R.I.P. Tony DeZuniga
Jonah Hex co-creator and all-around talented artist Tony DeZuniga died on Wednesday at age 79. He'd been in critical condition since last month, and had been fighting something of an uphill battle, but his death is no less tragic because of it. My thoughts go out to him and his family.
Classic Literature Goes Graphic
This month sees the release of the first volume of the Graphic Canon. It's a pretty cool project, taking a bunch of talented comic artists and having them create graphic versions of classic literature. Seems to be going chronologically, and is pulling all sorts of different pieces of the "canon" from all over the world. Ambitious, bizarre, and full of new comic art! Hooray for trying things!
Selling Like Hotcakes
Two bits of comicbook sales news/info that caught my eye this week. The first was this awesome, super-expensive sale of Batman #1. Way to raise the bar, rich anonymous comicbook collector! Secondly, mixed in with all the buzz and positive reviews generated by the Avengers movie, there's been some chatter about how this won't necessarily translate to increased comicbook sales. What people keep pointing out, though, is that the exception to this rule is The Walking Dead TV series. Which at first confused me, but the more I read/think about it, the more it makes total sense. Ongoing comicbooks and TV series are both serialized mediums, so fans of the show are used to getting a long, developing, linear story and bound to want more of it in between seasons. Whereas Avengers movie fans who aren't existing comicbook readers may not be as interested in investing an indefinite amount of time and money into following even one Avengers title. It's too bad ticket sales don't mean comicbook sales, but I get it.
Speaking Of...
I still haven't seen the Avengers movie myself, but I totally plan to within a week, and when the time comes I am definitely on board for the recent movement to match the price of my tickets with a donation to the Hero Initiative. With all the continuing, intelligent, awesome discussion going on about creator's rights these days, it seems important for each and every fan of the comicbook medium to do what we can, to keep the momentum going so that hopefully, someday, somebody won't get screwed by the Big Two. And for the love of God don't buy Before Watchmen. Any of it!
One Last Awesome Thing
And eight-year-old Batman saves the day. Yes. Yes everywhere.
Showing posts with label Avengers Movie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Avengers Movie. Show all posts
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Smatterday 05/05/2012
Happy Free Comic Book Day!
So today is Free Comic Book Day, which is always tons of fun. Every publisher on the planet puts something out for free, in the hopes of getting us all to buy more of their stuff throughout the year. Comicbook fans all over the country get to be the belle of the ball, with new suitors on all sides vying for our attention. I love it. Plus this year it's just one day after Star Wars Day, which is total gravy. Personally, I've got two different shops to hit up today, and I can't wait.
The Ghost of FCBD Past
The other thing that's so nice about FCBD, now, is it's been going on for years. To me, it feels like a legitimate holiday, partly because FCBD played a pretty big role in my own comicbook fandom. Though I've been reading comics off-and-on since I was just a wee lad, it was actually Blackest Night #0 that pulled me back into the world of serious, weekly collecting. Which, of course, is precisely what it wanted to do. I no longer follow the Green Lantern family of titles, but I did for a while there, and I've been an avid and consistent consumer of comicbooks ever since.
Stan, Stan the Lawsuit Man
So Stan Lee finds himself embroiled in a lawsuit over POW! Entertainment. The man is a lawsuit magnet, apparently, which is just a bummer. I mean, the guy's a living legend, and so many people owe him so much...can't we let him put out the few comicbooks he's still involved with in peace? I don't pretend to understand the details, so maybe Lee deserves all this, but I choose to believe he's a kind, aging genius whom the world has decided to take advantage of. I'm probably way off, but I don't care. You get 'em, Stan!
Avengers Review Round-Up
I haven't seen The Avengers yet, but everybody else has, so I've read a whole helluva lotta reviews of it. Won't you join me?
MTV
Vancouver Sun
CarlsbadPatch
New Yorker-This one feels particularly stupid. To me, anyhow.
CBC News
LA Times
Examiner
CNN
CinemaBlend
DeadSpin
Comic Book Movie
Tim Hanley
CBR
People
Rotten Tomatoes
So today is Free Comic Book Day, which is always tons of fun. Every publisher on the planet puts something out for free, in the hopes of getting us all to buy more of their stuff throughout the year. Comicbook fans all over the country get to be the belle of the ball, with new suitors on all sides vying for our attention. I love it. Plus this year it's just one day after Star Wars Day, which is total gravy. Personally, I've got two different shops to hit up today, and I can't wait.
The Ghost of FCBD Past
The other thing that's so nice about FCBD, now, is it's been going on for years. To me, it feels like a legitimate holiday, partly because FCBD played a pretty big role in my own comicbook fandom. Though I've been reading comics off-and-on since I was just a wee lad, it was actually Blackest Night #0 that pulled me back into the world of serious, weekly collecting. Which, of course, is precisely what it wanted to do. I no longer follow the Green Lantern family of titles, but I did for a while there, and I've been an avid and consistent consumer of comicbooks ever since.
Stan, Stan the Lawsuit Man
So Stan Lee finds himself embroiled in a lawsuit over POW! Entertainment. The man is a lawsuit magnet, apparently, which is just a bummer. I mean, the guy's a living legend, and so many people owe him so much...can't we let him put out the few comicbooks he's still involved with in peace? I don't pretend to understand the details, so maybe Lee deserves all this, but I choose to believe he's a kind, aging genius whom the world has decided to take advantage of. I'm probably way off, but I don't care. You get 'em, Stan!
Avengers Review Round-Up
I haven't seen The Avengers yet, but everybody else has, so I've read a whole helluva lotta reviews of it. Won't you join me?
MTV
Vancouver Sun
CarlsbadPatch
New Yorker-This one feels particularly stupid. To me, anyhow.
CBC News
LA Times
Examiner
CNN
CinemaBlend
DeadSpin
Comic Book Movie
Tim Hanley
CBR
People
Rotten Tomatoes
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Smatterday 04/28/2012
The Even Newer 52
So next week is the beginning of DC's "Second Wave" of titles for the New 52 (or whatever we're calling it now). Six new titles will be coming out, and while I am only really committing to Dial H, G.I. Combat (for the Unknown Solider stuff, primarily), and Earth 2, I imagine I'll check out the first issues of the other series as well, since it'll only be three more. Also because The Ravagers is spinning out of a crossover I plan to check out. Also because I still support, conceptually, the whole New 52 project and hope that this pattern of brining in new titles to replace those that are failing continues until DC has a full list of interesting, varied, successful comicbooks. A man can dream, can't he?
Not Comics
Is anyone else surprised by the continuing, ever-growing surge of superhero movies and TV series? When it all started to pick up steam several years ago with the first X-Men and Batman and Spider-Man films, I did not expect it to last this long or get this big. Some very popular, hotly-anticipated stuff is still coming out. Not something I'm especially happy or upset about, just genuinely surprised.
Spider-Man's Midlife Crisis
So as we all know Spider-Man turns 50 this year, and while the Internet is celebrating the milestone in a big way, Marvel's only official plans amount to another major arc from Dan Slott in Amazing Spider-Man, and the kind-of-interesting but also totally-tainting-the-whole-idea-behind-the-Ultimate-Universe mini-series Spider-Men. I'm excited for "Ends of the Earth" since Slot has been doing such a good job so far, and Spider-Men I could take or leave, but the real point is that one limited series and a big storyline seems somewhat small-time for one of the world's most popular superheroes. He does appear in almost all of Marvel's titles, I guess, so maybe they figure they celebrate his existence enough. Also Broadway and a second movie franchise. On second thought, they should consider scaling it back a little.
Good For You, Chris. Seriously.
Chris Roberson disassociated himself from DC this week, citing no personal problems with the people he worked with, but more sort of philosophical/ethical problems he had with the company's treatment of other creators. And they are good ones, and he backs them up. I love him for this, because so much of what you read in interviews and hear at conventions are creators toeing the party line about how great it is to work under the Big Two and how crossovers are fun to write for and all the other nonsense we basically understand to be untrue. There are plenty of people saying the opposite, too, but Roberson went ahead and quit his job over it, and in the name of creators other than himself, which is a pretty unique and applaudable thing to do. Good on you.
So next week is the beginning of DC's "Second Wave" of titles for the New 52 (or whatever we're calling it now). Six new titles will be coming out, and while I am only really committing to Dial H, G.I. Combat (for the Unknown Solider stuff, primarily), and Earth 2, I imagine I'll check out the first issues of the other series as well, since it'll only be three more. Also because The Ravagers is spinning out of a crossover I plan to check out. Also because I still support, conceptually, the whole New 52 project and hope that this pattern of brining in new titles to replace those that are failing continues until DC has a full list of interesting, varied, successful comicbooks. A man can dream, can't he?
Not Comics
Is anyone else surprised by the continuing, ever-growing surge of superhero movies and TV series? When it all started to pick up steam several years ago with the first X-Men and Batman and Spider-Man films, I did not expect it to last this long or get this big. Some very popular, hotly-anticipated stuff is still coming out. Not something I'm especially happy or upset about, just genuinely surprised.
Spider-Man's Midlife Crisis
So as we all know Spider-Man turns 50 this year, and while the Internet is celebrating the milestone in a big way, Marvel's only official plans amount to another major arc from Dan Slott in Amazing Spider-Man, and the kind-of-interesting but also totally-tainting-the-whole-idea-behind-the-Ultimate-Universe mini-series Spider-Men. I'm excited for "Ends of the Earth" since Slot has been doing such a good job so far, and Spider-Men I could take or leave, but the real point is that one limited series and a big storyline seems somewhat small-time for one of the world's most popular superheroes. He does appear in almost all of Marvel's titles, I guess, so maybe they figure they celebrate his existence enough. Also Broadway and a second movie franchise. On second thought, they should consider scaling it back a little.
Good For You, Chris. Seriously.
Chris Roberson disassociated himself from DC this week, citing no personal problems with the people he worked with, but more sort of philosophical/ethical problems he had with the company's treatment of other creators. And they are good ones, and he backs them up. I love him for this, because so much of what you read in interviews and hear at conventions are creators toeing the party line about how great it is to work under the Big Two and how crossovers are fun to write for and all the other nonsense we basically understand to be untrue. There are plenty of people saying the opposite, too, but Roberson went ahead and quit his job over it, and in the name of creators other than himself, which is a pretty unique and applaudable thing to do. Good on you.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Smatterday 04/07/2012
ECCC 2012
As we all know, Emerald City Comic-Con was last week in Seattle, and even though I couldn't go, plenty of other awesome people did. And it seems like they got to see some pretty amazing stuff.
Personally, I wasn't too excited about most of the news and announcements coming from ECCC this year, but there were a few nuggets of interest. Michael Oeming's got a new creator-owned series, Victories, coming out in the fall that promises to look badass even if the story sounds less cool than I think Oeming thinks it is. Who knows, though? Maybe it'll be an incredible story that I judged too quickly. Wouldn't be the first time.
Of course, this biggest news was that Scott Pilgirm is getting full-color hardcover editions. YAY!!!!! And there was much rejoicing.
Also, Revival sounds alright. If I remember, I'll give that a look when it comes out.
Avengers vs. X-Men vs. Shipping Schedules
Officially, Avengers vs. X-Men #1 came out on Wednesday (04/04), but for an unknown number of readers (myself included) it actually came out last Wednesday (03/28) because Marvel, employing their typical bizarre business sense, shipped them all a week early in order to be sure retailers would have them in time. However, apparently neither Diamond nor Marvel included any kid of special instructions to retailers explaining what the deal was, so numerous stores went ahead and sold the issue a week early.
I mean...duh, right? I get that Marvel maybe didn't trust Diamond completely (who does?) with getting so many of such an "important" issue out in time, but shouldn't they have made some kind of effort to be sure that retailers knew the situation? I know Marvel can't contact evey comicbook store in the country, but some kind of insert or special packaging or SOMETHING to have Diamond include with the orders seems like a no-brainer. Or else you get exactly what you got.
In general, the Internet seems to have been cool about respectfully waiting to review or discuss the issue until this week, so no real harm done. And I mean whatever, comic info leaks online all the time so this is nothing new. But it's a pretty silly blunder, and feels like it could have been so easily avoided.
Best New Awards Controversy
Also this week, the 2012 Eisner Nominees were announced, but due to a lack of "contenders that reached the level of quality they were looking for," there is no Best New Series category this year. And people are pretty pissed. I guess the defense of the decision was that in order to qualify, a title had to be an ongoing series and also have had at least two issues published in 2011, which I'm sure does, in fact, narrows things down. Not so much that it justifies cutting the award completely, I don't imagine, but I can see where they are coming from. I think the real issue is that the difference between Best New Series and Best Continuing Series seems to be pretty thin. Three of five nominees in the latter category were new in 2011, so...what the hell? Maybe put some more established titles in that category, Eisner folks, and let Best New Series stick around. Like we all want.
Watch But Don't Listen
Everybody (even me) already hates the Avengers Movie soundtrack just based on the listing. Except depressed middle-schoolers from the nineties.
As we all know, Emerald City Comic-Con was last week in Seattle, and even though I couldn't go, plenty of other awesome people did. And it seems like they got to see some pretty amazing stuff.
Personally, I wasn't too excited about most of the news and announcements coming from ECCC this year, but there were a few nuggets of interest. Michael Oeming's got a new creator-owned series, Victories, coming out in the fall that promises to look badass even if the story sounds less cool than I think Oeming thinks it is. Who knows, though? Maybe it'll be an incredible story that I judged too quickly. Wouldn't be the first time.
Of course, this biggest news was that Scott Pilgirm is getting full-color hardcover editions. YAY!!!!! And there was much rejoicing.
Also, Revival sounds alright. If I remember, I'll give that a look when it comes out.
Avengers vs. X-Men vs. Shipping Schedules
Officially, Avengers vs. X-Men #1 came out on Wednesday (04/04), but for an unknown number of readers (myself included) it actually came out last Wednesday (03/28) because Marvel, employing their typical bizarre business sense, shipped them all a week early in order to be sure retailers would have them in time. However, apparently neither Diamond nor Marvel included any kid of special instructions to retailers explaining what the deal was, so numerous stores went ahead and sold the issue a week early.
I mean...duh, right? I get that Marvel maybe didn't trust Diamond completely (who does?) with getting so many of such an "important" issue out in time, but shouldn't they have made some kind of effort to be sure that retailers knew the situation? I know Marvel can't contact evey comicbook store in the country, but some kind of insert or special packaging or SOMETHING to have Diamond include with the orders seems like a no-brainer. Or else you get exactly what you got.
In general, the Internet seems to have been cool about respectfully waiting to review or discuss the issue until this week, so no real harm done. And I mean whatever, comic info leaks online all the time so this is nothing new. But it's a pretty silly blunder, and feels like it could have been so easily avoided.
Best New Awards Controversy
Also this week, the 2012 Eisner Nominees were announced, but due to a lack of "contenders that reached the level of quality they were looking for," there is no Best New Series category this year. And people are pretty pissed. I guess the defense of the decision was that in order to qualify, a title had to be an ongoing series and also have had at least two issues published in 2011, which I'm sure does, in fact, narrows things down. Not so much that it justifies cutting the award completely, I don't imagine, but I can see where they are coming from. I think the real issue is that the difference between Best New Series and Best Continuing Series seems to be pretty thin. Three of five nominees in the latter category were new in 2011, so...what the hell? Maybe put some more established titles in that category, Eisner folks, and let Best New Series stick around. Like we all want.
Watch But Don't Listen
Everybody (even me) already hates the Avengers Movie soundtrack just based on the listing. Except depressed middle-schoolers from the nineties.
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