Weekend Reading: Avengers, Beau, Gareb And The Ultraverse

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

Everyone is still talking about Joss Whedon's The Avengers.

Emmy-winning writer/producer/director Ken Levine got a kick out of The Avengers, but it’s not his favorite comic book movie.

The Avengers is now the third highest-grossing US movie of all time.

And they're even screening it on the International Space Station

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R.I.P. Wizard Magazine

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Image Comics, Wizard Entertainment,

Okay, who had Comics Buyer’s Guide in the Last Comics News Magazine Standing pool?

CBG is now the longest-running continuously published comic book magazine and they’ve survived all comers. Overstreet’s Fan, Hero Illustrated, The Comic Reader, The Mirkwood Times, The Comics Journal, and now Wizard.

In case you haven’t heard the news, Wizard Magazine officially shut down last week, sending its staff packing.

Wizard was lucky - they caught the wave of the 1990s comic book bubble and the launch of Valiant and Image and then helped increase that bubble (Gareb was at the first official meeting of the Image Comics founders at Marc Silvestri’s Malibu beach house way back in the early 1990s).

Once the gravy train of million-selling comics derailed, and the internet took away the need for a news magazine, Wizard’s been struggling to remain a viable publication. Watching them flail around for the past decade has not been pretty. I knew a couple of good people who worked for the magazine in those early years and they've long since gone onto other things.

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Weekend Reading: Iron Man, Geek Chic, Chip and Dale and I Love Lucey

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

Lots of good stuff going on as we slide into the weekend. We’ve got Iron Man, Archie Comics, Douglas Adams’ Monty Python connection, Chip and Dale and tons more.

Let’s start with my pal Bob Greenberger, the noted comic book writer, novelist, tie-in writer, and a guy who actually knows how to make a physical comic book/graphic novel (all that production/printing/binding/press run/distribution stuff). He has a new book out. Iron Man: Femme Fatales has just been published by Del Rey and it should keep fans happy post-Iron Man I movie and pre-Iron Man II movie. Bob happily blogs about it at his website where he reposts this nice review. I haven’t read the book yet, but I snapped up a copy off the rack at Wal-Mart to feed a little royalty money Bob’s way. I also reshelved the remaining copies to give Bob a better display. That’s how I roll, people.

Harry Lucey: The animator John Kricfalusi has a nice gallery of great Lucey covers from assorted Archie titles at his blog. The covers are absolutely stunning in their simplicity. There’s a “Get Off My Lawn!” part of my brain that wishes the books still looked like this.

Geek Chic Daily: Nikki Finke has a few details about the Hollywood playas lining up behind Gareb Shamus’ new online presence.

George Tuska: Marvel and DC artist George Tuska, so prominent in the comics of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s has passed away at 93. Mark Evanier has a nice look at Tuska’s career. Here’s a real nice original art page by Tuska—no superheroes, just guns, gangsters, street scenes and a hot girl in a bikini. He was from the generation of comic artists who all knew how to draw people, horses, cars, the folds of clothing, and characters in hats who could still make a guy in an iron suit seem believable.

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Warner Restructures DC

Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: DC Comics,

In the wake of the $4 billion purchase of their nemesis, Warner Bros. has decided to restructure its own comic book branch.

“This is the structural iteration of what we have been trying to accomplish for a long time. We think it is important for Warner Bros. to exercise appropriate control over these properties, because they are highly valued assets of our company,” said Warner Bros. Chairman Barry Meyer.

Diane Nelson, brand manager of the Harry Potter franchise, will be in charge of restructuring the now-named DC Entertainment unit.

Most DC comics fans are surprised at this new surge of energy for the company. Considering characters like Wonder Woman, the Justice League, and the Flash have been cooped up in who-knows-where, it’s amazing to think that Warner Bros. has had DC for forty years.

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