Neilalien : A Doctor Strange Fansite : A Comic Book Weblog  

Comicon Showcases Industry That's Recovered From Attack of 'Locusts' [Post-gazette.com via ComicGeek]
Very nice item. Please read. Good history. The speculators are gone. The kids are gone.

Erik Larsen: Development/Growth/Change vs. Aging/Killing Off [Wizard via Defenders Message Board]
Does he swipe at older comics fans also?

Posted 27 April 02001 - Permalink

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Dr. Strange Movie Actually Mentioned!

David Goyer says he is in talks about writing the Doctor Strange movie for Columbia [Comics Continuum]

Posted 26 April 02001 - Permalink

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Stan Lee Sued!

The suit charges that Lee stole the idea for 7th Portal from a 1998 pitch [CNET.com via Splash]

Posted 26 April 02001 - Permalink

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Marvel Discusses Distribution [Fandom]
Sticking with Diamond. Going to make more trades, and get them into bookstores. Maybe Marvel started those rumors about leaving Diamond to get a better deal out of them?

Posted 25 April 02001 - Permalink

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Defenders #4 reviews [Comic Book Galaxy, IGN]

Quesada interview [Comic Book Resources]
Improve the product, improve distribution. He also addresses the current "ripples of dissent" about Marvel.

Posted 24 April 02001 - Permalink

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An interview with Mike Friedrich, who was instrumental in the creation of many comics institutions, most significantly the Direct Sales Market [today's Splash]

Among his many points:

Posted 24 April 02001 - Permalink

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Today's Splash:

  1. Rumors that Marvel is pulling out of the direct sales market entirely, or maybe it's just dropping its exclusive distribution deal with Diamond. Anyway, it sounds like Marvel's is doing something to increase outlets for comic sales.
  2. Marvel Direct Sales Over 90% of Single Copy Sales: And Other Info from Marvel's Annual Report [ICv2 via Splash]
    But are Marvel's newsstand sales so paltry, that they should be embracing Direct Sales and writing other outlets off?

Marvel says that the decline of comics since 01995 was because of a decline in the quality of comic book stories, and because the speculator/toy market drying up closed a lot of places that sold comics.

Posted 23 April 02001 - Permalink

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Ownership of Captain America is in dispute [Dallas Observer Online via ComicGeek]

Mark Millar items always seem to be good reads. "Vamping It Up With Millar" and "What Authority Means To Millar" [today's Fandom Daily Feed]

Posted 20 April 02001 - Permalink

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Review of Defenders #4 (Spoilers)

The issue is just plain difficult to enjoy.

Posted 20 April 02001 - Permalink

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ComicsML: A Simple Markup Language for Comics [XML.com via Slashdot]
A proposal to apply XML to comics online, primarily to further searchability and accessibility. Very cool. As If I didn't have enough incentive already to master XML, XSL, etc.
ComicsML Resource Page

Posted 19 April 02001 - Permalink

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Black Panther #34-35 features The Defenders [Continuum]
Very curious about a Priest Doctor Strange.

Posted 19 April 02001 - Permalink

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Dynamic Forces Employs The Ultimate Huckster - Stan Lee! [Silver Bullet]
No- the ultimate hucksters are Dynamic Forces, and their stupid special covers and signed collectibles. Too bad Stan is linking up with them. And on the Home Shopping Network, no less. Let the suckers and speculators line up!

Are comics anti-cyclical? [Mercury News via Splash]
"Money's tight, Maw- cancel the cable and get the boys some a dem comic stories." But if times are bad, who's going to buy all the Dynamic Forces shit?

Another first look at Defenders #4 [Continuum]

Posted 17 April 02001 - Permalink

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NYC Comic Book Museum Event 'Beyond the Panels' Lets Fans Meet Industry Big Wigs [Silver Bullet Comics]
Geez. I didn't even know this event was happening. I didn't even know there was a comic book museum. And I live in NYC! Depressing.
Here's a link: [NYC Comic Book Museum] Aah- it's like a year old and doesn't even have a permanent space yet. Support it.

Posted 16 April 02001 - Permalink

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Reactions to Marvel's No Overprint Policy [ICv2 via ComicGeek]

Posted 13 April 02001 - Permalink

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Like rubber-necking a car accident, Neilalien simply cannot resist blogging the recent wave of comic creator controversies, meltdowns, rants and in-fighting.

Tangent by Dave Sim [Comics Journal]
Go down in a public meltdown with lunatic rantings, that's what I say!
Notable discussions found: [Comicon.com Panel] [Warren Ellis Forum] [Usenet rec.arts.comics.misc]
Dave Sim Mysogyny Homepage (via Prime Time)
Text from Cerebus #186 on another Sim Mysogyny Page (via Tomb of Horrors - this link added 24 April)

Comic Strip's Religious Theme Raises Eyebrows [azcentral.com via Splash]
I've despised Johnny Hart's preaching on B.C. since I was a child.

Posted 13 April 02001 - Permalink

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First look at Defenders #4 [Mile High Comics via Defenders Message Board]
Now to all you Larsen-bashers: don't get spoiled by Ron Frenz' pencils!

Posted 13 April 02001 - Permalink

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Some choicier messages from the ex-drones of Fandom posted on Fuckedcompany.com's Fandom Message Board [this week's All The Rage]
I hope the rumor that many of the fan sites may have post-Fandom lives is true.

Posted 11 April 02001 - Permalink

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New Feature: Mining Dead Sites For Old Links

Excellent, very positive, and right-on review of Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment [Psycomic]

(You guys aren't buying my "New Feature" spin on these ancient links I missed, are ya?) :)

Posted 10 April 02001 - Permalink

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Comic Books: A Case Study for Redesigning Traditional Media and Assessing Entertainment Value [Carnegie Mellon University PDF via peterme.com]
"In this paper, we describe an experiment designed both to determine the best way to put comic books in electronic form, and to contrast the evaluation methods by which we came to our decision."

Posted 10 April 02001 - Permalink

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New Feature: From Before Neilalien Started Blogging

Calling Dr. Strange [IGN]
11 November 01999: Angry Films announces acquiring the film rights to Doc.

Posted 10 April 02001 - Permalink

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Quebecor World Predicts Continuing Downward Trend In Comics [Silver Bullet Comics via ComicGeek]

Posted 8 April 02001 - Permalink

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So soon after the Larsen-Bendis exchange, Neilalien must sadly blog John Byrne taking a bitter swipe at Bendis [Byrne Message Board]

  1. Why has the level of discourse among creators dipped so low? Is it the Internet? Is it fighting over a dwindling market? Was it always this low? Long live the future of comics.
  2. Bendis, you know you're on top, because everybody's taking a swipe. I raise a glass to your success. I love Powers. Excelsior!

Posted 8 April 02001 - Permalink

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Still glowing: Another positive review of Spider-Man: Lifeline mini-series [PopCultureShock]

Posted 8 April 02001 - Permalink

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If This Be My Destiny: The Stan Lee Story Reaches Chapter 11 [Comics Journal]

Posted 6 April 02001 - Permalink

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Neilalien Vents Frustration

Flight of Bones follow-up shot down. Dr. Strange: Year One shot down. New horror Dr. Strange series likely only a silly rumor. No Doc movie news on Corona for a year. Larsen's crappy art scaring people off who would otherwise buy Defenders... Need a breather. Please send Neilalien some love and support.

Posted 4 April 02001 - Permalink

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Dan Jolley interview [Sequential Tart]
He says that he submitted a proposal for a follow-up to the Flight of Bones Dr. Strange mini-series, but nothing came of it. I repeat: Ugh.

Add this to the pile of potentially great Doc stories that will never see the light of day, like Peter Hogan's Doctor Strange: Year One. Dr. Strange fans never get a break.

Posted 4 April 02001 - Permalink

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More press hits about Witches [IGN] [ICv2]

Posted 4 April 02001 - Permalink

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Spider-Girl Saved [Fandom Daily Feed]

Yay! I can only assume that Marvel thought they could do better reaching more younger readers and more female readers starting from scratch with a different property- or this would never have been considered for cancellation.

From the same Fandom Daily Feed: Marvel to release twelve comic-book-sized big trading cards in July. Black Widow is one of the twelve, but not Doctor Strange. And Wolverine is on two. No respect. Ugh. Well, Wolverine sells a whole lot more than Doc these days.

Posted 4 April 02001 - Permalink

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Wow- people line up to clamor for Erik Larsen's removal from Defenders for crappy artwork, and to defend him.

I have the same paradoxical, mixed, ambivalent opinion about Larsen that I have about Kirby. I find their art to be crapola, yet exciting graphical storytelling. I can't give the art a ringing endorsement- but it certainly does not render the book unviewable. We wouldn't have a new Defenders series at all if Larsen didn't give a damn, so he comes with the package- and I'm going to buy Defenders regardless, because of Doctor Strange. So personally, I'm going to suck it up and concentrate on the positives. Doc's portrayal in the book so far has been crapola as well, and I'm still sucking that up too. Doctor Strange fans can tolerate a lot- we've had plenty of practice.

Posted 4 April 02001 - Permalink

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Corrections and apologies have been added and now appear at the bottom of the page of the Trials of a Comic Book Hero story: Peter Paul was never convicted of selling heroin, has had only three wives not four, and was only suspended not disbarred. But did he still rip off Stan Lee? No corrections there. [The Standard; correction spotted by ComicGeek]
Do I spy that the printable version of the story still has no correction blurb?
Neilalien is really getting sick of blogging this saga.

I found Marvel's Annual Report to be good reading; Toy Biz getting some heavy surgery [Yahoo Finance]

Posted 4 April 02001 - Permalink

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Stan Lee was on To Tell The Truth today [ComicGeek spots a post to link to on Bendis' Message Board]

Posted 3 April 02001 - Permalink

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Sadly approaching one year since there was a post about Dr. Strange movie news [Corona Coming Attractions]

Posted 3 April 02001 - Permalink

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New Doctor Strange Series Rumor!!!

Today's All The Rage column at Silver Bullet Comics has a set of three Marvel rumors regarding the Startling Stories line: one item says Doctor Strange is one of the books. Joe Q gave the whole bit a 30% accuracy. Since the other two items sound more unbelievable, Neilalien is stoked that the Doc item is the correct one! But probably, the Witches news item is the only corrent Doc item today.

Posted 2 April 02001 - Permalink

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Making The Comic Book Weblog Rounds

Fandom, Inc. To Be Acquired and Slim Down Its Online Operations [Press Release, Open Letter to Fans]
They had some good content, I've linked to them often, who knows what will survive the "slim down"- and I hate to see comic book websites die- but I'll never forgive those bastards for going after people with "fandom" in their URLs [Who Owns Fandom? Salon story]

The Evil Behind Superheroes [True Truth via everywhere; I personally found first via LinkMachineGo]

Bendis more reacts to Larsen's unclassy attack rather than address the points that Larsen and I agree on, but out of fairness, an equal time link: Bendis Responds To Larsen [Savage Dragon Forum]

A nod to ComicGeek for a very comprehensive first month blogging comic book news. Great work and good luck! I want to give a nod to Glitterdammerung! as well, but have they stumbled with no posts the last couple weeks after such a good start? I'm happy to give props to these endeavors- my attempt to blog all comics news went down in flames very quickly!

Posted 2 April 02001 - Permalink

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Entries for The 2001 5k Competition are due April 8. I'm quite bummed- I just don't feel like I have the free time this year to follow-up my 2000 entry Excite My Chicken. I'd love to participate, and replicate the completely fun experience of sharing my Chicken with the world.

Posted 2 April 02001 - Permalink

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Doctor Strange To Be Part of New Witches Series [Fandom Daily Feed]

It's described as the Magical Marvel Universe's equivalent to Charlie's Angels, with Doc as Charlie. The three female leads are Topaz (Yay!), Satana and Jennifer Kale (from Man-Thing). Browyn Carlton writes, Mike Deodato pencils, Lysa Hawkins edits- I don't know their work personally but I hear that's a good team.

I'm happy that Marvel is committed to putting out books with strong female leads. I'm happy that Doc will be getting more exposure. I support any book in which Doc appears. But I'm totally disappointed.

(Link updated- Thanks Captain Nate!)

Posted 2 April 02001 - Permalink

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