Weekend Reading: Gary Friedrich, Walking Dead, Ted McKeeer & Arcana
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies, Reviews, DC Comics, Image Comics, Marvel Comics
What a weird, weird funnybook week. Let’s take a look:
Artist Tony Moore is suing writer Robert Kirkman over his portion of money from The Walking Dead.
Gary Friedrich is getting legally crapped on by Marvel Comics.
DC Comics is still legally battling over Superman.
Columbia Pictures drops The Boys from their film roster.
Vietnam is banning comic books.
And how was the rest of the week?
If you've ever thought about opening a used bookstore, here are 25 Things you might discover.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Gary Friedrich, Walking Dead, Ted McKeeer & Arcana
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James Leary & Mitch Byrd @ IndieGoGo
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Independent
Mitch Byrd is one of my favorite artists. We worked together for many issues of my comic book, Dinosaurs For Hire and he also illustrated a comic I edited, Planet of the Apes: Sins of the Father, that was written by a friend of mine, Mike Valerio.
Later on, he moved over to DC and worked with Beau Smith on the very manly Green Lantern spin-off, Guy Gardner: Warrior series.
Now, in conjuction with writer and actor James Leary (he played Clem on Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Mitch is working on a new title called James Leary’s House Of Screams.
James and Mitch, along with cover artist Steve Scott, are working through IndieGoGo to try to raise the necessary money to make it all happen.
Take a look and see if you’d like to help. I love Mitch’s work (I was a fan long before we worked together) and I can’t wait to see his new work in print. So go make it happen.
[Artwork: James Leary's House Of Screams #1, cover pencils by Steve Scott, © Alarm Comics]
Weekend Reading: The Damned, Apes, Simpsons and Tex Avery
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews, Television, Independent
Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, power outages. It's been a wild couple of climate change-enhanced weeks. Let's play catch-up across the internets:
Cullen Bunn is having a career year and let’s hope it’s the first of many. The creator of The Sixth Gun got his Oni Press series, The Damned, picked up by Showtime for a series. He’s already gotten The Sixth Gun optioned to SyFy for a series. If they both make it to air, Bunn will have two more shows on the air than DC Comics.
Apes: Rich Handley reviews the fourth issue of Darryl Gregory and Carlos Magno’s Planet Of The Apes, from Boom! “BOOM!’s Apes run stands on a pinnacle, one sure to end badly for humanity.” But all good for readers and fans.
Republicans: My pal Doug Molitor from Funny Or Die looks at 12 Republican super-heroes. My favorite? The Human Torturer!
Jack: Man, that’s a lot of nice Jack Davis work that Michael Sporn posted. I really love those western covers, too.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: The Damned, Apes, Simpsons and Tex Avery
Weekend Reading: Sherlock Holmes, Conan, and Spider-Man
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies, Reviews, Marvel Comics
For starters, let’s all wish writer Tom Spurgeon a speedy recovery. He took a blogging break earlier this year for health reasons and his essay about his health, his love of comics and his work is even more essential than his already-essential blog. If you read nothing else today, make it this.
Now let’s see what else is going on across the internets:
Sherlock: Oh, that lovable curmudgeon Sherlock Holmes is causing trouble for the uneducated, easily threatened, fragile book burners of America. Apparently, A Study In Scarlet, a classic Holmes adventure, features an insensitive remark about Mormons. Imagine, a fictional character - not Holmes or Watson - from Victorian England having an unprogressive attitude. Forgive me while I clutch my pearls and head for the fainting couch. Galleycat has more on the story, including links to downloading the public domain book for free.
Don McGregor: The writer of Killraven and Black Panther (to name but two) has some thoughts about his wife Marsha on her birthday.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Sherlock Holmes, Conan, and Spider-Man
Top 10 Changes In Planet Of The Apes
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies
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As everyone knows by now, 20th Century Fox has rebooted their nearly-50-year-old Planet Of The Apes franchise with a brand new movie: Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.
It monkeys around with Ape continuity, and while respectful to a lot of the original Ape lore, the movie does make some changes to modernize it for a contemporary audience.
We’ve put together a list of the Top 10 of those changes.
10. Sacred Scrolls now on iPad
9. Forbidden Zone is the name of a strip club
8. Hasslein’s Curve used to measure Freida Pinto
Click to continue reading Top 10 Changes In Planet Of The Apes
Weekend Reading: Apes, Captain America and Spongebob Squarepants
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Editorials, Movies, Reviews, DC Comics, Independent, Marvel Comics
If you’ve been following the post Comic Con International discussion about female creators and DC Comics, you should run over to Fleen and read Gary Tyrrell’s take on the matter.
Apes: My pal Rich Handley gets himself interviewed at Newsday about Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes.
Fan: My funny book acquaintance David Seidman was profiled recently in Jewish Journal. All I can say is that the interviewer would probably be overwhelmed by the San Diego con.
Actors: Chad Michael Murray of One Tree Hill has written a graphic novel that Archaia will publish.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Apes, Captain America and Spongebob Squarepants
Q&A: Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Interviews, Movies
Writer Rich Handley knows more about Planet Of The Apes than any three of you combined.
As the editor/compiler of two massive reference books - Timeline Of The Planet Of The Apes and Lexicon Of The Planet Of The Apes - he’s delved into the nerd minutiae of the movies, comics, TV shows and animated cartoons like Cornelius digging in the Forbidden Zone.
And we are all better people for it - because the only way to prevent the Apes from taking over, is to keep talking about it and disrupt the timeline.
On the occasion of the release of the new Apes extravaganza, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, I went right to the source to ask Rich a few questions about continuity, apes and more.
Note to all: This interview might contain some spoilers (you think?), so you are forewarned.
TOM MASON: So, reboot or prequel?
Click to continue reading Q&A: Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
Kamandi The Last Boy On Earth Omnibus
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Collecting, Editorials, Reviews, DC Comics
What do you do if you can't get the comic book license to Planet Of The Apes?
If you're DC publisher Carmine Infantino and the time is the early 1970s, you simply encourage someone to follow an old comic book tradition: create the homage.
Except that Infantino made that request of Jack Kirby and he took – to his credit – only the very basics of that idea (which was a staple of post-apocalyptic sci-fi for decades) and ran wild with it. According to Wikipedia, Kirby took the germ of Infantino's request, mixed it with a couple of pre-POTA projects of his from earlier and the result was Kamandi, The Last Boy On Earth.
It debuted in 1972 as part of Kirby's "2nd phase" at DC, after they cancelled all his debut books from the Fourth World series – New Gods, Forever People and Mister Miracle – and turned Jimmy Olsen back into a red-headed d-bag.
Click to continue reading Kamandi The Last Boy On Earth Omnibus
Weekend Reading: Kirby, Ditko, Cowboys & Aliens And Marvel Comics
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Interviews, Movies, DC Comics, Image Comics, Marvel Comics
I’m sure you’ve heard by now that the Kirby family lost its claim in court to the copyright to characters Jack Kirby created. As usual, Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter has the best analysis.
Now let’s see what else is out there.
Cowboys: Deadline continues to do the number-crunching on this week’s comic book-inspired film, Cowboys & Aliens. The early results show an under-performer.
Blood: And over at Bleeding Cool, Rich Johnston looks at the long journey getting Cowboys & Aliens from concept to screen.
Ditko: Tom McLean at Bags & Boards doesn’t post as often as he should, but when he does, it’s worth reading. His latest is a review of Blake Bell’s Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko from Fantagraphics. This is a beautiful snip: “Could Ditko be a first-generation fanboy, an 83-year-old whose life was spent obsessing first over comics and later over a juvenile political philosophy that only makes sense within a self-imposed bubble?”
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Kirby, Ditko, Cowboys & Aliens And Marvel Comics
Comic Con International 2011: My Con Report
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Collecting, Conventions, Editorials, Movies, Television, DC Comics, Image Comics
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So I'm back from the latest Comic Con extravaganza in San Diego. Unlike other folks that gather up news and special announcements, I gather up a few odds and ends.
Here's my Comic Con report for 2011 (Spoiler Alert: names will be dropped):
Planet of the Apes – When Boom!'s marketing director Chip Mosher asks, I answer! I was on the Boom! Planet of the Apes panel as a guest and had a great time with the engaged crowd. Editor Ian Brill, writer Daryl Gregory and myself talked about the movies, the comics, the creators and time travel. Life is rarely that good.
Aaron Lopresti – Dinner with the artist on the upcoming Justice League International series from DC. We spent it art-spotting with licensed merchandise. Pal Dave Olbrich bought along a 1970s-era Master of Kung Fu drinking glass and it was decided that it was a Gil Kane figure with a face reworked by Romita, Sr.
Marineman – I had a great chat with Ian Churchill, creator of Marineman, the Image Comics title that's also an Eisner-winner. I plopped down $15 for the collected 6 issues. I'm halfway through and it's money well-spent.
Portfolio Review – Dropped in on Space Goat's Dave Olbrich (him again) as he flipped through portfolios offering advance and gentle criticism. Lots of talented folks this year.
Click to continue reading Comic Con International 2011: My Con Report
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