Tagged: San Diego

IAMTW Announces 2012 Scribe Award Nominees and Grandmaster

The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers co-founders Lee Goldberg & Max Allan Collins are pleased to announce the 2012 nominees for the Scribe Award, honoring excellence in media tie-in writing, and the naming of author Kevin J. Anderson as this year’s Grandmaster for his lifetime achievement in the field.

Anderson is the author of more than one hundred novels, adding up to over 20 million books in print in thirty languages. His work includes the STAR WARS “Jedi Academy” books, three internationally bestselling X-FILES hardcovers, the Superman novels THE LAST DAYS OF KRYPTON and ENEMIES & ALLIES, many novelizations (SKY CAPTAIN & THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, etc.) and, of course, the ten globally bestselling DUNE novels he has co-authored with Brian Herbert.

He has won or been nominated for numerous prestigious honors, including the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and a New York Times Notable Book prize…and now he can add IAMTW Grandmaster to the list of his extraordinary achievements.

The awards will be given at a ceremony in July at this year’s Comic-Con convention in San Diego.

*GRANDMASTER*: KEVIN J. ANDERSON

*GENERAL FICTION / BEST ORIGINAL NOVEL*:

ROYAL PAINS: FIRST DO NO HARM by D.P. Lyle

MIKE HAMMER: KISS HER GOODBYE by Max Allan Collins & Mickey Spillane

BURN NOTICE: THE BAD BEAT by Tod Goldberg

*SPECULATIVE FICTION/BEST ORIGINAL NOVEL*

STAR WARS: KNIGHT ERRANT by John Jackson Miller

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS – FORGOTTEN REALMS: BRIMSTONE ANGELS by Erin M. Evans

SUPERNATURAL: COYOTE’S KISS by Christa Faust

DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: THE SHARD AXE by Marshiela Rockwell

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE PRICE OF FREEDOM by A.C. Crispin

*BEST ADAPTATION GENERAL OR SPECULATIVE*

CONAN THE BARBARIAN by Michael Stackpole

CRYSIS LEGION by Peter Watts

TRANSFORMERS: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON by Peter David

COWBOYS & ALIENS by Joan D. Vinge

*BEST YOUNG ADULT*

ME & MY MONSTERS: MONSTER MANNERS by Rory Growler (Ian Pike)

THE SMURFS movie tie-in by Stacia Deutsch and Rhody Cohon

THUNDERBIRDS: EXTREME HAZARD by Joan Marie Verba

*BEST AUDIO*

MIKE HAMMER: ENCORE FOR MURDER by Max Allan Collins & Mickey Spillane

DARK SHADOWS: THE LOST GIRL by D. Lynn Smith

HIGHLANDER: ALL THE KINGS HORSES by Scott Andrews

DOCTOR WHO: THE MANY DEATHS OF JO GRANT by Cavan Scott & Mark Wright

Mike Gold Is Such A Tease!

All of a sudden I find myself in the midst of a half-dozen publishing projects. All are comics, and all but one are comics stories.

Here’s the rub: I’m dying to tell you about them. Really. I’d kill to tell you about them. But I can’t. I’m not the publisher, I’m not the artist, I’m not the writer of most of them, and I’m not the publicist. So it’s not my place to blab. I’m the editor, the dealmaker, and in at least one case the conceptualizer. So you’d think my ego, which even I call The Hulk, could handle a bit of a wait.

Well, no. That’s why I call my ego The Hulk. That’s why, when Jack Kirby came up with an entire living planet named Ego (Thor #132, cover-dated September 1966), I identified like crazy.

There’s another reason. These deals haven’t been papered yet. “Papered” is high-falutin’ dealmaker speak for “signed contract” or “signed letter of agreement,” which are the same thing. Anyway, any or all of them can still collapse. That happens all the time.

So my ego is so big I’m telling you these deals are happening even though they haven’t been papered yet. Of course, having a signed deal is no guarantee that a project will ever start, let alone be released. If you took all the development proposals, all the unreleased master tapes both audio and video, all the edited film footage and laid ‘em all end to end, it would stretch from the San Diego convention center all the way to Ego The Living Planet.

So you’ll forgive me if I’m a bit excited. I’ll be working with friends old and new, including at least seven folks who are currently involved with ComicMix. There is no greater pleasure (with my clothes on) than doing creative work with good friends. People whose talent I can count on and the readers enjoy. People whose work habits are compatible with mine and vice versa. People I can call at 2 AM if they’re late on a deadline.

True story. Back when I was working at DC Comics in New York, I made an emergency trip to Chicago to be there for my father during his surgery. Of course there was nothing I could do during the surgery itself, but I was a ten-minute drive away from a freelancer who was almost a month late on a deadline. I borrowed my father’s car – hell, he wasn’t using it – and drove to said freelancer’s apartment. He wasn’t home, so I bribed the building superintendent into letting me in. I took a sheet of art board and scrawled in red marker “HEY! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU! YOU’RE LATE! I BETTER HAVE THE PAGES ON MY DESK BY MONDAY! Love, Mike Gold.” I taped it to his drawing table and then I returned to the hospital, stopping only for an Italian beef sandwich. Yes, I had those pages on my desk by Monday.

So pay attention and you’ll hear about all this stuff. I hope. Actually, we teased a couple of them at the C2E2 convention last week, so if you were there you can easily connect some of the dots. And I should be in San Diego annoying the masses with all this as well.

Huckstering is an intrinsic part of our popular culture. But I pride myself in my inherently total lack of common sense to promote nothing by name… and to do so months in advance.

Yeah, that’s how excited I am.

THURSDAY: Is Dennis O’Neil Really Tony Stark?

 


Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and America’s Blood Centers Team Up to Support National Blood Drive

immortals-film-3-298x450-4805173Every now and then, a studio does something pretty impressive during the marketing of their movie or DVD release and want to acknowledge when someone goes above and beyond. We here at ComicMix will let you decide if Immortals was cheesy or wonderful but we will urge you to help out with the blood drive in support of the DVD release.

Nowhere near enough people donate blood on a regular basis and yet it is vitally needed every minute of every day. We’ve had enough personal experience to tell you how important this simple act is and ask that you consider making a donation at a local Red Cross if you don’t live near the venues listed below.

Check out this press release:

To celebrate the Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD release of the epic film IMMORTALS on March 6th, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and America’s Blood Centers are organizing blood drives at 30 select universities across the country starting this week and continuing through March 9th.  Students and participants will experience Director Tarsem Singh’s visually stunning film, pick up exclusive IMMORTALS premium items, while donating blood at their local college campus.

Inspired by the sacrifice that Theseus made of himself to save mankind, the IMMORTALS blood drive event will help support the work of America’s Blood Centers to fulfill their mission to help those who are in need as well as encourage others to give. (more…)

IDW Presents Jack Avarice IS The Courier

  • Uncategorized
  • November 4, 2011

IDW Presents Jack Avarice IS The Courier All-new five-weekly miniseries coming in November

San Diego, CA (September 20, 2011) — IDW Publishing is thrilled to introduce JACK AVARICE IS THE COURIER, an exciting, month-long, weekly comic series for the five-Wednesday month of November. Created, written, drawn, and lettered by rising star Chris Madden, the artist on the upcoming Danger Girl: Revolver series, this special five-part series is timed specifically to release one issue a week for each Wednesday of the month.

“When Chris Madden first presented JACK AVARICE IS THE COURIER to me, I was absolutely floored,” said editor Tom Waltz. “I mean, the guy is writing, drawing, coloring AND lettering the series—and doing it at top-notch levels on all accounts! It’s a great comic book story filled with exciting and entertaining characters and distinctly fun artwork. Madden is the real deal and I’m so happy IDW gets the chance to show off his diverse talents to the world!”

This explosive miniseries tells the story of Jack Avarice, a down-on-his-luck kid who dreams of a life like the movies. His world is about to change when he’s recruited by the secretive agency called Courier and is dumped head-first into the world of international spying. Each issue will take Jack on an exhilarating new adventure, where he’ll discover that the reality of spycraft is far deadlier than any movie he could imagine. Spies, voodoo magic, deadly beauties, high-caliber thrills, and high-octane destruction, JACK AVARICE IS has it all.THE COURIER

“I can’t wait for Jack Avarice to hit stands,” creator Madden said. “And I couldn’t be happier releasing it through IDW—it’s a perfect match!”

To kick off this great comic event, IDW is offering a special 5% discount on the entire series. Plus, readers are encouraged to contact their local retailers about the special variant Madden sketch cover.

Click on images for a larger view.
JACK AVARICE IS THE COURIER #1 ($3.99, 32 pages, full color) will be available in stores on November 2, 2011. Diamond order code: SEPT11 0253.

IS THE COURIER #2 ($3.99, 32 pages, full color) will be available in stores on November 9, 2011. Diamond order code: SEPT11 0255.
Be careful what you ask for—it might get you! Jack Avarice has just been dumped head-first into the world of international spying, and he’s about to find out if he can swim! Recruited by the secretive Courier agency, it quickly becomes apparent to Jack that his life might not be quite as it seems. But before he can digest this revelation, he’s off on his first harrowing mission with a gorgeous new partner, and a deadly new mission—unravel the mystery of the Eyes of Fate… before they can unleash their horror upon the world!

JACK AVARICE IS THE COURIER #3 ($3.99, 32 pages, full color) will be available in stores on November 16, 2011. Diamond order code: SEPT11 0257.
IS ($3.99, 32 pages, full color) will be available in stores on November 23, 2011. Diamond order code: SEPT11 0259.
IS ($3.99, 32 pages, full color) will be available in stores on November 30, 2011. Diamond order code: SEPT11 0261.

Visit IDWPublishing.com to learn more about the company and its top-selling books.

About IDW Publishing:::::
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The Transformers and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; HBO’s True Blood; the BBC’s DOCTOR WHO; Toho’s Godzilla; Sony’s Ghostbusters; and comics and trade collections based on novels by worldwide bestselling author, James Patterson. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints; Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studio; and is the print publisher for EA Comics.

IDW’s original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. More information about the company can be found at http://www.idwpublishing.com/.THE COURIER #5
JACK AVARICE THE COURIER #4
JACK AVARICE Spies, explosions, voodoo magic, deadly beauties, high-caliber thrills, and high-octane destruction… action-adventure has a brand-new name, and it’s JACK AVARICE! The world of spies and intrigue is very much real and lies hidden just below the surface. But when a down-on-his-luck kid who dreams of a life like the movies meets the world’s greatest secret agent, he’ll discover the reality of spycraft is far deadlier and more explosive than any movie he could imagine—and he now has a starring role! The explosive five-issue miniseries starts here!

JACK AVARICE

2011 World Fantasy Award Winners

  • News
  • November 3, 2011

They were announced this past weekend at the World Fantasy Convention (where else?), held this year in beautiful, sunny San Diego.

Since I’ve been a judge for this award (a few years back now; the scars have completely healed), I’ve got a higher regard for the winners, and now I really need to track down a copy of Who Fears Death.

Congratulations to all of the winners. And, to the judges: you can relax now, and read something you want to, for a change.

Novel: Who Fears Death? by Nnedi Okorafor (DAW)
Novella: “The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon” by Elizabeth Hand (Stories: All-New Tales)
Short Story: “Fossil-Figures” by Joyce Carol Oates (Stories: All-New Tales)
Anthology: My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, edited by Kate Bernheimer & Carmen Gimenez Smith (Penguin)
Collection: What I Didn’t See and Other Stories by Karen Joy Fowler (Small Beer Press)
Artist: Kinuko Y. Craft
Special Award, Professional: Marc Gascoigne for Angry Robot
Special Award, Non-Professional: Alisa Krasnostein for Twelfth Planet Press
Life Achievement:Peter S. Beagle and Angélica Gorodischer

Some Additional Convention Thoughts

Some Additional Convention Thoughts

Spider-Man and Superman

Image by heath_bar via Flickr

Sometime in the late 1970s, there was a show in New York where DC Comics actually had a booth and I got to wander over as a fan and chat casually with president Sol Harrison. It was the earliest memory I had of a publishing taking booth space on the convention floor. Before then, the tables were given over to fanzine vendors, back issue and new release dealers and that was about it. Little in the way or merchandise and even less original art was being sold.

Fans and creators could mix in the aisles, chat in the lobby, and talk before and after panels. It was a far smaller, more collegial atmosphere and certainly formed relationships with people I still have today.

By the time I joined staff at DC in 1984, the major publishers had been taking booth space with increasing regularity at shows from coast to coast. These were standard trade show booth designs that were decorated with the company’s wares, maybe a TV monitor with a video tape playing but that was about it. Editors and creators sat at tables and signed comics, did sketches, and handed out sampler comics or buttons.

During the 1980s, things continued to grow and more customized booth set-ups were showing up but fans could still walk into a publisher’s booth and talk to editors and talent. That began to change in 1992-1993 when Image arrived with show biz razzle dazzle and DC, flush with Death of Superman profits, gave us a mammoth booth dubbed Wayne’s World, nicknamed after Bob Wayne. Since nature abhors a vacuum, this new space filled with a growing number of fans, but patient ones could still talk to staff and freelancers.

(more…)

New York Times on New York Comic Con

New York Times on New York Comic Con

West Side Highway by Jacob Javits Center

Image via Wikipedia

The New York show, which opened Thursday night at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Manhattan, bounced around the calendar for a couple of years before finding a home in October last year, when 96,000 fans made the trek to New York to attend.

Organizers expect attendance at the show, now in its sixth year, to surpass 100,000 this year. And while its rival in San Diego grapples with growing pains, New York Comic Con is finding its footing.

via In New York, Comic Fans Flock to the Smaller Convention (of 100,000) – NYTimes.com.

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Brent Anderson Artwork Stolen, Reward Offered

  • News
  • July 29, 2011

Brent Anderson had a lot of his art stolen in San Diego. His car was broken into at the San Diego Zoo and the following original art was stolen:

  • 50 pages from Astro City Vols. 1 & 2 & Local Heroes;
  • Astro City: Dark Age Books 1 (#s 1-4), 2 (#s 1-4) & 3 (#s 1-4) (50 pages).
  • Green Lantern: Legacy approx. 45 pages between pages 1-45;
  • Green Lantern Silver Age Special (approx. 4 pages);
  • GL/Plastic Man team-up special (approx. 8 pages);
  • Rising Stars #s 15-24 (approx. 48 pages)”

One fan has offered a reward for the pages, just to get them back to Brent.

Please share this to as many venues as possible, to get the thief caught and the art returned.

Related articles
‘Thor’ trailer launches

‘Thor’ trailer launches

  • News
  • December 11, 2010

And here we go…

We have lots of stuff from the preview at San Diego this year, and a lot of new material as well. Looking good– what do you think about it?

#SDCC: Halo: Reach

#SDCC: Halo: Reach

  • News
  • August 4, 2010

Alright all you wannabe Master Chiefs, it’s time once again to suit up, and raise your rifle against a slew of critters who’d like to eat you for dinner! If you didn’t receive your briefing in San Diego as we told you to, then just this once, we’re gonna give you the play back. Lucky for you Sgt. Bungie hosted the discussion, and gave an in-person look at the campaign mode… Are your eyeballs ready to absorb the pulse pounding goodness? I can’t hear you! Tennn-hut!

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