Roger Slifer Could Use A Hand

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Television, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

You’ve probably seen this all over the internets, but a little more won’t hurt. Veteran comic book writer Roger Slifer was hit by a car this past weekend.

Roger worked for both DC (where he created Lobo) and Marvel (where he worked on Avengers and Marvel Two-In-One), and later produced and/or story-edited the TV shows Jem And The Holograms, Transformers, Street Fighter and others.

Here’s the story, as reported by Flint Dille:

“Roger Slifer is in intensive care after being run over in a hit and run on Friday Night around 1:00. We had originally thought of keeping this quiet, because Roger is a fairly private guy, but as word is out and time might be of the essence if we're going to find the hit-and-run driver, I'll post what I know.

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Apple adds new security features to Mountain Lion

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop, Software,

Apple just released a security update for Mountain Lion Developer Preview 4 that adds in some new tactics for OS X to keep you safe. First, it'll check for security updates from Apple each day, and gives you the option of having the updates installed automatically or after you restart your Mac. Mountain Lion launches next month on the Mac App Store.

Comic Book Jobs: Future Publishing

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

If you're living in England, especially near the town of Bath, Future Publishing could be looking for you.

They need a Staff Writer for ImagineFX. It's a six month contract, but you'll be working "at the heart of the fantasy, sci-fi, video game and manga art community."

Here's what they expect of you: "You’ll write and plan artist interviews, reader galleries, book and comic reviews as well as exhibition reviews and convention reports. Also you will be responsible for daily and weekly updates to the website as well as managing and moderating the 8000-user ImagineFX.com forums and galleries."

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Read More | Staff Writer

iOS 6 beta 2 now available

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Software,

Apple has just released iOS 6 beta 2 as an over-the-air download a few minutes ago. This release comes exactly two weeks after the initial iOS 6 beta, which was released during WWDC 2012. If you're on an iPhone 4S the download is 332 MB in size, while the same update on the new iPad weighs in at 527 MB. Check Software Update in your settings app to grab it now.

Quote Of The Day: Ed Brubaker

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Image Comics, Marvel Comics,

“[I'm] beginning a shift from work-for-hire to books I own, instead. I hit a point with the work-for-hire stuff where I was starting to feel burned out on it. Like my tank is nearing empty on superhero comics, basically. It's been a great job, and I think I found ways to bring my voice to it, but I have a lot of other things I want to do as a writer, too, so I'm going to try that for a while instead.”

- Ed Brubaker in an interview with Tom Spurgeon

And check out our other notable quotes.

Read More | The Comics Reporter

Yelp check-ins coming to iOS 6 Maps

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Rumors, Software,

It looks like Apple has even more in store for its mapping solution that'll make its debut in iOS 6 this fall. According to a Bloomberg report, iPhone users will be able to use Maps directly to check in to the local spots that they're visiting courtesy of Yelp's check-in service. Of course, this leaves us a bit confuses, as almost no one uses Yelp check-ins when compared to Foursquare or Facebook, but we're guessing that Apple doesn't wanna get too reliant on any one company for iOS features. Still, in this case, we think Yelp is a bit of a disappointment for system-level iOS 6 check-ins.

Read More | Bloomberg

The Phantom: Original Art For Sale!

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

If you've ever wanted to own a piece of original art from The Phantom comic strip, now's your chance.

My pal Terry Beatty is having an art sale and he's listed a bunch of Phantom Sunday strips on his site and they're just beautiful. Terry pencils and inks the strip these days, and he does a great job. The black-and-white comic strips have a very noir quality to them. Even if you have no interest in buying them, run over to Terry's site and have a look at some gorgeous art anyway.

You might just change your mind.

[Artwork: A panel from The Phantom, illustrated by Terry Beatty]

Weekend Reading: Avengers, Alan Moore and Don McGregor

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies, Television, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

A friend of mine has a bet that The Avengers' will gross $2 billion (with a "b") by the end of the year, so I guess we're all still talking about Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

If you’re still talking about them, Longbox Graveyard looks at Thanos and The Infinity Gauntlet.

Then LG’s honcho Paul O’Connor passes along this link with everything you need to know about Thanos.

Alan Moore, critical of movies made from his comics, is writing his own movie, which I hope someone adapts into a comic.

It’s never too late to read a story or two from Don McGregor about his father.

My pal Steven Thompson has been streamlining his collection and just recently posted a bunch of great bargains at Booksteve’s Bookstore: Kirby, Captain Marvel, Robert Crumb, Superman, Batman, Wonder Wart-Hog...you can’t go wrong!

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Avengers, Alan Moore and Don McGregor

Planet Of The Apes, Back To The Future And James Bond!

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies, Television, Independent,

My pal Rich Handley at Hasslein Publishing has a big favor to ask. He publishes a great bunch of books on shows and movies like Planet of the Apes, Back To The Future, James Bond, Red Dwarf and lots of others. He's asked for a no-cost favor, so I'm posting it here, mostly verbatim.

"Paul and I at Hasslein Publishing are trying to qualify for one of 12 small-business grants from Chase in order to build up Hasslein into something bigger than it currently is. We need 250 votes within an eight-day period to qualify, so please vote before June 30!

"Each grant is for a whopping $250,000. It's a huge long-shot, as I'm sure a lot of people are submitting their companies to this program, but if we were to win one of the grants, we'd have a ton of money to do amazing things with our company, which would be a good thing.

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Cerebus Original Art

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Independent,

Years ago, I owned a piece of original Dave Sim art from Cerebus. It was a page from Cerebus #11. I bought it at a New York convention from Dave’s then-wife Deni who was selling pages at their table. It’s the page just before the very first full page appearance of Cockroach.

It was the multi-panel page where Cockroach is off-panel, ranting like a nutcase and Cerebus is going through a number of twisted facial expressions.

If I was a true collector, I would’ve bought the page with the actual first appearance of Cockroach. But I really liked all the different animated expressions on Cerebus’ face. It was a tour-de-force of character drawing.

I bought it for $15.

I framed it when I got back home and it hung on my wall through various moves over the years. When space got tight, thought, I sold it off.

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Read More | Kickstarter via Bleeding Cool