Neilalien : A Doctor Strange Fansite : A Comic Book Weblog  

July 02019

Steve Ditko And The Comic-Book People [fascinating Ken Parille TCJ essay] ["In Ditko's work, the hero defeats the crime that is other people."]

[28 July 02019]

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Publisher IDW announces at SDCC 02019 Artist's Editions & More panel a 'Steve Ditko's Complete Mr. A', 'Volume One Coming In [0]2020]'

Steve Ditko's Mr. A. Will Be Collected Against His Wishes

A Mr. A IDW collection has been announced/in the works before, in 02017:

IDW C2E2 02017: 'Mr. A. complete series in two hardcovers authorized by Steve Ditko'

Publishers Weekly: Fall [0]2017 Announcements: Comics & Graphic Novels: "Ditko's Mr. A.: The 50th Anniversary Series: Book One: The Avenging World by Steve Ditko (Oct. 24, hardcover, $49.99, ISBN 978-1-68405-206-6). The cocreator of Spider-Man collects all 50 years of his Objectivist hero, Mr. A., in a complete authorized edition, for the first time."

Amazon stub/ghost page for the above

But it was nixed:

Snyder-Ditko Appreciation Society thread: "Your original announcement was correct. A book was in the works. Your new announcement is also correct. The Avenging World has been cancelled and will not be published. We have decided to work on other projects. We will continue to work on our own."

Snyder-Ditko Appreciation Society discussion of current news: the family says Steve wanted this; preserving his legacy

[Speculation only: Ditko nixed the IDW Mr. A collection when he was alive; now that he's passed, he's not around to stop anyone]

[27 July 02019]

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The Marvel Method: Why And How? Reactions From The People Who Used it [Barry's Pearls]

In defense of Stan Lee...

"With the Marvel Method, the writer and artist first collaborate on a plot and the pacing of the story. The artist then pencils the pages, before any script or dialogue is written. When the artist is finished he turns the pages over to the writer who then writes the dialogue. At this point Stan would often have the artist redraw some panels to better tell the story [which some artists did not like, due to ego and/or they had to redraw with no additional pay]... The Marvel Method of creating comics changed the traditional structure of writer and artist."

It was a way to pump a lot of content out the door without slowing down artists waiting for detailed 'Page 1, Panel 1' scripts and dialogue that would end up mostly just expositioning what the art was going to show anyway...

Many artists liked the freedom of working this way...

The paid job was producing finished pages of disposable entertainment... Future movie millions could not be predicted...

"Apparently, Stan's weakest attribute was coming up with a plot every single day for ten years. He did heavily rely on his artists in that regard. As an editor he succeeded and got the best out of the creative people he worked with. They often developed the plot and then he advanced the story in the dialogue, his greatest strength." Stan's dialogue added character personality, humor, and continuity...

(It still really sounds like the artists did a lot of the creating here too, and were not paid enough for it...)

Enjoying this line: "It would be difficult to read the Marvel comics of the [01960's] out of chronological order. But you could mix up a batch of DC comics from different years and it usually made no difference."

[26 July 02019]

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City Council Votes To Name Bronx Street 'Stan Lee Way' In Honor Of Comic Book Genius, Spider-Man [Co-]Creator

Portion of University Avenue in The Bronx will be renamed in honor of comics mastermind Stan Lee

[25 July 02019]

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Out today 24 Jul: Doctor Strange #16

Marvel's October 02019 solicits include a Doctor Strange Annual

DOCTOR STRANGE ANNUAL #1
Tini Howard & Pornsak PICHETSHOTE (W)
Andy MacDonald & Lalit Kumar Sharma (A)
COVER BY Ariel Olivetti
VARIANT COVER BY TBA
The Sanctum Sanctorum holds all of the bizarre and dark relics that Doctor Strange has accumulated on his journey as the Sorcerer Supreme. But when one of those relics awakens and begins wreaking havoc in the halls, will Doctor Strange be able to wrangle back control... or will his Sanctum be transformed into his own personal hell? Find out in this epic Annual from Tini Howard (THANOS), Pornsak Pitchetshote (INFIDEL), and more!
40 PGS./Rated T+ $4.99

[24 July 02019]

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San Diego Comic-Con 02019: Marvel announcement of huge MCU Phase 4 slate of movies and TV includes Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness sequel

"'We're going to make the first scary movie in the MCU,' Derrickson said, going on to detail its tone of gothic horror..."

Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch will also star...

Nightmare will be the villain...

Release date 7 May 02021...

Henceforth referred to by its acroynm "DSitMoM" (dee-sit-mom)...

Marvel Phase 4: Everything We Know About The Future Of The MCU [Vulture]

San Diego Comic-Con [0]2019: All The News From The Marvel Hall H Panel [Atom Insider]

SDCC [0]2019 Marvel News: Every Single MCU Reveal From Comic-Con [ScreenRant] [Marvel Is Retconning Scarlet Witch For Doctor Strange 2]

Updating: More links as found and as time permits...

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For San Diego Comic-Con Weekend, It's Time To Re-watch Galaxy Quest [20th anniversary!]

[22 July 02019]

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MAD Magazine Is Basically Dead [will mostly become reprints sold in the direct market; related to other DC closures like Vertigo]

MAD Magazine To Effectively Shutter After 67 Years

Evan Dorkin Twitter thread ["As institutions go MAD had an amazing run. It helped breed smartass cynical stupid-smart humor, pop-culture drenched... MAD still sells more copies than most comics... It's wild that Al Jaffee outlasted MAD as a living entity."]

Update: Sergio Aragones: MAD Magazine is not dying, just changing

[6 July 02019]

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Stan Lee's Alliances: A Trick of Light: one of Lee's final gigs when he died was working with co-creators Luke Lieberman and Ryan Silbert and co-writer Kat Rosenfield to create a superhero universe of audio content for Audible

Stan Lee's Alliances: A Trick of Light audiobook launched on Audible on 27 June
[first episode includes an intro by Lee]

Stan Lee's Alliances: A Trick of Light audio trailer on YouTube
["Remember when I created characters like the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men?" yeesh]

Stan Lee Audio Drama 'A Trick of Light' Introduces A Universe [Hollywood Reporter]
["It never occurred to us that he wouldn't be able to listen to the final recording of it"]
["the first of what could be a series of audio dramas... part of Audible's push into original content"]

Stan Lee's First Novel For Adults 'A Trick of Light' To Be Released Posthumously
["for adults"? wtf]

Stan Lee's Co-Creators On Alliances: A Trick of Light Hope To Turn Listeners Into Ditkos And Kirbys [Syfy Wire]

One Of Stan Lee's Final Projects Introduces A New Superhero Universe [Entertainment Weekly]

Audible Original 'Alliances: A Trick of Light' Features New Stan Lee Characters And Stories, With More On The Way [/Film]
["I think Stan really liked the elemental nature of audio storytelling and how it kind of harkens back to the radio serials he used to listen to when he was a young man."]

Audiobook narrated by Yara Shahidi [mini-trailer on Youtube] [Entertainment Tonight] [Black Girl Nerds] [Wikipedia: Yara Shahidi]

"Stan Lee's Alliances: A Trick of Light will be coming to life at San Diego Comic-Con 18-21 July as an immersive series of reality-bending light and sound-driven experiences, and a matrix-like 'light labyrinth', representing key moments of the story" [SDCC Unofficial Blog]

Stan Lee's Alliances: A Trick of Light print book to be released 17 September [Amazon]

[1 July 02019]

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