameras did see everything (almost) and are willing to share.Here are the must-see videos from last week:

Kevin Smith on Twilight fans: You may have heard it got a bit ugly at the Convention this year with all the Twilight girls and Twilight moms. Kevin Smith puts it all in perspective as only he can… (dear god no, of course it’s not safe for work, it’s Kevin Smith on a convention stage.)