Archive for March, 2005
Marvel Comics in 7-11 stores: a misstep?
Following up on the earlier announcement that Marvel comics was moving back into several thousand 7-11 stores, Newsarama is reporting some more details. In addition to the “Marvel Adventures” all-ages line of comics, the June-solicited flip books will also be in the stores. According to a story in the Fort Wayne, Indiana News Sentinel:
“Marvel’s return to 7-Eleven will begin with titles from its all-ages Marvel Adventures line and expand to include some of its more popular books, such as “Astonishing X-Men” and “Amazing Spider-Man.” They’ll be in a “flipbook” format – 64-page comics with two stories in each, selling for $3.99 – and will remain only a small portion of the titles published by Marvel.”
A few of the flip books are:
ULTIMATE MARVEL #1
ULTIMATE X-MEN #1
Written by MARK MILLAR
Pencils by ADAM KUBERT
Cover by JOE QUESADA
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #1
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS & MARK MILLAR
Pencils by ADAM KUBERT
Cover by BRYAN HITCH
64 pgs / 3.99
MARVEL HEROES #1
NEW AVENGERS #1
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Pencils & Cover by DAVID FINCH
CAPTAIN AMERICA #1
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Art & Cover by STEVE EPTING
64 pgs / 3.99
MARVEL SELECT #1
ASTONISHING X-MEN#1
Written by JOSS WHEDON
Pencils & Cover by JOHN CASSADAY
NEW X-MEN: ACADEMY X #1
Written by NUNZIO DEFILIPPIS & CHRISTINA WEIR
Pencils & Cover by RANDY GREEN
64 pgs / 3.99
Ok, I’m of two minds about this. When I first heard the story and the speculation that the all-ages Marvel books would be part of the deal, I thought it was a fantastic move by Marvel to get more mainstream exposure for comic books in general, as well as recapture the younger readers that the market is sorely lacking.
However, I’m not quite sure some of the more adult books, such as J. Michael Straczynski’s Spider-Man and Mark Millar’s Ultimate books are a wise decision. I mean, the former features a storyline about Gwen Stacey’s sexual romp with the Green Goblin, with her artificially aged daughter trying to seduce Peter Parker (or some such nonsense, I don’t read the book). And Mark Millar is known more for his rape obsession and “edgy” stories, not kid-friendly material. So all it will take is for a few fundamentalist (heck, even “normal”) parents to discover the “filth” their kids are buying at 7-11 and you can kiss this whole distribution avenue goodbye.
Unless, of course, Marvel is counting on the controversy as exposure/free advertisement. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Neil Gaiman interview
Locus magazine recently did an interview with Neil Gaiman.
“I still love the book-ness of books, the smell of books; I am a book fetishist — books to me are the coolest and sexiest and most wonderful things there are. For an author, they’re your headstone and your living monument: mine will allow me to lecture and entertain people long after I’m gone. Isaac Asimov put it best when he pointed out that the book, especially the paperback book, is a perfectly designed thing. It does not need an on-and-off switch; it doesn’t need power; it’s comfortable to read — black print on white paper, driven by sunlight, is terrifically efficient; it’s a good size for putting down, and when you drop it you can find your place almost immediately. But I get deeply and genuinely pissed off that books weigh anything, and if I want to take them with me I have to load up a suitcase or the trunk of the car with them. Information weighs nothing!”
You can read excerpts from it on their website.
Unbelievable
Here’s a link to a 6-minute clip from The Daily Show where they examine the absurdities surrounding the Schiavo case. It’s incredibly funny and sad at the same time. Especially the segment where he shows how FOX News actually had psychic medium John Edward on as an expert!!! You know, the guy who claims to talk to dead people on his show Crossing Over. Words alone are not enough to describe how incredibly wrong that is.
This, my friends, is another reason why the rest of the world hates us.
Daily Musings: Day 143
Ok, I’m back on schedule with the next script I wanted to serialize here. I’m reposting the character descriptions, followed by the first page of the (as yet untitled) story…
CHARACTERS:
Jeff – white, average looking comic book artist in his late 30s. He’s a bit portly, balding, and wears glasses. Jeff’s a family man, dressed casually (jeans, t-shirt), working at his home studio. A reliable, solid artist without the “rock star” attitude..
Kano – late 20s, attractive, hipster artist of Japanese decent. He’s the exact opposite of Jeff in looks and attitude. Fashionable, trendy clothes, spiked hairdo, pierced ears, cool shades, etc. He’s currently enjoying a thriving fine arts career, and the fame has gone to his head.
Caleb – Jeff’s 7 year old son. An energetic, smiling, excited young boy. He carries his favorite Generic Superhero (see below) large action figure with him everywhere.
“Generic Superhero” – the unnamed main character from the comic book series that Jeff draws. We’ll only see him on the first page of the story, so no need for an extensive design. Give him a look and simple costume that evokes the Superman archetype: square-jawed, muscular, heroic. Cape, maybe a mask.
“Generic Robot” – the unnamed villain that we see the superhero fighting. I’ll leave the design up to you, draw something you’ll have fun with. It could be a giant robot, or a radioactive monster, whatever.
SETTING:
Jeff’s “studio”, which is just an extra room in his modest house that he has converted into his art studio. The main features are a drafting table with all his pens, pencils, inks, etc. and a bookshelf of old sketchbooks and reference books. Other than that, feel free to add whatever you think makes sense and have room for in the panels. Maybe a radio.
PAGE 1
The “Suggested Panel Layout” for each page is just a suggestion; how I see them in my head. Feel free to do the layouts as you see fit for better storytelling, I’m flexible.
Suggested Panel layout: 1x3x2
Panel 1: Widescreen panel depicting the massive Generic Robot rampaging through the downtown area of a modern big city, leveling buildings and basically creating mayhem.
Caption: Metro City 6. August 8th. 2:31 PM.
SFX: K-THOOOM
Panel 2: Tight shot of Generic Superhero flying through the skyscrapers of the city to respond to the threat.
Generic Superhero (thought): There he is.
Panel 3: Pull in close on the massive Robot’s body, with the small image of the Superhero flying in to the panel.
Panel 4: A dramatic shot of the Superhero flying towards us (a la Superman), a look of determination on his face.
Generic Superhero: Hey, you overgrown pile of scrap metal…
Panel 5: Pull back a bit for a medium shot of the Superhero lifting the Robot up and flying off with him.
Generic Superhero: …time to take you back to the junk yard!
Panel 6: Close up on the Superhero, straining under the weight of his nemesis, but still resolute.
Generic Superhero (thought): Ungh. This thing’s a lot heavier than I thought.
Kano (OP): Man, what is this crap?
Tween girl- ‘Awww that’s cute. What is it?’
Annie- ‘Satanic Paper Boy.’
Tween girl- (puzzled and slightly horrified)
_This exchange happened with my friend’s daughter (Annie) in school the other day. She gave the button to Annie who put it on her backpack. This didn’t really help her misfit status at school. Poor Anne.
My boy Banksy strikes again!
Take a look at this absolutely luscious dig at the hidebound conservatism of the fine arts establishment. Priceless! This is one of the greatest things I have ever seen in my life. If I could kiss Bansky I would. Fuck the art establishment!
Daily Musings: Day 142
You know, I was going to keep my mouth shut and not talk about the Terri Schiavo story. Because really, it’s a very personal matter for the family, and although I have strong opinions on which side of the argument I fall under, it’s none of my business to say so.
However, the thing that I can’t keep quiet about any longer is (and pardon my language here) how every fucking asshat politician is jockeying for position on this issue, abusing it as a photo-op for their own fucking purposes. And Tom DeLay is spearheading this mission of mercy, for christ’s sake? Tom Fucking DeLay? Tom “Ethics Violations” DeLay? Our soldiers are dying every single day in Iraq, no big deal, but for one person in Florida Congress pulls out an unprecedented emergency session? For this Bushy Bush is willing to cut his vacation short and rush to sign the bill, where as before he couldn’t fucking be bothered to do some “presidenting” while there was an active war going on?
And now I see that Bushy Bush’s bro, good ol’ Florida governor Jeb Bush, is seeking “court permission to take custody” of Terri Schiavo. All this time he’s been governor, he hasn’t felt the need to intervene on behalf of a wrongfully accused death row inmate, poverty stricken AIDS patient, corporate fraud victim, or any other private citizen in need of desperate assistance. But now, all of a sudden, he’s personally interested in helping save a woman who has been in a persistent vegetative state for the past 15 years.
It’s too bad I don’t believe in hell, because if I did, I could sleep better tonight knowing there’s a very special level reserved just for these hypocritical, opportunistic, shameless sons of bitches.
Thought balloons
“The first well-written, well-drawn comicbook to bring back thought balloons in a major way will be a hit,” Sean McKeever opined on his Web site recently. “I would equally love to have that splashy, retro feel, added character insight and fun exposition that thought balloons can bring to a story.”
I responded:
“Thought balloons can be kind of a crutch, IMHO. It can be somewhat easy to just have the character tell the reader what he’s thinking or feeling.”
Numerous people disagreed.
“Thought ballons, thought captions, or whatever is one of the things that allow comics to be a merge between a visual and a written medium.”
“Funny, though, how when a novelist takes us inside a character’s head, few complain about the additional insight. Yet, when it’s done in a comic, the reaction is often that there has been some sort of shortcut taken.”
“Thought balloons in comics vs. voice-overs in movies is like comparing apples and something not really very much like apples at all.”
What do you think?
This could be the end, true believers!
Sam Raimi and Marvel said Tuesday that Thomas Haden Church will be the villain for Spider-Man III. Yes, friends, it’s Spider-Man vs. Lowell!
And in Spider-Man IV our friendly neighborhood wall-crawler will face off against the triple threat of Larry, his brother Darryl, and his other brother Darryl!!!!!
Daily Musings: Day 141
Do crazy people get lonely?
We were having a later “dinner” at Wendy’s (the fast food joint, not Wendy’s apartment) when an older gentleman came in by himself and ordered some food. He was seated at the table next to us, even though the entire place was empty. Anyway, when we were done, Wendy got up to throw our trash away and Jeff (as he came to introduce himself) intercepted her and offered to dump out the trays for her. “I got it. Y’all are family. You finish up, and I’ll dump this out for you.”
We thanked him, and as we were getting Hanna ready to go, he started into a story about how he’s a retired police officer, and such. Anyway, we thanked him again and said goodbye, and left. Later, in the car, Wendy told me that she had known of him for quite a while. Apparently, he was in a mental institution many years ago (the father of one of her friends was in the same institution). And subsequently, he was a fixture on campus for a while, starting conversations with anybody and everybody who passed by. She said he was a really nice guy, and never panhandled or bothered anyone, but if you were ever sucked into a conversation with him it was really hard to extract yourself from it.
And then, after a pause, she said “It must get pretty lonely if you’re a little bit crazy.” To which I replied “I don’t know, maybe crazy people are too far into their own world to realize they get lonely.”
And yes, I know calling the poor soul “crazy” isn’t politically correct, but you know what I mean. As we rush about our hectic lives, we see people like Jeff everywhere. Some are a bit odd, other we may call eccentric, and a few are certifiably loony. But it makes me wonder how they feel about themselves during the quiet moments. Do they feel disconnected, out of place, lonely? I’d imagine they would, after all, loneliness is a very common and powerful human condition. But then again, as we were leaving Wendy’s and I looked back in through the window, I saw Jeff back at his table, enjoying his burger, and he really didn’t seem to be down.
I mean, from my perspective, yeah, it was a sad sight to see this man eating all by himself in an empty fast food restaurant. But is that how he saw himself?
PANEL gallery show at Supraphonic Studio, April 9th
Listen up, C-bus residents. Columbus’ own PANEL writer/artist collective will have a showing of original comic book art by its members on Saturday, April 9, at Supraphonic recording studio. In addition, there will be 3 bands providing groovy music into the wee hours of the morning. And check out the swank flyer, designed by our very own Tom Williams:
By the way, this place is nearly impossible to find, so I highly recommend taking a look at this map. Apparently, it’s located down a ramp, below ground level.
Daily Musings: Day 140
Remember the musing from a few days ago where I talked about the Ohio Lottery sponsoring national Gambling Awareness Week? Well, this is along the same vein of absurdity…
I heard a radio ad for Aspen Edge, the low carb beer from Coors, where they position themselves as some sort of lifestyle choice. That’s right, you can send off for a packet of information that will give you career advice, health & exercise options, and lifestyle tips. In fact, on their website, they open with this ridiculous marketing BS: “Can you really do it all? Yes. You balance family, work and play. So, take pride in your responsibilities and celebrate with Aspen Edge.”
Career advice! From an f-ing beer company!
What a sad, sad world we live in.
The return of Jonah Hex!
DC will be publishing a new, monthly Jonah Hex series sometime this fall. The writer team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray will be involved, though no word on who the artist(s) may be. Supposedly, these will all be self-contained, one-issue stories. First issue cover is by Frank Quietly, dig it:
I absolutely loved the Joe R. Landsdale/Tim Truman revival of Hex under the Vertigo imprint. Palmiotti and Gray are not what I’d consider marquee writers, but they are usually pretty solid, so hopefully this will be a fun read. I’m looking forward to it.
It’s like The Onion, but for comics
SHAFT NewsWire. Funny fake newspaper articles.
“Contestants on Fear Factor burn at the touch of the man-Thing”
“Eye on Wakanda”
And other comic book geek humor.
The SHAFT site itself has some other funny features.
“In response to the global threat posed by George W. Bush (better known as the supervillain President Evil 2) and the Legion of Terror, Ultimate Nick Fury founded the SHAFT Agency in the summer of 2002.
Rallying the earth’s mightiest heroes into a worldwide resistance movement and recruiting the best secret agents into his new intelligence network, Fury began to turn the tables on Bush’s criminal empire.”