Neilalien : A Doctor Strange Fansite : A Comic Book Weblog  

Tom Smith has posted a nice Defenders #12 backup-story image by Ivan Reis online [Defenders Message Board; image]

Roger Stern update [Continuum]
A Superman webisode, a two-pager for Dark Horse, and a young adult novel. Get this man back on Doctor Strange!

Jennifer Connelly In Hulk Movie [Continuum]
And they're trying to get Nick Nolte to play General Thunderbolt Ross. These items increase Neilalien's interest.

Posted 30 November 02001 - Permalink

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The Rifleman Kid holds The Rifleman's big log [Oddball Comics] [image] [via LinkMachineGo]

Review of Defenders #11 (Spoilers)

This issue surpasses #8 and #5 as the best one yet! Excelsior! You'll be shocked to learn that Neilalien has no nitpicks to report. #9-10 were weak, but the trend is turned around with a solid, entertaining issue-long fight. The Defenders' battle plan against Attuma and the Deep Six was great. It mixed things up nicely- and a little unexpectedly. The narration of the battle plan worked well. Everyone showed great power use. I nodded with satisfaction seeing Doc against the hapless Sea Urchin, and the way he faced Nagala as Surfer suffocated her. The story-telling of the art was excellent- lots of large, dynamic, colorful panels. The art itself was a little icko in places as usual, but as I've said before, Larsen is best when he's drawing monsters fighting- this issue had plenty of that. And there wasn't too much of the Tediously Moronic, I mean Savage, Hulk.
I'm starting to like the dark, arrogant Doc- a temporary guilty pleasure. Looking forward to The Order!

Reviews of Defenders #11 [Critiques on Infinite Earths at FourthRail, mild recommendation]

Quesada's Holiday Editorial [Newsarama]
Joe rants about CrossGen's three month non-compete clause.

Mini-rant: As a big fan of Frank Quitely's style, I found Igor Kordey's art in New X-Men #119 very messy, a jarring ill-fitting change (that will only seem moreso in any TPB collection), and disappointing. This is the art on a Marvel flagship book? It doesn't even have a likeable funkiness re: Larsen or McKeever. Maybe Quitely didn't make the deadline and this was a fill-in rush-job. Here's a FourthRail review praising the art. Maybe I'm way off.

Posted 28 November 02001 - Permalink

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First Look at Defenders #11 [Mile High Comics]

Posted 27 November 02001 - Permalink

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Doctor Strange Dominates Marvel's Solicitations! Neilalien Extremely Happy!

My only disappointments: the Separate Reality TPB should have just reprinted the Shuma-Gorath saga from Marvel Premiere in its entirety, regardless of creator; and Ultimate Doc's "inheritance" origin is very weak.

Man or Superman? It's a New World for Stan Lee's Superbeings in Long Underwear [City Pages via Triptych Cryptic]
Mixed Stan Lee article. Makes an interesting observation that all of Lee's reimagined DC heroes so far are based on revenge- is it bitterness re: Stan Lee Media? Item: Stanley Martin Leiber started worked as a gofer for Timely Comics in 1939.

Marvel Adjusting Ad Rates, Adding Dot Comics Downloads [Newsarama]
More on that online reader ad-boost.

Posted 26 November 02001 - Permalink

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'Overlords: Defenders Against The Earth' is going to be 'The Order: Defenders Against The Earth'; awesome cover image [Mucho Marvel Maneuvers article on Newsarama]
Someone had the trademark for Overlords. I like The Order better. The black-and-white cover image provided with this story is really sweet. Sorry, I'm not missing Larsen.

Think You Know Taskmaster? [Newsarama]
Interesting article and discussion about an upcoming Taskmaster mini-series. I like the idea of a revamp and a more creative take for this character. But the manga influence sounds like it's going to suck. And we seem to be in a cycle where everyone's getting powered up again. Think of the recent Graviton in Thunderbolts. All these god-like characters make for boring stories.

Posted 24 November 02001 - Permalink

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Group Counts Online Readers [Chicago Tribune via Splash]
Marvel gets a big boost in circulation and ad rates by including 500,000 registered online readers and 1.3 million downloaded issues.

Posted 20 November 02001 - Permalink

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FYI from the Mighty Marvel Mailer: Defenders #11 will appear in stores on 11/28

Posted 19 November 02001 - Permalink

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Who Is Toy Biz Worldwide?
The current Comicon Splash has some more analysis of Marvel's latest 10Q. I don't understand it myself. It sounds like Marvel was able to show a big revenue gain by selling something to itself or licensing something to itself?

Marvel, what the hell were you thinking?!
LinkMachineGo has posted an image of Dr. Doom's tearful reaction to 911 as portrayed in Amazing Spider-Man #36. That tear better be because he's bitterly jealous of what Osama "accomplished." Or maybe all that gold in the WTC's vaults was Doom's. Or maybe it's because he wants to go off somewhere to take advantage of the chaos and all the heroes being busy, but he can't since there are no flights. I must delude myself to make sense of this. Granted, you don't show Doom and Magneto celebrating. But they are villains! Geez! How stupid can you get? How stupid can you consider your audience?

Posted 16 November 02001 - Permalink

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Let's Call It A Comeback... [Newsarama]
Comic Buyer's Guide projects 2001 to be the first growth year for comics since the 1993 crash-year.

Marvel Publishing Up 11.8% [Splash; Marvel Enterprises Reports Q3 2001 Results]
Still a loss for the quarter, but the loss is smaller. Toy Biz still tanking. Licensing not big yet. But comics are way up. The company burned less money last quarter and still survives on its unrestricted cash.

So some good news for Marvel and comics today. But stay focused, my friends. The better the comic book market, the better a solo Doctor Strange title can be sustained.

Posted 15 November 02001 - Permalink

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Superheroes Coming Back [NYPost.com via Splash]
Comic sales are up. Superhero television shows are up, and big movies are on the way. Heroes are in vogue again. Is it a reaction to the WTC attack? Is it the normal cycle? Is it that recessions help less-expensive entertainment like comics? Stan Lee and others comment.

Posted 13 November 02001 - Permalink

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Item! News to Neilalien anyway!

Bruce Timm based the look of Batman Beyond on the masked Doctor Strange [Defenders Message Board]
Detailed post refers to an interview in Comicology #1 and includes a Timm-drawn masked-Doc vs. Dormammu!

Posted 9 November 02001 - Permalink

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Kurt Busiek post [Defenders Message Board]
Larsen gets the credit for the brilliant narration turns in Defenders- but also the blame for Absorbing Man taking out two Defenders and choosing the villains for the rumble in #10. Ah ha! :)

Posted 8 November 02001 - Permalink

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Last Month's Comics: The Best of the Marvel and DC Comp Boxes by Mark Millar [TheFourthRail via LinkMachineGo]
Millar's great to read in interviews and reviews, and always with infectious enthusiasm- this is no exception. Unfortunately for us, we have to shell out $3-4 a book to read all the stuff he recommends.

Posted 7 November 02001 - Permalink

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A Conversation With The Irascible Erik Larsen [CBR]

Here's a better link re: David Hayter's seven figure deal with Universal to turn Watchmen into a movie [Comics2Film's Watchmen Page]

Titan Keeps Transformers License [Newsarama]
TPB's on their way.

Posted 1 November 02001 - Permalink

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