Neilalien : A Doctor Strange Fansite : A Comic Book Weblog  

Dr. Strange sculptural sketch by Shiflett Brothers Interesting Dr. Strange sculptural sketch by Shiflett Brothers in auction now [Ebay]

It's Sorcerer Supreme, not Sorcerer Inept, Damnit! [Calvin Pitt]
Excellent rant review of Ms. Marvel #4.

Preview pages of Ms. Marvel #5 continuing Doctor-Strange-included story [IGN]

Alex Toth obituary by Paul Gravett [Guardian Unlimited Arts]

Ditko's classic The Thing #15 cover covered; neat illo [by Ben Towle]

Croatia exclaims: "Steve Ditko, you're the man!"; cute illo [Boblog]

Missed it: A positive, spiritual review of Straczynski's Strange [Maurice Broaddus]

Missed it: An Essential Doctor Strange Volume One review [The Comics Rack]
"Downhill After Ditko" is the meme of choice for most reviews of this TPB.

Doctor Strange Toon Tumbler on the way? [according to this post at Comix Connection; nada found on the Pop Fun site [Toon Tumblers]]

- -

Not much happening in comics right now; Warren Ellis and Sleeper do not a crime comics movement make; dog tired of ugly art [Permanent Damage]

It seems most comics creators would love to do a western... the same way seemingly everyone who starts writing for Marvel wants to do a DR. STRANGE project while there's little indication many existing comics readers give a rat's ass about Dr. Strange, something sales on DR. STRANGE projects have borne out practically forever.

Speaking of crime comics, Sleeper: Brubaker and Phillips teaming up again with Criminal; Marvel Icon imprint book; no superhero elements [Brubaker interview at Newsarama] [preview at Comic Book Resources]

Speaking of westerns: Englehart interview re: Marvel Westerns: Strange Westerns Starring the Black Rider [Pulse]

THE PULSE: Your story with frequent collaborator Marshall Rogers, also features the Ancient One from Doctor Strange. Who is Young Ancient One at this point in time?
ENGLEHART: I think we'll all find that out together (if this one-shot leads to a series). I have to add, Marshall and I created the name "Yao" all on our own - for "Young Ancient One" - only to discover that there'd been an Epic series a few years back about "Yao." I wrote to the guys who did that offering to change our name but never heard back, so we'll have to assume our Yao comes in between their Yao and our Doctor Strange.

Speaking of Doc sales: Fun stuff: Progressive Ruin opens floor up to questions
Includes:

Q: Enargy: "When will all the people asking for a Dr. Strange monthly actually *buy* a Dr. Strange monthly as it's being published?"
A: As soon as they do a good one!

- -

"The Illegal Art: Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age exhibition seeks to celebrate art that has skirted legal issues of corporate copyright infringement"
Untitled, 2002, Ai Kijima: "This print juxtaposes Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's iconic Spider-man creation with recycled pieces of fabric." [via openDemocracy]

Court rejects First Amendment protection for comic book [News Media Update] [via Comics Reporter] [ICv2]
Missouri Court of Appeals upholds $15 million jury verdict against Todd McFarlane for including a character in Spawn based on hockey player Tony Twist; rules it violated Twist's publicity rights and was used for "commercial advantage". CR: "[I]t's probably right to be concerned this case's success could make all sorts of satirical work harder to do in the future."

- -

Interesting Civil War speculation: Spider-Man's big ID unmasking in #2 will almost certainly be undone- and with it, the recently-much-discussed albatross of Peter Parker's marriage to Mary Jane [Progressive Ruin]
Neilalien joins with his brothers and sisters in the backlash against Civil War. The secret identity is not core-fundamental to all of the superheroes who have one, but it is to Spidey (and Superman- need the Clark Kent). They risk breaking, not bending, the character.

Neilalien's enjoying Civil War so far. We'll have to see how #3 goes, what Dr. Strange's appearance in #3 will be like, how they chew the Spidey thing, and what else they break...

Complicated ideas can only get superficial treatment in superhero comics before the built-in limitations and adolescent punchings-in-spandex start [Comics Comics] [Comics Reporter]
Another kind of Civil War backlash. Neilalien's always been of the opinion that superhero stories, action movies, etc., can yes provide sterner scaffolding for the deeper and more adult. If a mystery novel with a lower-class black cop investigating a murder in white upper-class society includes something interesting to say about racism (that's for more than just "pulp juice"), Neilalien doesn't think that such commentary is jolted into meaninglessness by an "everyone's locked in the same room on a stormy night" genre-trope ending. -- But (1) he's always seen the point of such analyses- superhero tropes can indeed be a lot more to overcome, since they can take over the world with their powers, resolutions gotta be through physical violence in masks, etc.; and (2) he's not claiming that Civil War fits any criteria for current-event depth so far.

- -

Neilalien will be seeing Superman Returns over the holiday weekend, out in theaters yesterday...

A post about Superman and Superman Returns that fills even the most crustiest Superman anti-fan like Neilalien with hope and inspiration [Comics.212.net]

America Uses Superman to Promote its Fascist Agenda [Pakistan newspaper op-ed]

Will female superheroes get their (movie) glory? [Kansas City Star] [via WFC News]
We know it's possible, with Kill Bill and Charlie's Angels rockin'- so why are we getting disasters like Supergirl, Elektra and Catwoman?

- -

Top Most Common Comic Book Writer Medical Errors [Polite Dissent]
Top Most Common Comic Book Artist Medical Errors [Polite Dissent]

Superheroes could use some more compelling, selfish, tangible goals, like manga protagonists have (e.g., to become the best ninja), instead of a vague sense of justice [Newsarama Blog]

How A Bunch Of Uppity Female Bloggers Made Me Love Comics Again [Occasional Superherione] [via When Fangirls Attack]
Prologue to new Fangirl, Interrupted column at Silver Bullet.

"In order to foster women publishing independently, with economy, and as owners of what they create, I will award FOUR grants annually, of a year's free hosting at WebComicsNation.com, to women making a regularly-updating new or existing webcomic of any genre or style" [Lea Hernandez]

You'd think gay acceptance was rising re: Singer's Superman, a lesbian Batwoman, yaoi boy-love manga, etc.- until the mainstream news media starts think-of-the-children covering it [Postmodernbarney]

Go agitate for Entourage-based Aquaman t-shirts [Bloggity Blog-Blog-Blog] [funny Variety ad]

Comic book ethics are Jewish ethics [Jewperheroes!]

A spinner rack belongs in the home of every comics fan [Progressive Ruin]

Pilot episode of NBC's new series Heroes positively reviewed [Lying In The Gutters]

Five Dream Jobs for Men: #4 is Comic Book Guru [MSN Careers] [via Gutters]
Right up there with Casino Host and other great creative positions: video games, toys and beer.

The Sensual MODOK [Again With The Comics] [via Newsarama Blog]
Featuring MODAM [Lame-Ass Villain #9 at Dave's Long Box]

- -

Comics.212.net:

I think the biggest change that comics as a medium have to face now that more and more of them exist outside of the confines of the Direct Market is that everyone has to be a little smarter. There's a deceptive ease to working with only one distributor on both the retail and production ends of the business, but that deception disappears as soon as anyone asks a question or, say, wants a book from CPM. At The Beguiling we've never looked to Diamond to be our sole outlet for comics distribution; if we had the store probably wouldn't be around today. Any store that wants to stay a "Comics and Graphic Novels" retailer, rather than a "Corporate Superheroes Retailer" needs to be investigating every publisher and distributor out there. Likewise, publishers need to wake up and realize that putting all of your eggs into one basket is both foolhardy and actually limits access to your books on the whole. In short? There are hundreds of choices available to everyone participating in comics as a medium, and I think that the people who are going to succeed are the ones who will take advantage of those choices.

The above is part of very poorly received "New Era in Comics Publishing Roundtable" at Publisher's Weekly [Precocious Curmudgeon wears the media-critic hat best].

Update: Diamond starts doing its monopoly bottom-line cut-off thing: rejects art comics publisher PictureBox for Direct Market [Comics Comics] [via Comics Reporter with more; fewer comics in Previews is good, but good businesspeople should get chance at DM]

Posted 29 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

The cover of fanzine The Comic Reader #44, December 01965

The Comic Reader #44

The artist's signature is "Povlin". Here's the "Steve Ditko quits Marvel" blurb referred to on the cover:

Ditko blurb from The Comic Reader #44

A very special thanks to Progressive Ruin, who's been blogging Comic Readers recently, but generously handed this particular one off to Neilalien.

Posted 27 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

Dr. Strange and Golden Age Vision side-by-side The True History of Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts [The Wastebasket Part One] [Part Two] [Part Three]
A fan mix of the official comics record, adding dates, and speculation fleshes out the Sorcerer Supreme's history. Interesting stuff!

Roy Thomas' Golden-Age-Vision love inspired Dr. Strange's masked look [The Wastebasket]

There are several great chronologies at The Wastebasket, including A Brief History of The Master and A Brief History of Gallifrey (for the Doctor Who fans).

[Thanks Sanctum!]

Posted 25 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

Stan Leeternity Meets Dr. Strange Lots of Dr. Strangeness in September! [full Marvel solicitations at Comic Book Resources]

Cover/solicit for September's Stan Lee Meets Dr. Strange [Marvel.com]
The cover includes Doc's rogue's gallery and Stan Leeternity.

Cover/solicit for September's Ghost Rider #3 by Texeira; looks like Doc and Rider fight [Marvel.com]
Two pages of Doc getting his ass kicked [Defenders Message Board] [Gutters source]

Cover/solicit for September's Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #8; Mindless Ones [Marvel.com]

Cover/solicit for September's She-Hulk #12; Living Tribunal [Marvel.com]

Doc's also on the cover and a part of Civil War Files #1 and Ultimate Marvel Team-Up Ultimate Collection.

[Thanks Sanctum!]

Posted 23 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

Finlay swiped by Adkins Dan Adkins page from Doctor Strange #169 shown to be a swipe! [Lady, That's My Skull] [original; page from #169; cover of Wonder Stories]
Apparently swiped from a classic science fiction image, drawn by the great pulp and sci-fi artist Virgil Finlay for the reprinted S.S. Held story, "The Death of Iron" in the 01952 Wonder Stories Annual.

(Update: The great Skull post above originally credited Marie Severin as the renderer of the first interdimensional fanged mouth, but Neilalien's Agamotto Eye spied a fanged mouth in another dimension with a mystic path passing through it in Strange Tales #116, "Return To The Nightmare World", by Ditko.)

Also from that Skull post: Neilalien likes: Let's start calling the mid to late Strange Tales Dr. Strange run "Ditko Unleashed!"

Posted 21 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

Ninth Art, one of Neilalien's fave websites and weekly stops, ends after five years [Farewell] [Final Editor roundtable] [Last Article 10 column from Paul O'Brien] [Best of Best Lighthouse Awards]
A main meme of the final discussions seems to be that "Manga is its own creature, and Marvel is its own creature, and Fantagraphics is its own creature", going in different directions with mutually-exclusive markets and readerships. And the Marvel creature? Whether due to being conservative to not offend Hollywood and Wal-Mart, going for the quick shock and short-term cash grab, and/or barren of new ideas: imploding.

Posted 19 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

Amazing Spider-Man's (and Dr. Strange's) Rock and Roll Comic Adventure [Dial B For Blog #1] [#2] [#3] [#4] [#5]
It's "From Beyond the Grave!" from 01972, Buddah Records, John Romita, and tunes by Ron Dante and the Web-Spinners. [thanks Sanctum!]

FYI: Poster "w.c.EDWARDS"' "The How To Do It Series #1: Dr. Strange" thread is still going strong six months later [Comics Journal Message Board]

Posted 18 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

Dr. Strange vs. Dormammu art commission by GODLAND's Tom Scioli in his crazy Kirbyist style! [Comicartfans] [thanks John!]

More about August's Marvel Westerns: Strange Westerns Starring The Black Rider by Englehart and Rogers [Newsarama]
Black Rider meets a strange Chinese man named Yao in New York. Young Ancient One.

Congratulations to Robert Kirkman on the birth of his son, Peter Parker Kirkman! [Buy My Books column at CBR]
Someday, in a big crossover, the child will battle against- and then, after realizing it was all a misunderstanding, team up with- Kal-El Cage.

If you hate the direction superhero comics are going: A Modest Manifesto [Confessions of a Comic Book Guy column on ICv2]
Vs. contempt for life, the characters, the consumers; lazy heroes, lazy creators and creators who hate superheroes.

How much did Bob Kane do on the early Batman stories? [Mark Evanier intro; main post]
Famous "Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot" panel was a swipe? [The Vallely Archives]

Dan Slott always gives good interview; vents about Thing cancellation, industry [Comic Book Resources]

I think the lesson of it is. if you're working on a non-flagship title, you better knock it out of the park with your first issue. There is no room for a slow or gradual build up. It's like Alan Moore's run on 'Swamp Thing.' Here's this book about a 3rd tier DC character by a writer who really wasn't that well known to American audience. But his run came out of the gate with 'The Anatomy Lesson.' That has to be the model now. Your first issue better have everyone talking - or you're dead. You need to be Kurt Busiek's 'Thunderbolts' #1. You need to sweat blood and get every ounce of it on the page. That's the lesson.

Comics' Iron Curtain of fanboys and snobs [Spirespike]

Marvel/DC passive re: digital distribution so as not to alarm mom-n-pop bricks-n-mortar [Randy Reynaldo Letter to CR]

Why can't comic shops get the week's comics on Tuesday for time to prepare and deal with shipping issues, and be trusted to keep street dates? [ICv2] [another retailer agrees 100%, describes Wednesday morning hell]
Retailers get their weekly Wednesday comics on that Wednesday morning? That wacky comics industry!

Osprey Publishing Plans Graphic History Line [ICv2]
A neat FYI to all the gamer Neilalienistas who have ever bought an Osprey military book to add realism to an historical RPG campaign or painted miniatures.

- -

We Don't Talk Anymore The Way We Used To Watch: Vox to launch later this year
Blogging/social networking service to offer better control over who-sees-what; this is observed to fit trends against compelling public personal blogging and public interblog conversation.

We think there's a need for a different kind of communication service. We've learned from the best bloggers in the world - our customers - that there's a time for publishing to the world and a time for communicating with just friends and family. Many people still don't blog because they don't want to post private stories and photos and have them viewed by outsiders. With Vox, we've given people control over what they share and who they share it with. We believe that control over privacy will give people the freedom to write and share with the people they care about.

Update: More on Vox [O'Reilly Radar: First Thoughts] [Lifehacker: "LiveJournal for grownups"]

- -

100 Reasons Why I Love Comics [LinkMachineGo #76-100] [#51-75] [#26-50] [#1-25]
Neilalien is honored and humbled to be on this and any such list- especially considering that 95% of these lists are made up of actual creators and works of art.

Posted 16 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

Neilalien's Favorites of MoCCA 02006

Dr. Strange by Dean Haspiel Neilalien got a special MoCCA-donation sketch this year- one that he's wanted for a long time: Doctor Strange by dashing Dean Haspiel! [See the sweet full scan]. Dino's been contributing his signature Kirby-inspired art style and storytelling just about everywhere, from Harvey Pekar (The Quitter) to Nickelodeon Magazine to Marvel (The Thing: Night Falls On Yancy Street). Check out this sweet Doc headshot, and then go see what's at DeanHaspiel.com [LiveJournal] for more delights from this talented toonist.

Check Out These Comics

Ursa Minors Ursa Minors #1 by Neil Kleid and Paul Cote, illustrated by Fernando Pinto
What would happen if The Young Ones got a hold of three robotic bear suits? Probable Answer: Ursa Minors! This new four-issue series published by Slave Labor Graphics brings the popculture slacker funny, and a new twist to the bar fights, online dating, and foiling of criminal masterminds that must inevitably result. Includes a don't-miss Rabbi Ninja backup story.
Talking to the Ursa Minors team [Newsarama]
Slackers in Bear Suits [Comic Book Resources]
The Forecast: Book of This Week [Ninth Art]
Six pages of this book is online for preview.
Check out more of Xeric-Award winning cartoonist Neil Kleid's great work at Rant Comics [LiveJournal].
Chip Zdarksy's Monster Cops Monster Cops by Chip Zdarsky
"Feared by the very people they're sworn to protect, legendary monsters Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman renounced their evil ways and became cops... Monster Cops." Very amusing, and richly cartooned and grey-toned, this single collects four previously-released items spanning 02003 to the present. Just when you thought there was nothing more or fresh to be done with these characters. Apparently it won't be in Previews for 3-4 months and then won't ship until 3-4 months after that- but Neilalien will remind you. Or, you could just start reading Chip Zdarsky's LiveJournal for yourselves for updates [ChipStudio.com portfolio site] [PrisonFunnies.com].
Tales to Demolish Tales to Demolish #3 by Eric Haven
Weird Neilalien fave Tales to Demolish returns with #3, and this time the deliciously thick art is in yummy full color, with a cover partly inspired by the "cheesy allure" of The Avengers #116 (one of the Avengers-Defenders War issues, natch). Tales about the ancient secret war between mammals and reptiles, a quite literal reading of the Old West's gunslingers, and more, including a laugh-out-loud "Doctor Arcanus" one-pager.
[Tales to Demolish #3 at Last Gasp]

Honorable Mention

Weird Sister Weird Sister by Elizabeth Genco with Adam Boorman, Dash Shaw and Jeffrey Zornow
From the website: "The WEIRD SISTER anthology contains three stories about Daleth, a modern witch who finds herself alone in a hostile Brooklyn. Luckily, she's got a host of the old gods and a grumpy black ghost dog at her side." Neilalien enjoyed this book- although he'd probably like to see more interesting powers than "one big move that takes out the baddie and ends the story", although that might not jive with Daleth's values to only use her great powers under extreme duress. (Also more God- and context-specific manifestations: if the action takes place on a dock on the water, Neilalien would rather see summoned ondines or Poseidon instead of a fireball from Diana (although Diana/Artemis does protect children, so some context is in the story).) This book is a perfect smallpress recommendation for the many people in that apparent Venn-Diagram overlap of Dr. Strange fans, horror fans, walkers of pagan spiritual paths, etc. Paypal makes it easy. [Elizabeth Genco] [Adam Boorman] [Dash Shaw] [Jeff Zornow]
Dead Fish Comics The Living End #1 by Devin T. Quin, Michael Lockwood and Josh Siegel
The philosophy of new comics publisher Dead Fish Comics can be summed up in a rant by headman Quin against the comics of today: "Where's the face punching?!" Their intended forte is old-school fisticuffs, funny and fresh freakishness, all narrated in the Stan Lee style, so if that's your fix, and you know it is, pick up The Living End. Note to self: When a man licks a turtle instead of dying in a car crash, thus becoming a mystical superhero by night and a rotten corpse by day- such a man should never stay overnight at a girl's house through until morning.

Updates on Past Neilalien Faves of MoCCA

The Silencers Multiple past Faves of MoCCA The Silencers and Action Philosophers, both from the mind of Fred Van Lente, both have collections in TPB format now.

How much does Neilalien love the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Art Festival? Let's put it this way: The annual battery recharging that being in a room with so many fun passionate creative beautiful people provides is one of the direct reasons why this weblog has enjoyed the longevity it has.

- -

Neilalien's antisocial outsider ways mean that (1) he likes to keep these event-recap types of posts all about the comic books themselves and the creators, rather than himself and the look-at-me, and (2) he usually mingly-meets no one new and gets no names to drop anyway. But someone slipped a mickey in Neilalien's booze this weekend- he was uncharacteristically friendly. And now he'll uncharacteristically blog about it... (He blames Duckie's penchant for inappropriate personal sharing- must be rubbing off on him.) It's quickly becoming the case that comics events are beginning to feel "less" like events now to Neilalien if they don't include drinking with Duckie, BeaucoupKevin and Crisis/Boring Change (guess we can call them the Graphic Language Posse now). Also required are always-learn-something-new-about-comics chats with Egon- and Jim Salicrup (now Editor-in-Chief of teen graphic novel publisher Papercutz) is full of great old-school Ditko and Marvel anecdotes. This year's festivities also included notable meetings with wonderful creators/bloggers Metrokitty and Earth Minds Are Weak; First Second Books' Ginafirstsecond (damn Neilalien's policy of not accepting free review copies of any kind!); and Comic Foundry's Tim Leong (btw, you did know that Comic Foundry is (a) a print magazine, (b) staking claim to the massive chasm between The Comics Journal and Wizard, and (c) pretty darn good, right?).

And in what can only be attributed to a once-per-lifetime celestial alignment- or one hell of a mickey- Neilalien had the honor and pleasure of introducing himself and briefly talking for the first time in person with two of comics' current premiere webloggers (when you've been around as long as Neilalien has, you get to say "current") on the same weekend: Stan Lee biographer The Comics Reporter, and The Beat (which means Neilalien will no longer be able to play his creepo Bruce Wayne games with her at mutually-attended NYC comicdom events as he has over the years).

Item: Main MoCCA man Lawrence Klein's father commands the sketching table at the Art Festival. His voice sounds almost exactly like Stan Lee's. It's more than a simple product of two men from similar generations both growing up in Brooklyn. It's eerie. Neilalien's going to bring an mp3 recorder next year and have the man exclaim, "Excelsior, Neilalien! Excelsior!" to use for this weblogger's own sick, private purposes.

And if that wasn't enough, then the Buzzcocks go and blast the doors off Irving Plaza.

Yep, that was a good weekend.

Posted 14 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

It's MoCCA Art Festival Weekend! Yay! [MoCCA Panels; Exhibitors] [Kick-Off Party tonight at Rocketship] [Low Road overview] [just print out this post at The Beat of the parties and carry it with you!]

If you can add only one more thing, above and beyond MoCCA and all of the affiliated parties and Grant Morrison signing at Forbidden Planet and comics, among the even-more-than-usual baffling amount of things to do in New York City this weekend- Neilalien recommends the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party at Madison Square Park for lunch on one of the two days. Put your books in a bag so they don't get sticky.

The Orbital HQ's Predictometer is suggesting that this weekend's going to be a wild one. See you there, Neilalienistas!

And then it's The Buzzcocks on Monday night at Irving Plaza (Stiff Little Fingers on Sunday night). When to sleep? Sleep when dead. Next update/post to this blog? Sometime next week.

Posted 9 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

WizardWorld Philadelphia has big Dr. Strange news! Civil War #3; regular guest-star or group member somewhere later on? [Newsarama]

Brevoort explained that readers will see where Dr. Strange's allegiances fall in Civil War #3, and, in addition to the Brian K Vaughan/Marcos Martin miniseries due to launch in October, the character will be seen fairly regularly in a mainstream Marvel title after Civil War.

Six-panel Doctor Strange cameo perfectly includes many different issues fans have with the character [Fanboy Production's House of W Part 2 action figure theater] [thanks Sanctum!]

Neilalien's MySpace profile image Neilalien's enjoying his spanking new MySpace profile image [Neilalien's MySpace]

X-Statix Presents Dead Girl "the most atypical yet best Dr. Strange story in a hell of a long time"; on short list for Best of 02006 as of #4 [some of the great Johnny Bacardi's reviews live on PopCultureShock nowadays]

Whatever happened to the superheroes of old? [BBC News] [via BeaucoupKevin]

Gerry Conway and the illusion-of-change vs. real change re: serialized characters [Comics Should Be Good (now on CBR)]

Comic books need more talking animals [Polite Dissent] [When Dr. Strange ended up in the body of a rat]

Posted 8 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

More Marvel Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade float goodness (or badness), from 01989 [video on YouTube] [from X-Entertainment] [thanks Sanctum!]
This one's worse than 01987's float. Dr. Strange has an explosive underground lab? The clueless announcers and banter-writers also mention Wonder Woman and Metropolis- DC to sue.

What does Top Cow need to do to stay salient in today's industry? [asks Top Cow on The Engine]

Neat 'Starting a comics shop' message board thread on The Engine includes link to a retailer's business plan! [Modern Myths Business Plan: Specialty comics retailing for the new market (Word Doc)] [retailer's weblog: MacGuffin] [via ADD Blog]
Neilalien can find things like wonky comics retailing stuff and abandoned cars on highway shoulders so fascinating (and often for similar reasons).

Today marks four years that Neilalien's been receiving pleas for technical help borrowing links that push comix forward from Alan David Doane's weblog. Huzzah!

Posted 7 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

Life After Life: X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl #1-5 reviewed [Crisis/Boring Change]

Props for Hep Cat Supreme Dr. Strange's bathrobe [Blockade Boy, The Superhero Fashion Blog]

Posted 6 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

Ditko's Thing favorably reviewed; has more balls than House of Mystery [Chris Allen]

The latest comics distribution meta-problem discussion [The Engine] [via Steven Grant with more]
Any "solution" pales when compared to achieving an entirely new and separate non-Marvel/DC/Diamond/Superhero/Direct Market marketing, distribution and audience-building system; what it means and how it hurts to sell >100K of the Marvel/DC book you work on and <20K of your own indie; growing the 300 shops that support non-Marvel/DC into 500 is most important thing right now; the worst part of comics' outside public perception is 'low entertainment value' not superhero or geekiness; caution flags if you think that bookstores are that alternate system; etc.

Why Questionable Facts Go Unchallenged [Near-Mint Heroes]
Why a lot of comics journalism and websites are poor. No training or standards, have to stay in the companies' good graces, doing more than parroting press releases takes work, the negative gets more traffic, etc.

How Will a Gay Icon Fly at the Box Office? [LA Times]
Gays are apparently drawn to the iconography of men with nice physiques doing physical things in flamboyant skin-tight costumes, like superheroes, especially if they're not fully accepted by society, like X-Men mutants, and live double lives, like with secret identities, especially with all those live-in Robins and Wongs- but profiteers who actually play to that risk alienating the major actionexplodo straight 18-to-35 male demographic.
Update: Defamer has been all over the "Superman Returns Gay" beat
Bryan Singer calls Superman Returns his first chick flick; exploring Superman's non-Kryptonite vulnerable side and the ever-growing meme of Lois/Clark romance/soap-opera on TV [NY Times]

Posted 5 June 02006 - Permalink

- -

June is MoCCA Art Festival Month! Yay! [Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art]

- -

Doctor Strange promo image for Stan Lee Meets by Alan Davis In celebration of 02006 being Stan Lee's 65th year as an employee at Marvel: Stan Lee Meets [Newsarama] [SWEET Dr. Strange by Alan Davis promo]
One of the five books is Dr. Strange!

Five self-contained one-shots, beginning in September and coming out twice a month. Each book features a lead story written by Stan in which he interacts with one of the Marvel characters, a second story by modern day talents in some way paying homage to Stan's body of work and accomplishments, and a third classic reprinted story written by Stan featuring the character from the first story.
DOCTOR STRANGE: Stan & Alan Davis/Brian Bendis & Mark Bagley/Bendis Fortune & Glory-style short

Brian Michael Bendis interviews Stan Lee about the above project, more [Wizard Universe]
Including this Ditko item:

Bendis: I talked to Steve Ditko this week. We were setting up these interviews and you were nice enough to say yes, and Steranko is going to do one and he's kind of an impossible get, and some other people are doing this who are very hard to get. So I was talking to our mutual friend Ralph Macchio. Ralph is in contact with Steve Ditko and is very aware that Steve doesn't do interviews, but I said, 'Boy, What a coup to get him.' So Ralph said, 'Listen, I can get you on the phone with him. We can at least try.' So I got on the phone with him. I said, 'Hi. My name is Brian Bendis and I write Spider-Man for the last few years.' And he went 'Uh huh.' I said, 'We're doing these interviews.' And he said, 'Well, I don't do interviews.' I'm like: 'Yeah, well, I knew that it was a long shot. I just thought that I would try. Can I ask you why you don't do interviews?' He goes: 'Oh, you know what? That's an excellent question. But it's an interview question and I don't do interviews.' And that was the end of the phone call.

[Thanks Howard, Charles!]

- -

Doc uber-fan Howard Hallis' collection is part of the Marvel Super Heroes exhibit at the California Science Center [lots of pics]

What would Ditko's New Gods be like? [The Hurting]

GODLAND going on three-month hiatus [Newsarama]

Avi Arad resigns as Chairman/CEO of Marvel Studios, will stay on to produce [Newsarama]
Arad is credited as one of the people who saved Marvel from the brink. Looks like he's smartly cashing out on an X-Men 3 high note now that all the A-List properties are used up.

Menace to Comic Heroes? [Los Angeles Times]
"Digital piracy is creeping into the industry, threatening small publishers. Some say, though, that it can attract new readers."

Straight (and Not) Out of the Comics [New York Times]
A world in which green skin is more common than brown tries for more diversity, by dusting off characters not seen for 30 years and reintroducing them as token minorities. Batwoman is getting Rawhide-Kidded and revamped into a lesbian.
The return of Batwoman- as a lesbian socialite [Independent UK Online]

Lots of retailer reactions re: stocking Alan Moore's childpr0n Lost Girls [Lying In The Gutters]

"I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" line in X-Men 3 is a nod to fan online spoof [Wizbang Pop!]


Congratulations to The Comics Pimp James Sime on the five-year anniversary of his San Francisco shop Isotope Comics!

Posted 1 June 02006 - Permalink

- -