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Weekend Reading: Walter Hill, Carrie Fisher, Paul Levitz and Scarlett Johansson
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,
If you were surfing the internets this week, you might have discovered that movie director Walter Hill was a big fan of EC Comics, Paul Levitz wrote a comic book with a bondage scene, Bob Oksner drew pretty girls (which shouldn’t be news to anyone, really), and Carrie Fisher doesn’t like to be insulted (but then again, who does). If you missed these and other fascinating tidbits of digital wonder, keep reading:
Walter Hill: The most excellent writer and director, Walter Hill has had a hand in some of my favorite movies—48 Hours, Alien, The Long Riders, and The Warriors, to name just four. Over at The Hollywood Interview, they’ve got a career-spanning interview with him. And who knew he was a comic book fan? Says Hill, “I read a lot of the EC Comics back in the fifties. I never particularly liked superheroes…I particularly liked the EC comics because they were darker.” More at the link.
Paul Levitz’s Bondage Comics: Now that Paul has left DC and plans to return to writing regular comics, it might be fun to look at some of his past, pre-President of DC, work. Over at Steve Ditko’s Comics Weblog, Bob H regularly posts lots of great Ditko art. One of the pieces up this week is a look at Stalker #2. Stalker was a short-lived 1970s series written by Paul Levitz, and illustrated by Ditko and Wally Wood, and in issue #2, they all got together to strap a woman down to play a Code-approved game that looks a little like the end of Braveheart (except for the last-minute heroic rescue part).
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Happy Birthday Christopher Reeve From Comix 411
Posted by Kris Madden Categories: Interviews, Movies, DC Comics,
While many actors have donned the classic red cape and blue tights, none have immortalized Superman more than Christopher Reeve. Today, Comix 411 pays tribute to the actor and the legacy he left behind on the day of his birthday. His foundation is “dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy.”
Per The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation:
On September 25th, Christopher Reeve would have celebrated his 57th birthday. This will be both a solemn occasion and a joyous one, a time for us to remember the friend we lost, and to honor him by redoubling our efforts to carry on the remarkable work he began.
Here are three videos wiith the actor over the course of his life.
Click to continue reading Happy Birthday Christopher Reeve From Comix 411
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| The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation
Jack is Back: Jack Kirby Vs. Disney/Marvel
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Marvel Comics,
Of course, you knew it was coming. I didn’t, because sometimes I can’t see either the forest or the trees, but someone knew it was coming once it was announced that Disney was buying Marvel. Jack Kirby’s children have banded together, not unlike the countless groups their father created, to file motions of copyright termination to 45 of Kirby’s Marvel creations and co-creations.
Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily and Rich Johnston at Bleeding Cool, weigh in with the details and analysis. Over at The Beat, Heidi McDonald also notes the news and has a very lively comments section (pay particular attention to the calm and rational ones by Nat Gertler and Kurt Busiek). Elsewhere, countless bloggers and message board attendees are posting about the shock and awe they feel. Their wild theories of how this is the end of everything—the equivalent of a comic book rapture—has them typing faster than they can down a box of Milk Duds.
Before everyone gets all Defcon Fanboy about it, I recommend reading up on the history—the continuity, if you will—of relations between Marvel and Jack Kirby.
Click to continue reading Jack is Back: Jack Kirby Vs. Disney/Marvel
The Walking Dead #65 Kicks Cannibal Butt
Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Reviews, Image Comics,
Despite my doubts in the beginning of this arc, Robert Kirkman and crew make them all up ten-fold in the latest issue of The Walking Dead.
Picking up after the hunters’ attack on our gang, Eugene patches up Glenn’s gunshot wound in his leg with some seemingly-obscure household products. This leads me to wonder whether Eugene has experienced more bloodshed than initially imagined prior to meeting with Rick and crew.
With Dale back at camp, Andrea finally gets to let her heart speak openly to him, as she thought she never would have the chance to say these things in last month’s issue. The couple heartbreakingly realize the very gruesome truth they’ll soon face in due time. The fact that Dale has already faced this experience once before doesn’t seem to make it any easier.
After some investigative work and typical back-and-forth with Abraham, Rick decides the fate of their
attackers
hunters. The tables turn for the hunted. (Spoilers after the jump)
Click to continue reading The Walking Dead #65 Kicks Cannibal Butt
Marvel Turns Tim Gunn Into Superhero
Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Interviews, Marvel Comics,
Leave it to Marvel to branch out into yet another pop culture obsession (I mean, they had me hooked with Marvel Zombies): fashion. This time, they’ve actually appointed a nontraditional, real life hero, Project Runway‘s Tim Gunn.
Ridding the world of fashion crimes in real life, Gunn lends his likeness to Marvel‘s limited series Models, Inc. in the first issue of the series, “Loaded Gunn.”
And boy is he thrilled:
“Isn’t it just utterly and totally surreal? This is one of those make-a-wish things that could never happen… There are lots of debates about how much it looks like me. I said, ‘Gentleman, this is your business. This is not what I do. I do not even want to remotely weigh in on it or micromanage it.’”
With a little help from Iron Man, Gunn comes to the rescue when a special superhero museum is attacked.
Click to continue reading Marvel Turns Tim Gunn Into Superhero
Read More | USA Today
Retro-Reimaginings of The Dark Knight Trailer
Posted by Kris Madden Categories: Movies, DC Comics,
2008’s The Dark Knight was not the first time Batman faced off against his archenemy Joker on the big screen, or even the small screen. Thanks to YouTube’s community of film-editing hobbyists, there are three trailers for previous Batman films replaced with the audio track from The Dark Knight trailer. Enjoy.
Batman: The Animated Series (1992)
The best treatment of The Dark Knight trailer’s audio is a clip made from episodes of the early 90’s TV cartoon Batman: The Animated Series. The cartoon becomes a Gothic “Hanna-Barbera” nightmare and seamlessly goes along with soundtrack as if it was meant to be that way all along.
Click to continue reading Retro-Reimaginings of The Dark Knight Trailer
Rating: *** 1/2
A little bit of a letdown with this issue relative to the three previous ones, but it was still very good. I think the letdown for me came more with the artwork by Philip Tan. The previous issues with artist Frank Quitely were very good because he tells a good story visually with his artwork. Tan’s, however, doesn’t do much for me in the issue. Some parts of the story are too dark and I didn’t enjoy the panel-to-panel storytelling. Quitely’s artwork gave me a grand epic feeling. Tan’s work seems cramped and jumbled. However, the story of this opening arc is still very good.
We open with a villain by the name of Lightning Bug collecting some money from a club owner. Just as he’s about to pop this guy, the Batmobile swoops in and hovers right behind him. Lightning Bug makes a break for it and crashes through an apartment window. He makes his way out of the apartment into the hallway and meets up with who he thinks is Batman and Robin, but is instead the Red Hood and his new partner Scarlett. The Red Hood has decided to go a different route to fight crime and instead of handing this guy over to the police, the Red Hood cuts his throat and kills him. “Let the punishment fit the crime” is his new slogan for punishing criminals.
Click to continue reading DC Comics Review: Batman and Robin #4
Open Courseware: University of Florida Comic Book School
Posted by Kris Madden Categories: Editorials,
After finding out Michigan State University had courses on comic books, I looked into finding other schools that offered degrees in comic books. In my research I found the University of Florida, home of the Gators, who not only offer courses in comic books, but also make available syllabi and course materials for free through their website: UF Comics Studies.
As a student at the University of Florida, you can also check out comic books for your enjoyment. Per UF’s website:
Special Collections at UF’s Smathers Library has a large and growing collection of comic books, strips, graphic novels, historical and contemporary anthologies, original Sunday pullouts, artist’s proofs and original artwork. Originally consisting mostly of Silver and Bronze Age (1960’s on) superhero comics, donations and acquisitions have more than doubled the size of the collection in recent years.
Click to continue reading Open Courseware: University of Florida Comic Book School
The Best “Parker” Adaptation Ever From Darwyn Cooke
Posted by Kris Madden Categories: Reviews, Independent,
The Hunter follows a one-man-tough-guy army bent on revenge named Parker. After a job goes bad and his wife tries to kill him, Parker sets out to take back what was his and set things right. Parker’s world is New York circa 1962, a world before cell phones, before VHS, before the Beatles; a place where the bad guys and the good guys stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the police department, the political arena, and even the subway slums.
Click to continue reading The Best “Parker” Adaptation Ever From Darwyn Cooke
Steve Perry: Aliens, Predators and Men In Black
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Dark Horse Comics,
Not too long ago, I was hired by a big time TV producer to ghostwrite a book for him. He had a screenplay that had been sent around and remained unsold and he wanted to try working backwards—convert the screenplay into a book, sell the book, get the book optioned and then sell the screenplay. Stranger things have happened, and he had enough contacts and name-value to give it a strong shot.
I read the screenplay and we met for lunch at one of those nearly trendy places where you’ll likely see Bronson Pinchot eating an egg-white omelet and Tori Spelling ordering half of a flour tortilla. The intended audience for the book was to be Young Adult. We discussed tone and he was very clear—somewhere between Holes and Men In Black. I’d seen the whole Holes movie (and read the book), and I’d seen both of the Men In Black movies. (Today’s MIB trivia:I had also been the editor of the original Men In Black comics back in the stone age of comics and still keep in touch with MIB creator Lowell Cunningham.)
After the meeting, I went to a used bookstore as quickly as possible—except that they don’t exist anymore. So I went to Amazon and ordered a copy of the Men In Black novelization. I wanted to see how someone else had done the job with a similar property. I liked what I read and was impressed by how many little details the author had added while keeping the tone of the movie. He had also done an excellent job of capturing the personalities of J and K, which is no easy task. That author was Steve Perry, and I studied his approach the way others might Stephanie Meyer or a certain Rowling. Without realizing it, he was helping me follow in his footsteps.
Click to continue reading Steve Perry: Aliens, Predators and Men In Black
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