Latest Gear Live Videos
Marvel Monster Trucks: With Great Power!
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Marvel Comics
If you're a fan of Marvel Comics, then you know about Marvel's monsters like Fin Fang Foom and Tim Boo Bah. But are you ready for Marvel's Monster Trucks?
Well get ready to rumble, you V-8ers, Red Staters and Import Haters!
Marvel Entertainment, no doubt a division that rests somewhere between Marvel Comics and Disney, has expanded its deal with Feld Motor Sports, the motor sports entertainment company (and owners of the Ringling Bros And Barnum & Bailey Circus, go figure).
Read More
| Marvel Monster Trucks
Advertisement
Comic Book Jobs: Marvel Comics Digital Media
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Marvel Comics
The House of Ideas division of the House of Mouse is hiring for their New York Idea House.
Marvel Comics is in the market for a Digital Project Manager for their Digital Media division.
You’ll be expected to “demonstrate exceptional technical expertise, possess superb communications skills, wield sharp collaborative problem-solving skills, and be key” when it comes to keeping your projects on-time and on-budget.
Lots of job responsibilities, including pushing a lot of digital paper from place to place - figuring out new projects, monitoring progress, team leading, managing expectations, tracking milestones, and keeping documentation so that if it all falls apart, fingers know where to point.
Kenneth Branagh Explains Why He Directed Thor
Posted by Andru Edwards -
Categories:
Interviews,
Movies,
Marvel Comics

Kenneth Branagh believes Thor is like a Shakespeare play.
The actor-and-director - best known for his adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays - says he took on the job of directing the forthcoming superhero movie, because it reminded him of the English playwright’s works:
“I read the script and saw an epic adventure with, at the centre, human dynamics - which for me is what really works in comics. I looked at the relationships and saw brothers, mother, father and sons: the tight royal circle. When you get down to it, this is pure Shakespeare it’s a great drama about familial problems concerning those who possess great power.”
Top 10 Things Overheard @ NYCC 2010
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Editorials, DC Comics, Marvel Comics
The New York Comic Con has come and gone for another year. And while you may not have been fortunate enough to attend, the spies who work for Comix 411 were there, watching, listening and recording. Here’s what they overheard.
10: “I wish DC and Marvel would drop their prices again.”
9: “Sold out?! In your face, San Diego!”
8: “I was promoted to VP of unemployment…”
7: “Is this the line for that Spider-Man musical?”
Read More
| The Comics Reporter
Weekend Reading: Wonder Woman, Alex Toth, NYCC and Star Wars
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Editorials, Interviews, Reviews, DC Comics, Independent, Marvel Comics
Doesn’t everyone who’s not there wish they were at the New York Comic Con this weekend? Or is it just me?
Big announcements all across the board. Marvel and DC are cutting prices which won’t boost sales enough for the Big Two to make the same amount of money. But it’s good news for non-Big Two publishers who can try to tap into the money customers are saving and steer it their way. I’m looking at you Boom!, Dynamite, Moonstone and IDW.
DC’s also cutting the story count down to 20 pages. Since there aren’t that many paid ads anymore, anyone want to wager on when the $2.99 printed comics go from 32 pages down to 24 to further reduce costs?
And in the wake of his supervisor stepping down, Bob Wayne‘s been given a promotion and stays in New York. Well played.
At Project Child Murdering Robot, Ricky Sprague has some thoughts about the new Wonder Woman TV series in development by David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal; Boston Legal). His advice: “Please don’t shy away from her glorious bondage past.”
Toasting Toth: Who doesn’t love Alex Toth? John Kricfalusi posts panels from a really nice story and breaks down his love for it.
Toth II: Daniel Best at 20th Century Danny Boy has some great information of Alex Toth and the artist’s time in Australia. Bonus: lots of Toth artwork.
I met Stan Lee once. (And I tell this story all the time, so if you’ve heard it before, feel free to move along.)
After Marvel Comics bought Malibu Comics, a big dinner was orchestrated at Chinois, a fancy restaurant in Santa Monica. All the big Marvel New York executives – all now long gone – were there, and so was Stan Lee. Malibu was represented by Scott Rosenberg, Dave Olbrich, Chris Ulm and myself.
Stan came over and introduced himself to me and then said, “I always forget, who bought who? I need to know if I have to kiss your ass or you have to kiss mine!” I could not have loved him more.
Since he left active duty at Marvel Comics and became their elder statesman, a media go-to guy, movie cameo expert and starter of other companies, he’s tried to duplicate his prior success at running Marvel. I think he likes to keep busy, has a ton of ideas floating around in his head, and has the ability to find outlets for them, and no trouble finding people who want to work with him. We should all live such a charmed life.
Weekend Reading: DC Comics And Warner Bros.
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Image Comics, Marvel Comics
So did you hear the big news? Marvel’s moving to a new office building in Manhattan!
Not to be outdone, Warner Bros. decided to shake things up with a large scale corporate shift. This interview with Diane Nelson from Comic Book Resources actually sheds very little light on the nuts and bolts of it.
And the lack of real answers has caused Tom Spurgeon to raise some questions he’d like to see answered about the situation forward-going.
Naturally, and because I sometimes can’t keep my mouth shut, I have my own take on the matter.
Warner Bros. Comics & Stories
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies, Television, DC Comics, Marvel Comics
Well, at least Batman will still be published out of New York!
I’m no pundit and I’m certainly no reporter or journalist, and I’m not even a DC insider, although I should point out that before Paul Levitz bought Wildstorm, he tried to buy the company I co-founded, Malibu Comics.
I was saddened, though not surprised that Warner Bros. was splitting DC Entertainment into two divisions and keeping all their old school business in Manhattan. My sympathies go out to all DC employees who are getting let go and to all freelancers who are getting their books cut out from under them. This is not an easy time, and it’s not going to get easier.
I think lost in all the discussion and rundown of DC’s recent shift is that the biggest piece of the puzzle has yet to be explained or admitted to. Warner Bros. which folded DC Comics into a new company called DC Entertainment just a year ago, now took DC Comics out of that company and moved DC Entertainment – along with all of the money-making portions of the company – to the West Coast.
DC Comics, the comic book division, is now its own stand-alone entity. An island of old-school publishing left without its support network. This has been hailed as a victory for the comic book people.
It isn’t. It’s a wake up call.
MoCCA: Paul Levitz, Stephen DeStefano, Robert Sikoryak
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Television, DC Comics, Marvel Comics
Is The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art the smartest kid in class? Their fall education programs make me want to hit Hotwire for a cheap flight to NYC and spend a few months with a laptop and some pencils.
My old friend Danny Fingeroth, the Senior VP of Education for MoCCA, gets a tip of my cap for putting together an excellent slate of programs.
Here’s a peek at the list:
Robert Sikoryak and Kriota Willberg are teaching “Anatomy For Cartoonists Workshop” (4 sessions). “This course will teach students how to create real or imaginary characters — in any style — that are consistent and believable.” Bonus: “nude models will be employed.” Nude models should never be unemployed, even in a recession.
Sikoryak is the author of the recently released Masterpiece Comics and his work appears frequently on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Kriota Willberg teaches anatomy for cartoonists and illustrators at The Center For Cartoon Studies.
Digital comics are here to stay, and publishers who avoid them or fear them will lose to them. To that end, Disney’s Marvel Comics is looking for a Senior Producer/Product Manager for Marvel.com.
This “creative and highly motivated” person will “oversee day-to-day production of Marvel.com and to help define and manage the evolution of our Digital Comics products.”
Your responsibilities include a lot of buzzwords like “end users,” “stakeholders,” and “pipelines,” but you’ll basically be growing Marvel’s digital business – developing plans, implementing new programs, and rolling out new features and support for new products.
You’ll also get to monitor trends and news in “the digital comics space” (which I believe is also called “the internet”), collect feedback, conduct research, grow subscriptions and increase ad revenue.
Advertisement
© Gear Live Inc. – User-posted content, unless source is quoted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License. Gear Live graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, videos, articles, blogs, forums, scripts and other service names are the trademarks of Gear Live Inc.




