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Role-playing robbery

Role-playing robbery

  • News
  • March 14, 2007

The Beeb reports that a man accused of a stealing underwear at knifepoint from a lingerie shop in Belfast, Northern Ireland "believed he was a female elf at the time."  Robert Boyd is accused of having purloined two sets of bras, knickers, suspender belts and stockings from the shop on 14 December, 2005.  He had been participating in the role-playing game Shadowrun, where his character was a shaman elf named Beho "who carried a small Japanese sword as a weapon."

Boyd is accused of holding up staff at the shop disguised in a wig, hat and glasses, which acoutrements authorities do not believe were specified in the game.  He denies committing the robbery but admits to the possibility he may have confused reality and fantasy.  Ya think?

And as if that weren’t enough, a Phillip C. Holliday Jr. has told police in Billings, MT not to blame him for crashing his truck into a lightpost last week, as a unicorn was driving it.  No word on whether the unicorn was wearing a wig, hat and glasses.

Hellboy: Blood and Iron premieres on Cartoon Network

Hellboy: Blood and Iron premieres on Cartoon Network

  • News
  • March 14, 2007

Cartoon Network will premiere Hellboy: Blood and Iron, the second feature Hellboy animated feature film, on March 17 at 7 PM Eastern.  The movie features the voices of a number of the actors that appeared in director Guillermo del Toro’s live-action Hellboy movie including John Hurt, Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Doug Jones. Tad Stones and Victor Cook direct the movie. Guillermo del Toro and Mike Mignola are creative producers.

The second Hellboy live action movie is scheduled for 2008, and a third animated feature is in finishing stages.

Dreamworks animation goes 3D

Dreamworks animation goes 3D

  • News
  • March 14, 2007

DreamWorks Animation has announced plans to produce all of its new films in full 3-D.  they plan to produce their movies employing stereoscopic 3-D technology from the start of the movie production process, and has already begun production on its first movie to be made in this format, Monsters vs. Aliens (working title), slated for release in summer 2009. 

According to DreamWorks, "this approach will increase its storytelling opportunities and create a more immersive movie-viewing experience."  Up until this time many of the movies shown in 3D were produced for regular movie theater projection with the 3-D parts or full-length 3-D movies rendered for 3D projection in post-production (e.g. Chicken Little and others).  As for where these movies will be shown, DreamWorks points to a significant increase over the past two years in the number of theaters that have the proper equipment to support stereoscopic projection, and claims that by 2009 there will be several thousand screens equipped for 3-D.

(more…)

WaPo disses crone comics

  • News
  • March 14, 2007

Effective next Monday, the Washington Post will be rearranging its comics page adding the strips Agnes and Brewster Rockit: Space Guy!, as well as the "offbeat panels" Brevity and Speed Bump.  In order to make room for these new comics, the Post will be dropping the panels The Flying McCoys and The Other Coast, as well as three strips — Broom-Hilda, Cathy, and Mary Worth — all coincidentally featuring women of A Certain Age. 

The dropped strips and panels will still appear on the Post’s website, but considering how, a mere five years ago, they loved Cathy Guisewite enough to conduct a lengthy interview with her, many comics readers are perplexed about the move.

TNT drama series in development

TNT drama series in development

  • News
  • March 14, 2007

TNT has a few new series in development that could be of interest to us all:

  • The Talisman – a six-hour limited series scheduled for summer 2008; a new project from DreamWorks Television and executive producer Steven Spielberg, based on the Stephen King and Peter Straub novel of the same title.
  • The Saint – a new one hour series based on the Leslie Chateris classic character – the famous Simon Templar. From executive producer William J. McDonald and producer Jorge Zamacona. The Saint was featured in movies dating back to the late 1930s (starring the great George Sanders) and the British television series from the 1960s starring Roger Moore. I can hear the theme song now…
  • The Company – a limited one-hour, six-part series debuting in August with Chris O’Donnell, Alfred Molina and Michael Keaton that looks at the CIA’s activities during the Cold War, based on the bestselling novel by Robert Littell. Batman, Robin, and Doc Ock? Sure, why not.
Potter breaks another record

Potter breaks another record

  • News
  • March 14, 2007

The last time Harry Potter headed out to the bookstores, he brought 10,800,000 books with him. Today, he’s older and stronger and can carry an unprecedented 12,000,000 copies of his latest, and last, thriller.

So if you’re investing in first editions, you can skip double-bagging Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The promotion theme wil be "There Will Soon Be 7," although a great many fans believe that by the end of this final volume, we won’t have Harry Potter to kick around anymore.

Noted UK actor Gareth Hunt dies

Noted UK actor Gareth Hunt dies

  • News
  • March 14, 2007

Gareth Hunt died of pancreatic cancer on Tuesday at the age of 65.

His résumé reads like a Who’s Who of British television: he starred in The New Avengers as Mike Gambit, played Frederick Norton in Upstairs, Downstairs, and played Arak in Jon Pertwee’s final Doctor Who saga, "Planet of the Spiders". He also played the romantic lead in a long-running series of Nescafé coffee commercials.

Hunt also was known for his work on stage on both sides of the Atlantic, appearing in such productions as Twelfth Night, West Side Story, Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra, Deathtrap, and Guys and Dolls.

Marvel Studios promotions

Marvel Studios promotions

  • News
  • March 14, 2007

As Marvel’s Iron Man movie heads into production this week, we get word of a lot of promotions and changes of job titles at Marvel Studios. At the top, David Maisel is now Chairman of Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige is President of Production. Maisel, who joined Marvel in 2003, is credited for the conception and execution of the new film production effort, including establishing the strategy for self-financing the endeavor. Feige has worked on all of Marvel’s movies since 2000, and is currently producer on Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.  In his expanded role, Feige will now also oversee creative for the studio’s animated projects for TV and DVD, as well as video games. 

Additionally, Marvel Studios has recently added and promoted a number of executives in senior management, including:

  • Tim Connors as EVP/Business Affairs and Operations
  • Ross Fanger as EVP/Physical Production
  • Michael Brown as SVP/Marketing
  • Charlie Davis as SVP/Post Production
  • Rod Smith as SVP/Production Finance
  • Elizabeth Lynch as VP/Business and Legal Affairs
  • Jean-Claude Boursiquot as Director/IT and Studio Technology
  • Matt Finick as SVP/Studio Finance and Corporate Development
  • Ryan Potter as Associate Counsel.
  • Eric Rollman as EVP/Animation and Television
  • Ames Kirschen as SVP and Executive Producer/Video Games
  • Craig Kyle as SVP/Animation
  • Jeremy Latcham as VP/Development and Production
  • Stephen Broussard as Creative Executive
  • Joshua Fine as Story Editor/Animation

With everybody moving up a notch or two, someone has to make way at the top — in this case it’s Michael Helfant, President and COO, who will "pursue other opportunities."

(more…)

Desperado goes it alone

Desperado goes it alone

  • News
  • March 14, 2007

Yesterday, Joe Pruett announced on the Desperado website that his company would be parting ways with Image this summer after a partnership of 2½ years. Black Mist #4, solicited for May, will be their final co-publishing venture, and other titles like Common Foe and Paul Jenkins Sidekicks will finish out their run at Image.  Pruett’s company Desperado Publishing will begin publishing under its own banner with eight solicited titles this coming July.  The website itself will be redesigned throughout this month.

Pruett admitted, "Some people may feel that we’re being overly aggressive with our upcoming publishing schedule (8 -10 titles per month), but the fact is that we’re not really a new company — we’ve been publishing for over two years now — but rather an existing company that is expanding by just a few titles per month. We’re just not going to be listed under the Image banner any longer."

Pruett said the company would continue to "focus on diversity. The market needs to be diverse if it is to grow in all of the exciting new avenues that are presenting themselves to our industry. We plan to a part of that movement by allowing our creators to be as diverse with their projects as they need to be, as long as the quality remains high."

Auschwitz paintings update

  • News
  • March 14, 2007

Dr. Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, has emailed industry professionals an update on their efforts to help Dina Babbitt, a survivor of Auschwitz whose portraits of fellow concentration camp victims (which commandants forced her to paint) are currently in the possession of  (and on display at) the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Poland.  Mrs. Babbitt, a retired animator and ex-wife of legendary Disney animator Art Babbitt, has been struggling to have her original artwork returned to her for three decades, and last fall Dr. Medoff enlisted the help of fellow animators, cartoonists and comic book creators – an effort  spearheaded by comics legend Joe Kubert.

Dr. Medoff’s latest letter states that "In recent weeks, the Wyman Institute has been circulating a petition among attorneys and legal scholars, supporting Mrs. Babbitt’s struggle.  It will be sent shortly to the Polish authorities, and released to the public and media."

The Wyman Institute is organizing an auction of comic and cartoon artwork to support Mrs. Babbitt’s struggle.  I The auction will include artwork donated from Ralph Bakshi, John Romita Sr. and John Romita, Jr., "Butch" Guice, Walter Simonson, Don Perlin, Lynn Johnston, Drew Geraci, Dave Simons, Sal Amendola, Jon Bogdanove, James E. Lyle, Jim Keefe, Guy Gilchrist, Mike Vosberg, Rob Stolzer, John Cassaday and Greg Theakston, with many others pledging to contribute. 

ComicMix will bring you auction details as the date approaches.

 

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