Madame Tussauds New York Launches New Stan Lee Figure With Cameo Tour Around The City
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A Doctor Strange Fansite
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Latest Weblog Post:11 Is A Palindromic Number, and,
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Jack Kirby Runs Into The MCU Buzzsaw [subtitle: "'Eternals' and the irony of watching fans trumpet their allegiance to a corporation over artists."] [via LinkMachineGo]
Spider-Man: No Way Home Official Trailer [YouTube] Doctor Strange says to Peter: "When you botched that spell..."
Marvel teases a new ongoing series starting in March 02022 in the aftermath of The Death of Doctor Strange starring the new Sorcerer Supreme The teaser image says 'STRANGE' front and center. So maybe some alternate or altered version of Dr. Strange? Feels like a Strangers rehash...
Marvel's January 02022 solicits include The Death Of Doctor Strange finale and the Defenders finale!
DEATH OF DOCTOR STRANGE #5 (OF 5)
DEATH OF DOCTOR STRANGE: BLOODSTONE #1
DEFENDERS #5 (OF 5)
STRANGE ACADEMY #15
Diamond Comic Distributors Targeted By Ransomware Attack
Comichron: 25 Years Counting: On Completing My 300th Consecutive Monthly Direct Market Sales Report
Comichron Twitter thread [blog post]: 02021 Direct Market could reach over $600 million; and over $400 million for periodical comic books; big numbers over pandemic and even prior; North America 02020 comic book industry sales hit new high in the pandemic year to $1.28 billion; but Direct Market comic shops down from over 4,000 in 01996 to over 2,000 today; graphic novels are now a third of the sales
Steve Ditko would have had his 94th birthday today! [Wikipedia]
Joanna Cameron has died... Actress portrayed Isis on the Isis/The Secrets of Isis television show in the 01970's; the first weekly American live-action television series with a female superhero lead character (pre-dating both Bionic Woman and Wonder Woman)... And Neilalien has been crushing on smart leggy brunettes, and interested in Ancient Egypt, ever since... Wikipedia: Joanna Cameron; The Secrets of Isis
Pushing Ahead Of The Dame, a David Bowie weblog, song by song: 01967 Bowie song "Karma Man" and a Melody Maker interview at the time "describing Buddhist monks as superhuman figures" "suggested that Bowie was up on one of the counterculture's new heroes, Marvel Comics' Doctor Strange, an arrogant ex-surgeon reborn as a chela to the Ancient One and who, as per Geoffrey O'Brien, "spends his days sitting lotus fashion within his tastefully decorated Greenwich Village pied-a-terre and tuning into the brainwaves reaching him from across the universe." Steve Ditko's Strange Tales was full of astral projections, trips to psychedelic bardos and battles with occult powers like the Dread Dormammu." [thanks Johnny Bacardi!]
Collecting information and lovenotes re: the absolutely amazing-looking book The Essential Guide To Comic Book Lettering by Nate Piekos The Beat: preview and table of contents
Women Write About Comics
The Death Of Doctor Strange #2 out today! Comic Book Round Up collected reviews Variant cover regime [didn't like any of the variants for this issue] "A bit of water treading and setting up all the pieces for the rest of the story" [review at The Beat] "All aspects of the issue from the story to the artwork are 100% an unabashed loving celebration of Doctor Strange, his world, and the Marvel Universe as a whole both past and present." [review at Comicon] MY WHAT?!
Marvel movie schedule shifts/delays: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will now kick off Summer 02022 on 6 May instead of opening on 25 March
Jon Kent, aged-up son of Lois and Clark, "the Superman of Earth", DC's new/current Superman, coming out as bisexual [Tim Drake/Robin came out as bisexual a few months ago]
There Is Not Enough Paper In America For Comic Books Right Now
What If season finale released today! Updating: What If...?'s Multiverse Avengers Assemble In A Surprisingly Tight (If Predictable) Finale Season grade: B- is about right, maybe a fun B+ for Doctor Strange fans, because the Doc episode and Strange Supreme were the best things about the season. Marvel's What If...?: Season 1 Ending Explained- How The Finale Sets Up Season 2 WhoTF Gamora's appearance explained: There was a missing Gamora episode due to pandemic-based production setbacks. What If...? Fans Agree This Guardian Of The Multiverse Can Take Down The Eternals Strange Supreme was shown with awesome power! Enjoyed the Multiplied Mjolnirs and the "galaxy-destroying" blast eaten like a candy. Annoying inconsistency: After making Ultron invincible in all universes with a set of Infinity Stones from only one universe, breaking that "rule", now the rule is back and Gamora's Stone-crusher thing only works on one universe's stones?
Also out today 6 Oct: Defenders #3 (Ewing/Rodriguez), Savage Avengers #25
Ditko Con 02021 report and lovenote
Also at TCJ: An Embarrassment Of Obsessions: From Apes To My Stan Lee Moment
New York Comic-Con 02021 this weekend 7-10 Oct in NYC!
[Health & Safety: vaccination proof and masks required]
Haven't found any party lists for this year yet- probably muted due to the pandemic- but here are about ten NYCC-related parties/events using Eventbrite for their tickets
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige says casting Tilda Swinton as a whitewashed Ancient One was a mistake
'Loki', 'Black Widow' And Why We're All Living In Disneyland
[Gerry Canavan]
How Marvel Took Over Cinema And TV [The Economist; paywall] [discussed on Hacker News] [earning $25+ billion with 20+ movies has a way of rescuing one from bankruptcy]
The What If episode out 29 Sept [Season 1, Episode 8] brings back the powerful entity-eating universe-destroying "Strange Supreme" from Episode 4...! For the season finale next week against a multiverse-threatening Ultron who succeeded in inhabiting the Vision body- and getting all the Infinity Stones... And it shows there is that ol' Marvel interconnectedness to the anthology, to at least some of the episodes... Now we know the end of Episode 7 with that Ultron showing up in Party Thor's universe was a teaser... Wouldn't the Infinity Stones only work in their own home universe?- so an Infinity-Stoned Ultron wouldn't be as powerful in other universes and thus couldn't threaten the multiverse? Why the heck is this Episode 8 particular story the one that breaks the Watcher's heart? Didn't he Watch the Doctor Strange episode? What If...? Episode 8 Review: A Very Ultron Apocalypse
The Last Annihilation event finale was Guardians of the Galaxy #18, out 22 Sept: Dormammu jack-o'lanterned the Ego planet and launched an invasion wave of Mindless Ones until Rocket Raccoon shot him with a big gun. Doom siphoned off some of Dormy's power for later. Doc nowhere to be found. Update: Doctor Strange in Amazing Spider-Man #74 [out 29 Sept], not doing much, parleying with Mephisto about Peter Parker's soul- but the big Nick Spencer/Kindred Saga finale is on the radar by retconning the hated Sins Past storyline (Gwen Stacy did not have sex and twins with Norman Osborn; all a ruse! with artificially-created genetic children who became Kindred) and adding slightly more heft to the hated One More Day storyline (Mephisto has foreseen that May Parker, Peter and MJ's daughter, takes him down, so he's been trying to prevent May's birth) [Mephisto's Spider-Man One More Day Plan Finally Revealed]
Steve Ditko estate/heirs (along with Gene Colan heirs, Larry Lieber, etc.) file copyright termination notices re: Marvel characters, including Doctor Strange and Spider-Man! Marvel Could Lose Copyright Over Spider-Man And Doctor Strange Determining when a license or transfer can be terminated is complicated. The basic rule for works created and assigned prior to 1978 is that termination can be effective any time within a five-year window that opens exactly 56 years from the date copyright was originally secured... Amazing Fantasy #15 was published in 1962. Add fifty-six years to that, the window for copyright termination began in 2018 and finishes in 2023. Strange Tales #110 was one year later. Now seems to be the right time... Might a new deal with the estate of Steve Ditko be in the offing? Marvel Sues To Block Heirs From Reclaiming Spider-Man, Doctor Strange Copyrights Marvel filed five lawsuits on Friday seeking to block the heirs of comic book creators from reclaiming copyrights to many of its most popular characters, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Ant-Man and Doctor Strange... The move comes after heirs of five Marvel authors filed dozens of termination notices with the U.S. Copyright Office. If the notices were to succeed, they would not prevent Marvel from using the disputed characters, which were created by multiple collaborators. But they would require the studio to make payments to the heirs... The termination notices were filed by Marc Toberoff, a veteran copyright attorney who fought similar battles on behalf of the heirs of Jack Kirby, a co-creator of several Marvel heroes, and of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the co-creators of Superman. Toberoff argues that the Marvel authors' work led to multi-billion dollar franchises, and that their heirs should be allowed to share in the wealth... Toberoff argues that the comics were not done on a work-for-hire basis, as the law was understood at the time. He says that the authors were freelancers and independent contractors, and that they assigned their copyrighted work to the publisher in exchange for payment. In that case, he argues, their heirs should be allowed to reclaim the copyrights. Marvel Suing To Keep Rights To Avengers Characters From Copyright Termination The litigation figures to focus on the "Marvel Method," a loose collaborative working atmosphere where initial ideas were briefly discussed with artists responsible for taking care of the details. Did Ditko's Randian pride rationalize passivity/disadvantage him against Marvel's exploitation? Or is that blaming the victim? Or did Ditko save his own life by walking away; what duty did he have to fix the comics industry? [musing re: this Kim O'Connor/Jeet Heer exchange on Twitter] Ken Lowery: "i don't know if i have the spirit in me to withstand another round of, like, the heirs and families of terminally exploited artists being called "greedy" by SpoodeyMans420XxX in defense of the goddamn Disney Corporation"
The Death Of Doctor Strange #1 out today! Updating: Collecting links as found: Spoilers: Braindump: The Death Of Doctor Strange Will Be 'Perfect', Marvel Promises Doctor Strange's Death Revealed By Marvel Comics [spoilers for #1] Neilalien is loathe to indulge variant covers but here they are for academic purposes [Midtown Comics] [the Colan is 1:50] Comic Book Round Up collected reviews Positive review at Multiversity Comics The Beat review: "defies and exceeds expectations" The Death Of Doctor Strange Sets Up A Massive Marvel Mystery Murdered by someone he recognizes, with power he's familiar with, that shouldn't exist... Are The Deaths Of Scarlet Witch And Doctor Strange Connected? Both Doc and Witch- recently killed by daggers...? But: It's doubtful it's Silver Dagger. Update: Per writer Jed Mackay, Vincent Stevens was the first-draft murderer! [The Strangers] Who Killed Doctor Strange? You Will Know Them By Their Teeth Normal teeth- not sharp exaggerated vampire/demonic teeth- and a special speech balloon isn't used... There's a few bits here about Doc's restored hands- and then on the death page- Doc's hands are fucking missing! Removed...? Souvenirs...? The damaged hands are returning...? Neilalien doesn't mind if Doc consults with hospitals on weird cases from time to time, but the actual surgeon side-job can happily go away... Doc said in Doctor Voodoo #1 that one can't afford to split time between being Sorcerer Supreme and a medical doctor [per @SanctumBlog] Since there is so much about hands: What about that creature Doc goes to in Doctor Strange V5 #19 to restore his hands? Channok, Keeper of the Forbidden Spells. It's unlikely he's the actual murderer- but he could be behind it somehow, to take the hands back. His teeth seem 'normal'. He growls there will be a price. But he didn't seem the type to travel anywhere, he doesn't seem like the one who actually exacts the prices. And he spoke in that issue with a special word balloon. It's like Doc Voldemort-horcruxed himself with a piece of his soul, to be activated upon his death. The OG Master of Black Magic is back. That was actually something that was in place when I joined the project. Tom Brevoort had been batting around some ideas for The Death of Doctor Strange for 30 years, and one of them was this idea of a younger Strange appearing from a hidden door in the Sanctum, tucked away for just this sort of disaster. I thought it was a very elegant idea, and took it and ran with it! And it would be so cool if OG Doc makes Modern Doc look mopey-dope by comparison... Marvel's Death Of Doctor Strange Ends With A Surprise Return ["Doogie Strange"- the purple pre-Eye-and-Cloak-and-Strange-Tales-#127 Doc] Mordo playing the villain-will-team-up-because-"Only I may kill the hero!" card... Many Easter eggs for long-time fans. Rasputin/Plotnick. Xander. Seven Suns/Sons of Cinnibus. And we get some Crimson Bands and actual Eye usage/in the forehead... Props: Without Doc, the dimension is immediately attacked from all sides... Bats is a charming companion, more than say, Rintrah... So many little touches to like. The art and colors are great; Doc looks great. The humility line, and not enjoying talking about himself line. The giant skull nightstand. How he can never appear tired or rumpled... Was all of that supposed to happen in one day? A very fine line is being walked here- the regular joe with the absurd job... We didn't need to show Doc pining over the Clea photo twice to make the point... Comprehensive review by Doctor Strange Daily Appreciation: "This is, indeed, a love letter... a story about how Stephen is important to Marvel's universe"; although again this writer embraces what Neilalien would call a broken sad-sack Doc much more than Neilalien would There's too much shit on Doc's floor. What was he doing- playing 52-Pickup with tarot cards? There's Wong and Watoomb Winds to clean that mess up. Who Will Be The New Sorcerer Supreme? ["A new mystical protector rises in December's 'Death of Doctor Strange' #4!"] Magik will likely not be successor since they spoon-fed us that she's Sorcerer Supreme of Limbo already in the issue [per @LukaNieto] (was that an old-time Limbo baseball team they were fighting lol?) Did you know that "Zounds!" is a minced oath for Christ's crucifixion wounds ("By God's wounds")?
Marvel's November and December 02021 solicits include tons of Death of Doctor Strange and tie-ins, Savage Avengers, Defenders
DEATH OF DOCTOR STRANGE #3 (OF 5)
DEATH OF DOCTOR STRANGE #4 (OF 5)
DEATH OF DOCTOR STRANGE: SPIDER-MAN #1
DEATH OF DOCTOR STRANGE: WHITE FOX #1
DEATH OF DOCTOR STRANGE: BLADE #1
DEATH OF DOCTOR STRANGE: X-MEN/BLACK KNIGHT #1
SAVAGE AVENGERS #26
SAVAGE AVENGERS #27
DEFENDERS #4 (OF 5)
STRANGE ACADEMY #13
STRANGE ACADEMY #14
SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN: CROSSROADS #5 (OF 5)
Garth Ennis on Batman: "What we're talking about here is a billionaire aristocrat who beats up poor people, as well as the mentally ill"
Bill Willingham: Why Are (Some) Comics Pros So Damn Abrasive? [because the bullied often become bullies]
Marvel didn't have a piece of paper that said they owned Secret Wars or Venom; they just bought one from Jim Shooter for $10,000 Jim Shooter Just Signed Away Secret Wars And Venom For $10,000
According to this article/chart at Bleeding Cool, Death of Doctor Strange #1 is one of the top books being advance-reordered by Direct Market retailers right now
Doctor Strange's What If...? episode released today on Disney+ ["The Lost Books" Official Clip]
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