Tagged: World War Hulk

Greg Pak films ‘Mister Green’ — and it’s NOT about the Hulk

Greg Pak films ‘Mister Green’ — and it’s NOT about the Hulk

Greg Pak, who in comics is best known for Planet Hulk and World War Hulk, has written and directed a short film called “Mister Green” for Futurestates, a new forward-looking online series from San Francisco’s Independent Television Service (ITVS), producers of the Independent Lens series on PBS. Eleven short films take a look at alarming trends and extrapolate out to look at how things may end up in the not-too-distant future.

Here’s “Mister Green”, starring Tim Kang (The Mentalist) and Betty Gilpin– and if you look closely, you can see Greg in there as well:

An open letter to Jeph Loeb

An open letter to Jeph Loeb

When
I first saw your name, sir, it had been attached to one of the best
“young” Batman books to ever hit my shelf. Then you delivered to me a Superman For All Seasons. And to find your run on the Challengers of the Unknown?
Oy, how awesome it was! When friends would name drop their favorite
creators, I was quick to say your name. I mean, for Rao’s sake… you
helped create Teen Wolf, and to a much lesser degree, Teen Wolf Too!
And as the decade began, you gave us Dark Victory. I remember finishing
the series with just the slightest hint of bitter aftertaste in my
throat. Had you “gone to the well” too quickly, to deliver something
too much like The Long Halloween? Nay. Nay I said.

Without fail, the hype machine forced my young and malleable mind to commit to Batman: Hush.
And why not? It had Jim Lee! Drawing every Bat Villain! Superman and
Batman Fighting!  A possible Jason Todd resurrection! Catwoman’s boobs!
Man, you sure got me. I bought every issue with mindless fervor. One
year later… the mystery ended, and there it was again, Jeph. That
strange… bitter taste… telling me something didn’t sit quite right
in my gut. But hey, the sales figures said otherwise, right?

Not long after that, the hype machine whispered in my ear again.

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Origin of Magneto in New Marvel Knights Series

Origin of Magneto in New Marvel Knights Series

I really enjoyed previous Marvel Knights projects Spider-Man: Reign and Silver Surfer: Requiem, as the pairing of writers, artists and subject matter of each miniseries seemed to really catch lightning in a bottle. I’m not sure that these series fit in with past titles falling under the "Marvel Knights" banner, but I know that they felt like a fresh look at both characters — and that’s saying a lot, given the saturation of Spider-Man and Silver Surfer stories the past few years.

I mention all of this because I can’t help but look forward to next month’s debut of X-Men: Magneto Testament #1, which pairs writer Greg Pak (World War Hulk) with artist Carmine Di Giandomenico, whose work I really enjoyed in Daredevil: Battlin’ Jack Murdock. The five-issue series promises to take a look at the early life of Magneto, and I’m itching to see if the MK crew can capture the same vibe of Reign and Requiem in this one.

Pak told Marvel.com, "Like so many classic Marvel characters, [Magneto] has to grapple with the typical problems of any scrawny outsider: family problems, schoolyard bullies, and first crushes…But every little conflict takes on a terrifying, new dimension as the scope and inexorable advance of the Nazi menace becomes clearer."

The first issue hits shelves September 10, and I’ve posted the Marko Djurdjevic cover to #1 here, with larger versions of the cover and pages posted after the jump.

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‘Final Crisis’ tanks; WildStorm Sales Worst Ever

There’s a lengthy breakdown of DC’s May sales up at The Beat, and it only serves as further notice that the ol’ warship is taking on copious amounts of water.

The big story, of course, is the soft debut of Final Crisis, which couldn’t even crack 145,000 issues, a paltry sum for any big comics event. It’s not only well south of the 250,000 issues of Secret Invasion #1 that sold, but even the 178,000 from the much less ballyhooed World War Hulk #1. Not good.

The problem, according to Marc-Oliver Frisch, is mainly one of marketing:

One reason that may have led to this loss of faith in DC’s product is the publisher’s recent string of high-level failures. … Retailers had learned their lessons, and I suppose there was no reason to presume that they were going to forget them when it came to ordering Final Crisis. DC would have to put out all the stops to convince them that this was going to be different.

Which they emphatically did not do. Crucially, DC never bothered to tell anyone what Final Crisis was going to be about. … The slogan with which DC chose to advertise the content of Final Crisis when pressed for it, “The Day Evil Won,” doesn’t really address the problem. I mean, congratulations, so you’ve got a second act in there somewhere, at the end of which the bad guys temporarily win, which they always do.

In short, there is no hook.

Which sounds an awful lot like what I had to say about the first issue.

Things go from worse to, well, worse for DC, as its WildStorm line is basically not selling any comics. The average units sold for the line was a shade over 9,800, which is its worst ever mark, Frisch writes.

All told, sales are down everywhere and a whopping 11 series have been canceled because of poor sales.

The only good point was Vertigo’s new House of Mystery series, which debuted at well more than 20,000 copies.

10 Must-Read Stories Before You See ‘The Incredible Hulk’

10 Must-Read Stories Before You See ‘The Incredible Hulk’

EDITOR’S NOTE: Here on ComicMix, our lists of must-read Iron Man stories and recommended reading for The Dark Knight were so popular that we decided to put together the following list for Friday’s release of The Incredible Hulk in theaters. Enjoy! -RM]

He’s been in comics for decades. His cameos in series other than his own have always meant blockbuster action. He’s had a live-action television series, TV-movies, cartoons, videogames and now a new major motion picture coming out this Friday.

He is the Hulk.

Yet he is also Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, and long ago, he created the gamma bomb — the next step in nuclear warheads. But when he saw a kid named Rick Jones in the test area, Bruce condemned himself by saving the boy’s life and getting caught in the bomb blast. Bathed in gamma rays, he was mutated so that he would now transform into a gray-skinned, monstrous version of himself at night.

As time went on, Banner’s mutation shifted and he would turn into a green-skinned, savage, child-like creature whenever he was angered, which became the most famous take on the character. Later still, he struck a balance by becoming a gestalt, merging his different alter egos. In recent years, he has reverted to his "classic" status, the scientist who is terrified to lose his temper lest he become a destructive emerald beast.

Perhaps it’s this isolation, and his desperation to change his situation in life, that causes so many people to relate to him — both in the fictional world he occupies and the real world of his readers.

Here, then, are some of the most important, must-read stories involving the Hulk from the character’s long history, and a good place to start if this week’s release of The Incredible Hulk piques your interest in Marvel’s famous green-skinned goliath.

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‘The Incredible Hulk’ Xbox 360 Game Achievements Detailed

‘The Incredible Hulk’ Xbox 360 Game Achievements Detailed

While I try to stay videogame platform neutral here at ComicMix, I’ll admit that I’m very, very excited to see the Xbox 360 achievement list for the upcoming videogame based on Incredible Hulk film.

If you’re not familiar with the Xbox 360 "achievements" system, it’s a method for giving gamers recognition for completing certain tasks in games. The accomplishment is recorded by the Xbox LIVE online service for fellow gamers to see. Basically, it’s Facebook for videogames. Hardcore gamers furiously try to get them all.

The digital bragging rights have proven very popular and similar schemes have been launched for PCs via the Steam network, while Sony announced a "Trophy" system coming soon for the PlayStation 3.

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Red Hulk in ‘The Incredible Hulk’ Game a GameStop Exclusive

Red Hulk in ‘The Incredible Hulk’ Game a GameStop Exclusive

At the New York Comicon, Sega’s BJ Enriquez was elusive when asked about downloadable characters for the upcoming videogame based on The Incredible Hulk movie. Now we know why. Retailer Gamestop announced that Red Hulk, the mysterious enemy seen in current Hulk comics, would be a exclusive, playable character for customers who pre-order the Xbox 360 version from them.

According to GameStop:

Players who buy this version will be able to play with the Red Huk character immediately, something that other players will not be able to experience, as he does not exist in any other version of the game!

There are no indications if this is an exclusive scenario or if other retailers could have their own unique playable characters. Perhaps, "World War Hulk" for PlayStation 3 at Best Buy or "Maestro Hulk" for the Wii at Target? All we know for sure is which version Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness will buy.

Comics! Getcher Comics!

Comics! Getcher Comics!

GalleyCat reports that Karin Slaughter, a popular thriller writer from the UK, and Oni Press are teaming up to create Slaughterhouse Graphic Novels, which will adapt prose fiction into comics form. The idea is to emulate Stephen King’s Dark Tower, and not Isaac Asimov’s I-Bots, I think…

(By the way, Slaughter is our covergirl for this installment.)

Chris Roberson looks at two different projects bringing back public domain superheroes.

Comics Fodder wants to see the return of footnotes to superhero comics – you know, the little boxes that said things like “The Fabulous Sheep-Man, last seen in ish #3,141 – Parsimonious Pete.” I think that reviewer needs to look up the phrase “continuity porn,” because he’s soaking in it.

Your cognitive dissonance headline of the day: “Euro Books transforms ‘Agatha Christie’ into graphic novels in India”, which is for an article about, yes, a company making all of Agatha Christie’s books into graphic novels in English for the huge Christie-loving Indian market.

Exclaim!, a Canadian music publication, looks at DC’s new Minx imprint.

Brian Cronin, at Comics Should Be Good, makes fun of every single one of Marvel’s October covers.

First Second announced today (in a press-release e-mail, so I don’t have a link) that they’ll be collecting Paul Pope’s cool THB series in 2009 as a color, four-volume, 1200-page set under the title Total THB. But, before that, they’ll have a new Pope series for young readers, Battling Boy, published in two simultaneous volumes in 2008.

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Comics All Over The Place

Comics All Over The Place

Comics Reporter reviews 1-800-MICE #2, All Flash #1, and Magic Hour #2.

Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog reviews this week’s comics, starting with All Flash #1.

Greg Burgas of Comics Should Be Good also reviews this week’s comics, but he starts with Annihilation: Conquest – Quasar #1.

At the All-New, All-Different Savage Critic(s):

  • Graeme McMillan reviews World War Hulk #2
  • Douglas Wolk reviews mostly the advertisements in Giant-Sized Marvel Adventures The Avengers #1
  • McMillan is back to review All Flash #1
  • And someone named Jog really likes Brendan McCarthy and Peter Milligan’s Rogan Gosh one-shot from 1994.

 

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Catching up with the Big Two

Catching up with the Big Two

Per my column yesterday, you know I’m not going to parrot press releases from Marvel and DC, but that doesn’t mean I can’t cull actual news from them where I discern it exists:

Marvel’s gearing up for their World War Hulk event, and as I’m married to someone who inked the Hulk for over two years I had to ask my Marvel press contact if he had any word on who’s slated to ink all the books.  So here’s your complete list of “top 2-3” creative teams (writer, penciller/inker or writer & artist) for all upcoming World War Hulk tie-ins:

WORLD WAR HULK PROLOGUE: WORLD BREAKER

Writer: Peter David

Artists: Al Rio/Scott Hanna, Lee Weeks (p/i), Sean Phillips/Tom Palmer

INCREDIBLE HULK #106

Writer: Greg Pak

Artists: Gary Frank/Jonathan Sibal

HULK: PLANET HULK HC

Writer: Greg Pak

Artists: Carlo Pagulayan/Jeffrey Huet; Aaron Lopresti/Danny Miki and Sandu Florea; Juan Santacruz/Faul Fernantz Fonts; Gary Frank/Jonathan Sibal; Takeshi Miyazawa (p/i)

That’s right, I’m all about loving the inkers!

Marvel’s also got another Spotlight book in stores on May 23, this one focusing on the Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer; perfect timing considering the movie coming out in mid-June.  John Rhett Thomas supplies the original written content with pre-existing images from the FF’s 40+ year history.  Hope that means some royalty checks for lots of terrific artists!

And Matt Fraction (check out his sweet reminiscence of Vonnegut) is writing a special 48-page Sensational Spider-Man Annual tying in with its “Back in Black” storyline.  Sal Larocca’s on pencilling chores, including “Romita-esque flashback sequences” — good luck with that, Sal!

Meanwhile, DC’s sent out its latest Direct Channel newsletter, which discusses sales incentives for retailers on the second Minx title Clubbing (writer Andi Watson has a nice write-up), brags about mainstream press for the debut Minx title The Plain Janes in PW and Variety, and lists books going back to press, returnable and resolicited books, release dates and so forth.  An invaluable resource for retailers, as always.