Doctor Strange #7 is out!
Collected reviews at Comic Book Round Up
Variant cover regime at Midtown Comics
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PURPLE GEMSDoctor Strange #7 is out! Collected reviews at Comic Book Round Up Variant cover regime at Midtown Comics
Longtime Marvel X-Men Artist Dan Green Passes Away Worked at Marvel for over 25 years, primarily as an inker. Re: Doctor Strange, Green inked/finished many Gene Colan books, drew Roger Stern's run vs. Dracula, and beautifully painted the Doctor Strange: Into Shamballa graphic novel. Dan Green [Wikipedia] Daniel Green [Penciler] [Inker] [Fandom Marvel Database/Wiki]
"It Could Be Better, But It Could Be Worse": Shops Discuss The Often Difficult Year So Far In Comics Retail [by David Harper at SKTCHD] [via Comics Retailers See Uncertain Future [The Beat]] "70% of the publishers could disappear tomorrow, and 90% of the customers wouldn't even notice... My wish for this year is that the chasm between what publishers put out and what we can actually sell gets smaller... pump out more and more variant covers in the vain hopes to find more buyers..."
Can Anything Cure Marvel's Malaise? [The Beat] Marvel Needs New Imprints If The Company Wants To Take Bigger Risks [CBR]
Marvel Might Be In Need Of A Fresh Start [SKTCHD (paywall)]
Update: CBLDF Calls for Collective Action
[Publishers Weekly]
To Mr. MacKay, With Apologies
[SKTCHD (paywall)]
Overworked And Underpaid, VFX Workers Vote To Unionize At Marvel [Vulture] Marvel VFX Artists Vote To Unionize [Variety] Marvel Studios VFX Workers File To Join IATSE Union [Hollywood Reporter] Marvel VFX Workers Vote To Unionize Under IATSE [Vanity Fair] I'm A VFX Artist, And I'm Tired Of Getting 'Pixel-Fked' By Marvel [Vulture 7/02022] Marvel VFX Workers On 'Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania' [Vulture 2/02023] Inside The VFX Union Brewing In Hollywood [Vulture 1/02023] IATSE = International Alliance Of Theatrical Stage Employees [Wikipedia] VFX = Visual Effects [Wikipedia]
Doctor Strange #6 is out! [2 Aug] Collected reviews at Comic Book Round Up Variant cover regime at Midtown Comics Braindump:
Marvel's August, September, and October 02023 solicits sound like a Doctor vs. General Strange battle royale; include Hickman's G.O.D.S. #1
DOCTOR STRANGE #6 [out 2 Aug in three days!]
DOCTOR STRANGE #7
DOCTOR STRANGE #8
G.O.D.S. #1
BLADE #4
GHOST RIDER #18
STRANGE ACADEMY: MILES MORALES #1
Meta, Microsoft, Hundreds More Own Trademarks To New Twitter Name [Twitter is changing its name to "X"- X is so widely used and cited in trademarks that it is a candidate for legal challenges- including Disney/Marvel?- they have been known to use "X" quite a bit- X-Men, X-Force, X of X, X-cetera] Interesting: This isn't the first time Elon Musk has tried to rebrand something X.com [Paypal in 02000] Marvel was bought for $4 billion in 02009- and Star Wars for $4 billion in 02012- both by Disney- Disney earned $18 billion in global box office from Marvel movies 02009-02019- Disney recouped its purchase of Star Wars in six years- it's astonishing to think that each purchase cost $40 billion less than Twitter
"Go Bleed On That Page, Hero!": The Tradd Moore Interview [Comics Journal]
Disney Reveals 'Doctor Strange 2' Cost $100 Million More Than Its Estimated Budget [Forbes] • $213.7M spent on pre-production and filming
Announced at Comic-Con: The next wave of the Marvel Legends figure series is Marvel Knights- with a Clea figure, and a Mindless One Build-A-Figure! [Toyark]
Marvel Settles Creator Copyright Lawsuits- But Not Steve Ditko [Bleeding Cool] Marvel Settles With Four Artists In Superhero Copyright Fight [Reuters; 9 Jun] Disney's Marvel has agreed to end its court battles with four artists who attempted to reclaim copyright interests in superheroes they co-created including Iron Man, Ant-Man and Captain Marvel, according to federal court filings published on Friday. The filings said Marvel would drop its lawsuits against Larry Lieber and the estates of Don Heck, Gene Colan and Don Rico with prejudice, which means they cannot be refiled. A Disney spokesperson and an attorney for the artists said they had reached an "amicable resolution." Marvel did not appear to have settled with the estate of comic book artist Steve Ditko, which is seeking to reclaim his share of copyrights in Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Marvel, Artist's Estate Ask For Pre-Trial Wins In Superhero Copyright Fight [Reuters; 22 May] Walt Disney Co's Marvel and the estate of artist Steve Ditko both asked a Manhattan federal judge on Friday to hand them a win without waiting for trial in their copyright dispute over rights to superheroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Marvel urged the court to reject the estate's effort to reclaim Ditko's interest in the characters, arguing he co-created them on the company's behalf. Ditko's estate argued that he developed his heroes and stories independently, and that Marvel intentionally avoided hiring him because of the "dire state of its business" at the time. Also, a Ditko letter in the treasure trove of litigation documents: What Steve Ditko Thought About Doctor Strange And Other Marvel Movies
How Manga Was Translated For America [NY Times] [gift link probably won't live long; found via Hacker News] [fun article/presentation with many little items like vertically vs. horizontally-oriented word balloons, how they used to flip the art so manga could be read like American comics and it made everyone left-handed, the Japanese love for onomatopoeia, etc.]
Will Burning Comic Books Be Next? [CounterPunch]
San Diego Comic-Con International is 20-23 July [Program Schedule] Update: According to the SAG-AFTRA Member Strike FAQ, members cannot do promotion/publicity services like conventions, panels, social media, etc., for struck work or struck companies. The strike is expected to hit the ever-more-Hollywood Comic-Con hard. Comic-Con will be just for comics again! Update: 'Too Big To Fail': San Diego Comic-Con Survives- And Thrives- With Or Without Hollywood [The Wrap]
'Stan Lee' Review: Disney Doc On The Marvel Legend Is A Lame Infomercial [Rolling Stone] Probably the best article to be found re: the utter pablum of the new Stan Lee documentary by David Gelb- although unfortunately it recommends toxic hit-piece True Believer as an alternative. Saying again: "It's a sign of the comic-book field's eternal immaturity that the debate-meme-choices are this extreme binary of essentially either Lee hagiographies doing 100% as claimed, or simplistic 50%-50%, or Lee was a craven parasite who did 0%." The "I saw a fly crawling on a wall" groaner supposedly inspiring the creation of Spider-Man is in the first two minutes! [Rotten Tomatoes] [IMDb] Update: Jeet Heer: "Both Marvel & DC have documentaries out built on the same false premise: that comics are created by management (editors) rather than freelancers (writer/artists/cartoonists). Both documentaries are acts of class war on behalf of corporate power." Update: Jeet Heer at The Nation: How Stan Lee Became The Face Of An Exploitative Industry
John Romita, legendary Marvel comics creator, developed Spider-Man post-Ditko, romance artist who got Peter Parker laid, has died at 93 An Interview With John Romita By Tom Spurgeon [Comics Journal, 02003] Roy Thomas interviews John Romita [Alter Ego Vol. 3 #9]
Guardian obit
Marvel's June and July 02023 solicits include Doctor Strange, Illuminati Marvel's next event is Ultimate Invasion, a four-issue mini-series by Hickman and Hitch, that will feature elements/characters from the influential imprint Ultimate Universe/Earth-1610, The Maker (the alternate Reed Richards) and Miles Morales/Spider-Man, post-Secret-Wars. The solicit for #1 says, "The Illuminati must form once again to stop the Maker from his plans to destroy- or perhaps rebuild- the universe, with Miles Morales at the center of it all!" With the Illuminati getting back together, will Dr. Strange be (a) present and (b) competent and (c) not an Illuminasshat? Jonathan Hickman And Bryan Hitch Are Teaming Up For A New Ultimate Marvel Comic [EW]
DOCTOR STRANGE #4
DOCTOR STRANGE #5
WARLOCK: REBIRTH #3 (OF 5) (by Marz/Lim)
The long era of Ike Perlmutter- the very controversial figure, but an undeniably key figure to Marvel Comics surviving its bankruptcy- with Marvel/Disney is at an end
Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter Out At Disney
[Hollywood Reporter]
Disney Axes Marvel Entertainment Billionaire Ike Perlmutter
[Vanity Fair]
Disney Lays Off Ike Perlmutter, Chairman Of Marvel Entertainment [NY Times] Ike Perlmutter Finally Fired From Marvel And Disney [Bleeding Cool] Ike Perlmutter Is Out At Marvel... But Marvel Comics Is Now "Redundant" [The Beat] Who Is Ike Perlmutter? Marvel Executive History And Controversies Explained [Screen Rant] Bye Ike Perlmutter Good Riddance [The Mary Sue] Ike Perlmutter Holds The Reins Of Superheroes At Marvel [LA Times 8/02012]
How Marvel Became The Envy (And Scourge) Of Hollywood
[Hollywood Reporter 7/02014]
Meet The Reclusive Marvel Mogul Who Loves Marco Rubio And Donald Trump [Daily Beast 2/02016] The Best Picture Of Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter We Are Likely To Get [Bleeding Cool 1/02017] How Marvel Went From Bankruptcy To Billions [Den Of Geek 4/02018] What You Need To Know About Marvel Entertainment's Mysterious Chairman- And Why Disney Is Keeping Quiet [Fast Company 12/02018] Report: Ike Perlmutter Attempted A Shadow Disney Board Coup Over The Summer... And It's Not Done Yet [The Beat] Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter [Wikipedia] Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health [Cancer.gov] "Tyrant".... "eccentric"... "reclusive" (few photos/interviews of him exist)... turned selling toys on the street into Marvel buying his Toy Biz and putting him on Marvel's board... maneuvered around the Perelman/Icahn battle to gain control of Marvel with Avi Arad and put the IP/characters in hock to get a $525 million line of credit for Marvel to launch its own movie studio... cheapskate who fished paper clips out of the trash and wanted to serve only potato chips at the Iron Man movie premiere (but contrast with Ron Perelman's debt and junk-bond ways)... feuded with MCU-miracleman Kevin Feige... "all black people look the same"... held back Marvel diversity, Black Panther, and female-superhero-led movies... tried to get us into the Inhumans instead of the X-Men to spite Fox owning the movie rights... Trump's biggest donor... sided with Ron DeSantis against Disney... tried to take over Disney in a coup with Nelson Peltz...
Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday 6 May!
[Twitter]
Al Jaffee, Trailblazing 'Mad' Magazine Cartoonist, Dies At 102 Al Jaffee: The Comics Journal obit Wil Forbis: "This is the core of Jaffee's work: the idea that to be alive is to be constantly beleaguered by annoying idiots, poorly designed products and the unapologetic ferocity of fate. Competence and intelligence are not rewarded in life but punished."
60 Years Ago Today! Strange Tales #110, the comic book with the first appearance of Doctor Strange, cover dated July 01963, was published and went onto newsstands on 9 April 01963! Source for date: Marvel Comics Group [0]1939-[0]1980: [0]1963
MoCCA Fest next weekend 1-2 Apr! Please note that programming is at the School of Visual Arts, which requires proof of vaccination and boosters. It is not required for the main event in the Metropolitan Pavilion.
Doctor Strange #1, new ongoing series, is out today 22 Mar! Comic Book Round Up collected reviews Variant cover regime at Midtown Comics
It looks like we are calling this Volume 6 (both the Wiki and Midtown)
Volume 1: #169-183 and then #381-390
Marvel Promises New Role For Wong In 'Doctor Strange' #4 [as an Agent of W.A.N.D.]
'Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania' Didn't Break Marvel Out Of Its Rut [Vox] Superhero Fatigue Threatens Marvel's Multiverse Saga [Ringer] Kevin Feige Opens Up About Phase 5, Kang, And The Future Of The MCU [EW] How Much Is Too Much Marvel And 'Star Wars'? Disney Rethinks Franchise Output [Hollywood Reporter] Is the mood turning against the MCU?:
"You've Got To Constantly Reinvent Yourself": Dan DiDio Is On A Mission To Save Comics From Itself Highly readable meta-industry interview with the controversial long-time ex-head of DC: I spoke to the Diamond conference, and I said something that a couple of people agreed with, which was that I believe we lost one to two generations of comic fans. What do I mean by that? I mean that whatever we were doing at the moment wasn't attractive to people looking for something to buy some sort of entertainment. And I think that's when you saw this gravitation to manga. And rather than understand what that audience was going, we doubled down on the audience that we had. I used to joke- which is not a joke anymore- when I first got to DC about sales on a number of books and price increases. And the simple math was that a book at $2.99 selling 40,000 copies turned the same profit that a book at $7.99 did at 25,000, and a $15 did at 10,000. But the 10,000 book had a hardcover, you had beautiful paper, it didn't [have to hit a] schedule. Everybody said, "Let's make more of those." And I said, "Here's the problem. I make more of those 10,000, I lose 5,000 people. Like, 40,000 [readers] goes to 35, 25 goes to 20, 10 goes to 5. We're out of business." And the answer becomes, "Well, we just raise the price." And I said, "Great. We're going to create a $1,000 comic for 1,000 people. And that'll be our entire audience at the end of the day." And I think that's where we're heading right now.
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