Tagged: Spider-Man

Jim Krueger Joins Ardden With ‘The Stand-In’

News
November 25, 2008

Ardden Entertainment announced The Stand-In, a new title to be written by Jim Krueger (Avengers/Invaders). Described as a four-issue spy thriller mini-series, the project twill be illustrated by Alex Cal (The Amazing Spider-Man Family).

The new title will chronicle the adventures of Dexter Laumb, a talented but troubled and out-of-work actor who’s desperate for money. When he’s offered a job to "stand in" for a low level Senator who has double-booked two events for the same evening, Dexter is excited by the prospective paycheck and thinks the job will be a breeze. Hair dye and make-up transform Laumb into a virtual double of Senator Joe Murphy. However, he soon realizes that he’s bitten off more than he can chew when he’s partnered with one of the Senator’s senior aides, beautiful but acid-tongued Jennifer Forsythe. The two quietly go at it like cats and dogs while Dexter acts the part of the Senator, schmoozing and boozing as necessary. However, when a bullet rips through Dexter’s shoulder and the crowd scatters, he soon finds himself on the run with Jennifer, attempting to unravel the truth behind the assassination attempt, and finding himself in the middle of a conspiracy with earth-shattering consequences…

Brendan Deneen, Ardden’s co-publisher, said in a release, "It is a huge honor to be working with one of the most successful comic book writers currently working in the medium. I’ve known Jim for years and we’ve been trying to find something to work on together that whole time. The Stand-In is the perfect collaboration and I feel privileged that he’s publishing it through Ardden."

A zero issue will be released at the New York Comic-Con in February. The issue will feature a story that takes places before the events of the miniseries.

Ardden Entertainment debuted earlier this year with a new take on Flash Gordon, written by Deenan. Additional titles are expected to be announced between now and the convention.

A Look at Marvel’s Softcover Masterworks

News
November 20, 2008

Marvel’s David Gabriel and Cory Sedlmeier spoke with the Marvel Masterworks fansite about their collected editions plans for 2009, as Marvel kicks off its 70th anniversary plans. The biggest news is that the 20 year old Masterwork program will add softcover editions beginning in January.

Gabriel explained, “They will be issued one per month in the original running order of release. There will be a regular edition and a variant that resembles the marble hardcover variants. The first edition is listed in the January previews, and we’re just putting February together now.” The first Masterwork was Amazing Spider-Man volume one and will retail at $24.99.

These softcovers will be added to the 16 new volumes planned for 2009, which will push Marvel’s Masterworks library to 126 volumes. DC’s similar Archives library, in comparison, has only a handful of titles planned for 2009 and have reformatted the hardcovers as their Chronicles line.

Sedlmeier added, “As readers know, the softcover Masterworks will be mirroring the release order of the hardcover line begun all the way back in 1987. The approach taken back then was not to restore the original comics’ coloring, but to recolor the books in what was then a modern style. When the program was reignited with new editions in 2004, I felt historical accuracy was something readers valued above a bells-and-whistles reinterpretation.

“That approach is now law, so the softcovers will be seeing restoration to bring any material not restored to match the original comics’ coloring to up the level of quality and historical accuracy readers see in our new hardcovers each and every month.

“A lot has already been accomplished through the Omnibus line and the new printings the Masterworks hardcovers have seen over the course of 2007 and 2008, so there’s a lot less restoration work cut out for us than there would be if we were starting from scratch.”

The trade dress for the Masterworks evolved through the years from the original “marble” look to an interim design from Comicraft until the line was spruced up in 2002. Currently, the current trade dress is available as the standard format while the marble look is offered as an alternative at a higher price to cover manufacturing costs. The look of the softcover line will be a modification.

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Could ‘Pirates 4’ be in 3-D?

News
November 20, 2008

David S. Cohen at Variety blogged the following:

“To date, other than James Cameron’s Avatar, there have been no announcements of a major franchise installment in live-action 3-D. No 3-D Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Die Hard or Pirates of the Caribbean. We hear from people who’ve worked on live-action 3-D that there’s a learning curve involved, and that a company or studio should make a 3-D movie before diving into the format.

“With that in mind, though, we can’t help but notice that 1) Disney is heavily invested in 3-D, including live-action. 2) Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp are making an animated 3-D movie together, Rango. and 3) Jerry Bruckheimer is making G Force in 3-D.

“Disney, Bruckheimer, Verbinski, Depp… Nobody at Disney is talking, but we wouldn’t be surprised to hear a P4 3-D announcement one of these days.”

October Comics Sales Soften

News
November 20, 2008

As the economy went into free fall, ICv2 notes that October sales have shown some slippage. From their just released list of the top 25 titles, just two showed signs of improvement over September sales. One was Amazing Spider-Man #573 which featured the faux-Stephen Colbert for President cover while the other was Batman #680, the penultimate chapter to Batman RIP.

Despite somewhat stagnant sales, the dollars sold in to comic stores were up a “robust” 9% compared with a year ago, according to the industry watchdog. September and October were the first positive months for comic sales since January. Of course, more titles were retailing last month at $3.99, rapidly becoming a standard, as opposed to last October. ICv2 did note that the unit sales for the title charting in the 300th position was 4200 compared with 3000 just twelve months ago which they interpret as a sign of overall industry strength.

Graphic novel sales showed an increase of just 5% compared with last October. Combined with comic book sales, that creates an 8% total increase.

The site notes that the company crossovers, Secret Invasion #7 (154,675 copies) and Final Crisis #4 (115,666 copies) took the first two spots on the list. Marvel had seven of the top 10 and 17 of the first 25 with DC taking the balance. IDW’s G.I. Joe relaunch and Angel: After the Fall were the first non-Top Two titles to crack the top 100 list coming in at 65th and 66th place. This further cements IDW’s fourth place standing among comic book publishers, after Dark Horse and now ahead of Image.

In graphic novels, DC’s Joker by Brian Azzarello, took first place with an estimated 17,000 copies sold, also nabbing the top spot for dollars earned. Marvel’s best seller for the month was the Marvel Zombies trade paperback, which likely hit the top Marvel spot given its three variant covers. Wile Watchmen slipped from first place to sixth, its 6000 copies remains impressive given its age.

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‘Hancock 2’ Charged with Bringing Sony Profit

News
November 19, 2008

The Los Angeles Times notes that Sony has profited handsomely from its investment in MGM, earning huge profits from Casino Royale and expects a similar payday for Quantum of Solace. After that, MGM regains full control of Bond so the studio needs fresh cash cows.

Looking ahead, the Times counts off forthcoming films based on The Green Hornet, Flash Gordon, and Preacher are worthy candidates. Closer to home, they are preparing a sequel fro the original super-hero tale, Hancock, which brought in huge dollars and little buzz.

Among the films mentioned, The Green Hornet, starring Seth Rogen and Stephen Chow, and to be directed by Chow, will be arriving first, in summer 2010. They’ve pencilled in Spider-Man 4 for summer 2011 but the other projects are still in development so the studio can’t start counting on profits yet.

Flash Gordon will be the first feature film featuring Alex Raymond’s classic hero since the 1980 disaster and will be directed by Breck Eisner, known more for his schlock horror efforts. Preacher, though, will be directed by Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition) so comes with greater hopes.

Sony entered into a financing agreement with MGM when the studio was once again facing financial failure. As a result, by investing in Casino, Sony actually earned more than MGM, netting as much as $100 million in profit. MGM and Sony parted ways after the latter failed to meet sales targets for DVDs from MGM’s library. The deal allowed Sony to participate in Quantum but that will be all.

‘Marvel Apes’ #0 Gains Santa Variant Cover

News
November 18, 2008

Marvel Comics today released the variant cover to Marvel Apes #0 as illustrated by Salva Espin. The one-shot reprints Collecting the birth of breakout hero The Gibbon from Amazing Spider-Man #110-11 and the first ever Spider-Monkey story (as seen in Amazing Spider-Man Family #1).

MARVEL APES #0
Written by STAN LEE, GERRY CONWAY & KARL KESEL
Penciled by JOHN ROMITA SR. & RAMON BACHS
Cover by ARTHUR ADAMS
50/50 Santa-Ape Variant by SALVA ESPIN
On-Sale—12/10/08

‘Wonder Woman’ DVD Details Released

News
November 18, 2008

Warner Home Video has announced a March 3, 2009 release date for its direct-to-DVD Wonder Woman film. It will be released in what has rapidly become a standard pattern for genre offerings:a Single Disc DVD for $19.98, 2 Disc Special Edition DVD for $29.98 and Blu-ray Disc for $34.99. The animated original movie will also be available OnDemand and Pay-Per-View as well as available for download day and date. Originally, the DVD had been announced for February release but was delayed a few weeks for unspecified reasons.

From clips ComicMix was shown, it’ll be well worth the wait.

Produced by the multiple Emmy Award winning animation legend Bruce Timm, Wonder Woman is an origin story and features a stellar celebrity voice cast including Keri Russell (Waitress, Felicity), Nathan Fillion (Firefly), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2), Virginia Madsen (Sideways), Rosario Dawson (Sin City), Oliver Platt (The West Wing) and David McCallum (NCIS).

Wonder Woman begins on the mystical island of Themyscira, where a proud and fierce warrior race of Amazons resides. They have raised Princess Diana, a daughter of stunning beauty, extraordinary strength and incredible fighting prowess. Diana possesses a host of super human powers granted to her by the gods and goddesses of Olympus and her strength and stamina are unparalleled. When Air Force fighter pilot Steve Trevor crash lands on the island, the rebellious and headstrong Diana defies Amazonian law by accompanying Trevor back to civilization. Meanwhile, Ares (the God of War) has escaped his imprisonment at the hands of the Amazons and has decided to exact his revenge by starting a world war that will destroy them all. It is up to Princess Diana to save her people and the world by using her gifts to become the ultimate Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman: 2 Disc Special Edition and Blu-Ray versions will feature collectible packaging as well as 185 minutes of incredible bonus features such as:

• Wonder Woman: A Subversive Dream – She is one of the pillars of DC Comics. We examine why Wonder Woman is important in the grand scheme of the DC Super Heroes and how her raw strength and power helped define a new generation of empowered women, who realized that their gifts of intellect and strength were just as powerful as their male counterparts.

• Wonder Woman The Daughters of Myth – The riveting documentary historically defines the meaning of the Amazons and how this links in with the evolution of the Wonder Woman character from comics to screen.

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Miller & Gough to Rebuild ‘Robotech’

News
November 17, 2008

Smallville’s fathers, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, have been signed to adapt Robotech into a live-action feature for Warner Bros. No director, cast or production dates have been released.

The 1980s anime series ran in America courtesy of Harmony Gold USA and was one of the first noteworthy anime series from that era. It was actually the combination of three separate series created by Tatsunoko Prods. In order to satisfy the needs of American television syndication.

As a result, it became a “sprawling sci-fi epic, Robotech takes place at a time when Earth has developed giant robots from the technology on an alien spacecraft that crashed on a South Pacific isle. Mankind is forced to use the technology to fend off an alien invasion, with the fate of the human race ending up in the hands of two young pilots.”

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Akiva Goldsman and Chuck Roven will produce with Tobey Maguire and Drew Crevello. Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark) wrote a previous draft before the studio turned it over to the duo that has worked on Smallville and also did early drafts for Iron Man, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Spider-Man 2.

George Perez, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee Added as NY Comic-Con Guests of Honor

News
November 16, 2008

Two more notable comic book celebrities will be joining the festivities at New York Comic Con (NYCC) this year as Guests of Honor. Affording thousands of fans the opportunity to meet them in person, Geoff Johns, who is well-known as a comic book writer of a number of DC Comics characters, including Superman, Green Lantern and the Flash as well as for his work as a screenwriter; and superstar artist Jim Lee, known for his acclaimed artistic runs on titles including BATMAN, ALL STAR BATMAN and WILDCATS, will be attending NYCC to help launch the new Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing game, DC Universe Online (DCUO), produced by Sony Online Entertainment for PLAYSTATION 3 in collaboration with DC Comics and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

Both Johns and Lee will be signing autographs and they will conduct a large DC Universe Online event on Saturday, February 7, 2009. New York Comic Con will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, February 6 – 8, 2009.

“Having both Jim Lee and Geoff Johns at our show is a great ‘get’ under any circumstance, but it’s especially cool to have them here to as part of DC Universe Online,” notes Lance Fensterman, Vice President and Con Manager for NYCC. “They will do a fabulous job entertaining our fans and I know that they will attract huge crowds, not only for autographs but also for their demonstration. I am enormously grateful to them for participating in New York Comic Con and we’re pleased to have them as Guests of Honor.”

“Jim and Geoff represent two of the top talents in comics, so it only makes sense that they’d transfer those skills to the gaming world,” said Dan DiDio, SVP and Executive Editor for DC Comics. “It’s a perfect fit to have them named Guests of Honor at New York Comic Con.”

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The Theory of Webcomics: A DC Wiki?

News
November 16, 2008

A few weeks ago, I discussed the usefulness of active, available archives for webcomics. Archives provide huge amounts of free content to draw in new readers; and they prevent continuity lockout by providing a way to easily go back and refresh your memory of previous events. With print comics, especially before the advent of everything getting collected in trade paperbacks, there really wasn’t a way to avoid that — which is a lot of why Silver Age stories needed to be as self-contained as they were.

Nowadays, people who are flush with cash can always go buy a TPB collection of stories they missed or forgot. Who the heck is this character in the latest issue of Ultimate Spider-Man? The editor’s note says he first appeared back in Ultimate X-Men #17. All it takes is one trip to Amazon.com, several days for delivery, and then reading time, and I’ll be caught up enough to understand what’s going on in the comic currently in my lap.

Of course, those of us with rent bills to pay have to make do with the lower-cost option: The internet. There are lots of choices to catch up on, say, DC Comics continuity: The DC Wikia, the Justice League Library, Heroes Wiki, and heck, even granddaddy Wikipedia itself.

But you know where you can’t go to figure out what happened in that recent issue of Batgirl you missed, or that Green Lantern plot point from 1988 that recently cropped up? DCComics.com.

Now, don’t get me wrong: If you want to see artwork previews, or check the list of everything that’s in print, or get a short graphic bio of most of the characters, DCComics.com is the place to go. But say you haven’t been following Trinity and want to catch up. If you go to the forum and ask for the best place to do so, they’ll point you to Wikipedia.

Of course, Marvel’s website already has their own version of the wiki and it’s pretty nifty, too.

So here’s my suggestion to DC: You need a wiki. You’ve got an army of fans just aching to show how much they know about the characters and storylines, as evidenced by the other wikis that crop up everywhere. You need accessible utilities that’ll help build a bigger audience, especially among younger people, who don’t have the continuity knowledge to get into most recent titles. You need to drive traffic to your website as effective advertising for your products, and keep people at your website, rather than shunting them off to an outside source. And you’ll want all of this to be under your nominal control.

Here’s how you do it: Acquire the Wikia content (I don’t know the legal channels, but I’m sure you could find them). Hire a few of your most OCD fans (and a couple of the ComicMix contributors come to mind) as moderators. Set a few ground rules (no spoilers for this month’s books, no speculation, no flaming), and let the fans go from there. Link in the original stories, history of the DC and other online content you currently have, and have the last line of the wiki entry for each ongoing book or characters be a link to a preview of the next issue. Heck, if you set up creator/author/artist pages right, you can have an “subtle” way of linking fans of one book to things that they would also want to buy.

Also, everything that currently in print? There should be a “Buy It Now!” icon. Not a tiny, blend-in-to-the-background “Subscribe to your favorite comics” down at the bottom of the page. That’ll also be really easy to transition to digital pamphlets when the time comes and the color ebook readers are ready.

Just because classic print comics and “webcomics” as I define them are different animals, doesn’t mean they can’t take lessons from each other about what works in terms of monetizing web content.

(On the odd chance someone official reads this and goes ahead with this idea, I’d also love to see a Showcase volume of my dad’s work from the 70s and 80s, particularly ‘Mazing Man. Also, a pony.)

Tagged: Spider-Man

Jim Krueger Joins Ardden With ‘The Stand-In’

A Look at Marvel’s Softcover Masterworks

Could ‘Pirates 4’ be in 3-D?

October Comics Sales Soften

‘Hancock 2’ Charged with Bringing Sony Profit

‘Marvel Apes’ #0 Gains Santa Variant Cover

‘Wonder Woman’ DVD Details Released

Miller & Gough to Rebuild ‘Robotech’

George Perez, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee Added as NY Comic-Con Guests of Honor

The Theory of Webcomics: A DC Wiki?

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