Why Comic Books Became A More Of A Writer's And Less Of An Artist's Medium

Howard Chaykin: "[S]ince comics have evolved more into an ancillary product of IP, the powers that be- the management class, the movie-and-TV people- cannot identify what writing is in comics. They perceive the writer's job as writing, and the artist's job as illustrators. But comic book artists are- or at least should be- graphic designers in the service of narrative, pictures of narrative value, which means 'story value.' The way an artist sets up a picture is the writing of the book. The writer provides a template. And certainly in this delusional Marvel-style thing where a writer says, 'Give me a fight for five pages,' who's the writer on that? And since comic book fight scenes are external reflections of inner trauma, they are the equivalent of dance numbers or aria in ballet, opera, and musical theater, and choreography is storytelling."

[3 June 02022]

Stan Lee Returns To Marvel Studios With Genius Brands, POW! Entertainment Licensing Deal

"Marvel has signed a 20-year deal with Stan Lee Universe, a venture between Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment, to license the name and likeness of Lee for use in future feature films and television productions, as well as Disney theme parks, various 'experiences' and merchandising."

Prepare to be haunted by Animatronic Stan Lees, and Stan Lee Holograms!

[2 June 02022]

Strange #3 is out today

Previews: [Comics Continuum] [Graphic Policy]

Comic Book Round Up collected reviews

[1 June 02022]

[Placeholder for Neilalien's eventual review of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, once the DVD is bought and analyzed frame by frame]

[31 May 02022]

Box Office Milestone: 'Doctor Strange 2' Soars Past $800M Globally

'Doctor Strange 2' VFX Artists On Creating 20 Multiverses In 40 Seconds

[29 May 02022]

After two weekends, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness global haul stands at $688 million

"The original 'Doctor Strange' ended its theatrical run in [0]2016 with $232 million domestically and $677 million globally."

Drop after first week as usual/expected, a bit steep, but: "its sizable decline is not surprising since 'Doctor Strange 2' is coming off the 11th biggest opening weekend in history"

[16 May 02022]

'Doctor Strange 2' Screenwriter Michael Waldron Shares Some Insight Into Film's Most Unbelievable Moments

[14 May 02022]

'Doctor Strange 2' Opens To $265 Million At International Box Office, Flies Past $450 Million Globally

When Neilalien started blogging, Marvel was near bankruptcy, and there was no Doctor Strange ongoing comic.

What a thrill now for a Doc fan to see a Doctor Strange film as one of the top-ten global movie weekends in history.

Still a thrill- even if "$450 million global movie weekend" necessitates so much big evil corporate-conglomerate process in our modern world to happen--

Thanks and kudos to all cast and crew who worked hard and creatively on the film.

[9 May 02022]

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is out!!!

Review aggregators: [Rotten Tomatoes] [Metacritic]

News tags: [Hollywood Reporter] [Variety]

Update: Box Office: 'Doctor Strange 2' Flies To Sensational $90M Friday [Friday's haul- including $36 million in Thursday previews- is the seventh biggest opening day of all time domestically; playing in 4,545 theaters, the widest location count of the pandemic and the fifth-biggest of all time]

Update: How 'Doctor Strange 2' Intriguingly Moves MCU Multiverse Narrative Forward And Why That's Important

[6 May 02022]

China Officially Bans Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness

Doctor Strange 2 Banned In Egypt And Kuwait Over LGBTQ+ Content

Saudi Arabia's Doctor Strange 2 Ban Stems From Disney Refusing To Cut A 12-Second Scene [in which lesbian character America Chavez mentions she has 'two moms']

[3 May 02022]

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness will be out this weekend!!!

'Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness' Presales Outpacing 'Captain Marvel', 'GOTG Vol. 2' & 'Thor: Ragnarok', Heading Toward $150M+ U.S. Opening
["After reporting previously that presales were the best of [0]2022 to date, outstripping The Batman, Fandango said this morning that the Sam Raimi-directed movie is selling five times as many tickets as [0]2016's original Doctor Strange ($85M domestic opening)..."]

IMDb DSitMOM News Page

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Official Trailer [YouTube] [almost 50 million views]

Updating...

[2 May 02022]

Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday 7 May

[1 May 02022]

Neal Adams, Comic Book Artist Who Revitalized Batman And Fought For Creators' Rights, Dies At 80

Update: Neal Adams obituary at The Comics Journal

[30 April 02022]

Doctor Strange: Nexus Of Nightmares was out 20 Apr

Comic Book Round Up collected reviews

A serviceable Doctor Strange story for fans old and new--

Doc's mopey-dope, but it's because of Nightmare's attacks so it's slightly more palatable-- his buddy Wong rouses him from his funk--

Something riskless for comic-book-shop shelves when Doc's big live-action movie is released that shows him alive in the comics--

Old-school words-per-panel ratio--

[29 April 02022]

Comic Book Legends Revealed: Steve Ditko Invented The Comic Corner Box [from 02017]

[9 April 02022]

Marvel's June 02022 solicits prove that Doctor Strange will be dead in the comics when his big movie comes out

STRANGE #4
JED MACKAY (W)
MARCELO FERREIRA (A)
Cover by Lee Garbett
Variant cover by Logan Lubera
FAMILY REUNION!
Clea's mother Umar has come to visit, just as the Blasphemy Cartel launch their latest attack on the Sanctum Sanctorum!
And this time, they brought an unlikely foe to take down the Sorcerer Supreme!
Reintroducing the dark Moon Knight... Shadow Knight!
32 PGS./Rated T+ $3.99

DEFENDERS: BEYOND #1 (OF 5)
AL EWING (W)
JAVIER RODRIGUEZ (A)
WRAPAROUND COVER BY JAVIER RODRIGUEZ
Variant Cover by LEE GARBETT
SPOILER Variant Cover by LEONARDO ROMERO
Stormbreakers Variant Cover by NATACHA BUSTOS
Variant cover by PHIL NOTO
TEASER VARIANT COVER BY RON LIM
Al Ewing and Javier Rodriguez follow up their acclaimed DEFENDERS: THERE ARE NO RULES series with a new volume and an all-new lineup, including none other than Loki, God of Stories! When Doctor Strange sends a dire warning from beyond the grave, Blue Marvel, America Chavez, Taaia (Galactus' mom!), Tigra and Loki assemble to defend reality itself! Plus, you won't believe who shows up on the final page!
32 PGS./Rated T+ $3.99

LEGION OF X #3
SI SPURRIER (W)
JAN BAZALDUA (A)
Cover by DIKE RUAN
Variant Cover by Sergio Davila
HELLFIRE GALA VARIANT COVER BY RUSSELL DAUTERMAN
TO BE MAD IS TO BE DIVINE!
An Arakkii fugitive god is lurking somewhere in the shadows of Krakoa, and Weaponless Zsen must track them down or face destruction at the hands of the terrifying Ora Serrata. After hitting a number of dead ends, Zsen and Nightcrawler turn to the astral plane for answers. Meanwhile, Pixie lures the Skinjacker out of hiding with the help of Juggernaut and... Dr. Strange?!
32 PGS./Rated T+ $3.99

[8 April 02022]

Strange #2 out today

Comic Book Round Up collected reviews

Variant cover regime

[6 April 02022]

Disney corporate response to new Florida bill limiting and lawsuitizing public-school discussion of sexuality/gender issues deemed insufficiently against, even approving via campaign contributions; Disney facing backlash, boycotts, employee protests/possible full-day walkout Tuesday

Florida Parental Rights In Education Act PDF

Disney Do Better Walkout [Open Letter]

Disney Workers Walk Out Over Company's Silence On "Don't Say Gay" Bill

Marvel Studios Denounces "Don't Say Gay" Legislation As Disney Fallout Continues

Disney, Marvel, And What Can Be Done [Graeme McMillan's 'Comics, FYI' newsletter]
Sitrep; starving-artist Marvel Comics creators, working at Disney's rounding error, don't feel there's much they can do on a personal level.

[20 March 02022]

The House of Shadows, originally from Strange Tales #120, returns! But instead of the usual banishment fate, it finds a home becoming Moon Knight's replacement Midnight Mission base of operations! In Moon Knight #9 [out 2 Mar], written by Jed MacKay, who thankfully seems to have enjoyed doing his historical research for his recent Doctor-Strange-related writing.

Devil's Reign: Superior Four #2 [out 16 Feb], includes a variant Doctor Octopus who is Sorcerer Supreme of his reality Earth-8968. Many Doctor Strange accoutrements here, including castings of Flames of the Faltine, Icy Tendrils of Ikthalon, and Mists of Morpheus.

The Vishanti summon Doctor Voodoo in Strange Academy #16 [out 23 Feb] to alert him that the cost of the school and the death of Dr. Strange have fractured the mystical balance. Tiger-appearing Hoggoth ain't looking too well.

Throg- that's the frog Thor- recruited Bats for a new Pet Avengers group in Thor #18 [out 20 Oct 2021] to help Thor find Mjolnir. They (with Doctor Strange) appear in the battle versus The God of Hammers/Mjolnir/God Tempest/Mangog (and Bats on the cover!) in Thor #22 [out 16 Feb].

Update: There was a charming kiddie Mighty Marvel Holiday Special: Year of the Wong Infinity Comic on the Marvel Unlimited app [out 1 Feb] by Amy Chu and E.J. Su. A sorcerous Wong saves the Lunar New Year parade from a Chinese-dragon-type thug of Dormammu.

[5 March 02022]

Strange #1 out today!

Comic Book Round Up collected reviews

Massive variant cover regime

Establishes Clea as an alien badass in love--

This is not your Stephen-Strange Sorcerer Supreme--

The War of the Seven Spheres is mentioned! (It sounds like all 5,000 years happened in the completed past, right?)

[2 March 02022]

Strange #1 preview, out next week 2 Mar

Doctor Doom comes calling for the Sorcerer Supreme mantle--

[26 February 02022]

Today marks 22 Years of Neilalien comic book/Doctor Strange/Steve Ditko/nerd weblog goodies at this URL! Excelsior!

22 is a palindromic number--

Some small pleasing creative geek distraction from our virus-torn war-torn world--

The pandemic has taken its mental-health and other tolls, even on Neilalien's extraterrestrial physiology--

Perhaps the Neilalien signal will change, be reduced further (can't be much less!), or even end completely after Multiverse of Madness in May--

Or end after they bring Doc back from the dead-- Can't end while Doc is dead in the comics, right?-- Have to see how they bring him back-- Or is that the reason to end the weblog?-- The same old tired tropes--

Or maybe he will spend the next 22 years catching up on all the Doctor Strange appearances he missed, and back-populating all the "updatings" and placeholders, and finishing the Doc Info Pages at his whim--

[25 February 02022]

Marvel's May 02022 solicits feature "Clea Strange"

STRANGE #3
JED MACKAY (W)
MARCELO FERREIRA (A)
Cover by BJORN BARENDS
ELEMENTAL VARIANT COVER BY PATRICK GLEASON
SKRULL VARIANT COVER BY TBA
VARIANT COVER BY EMA LUPACCHINO
Someone is preying on the misery and suffering of New York's citizens.
Clea Strange is all too familiar with the demons and monsters that stalk humans.
But what happens when it's the humans who are hunting the monsters?
32 PGS./Rated T+ $3.99

MOON KNIGHT: BLACK, WHITE & BLOOD #2 (OF 4)
Another hard-hitting series of tales told in a limited palette of black, white and red, by today's top creators! Benjamin Percy and Gerardo Zaffino have Moon Knight seek out an odd favor from Doctor Strange!

[20 February 02022]

Are Spider-Man Star Tom Holland's Vague Statements A Militant Labor Action? [CounterPunch]

[19 February 02022]

Echoes Of The Past: The Legacies Of [0]1950s Comics Censorship In The Maus Controversy

Transcript Of The McMinn County Board Of Education's Removal Of Maus

Frederic Thrasher's "The Comics And Delinquency: Cause Or Scapegoat?," The Journal Of Educational Sociology, December [0]1949 [A Crisis Of Innocence]

Update: Banned By Tennessee School Board, 'Maus' Soars To The Top Of Bestseller Charts

Update: Penguin Random House Demands Removal Of Maus From Digital Library Because The Book Is Popular Again

[17 February 02022]

Mind-blowingly bat-shit fun Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Official Trailer [YouTube]

Start: Collecting some of the major initial trailer breakdowns on YouTube:
Emergency Awesome
Heavy Spoilers [Heavy Spoilers #2]
Everything Always
New Rockstars
ScreenCrush

Updating...

[14 February 02022]