Hollywood’s hottest dynamic duo, Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci have named Bobby Cohen as president of Kurtzman/Orci Prods, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The pair have set up their own shop based on their commercial heat after working on The Transformers, Star Trek and related genre offerings.
"Alex and Bob started at DreamWorks as writers and have steadily evolved into a super-talented, multitasking filmmaking duo," DreamWorks principal Steven Spielberg said in a release. "Their taste for unique stories is unparalleled, which is why we’re excited to have them on the DreamWorks team."
On their own, they produced Paramount’s fall hit Eagle Eye and their second offering will be June’s The Proposal, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds.
Among their proposed slate of projects includes the adaptation of Platinum Studios’ Cowboys and Aliens which K/O have written; an adaptation of Platinum’s Atlantis Rising with Len Wiseman (Underworld) set to direct for a summer 2011 release; Deep Sea Cowboys, based on an article from Wired; 28th Amendment, an original thriller written by K/O and to be directed by Florian Henckle von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others); an adaptation of the espionage novels starring spy Matt Helm; and, The Big One: An Island, an Obsession and the Furious Pursuit of a Great Fish, adapted from Pulitzer Prize winner David Kinney’s non-fiction book.
Paramount Pictures has tweaked its release plans for Star Trek, allowing theaters to show the first screening on Thursday, May 7, beginning at 7 p.m. According to Coming Soon, this improves on the normal midnight screening used to create an event.
IDW Publishing, home to Star Trek, 30 Days of Night, Transformers, Doctor Who, G.I. Joe, Fallen Angel, Locke and Key, and ComicMix’s upcoming line of print graphic novels and comics, today announced the 10 year old company hit the #3 spot in the monthly Diamond sales figures. That places them ahead of Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics, a remarkable achievement for a "back-of-the-catalog" publisher.
"This is a huge milestone for us, and the culmination of a decade of hard work by the many different people to have contributed to IDW over the years," IDW CEO Ted Adams stated. "This is clearly a great beginning to our second decade."
Last week, the company received no less than five Eisner nominations, and is just coming out with their 10th anniversary history. It’s been a hell of a week for the San Diego based publisher, and to celebrate the staff went to the Los Angeles Dodgers / San Diego Padres baseball game.
"IDW has always focused on producing quality comics and books, and it’s gratifying to see fans enjoying our books so much," IDW publisher and editor-in-chief Chris Ryall noted. "There is definitely a lot more great things to come for the company and our readers," no doubt referring to the upcoming release of GrimJack: The Manx Cat, Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden, and Demons of Sherwood.
For years, Harlan has been one of the biggest contributors to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which fights tirelessly against the forces of censorship against comics. This, however, is a bit more proactive: "The CBLDF is great as a first-response team after you’ve been hit, but as the saying goes, the best defense is a good offense. An offense with hammers and chainsaws and legbreakers named Vinnie and the best lawyers money can get. I’m tired of playing nice with these sewer dwellers."
Ellison says the new group’s mission will be two-fold.
"First, we’re going after the ignorant, sloppy, mean-spirited, graceless, moronic, self-involved, naive, bigoted, and probably plague-infected pinheads who are looking to make comics their new excuse for a witchhunt, like that blond harpy who thinks if she insults enough comics she’ll get a job on Fox and Friends. Second, we’re going to be working with comics creators and performing random sales audits on books, to see if they’re being shafted out of royalties. There are only a handful of distribution outlets, and the biggest buy the books on a non-returnable basiss. It can’t be that hard to get accurate numbers. If we have any time left over, we’ll also investigate claims of illegal or unethical contracts, work-for-hire violations, evidence of contract violation by editors and publishers, misuse of royalty statements and funds, and other complaints of professional concern."
"And if I’m lucky, Paramount will start up a comics division that I can go after. Mwah-hah-hah-haaaah!" Then the laughter, and Harlan, vanished in a cloud of smoke.
Other members of the CBLOF board will be Dave Sim, Trina Robbins, Larry Hama, Mike Diana, and Not-So-Friendly Frank.
The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers is pleased to announce this year’s nominees for the 2009 Scribe Awards, which honor excellence in licensed tie-in writing—novels based on TV shows, movies, comics, and games. In addition, Keith R.A. DeCandido, whose Farscape series for BOOM! has just gone to third printings on the first two issues and a second printing on #3, will be awarded the IAMTW Grandmaster Award at the awards ceremony at the San Diego Comic-Con– assuming he can get a hotel room.
The nominees for this year’s awards are:
Best General Fiction Original
Burn Notice: The Fix by Tod Goldberg Criminal Minds: Finishing School by Max Allan Collins CSI: Headhunter by Greg Cox
Best General Fiction Adapted
Death Defying Acts by Greg Cox Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull by James Rollins The Tudors: King Takes Queen by Elizabeth Massie The Wackness by Dale C. Phillips X-Files: I Want To Believe by Max Allan Collins
Best Speculative Fiction Original
Ghost Whisperer: Revenge by Doranna Durgin Ravenloft: The Covenant, Heaven’s Bones by Samantha Henderson Stargate SG-1: Hydra by Holly Scott & Jamie Duncan Star Trek: Terok Nor, Day Of The Vipers by James Swallow
Best Speculative Fiction Adapted
Hellboy II: The Golden Army by Bob Greenberger The Mutant Chronicles by Matt Forbeck Star Wars – The Clone Wars: Wild Space by Karen Miller Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans by Greg Cox
Best Young Adult Original
Dr. Who: The Eyeless by Lance Parkin Primeval: Shadow Of The Jaguar by Steven Savile Disney Club Penguin: Stowaway! Adventures At Sea by Tracey West
Best Young Adult Adapted
Iron Man: The Junior Novel by Stephen D. Sullivan The Dark Knight: The Junior Novel by Stacia Deutsch and Rhody Cohen Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D by Tracey West
Just way too much stuff to go through, and we’ve been very busy with the print announcement and rushing to get things ready for the Previews catalog, and I have dozens of tabs open to blog about and consolidate. Wheeee!
So this will be more of a high-speed link dump from the last few days. Onward:
Non-comics link of the day: John Mellencamp on The State of the Music Business:
Over the last few years, we have all witnessed the decline of the music business, highlighted by finger-pointing and blame directed against record companies, artists, internet file sharing and any other theories for which a case could be made. We’ve read and heard about the "good old days" and how things used to be. People remember when music existed as an art that motivated social movements. Artists and their music flourished in back alleys, taverns and barns until, in some cases, a popular groundswell propelled it far and wide. These days, that possibility no longer seems to exist. After 35 years as an artist in the recording business, I feel somehow compelled, not inspired, to stand up for our fellow artists and tell that side of the story as I perceive it. Had the industry not been decimated by a lack of vision caused by corporate bean counters obsessed with the bottom line, musicians would have been able to stick with creating music rather than trying to market it as well.
Hmm– maybe it is a comics link after all.
Hey, Ted Chiang wrote a story this year! It’s a classic, at the same time brilliant and wrong. It’s hard to explain how it’s intentionally wrong unless you read it, and you really should.
Tom’s Glossary of Book Publishing Terms. My favorite: DEADLINE: An item that exists to be renegotiated and revised. In his famous paradox, the Greek philosopher Zeno proved that deadlines can never be met.
Well, we’ve been hinting at this for about six months now. Some of you traditionalists have been asking when and how and where and when you can buy printed versions of the ComicMix comics. I’m proud to announce that we have partnered up with our friends at IDW (where GrimJack and Jon Sable Freelance and Mars last appeared) to produce one graphic novel and two comic books each month, starting this fall. Plus hardcovers and omnibuses and such, as the market demands.
O.K., I’m one of those traditionalists as well, and while I love reading this stuff online (particularly on my iPhone), I’m looking forward to seeing them in print. And I’m looking forward to running my typical long-winded introductions in the trades and letter columns — yet, genuine letter columns! — in the comics.
So if you’d like to email us a letter for publication, just post ’em as comments to the comics. Oh, yeah, we’re starting off with GrimJack: The Manx Cat and Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden in mini-series format. As if we should start somewhere else? IDW’s press release, for the record:
SAN DIEGO, CA (March 25, 2009) – IDW Publishing, a leading publisher of comic books and graphic novels, has begun an innovative partnership with ComicMix.com, a free website offering new and classic comics. Through this multi-year agreement, IDW will publish graphic novels, books and comics for ComicMix.com properties, enabling both companies to expand their offerings to customers and retailers, and combine their audience reach.
“ComicMix has a great line up of original and classic brands that are currently only available online, and despite the shift to the virtual world, there is still something unmistakable about reading a real-life book” said Greg Goldstein, chief operating officer of IDW. “IDW is known for producing some of the highest quality books in our industry, and we are looking forward to offering this to fans of ComicMix properties.”
Beginning in the fall of 2009, IDW will release trade paperbacks of ComicMix comics, as well as monthly comics, including many new stories that have previously been only available online at ComicMix.com. Initial titles will include GrimJack: The Manx Cat by John Ostrander and Timothy Truman, Jon Sable Freelance: Ashes of Eden by Mike Grell, and Hammer of the Gods by Mark Wheatley and Mike Avon Oeming, among others.
“This is a bit of a homecoming for many of us at ComicMix, because we have had a professional relationship with IDW Publishing over the past several years,” ComicMix Editor-In-Chief Mike Gold noted. “We’re honored to be among such first-rate comics and graphic novels. Quite frankly, I don’t think the ComicMix properties could find a better publishing home than IDW.”
The partnership with ComicMix allows IDW to distribute comics via mobile devices, increasing the company’s growing digital, downloadable publishing program, which already includes several major titles such as Star Trek: Countdown and Ghostbusters.
About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. As a leader in the horror, action, and sci-fi genres, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including television’s #1 prime time series, CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation;” Paramount’s “Star Trek;” Fox’s “Angel;” Hasbro’s “The Transformers;” and the BBC’s “Doctor Who.” 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. In April 2008, IDW released "Michael Recycle," the first title from its new children’s book imprint, Worthwhile Books. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.
About ComicMix.com
Organized in 2007, ComicMix.com is the free website for brand-new comics, news, opinion and historical research. Organized by comics veteran Mike Gold (DC Comics, First Comics, Image Comics), Internet pioneer Brian Alvey (WebLogs Inc., Blogsmith, AOL, Netscape) and print and online publishing vet Glenn Hauman (Random House, Simon & Schuster, BiblioBytes, DC Comics), ComicMix has been leading the comics industry in the production and online distribution of new comic book stories by major talent.
BATTLESTAR may be over, but the online reviews rage on and the ratings are big. Meanwhile, we talk more with the writer, director and star of SUPER CAPERS while STAR TREK gets hit with an old school lawsuit and THE SIMS invade…ONE TREE HILL?
This is the weekend where everyone is talking WATCHMEN, so why shouldn’t we? Meanwhile, J.J. Abrams apologizes for STAR TREK, Bud Bundy is a star on the internet and FATHOM will be a Fox.