At the Pulse, Hall of Fame artist Jim Steranko frets about a piece of art he gave to a friend’s academic collection that is now being cold on eBay:

In the 1970s, I gifted the art to the Harry “A” Chesler Collection at Fairleigh-Dickenson University because I was a friend of Harry’s for many years (with many visits to my home or his) and I helped structure the collection at his request.

Most of Harry’s original comics pages were drawn by obscure artists in the 1930-40s and were not particularly impressive by today’s standards. I felt that a major piece of my work would not only bring the collection up to date, but also give it a fundamental cornerstone upon which other material could be added and built. I selected the FOOM Poster because it was large, viewable, well-known, and visualized all the primary Marvel characters, the ONLY such piece I have ever done. To make it even more sensational and valuable, I hand colored the art. Harry seemed touched by the gift and it deepened our friendship significantly.

I assure you that Harry did NOT provide his art collection and a sizable annuity to FD to maintain it so they could sell it off; I say this because I was THERE, every step of the way. Harry had a vision that his collection would grow annually, funded by the interest of the $100K+ gift he had granted the school, into America’s most IMPORTANT comics-related art gallery and reference library on the subject. The FD administration assured him that his dream would be realized. Instead, beyond the initial dedication event, FD has NEVER done a thing of significance with the HAC Collection—until Harry died. Then, they began to sell it off. I protested bitterly with letters and phone calls, but was rebuffed with an explanation that “higher administration” had made the decision to liquidate much of the collection.

The art in question was originally a cover for Marvel’s in-house fan mag FOOM. The eBay listing is here.

[Link via Dirk]

Although the first line of the press release makes no sense to us whatsoever, we are still excited to know that Diamond is putting out MOUSE GUARD toys. We can’t wait to see ‘em!

Put your pant legs in your boots because the mice from David Petersen’s MOUSE GUARD are coming courtesy of Diamond Select Toys and Collectibles (DST) and ASP Comics. The licensing agreement will bring to life collectibles based on the popular characters from the best-selling comic book series, including our heroes Saxon, Kenzie, Lieam, and Sadie; in time, other characters will include Celanawe the ancient mouse of the Old Guard, Conrad the brave but crusty peg-legged mouse, Midnight impersonating the Black Axe, and more.

More details and samples of this upcoming line will be available at the International Toy Fair, February 2007.

“You have no idea how excited I am about seeing these characters of mine brought to life,” said MOUSE GUARD creator, David Petersen. “Heck, I’d even sculpted my own figures before—whether because I’m obsessed or in need of character study pieces, I don’t know. What I do know is that none of this would have happened without the support of the fans who have helped turn MOUSE GUARD into something special. I can’t wait to stage my own siege of Lockhaven in my living room!”

“When we first saw MOUSE GUARD,” said DST Director Chuck Terceira, “we knew they’d inspire some terrific licensed products. With how strong and popular the series has been, and the ever-growing legion of fans David and ASP have created, we just had to produce these adorable but fierce warriors.”

MOUSE GUARD is the story of a band of mice trying to survive in a hostile medieval world, to prosper among harsh conditions and vicious predators. The story began innocuously enough with three members of the Mouse Guard on a mission to find a grain peddler who disappeared on his journey from one protected mousehold to another. This seemingly minor event, however, opened the door to an epic mystery of intrigue, deception and danger as Saxon, Kenzie, Lieam and Sadie attempt to thwart a mouse in possession of the Black Axe and his plot to unify the mice under one, all-controlling, and all-powerful leader.

We received a nice note from Alice Hunt of the new Sugarskull webcomics collective, with a bit more information:

Sugarskull is a group of people who are making the comics that they want to read; we’re attempting to provide the world with something fresh and interesting, rather than the same-old same-old. The problem is that the same-old same-old sells–even on the Internet, where no money changes hands, it can be hard for comics to find an audience unless they appeal to an established demographic. Good stories can get lost or ignored because of it; by banding together, we hope to prevent that.

Each of the comics in Sugarskull is very different, but each has a special quirk that sets them apart. They’re a little dark, a little festive, and a little sweet, like the candies that inspired the name, and there are five in total:

Vampirates, by Jones
The Awakened, by Sarah Davis
Goodbye Chains, by Alice Hunt
The Reader, by Sarah Glidden
Keeps, by David Patty

Introductions and links to each of the comics can be found at http://community.livejournal.com/candycalavera/.

Vampirates, at least, drawn in a manga-esque style, would seem to be a no-brainer for some publisher out there. Check it out.

Johanna is “stunned” to see the picture DC’s official website picked for Batgirl’s OFFICIAL picture…and frankly, so are we.

The bulbous insect head is still there, and now her mouth is revealed, but bloodied. Also visible are her breasts, as her costume has conveniently been ripped open to show cleavage. Why would you choose an image of your so-called hero looking like a battering victim to illustrate an encyclopedia-style entry? And when did Batgirl have the time to get the perfectly round implants? (I do think the bent tipped ear point is kind of cute in a totally inappropriate way. Reminds me of Bat-Mite.)

It’s not just the creepy mix of sex and violence, it’s the bad drawing. Is like, one boob coming out of her clavicle and the other out of her lower ribcage? What happened to her chin? Yech.

UPDATE: Hm, as of 2 this afternoon, the official DC Batgirl page seems to have been…taken down. Developing.

There’s been so much hoopla over the new season of 24 that even The Beat — who normally eschews serial television–has gotten caught up in the excitement. And part of that excitement is news of a series of 24 toys from McFarlane. However, it seems that the toys are coming out very much DESPITE the enthusiasm of star Kiefer Sutherland who mistakenly set fire to a precious prototype during a night of drunken boozing:

Sutherland explains, “They tried to come out with one a couple of years ago and they had sent me the doll for my approval… We took the doll out for a night to have some fun and we’d had some drinks. We sat it on the corner of the table.

“We started torturing him around 11 o’clock at night, and, by two o’clock in the morning, we had set him on fire in the parking lot. We got up the next day and there was just this puddle of wax. His clothes didn’t burn, which I thought was pretty cool… and then I got a call the next day saying, ‘Did you like the doll?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it was great.’ And they said, ‘Well, OK, good, you gotta send it back to us because that was the prototype… It took that guy a year to make it.’

“I said, ‘Well, let me look for it, I think I left it in the trailer.’ This went on for about a week and then I had to just kinda come clean.”

There are all sorts of morals to be drawn from this story, so many we’re dizzy. Foremost among them: are these alcohol-soaked toy torturing movie stars any kind of role models for the youth of today?

We mean it, Seriously…hold on to your hats! This is WILD!

§ Mark Evanier and Marv Wolfman offer their reviews of BORAT:

Mark:

I guess I didn’t like Borat the Character much. Many of those he encountered on his shlep across America were jerks but he was usually a bigger jerk. Matter of fact, the jerks he encountered were often only jerks because his jerkiness was provoking them into it. So I guess I thought something like, “This is supposed to be the Comedy of Reality, but the reality is phony because his actions are creating it.” Or something like that. I really can’t explain my reactions very well. If I come up with a better understanding of them, I’ll post it here.

Marv:

So I have mixed opinions about it. Generally I liked it. I laughed a lot. Sometimes I couldn’t stop laughing. But then, suddenly, I would find myself repulsed by something I was watching. I generally have a low threshold for embarrassment humor. I tend to turn off the TV when on a sitcom someone is about to do something really stupid. Borat swings back and forth from the hilarious to the hellacious. Fortunately, overall it is more funny than not. But those non moments are truly cringeworthy.

§ This story will make you cry — honest.:

A brilliant political cartoonist who fled oppression in Afghanistan died scraping together extra money to keep his family of nine in their promised land.

Said Shiraga Rahimi, 35, who dreamed of good educations and better lives, was on an 11th hour pizza delivery when a CP freight train hit his minivan at 1:24 a.m. Monday.

§ Gene Simmons swears vengeance against loose-lipped Diamond employee:

Q: Gene, A friend of mine works at a distribution company that handles comic books. He tells me there is a new KISS comic book coming fairly soon. Is he leveling with me? Can you say anything yet? Gene: There is going to be very big comic book news coming within a month. Kindly bear with us until we’re ready to announce the story.

§They love cartoonist Andrei Bilzho in Moscow

The character Petrovich used to appear in Kommersant, but moved to Izvestia in 2005. Slightly akin to Homer Simpson, he is an everyman with a fondness for vodka, chickens and his wife, Manya. Bilzho’s drawings are neither typical one-liner cartoons nor political allegories. Rather, they often draw on folk tales for their imagery, featuring three-headed dragons and the round Russian equivalent of the Gingerbread Man, Kolobok.

§ Hollywood thinks comics writers look like hot Brit actor :

British actor HUGH DANCY put his life in the hands of a Romanian wolf trainer while shooting new movie BLOOD + CHOCOLATE in Bucharest - because he was at the mercy of hungry beasts during some hair-raising scenes. The young actor plays a comic book writer on the run from werewolves in the new movie, and literally had to be thrown to real-life wolves for many of his scenes. He explains, “I had them thrown at my head and I wrestled with them. Basically, the way these wolves are persuaded to put in a good day’s work is they come in the morning pretty hungry and then somebody puts pieces of steak about the person, that’s me, and they set the wolves on you.

§ Jolie out; Weisz in for SIN CITY 2? Reports are remarkably substance free.

Reports say Angelina Jolie may be replaced as the star of “Sin City 2″ by Rachel Weisz. Director Robert Rodriguez is said to be in talks with the British actress to play “Dame To Kill For” Ava Lord, after his first choice, Angelina, was unable to fit the project into her busy schedule. The long-awaited sequel to the 2005 movie is rumored to start shooting in 2008. Jessica Alba, Clive Owen and Mickey Rourke are expected to reprise their roles as Nancy, Dwight and Marv.

§ Charlie Brown to be even lonelier in the future.

§ Mark Waid puts his toys away one shelf at a time, like everyone else.

§ Salma Hayek STILL not starring in comic-book movie.

SPX returns to the Bethesda North Marriott, and announces Jeff Smith as the first guest.

The Small Press Expo (SPX), a non-profit organization, is proud to announce the 13th annual expo to be held October 12 and 13 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center.

SPX is proud to announce as its first major guest, Jeff Smith. Jeff is the author/writer of the groundbreaking and multiple award winning series “Bone”. This February will see the release of his adaptation of the Golden Age Captain Marvel story “The Monster Society of Evil”, to be published by DC Comics.

In the following weeks, additional guests and other SPX news will be issued in forthcoming press releases.

For more information, visit the SPX 2006 web site at http://www.spxpo.com

The SPX is the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comic books, alternative political cartoonists and discovery of new creative talent that attracts thousands every year. SPX brings together more than 300 artists and publishers to meet their readers, booksellers and distributors each year. Graphic novels, political cartoon books and alternative comics will all be on display and for sale by their authors and illustrators. A series of panel discussions will also be held of interest to readers,
academicians and creators of graphic novels and political cartoons.

The Expo will be open to the public from 2 pm – 8 pm Friday, October 12 and 10am - 7 pm Saturday, October 13. Admission is $8 for a single day and $15 for both days. The Expo culminates with the presentation of the 11th Annual Ignatz Awards for outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning. The Ignatz is the first Festival Prize in the US comic book industry, with winners chosen by balloting during the SPX. As in previous years, all profits from the SPX will go to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
(CBLDF), dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community.. For more information on the CBLDF, go to their website at http://www.cbldf.org/.

Maybe, according to Spacecoyote’s post on deviantART:

Long story short: Bongo Comics, Matt Groening’s comic book company, is hiring me to do the pencils for a short manga-style Simpsons comic. Also, I’ve been contacted by 20th Century Fox. They want me to do work for them somehow. I might get a job for the upcoming new Futurama series!

Why all this sudden success? Why are my childhood dreams coming true? This is madness, I tells ya! MADNESS!

Cool link of the day #2 that we should have linked to ages ago: A 16 page preview of TO TERRA at Chris Butcher’s blog.

This SF adventure classic is due from Vertical this spring. Apparently there has been some controversy about just what genre this book falls into:

Reading MangaBlog yesterday, I stumbled across a link to an interesting LiveJournal entry about Vertical’s forthcoming To Terra. Kethylia took issue with Vertical’s marketing strategy for this canonic series; she felt that describing To Terra as “shojo Star Trek” did a disservice to manga-ka Keiko Takemiya, as she explained in the subsequent discussion at MangaBlog:

Takemiya Keiko was and is one of those rare shoujo manga artists who crossed over into shounen manga. It’s still remarkable today when artists like CLAMP do it, and it was waaaay more remarkable back then.

Fair enough–To Terra was originally conceived as a shonen series, and it would be useful to note that fact, either in a forward to the first volume or in publicity materials. But in all the ensuing “You, sir, are an idiot” exchanges between folks in the “who cares?” camp and the “it’s history, dammit!” camp, bloggers seem to have lost sight of the more interesting issue. Labels are not permanent, immutable things–they’re the product of both marketing and scholarship, and, as such, are fluid. I offer two examples from my bailiwick.

Although Japan’s genre-by-gender system is useful for making sure everyone gets their own comics, clearly it can be a little but of a straitjacket, too. Well, we don’t really care, so long as the stories are good.

Cool link of the day #1: A trailer for the new Eddie Campbell book from First Second.

Dean Haspiel is previewing his new ACT-I-VATE strip, FEAR, MY DEAR. The official launch is February 1, which happens to coincide with

The Act-i-vate 1 Year Anniversary party! More here.

For the official obit and funeral details go here:

Services will be held on Friday January 19, 2007 at 11:00 A.M. from the Irwin Funeral Home, 175 N. Main St., Spring Grove, PA 17362 - 717.225.1677.

Visitation hours are from 9:00 A.M. – 10:30 A.M. at the funeral home preceding the service.

Donations may be made for the children at 17 Senator Stout Road, Frenchtown, NJ 08825.

Please note the family has requested that no garb be worn to the viewing/funeral. Please keep this the solemn event that it is. The funeral will be a traditional Jewish funeral, short, sweet and to the point.

Also, Elayne has a lovely remembrance here, with some charming pictures and more links.

I learned only yesterday via Elayne that Leah Adezio was in the hospital and not expected to pull through.

I was shocked and stunned. Now I have received word that she passed away last night of liver and kidney failure.

Leah was an artist, wife, mother and friend. When I moved to New York 12 years ago she was part of the core of the then-New York Friend of Lulu chapter. I also knew her from various online message boards. She swiftly became the kind of friend you could share anything with. We had many convention adventures together across the US, staffing the Lulu booth, lugging the “blue bongos” and or just hanging out eating cheese at the wonderful Lulu clubhouse that Elyane made available.

Sadly, I hadn’t seen Leah much over the last few years, as conventions are now a place where every minute is spoken for without much time to catch up with old friends. I ran into her at Wizard World Philly a few years ago, and she told me her husband had died suddenly. She seemed sad, understandably but seemed to be dealing with it with a great deal of dignity and wisdom — two words that definitely applied to Leah in all things.

She had a hard life. Her brother died violently, and that had affected her deeply. She loved her two kids dearly and talked about them all the time, but they weren’t always perfect and that caused the usual heartaches, also.

As an artist, Leah never had a big break, but she kept at it. She took her art and her comics seriously, and I remember once when she got to collaborate with Nick Cardy — she was over the moon, as any one would have been.

Through it all she was a mensch and a friend, someone who always reached out or had a laugh. I can’t imagine that there is anyone whose life she touched who isn’t going to miss her terribly.

More remembrances: Peter David, Colleen Doran, Elayne Riggs. UPDATE: Another remembrance by Tegan, talking about Leah’s love of all things Aquaman.

Also, memorials from Johanna and Jen Contino.

Another epic post from John K talking about what makes a cartoonist expressive. As usual today’s kids come up short.

These are what I call “Cal-Arts expressions”. They aren’t funny, and they don’t reflect any observation of or comment on humanity.

This is a style that is the opposite of cartoony. It’s about moving things smoothly and using the poses and expressions you have seen a million times in Disney and Bluth movies. These types of artists don’t have cartoonist personalities. They aren’t wacky or zany. They aren’t hard-bitten sarcastic men who take a grim realistic view of life and then make fun of it in their cartoons.

The right kind of guy, says Kricfalusi? Dan Gordon, who drew a bunch of strips for Giggle Comics before switching to animation and creating something called the Flintstones.

There’s even a few pages posted from old comic books, like this one.

It’s easy to see why John K would take a hankering to this kind of style, and how it influenced his own. He also links to this super cool site, Ich Bin Der Chrome Dinette that posts more old cartoony comic book pages in their yellowed glory.

We admit to being big fans of this style ourselves, but we don’t think it’s quite as lost as K. thinks, although the people who are naturally attracted to this style seem to use it more for emo-core autobiographical comics than adventures in canine scampery. Mark Martin pops to mind as an old school fun time guy. The people at Lunchbox would probably also qualify. Top Shelf probably publishes more modern day cartoonists in this vein than any publisher, oddly enough, include some who don’t really succeed at it, in our opinion.

Oh well, a topic for further study.

Every year Isotope, the legendary SF comics shop, presents the Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics. This year will mark the fifth presentation of the award, and the judges and rules have been announced:

San Francisco comics retailer James Sime, proprietor of Isotope - the comic book lounge, announced today that submissions for the fifth-annual Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics will be accepted until March 15th at midnight. “In 2007 one mini-comic creator’s career will be forever changed,” said Sime, “So fire up your xerox machines and get ready to submit your minis for the fifth annual Isotope Award!”

The five comic professionals who will serve as judges for the Isotope Award this year include:

Danica Novgorodoff - 2006 winner of the Isotope Award for her mini-comic A LATE FREEZE. Danica is a comics author, artist and also a designer for First Second Books.

Johanna Draper Carlson - Publishers Weekly writer, and the brilliant mind behind Comics Worth Reading. Johanna’s open-minded reviews and enthusiastic reporting set the bar for commentary throughout the industry.

Jason McNamara - Xeric award winning author of all-ages graphic novel FIRST MOON, PopImage columnist, & returning Isotope Award judge.

Kirsten Baldock - The Isotope’s Special Projects Director is also a librarian, bartender, and the author of the SMOKE AND GUNS graphic novel.

James Sime - Proprietor of Isotope - the comic book lounge in San Francisco.

(more…)

If you want to know everything that happens in SPIDEY 3’s finale go to this link. We haven’t clicked so we have no idea of it’s been taken down or not. We advise you not to click but we know some of you like to know this kind of thing.

For a more widely circulated spoiler, here’s the Sideshow Venom, which shows how the villain will appear in the film.

Gonzalo Ferreyra upped to VP Sales, Publishing & Home Video. He replaces Dudley Jahnke, who left last month. Moneka Hewlett is also now Director of Sales, Publishing, Sales, and Brian Ige
has been promoted to Director Of Sales, Home Video

Ferreyra assumes his new position immediately and will oversee all VIZ Media’s book publishing and home video sales efforts in North America and Canada. He will continue to report directly to VIZ Media’s President and CEO, Hidemi Fukuhara. In addition to Ferreyra’s promotion, Brian Ige, formerly Sales Manager, has been named Director of Sales, Home Video, and Moneka Hewlett has joined the publishing division as Director of Sales. Previously Hewlett held the Director of Consumer Marketing position for VIZ Media’s Magazines Division. Both Ige and Hewlett will report to Ferreyra.

Ferreyra brings to VIZ Media over 16 years of experience in the book publishing industry, and was previously Director of Sales for Home Video with VIZ Media. Prior to joining VIZ Media, he served as Director of Sales and Marketing for Ten Speed Press. His background includes working at Borders Group, Inc. in various capacities including Buyer and Associate Director of Bargain and Custom Publishing.

“We are pleased and excited to have Gonzalo Ferreyra take on this new critical role at VIZ Media,” states Hidemi Fukuhara, CEO of VIZ Media. “He has demonstrated and proven his expertise in handling the sales arena, and he will no doubt be as much of an asset on the publishing side as he was on home video. We are confident that these changes in the Sales department will continue to strengthen our partnerships with retailers and our distributor, Simon & Schuster, as we continue to build the future of Japanese manga throughout the world.”

“I am very excited to take on this new responsibility given my background in publishing sales,” adds Ferreyra. “Manga is the fastest growing arena in the publishing industry, and it’s great to be part of the continued growth of such best-selling titles as NARUTO, BLEACH and DEATH NOTE. The changes in the sales department, with Brian Ige and Moneka Hewlett moving into their new roles, will allow us to focus more clearly on the two product categories and better serve our retail partners. The wealth and diversity of all our titles allows us to grow and develop manga as a category and to continue to develop new readers for our shojo titles and key imprints. I look forward to making a substantial contribution to VIZ Media’s success on the publishing side while continuing to grow our home video business.”

§ Are fansubs destroying the American anime industry? This article at ComiPress says yes.

In 2006, rumors spread about anime distributor Central Park Media’s bankruptcy (which did not happen). Also, a friend of mine was fired by a major anime distributor he worked for; he was involved with many well-known titles, so I was shocked. The fact that even major distributors need to dismiss its capable staffs proves that the anime industry is getting worse. The cause is simple: the reduction of DVD sales is affecting the revenue of anime-related companies. My friend who was fired by the major anime distributor told me about the effect of fansubs on the anime industry in North America and the reason behind the decline of the anime companies.

§ The newsest webcomic? Steve Canyon! :

HumorousMaximus.com is bringing “Steve Canyon” to the Web to celebrate the 100th birthday of cartoonist Milton Caniff.

Installments of the classic adventure strip will start appearing next Monday, according to “Lost Sheep” cartoonist Dan Thompson. He co-owns HumorousMaximus.com, which features the work of more than 30 cartoonists.

§ Recently deceased Welsh cartoonist Gren had quite the send-off:

Stars from the rugby and entertainment world were among hundreds of mourners at the funeral of the cartoonist Gren at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff.

Rugby stars Barry John, Mervyn Davies and Gerald Davies paid tribute to the man whose work featured in the South Wales Echo for more than 30 years.

Grenfell ‘Gren’ Jones depicted south Wales valleys life, centred on the fictional village of Aberflyarff.

Seats in the cathedral each had a Gren cartoon covered in his trademark sheep.

The image bore just one line, the caption, Gren 1934-2007.

§ Will Gwyneth Paltrow play Pepper Potts?:

Pepper Potts is not one of the all-time great Marvel Comics characters, and she’s pretty much limited, to the best of my knowledge, to Tony Stark’s life as a Business Man and not an Iron Man – but if the rumor is true, it’s a nice indication that the film continues to be a serious and high end piece. It would be easy to end the decent casting with Robert Downey Jr and Terrence Howard, but hiring a real thespian like Gwyneth for a smaller role (where she’d have red hair… I bet she looks good as a redhead) shows commitment to something better than Daredevil. And it probably indicates that there’s a good script floating around for these actors to get interested in.

UPDATE: Okay it’s official.

Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow has joined the cast of “Iron Man,” a Marvel Comics superhero movie starring Robert Downey Jr. Downey plays the armor-clad title character and his alter ego, billionaire industrialist Tony Stark. Terrence Howard who will play Stark’s best friend Rhodey. Paltrow will play Stark’s personal assistant Virginia “Pepper” Potts, one of the few people in Stark’s life who can go toe-to-toe with him and who occasionally serves as his conscience. The pair also share a secret attraction to each other.

TMZ.com, best known for publishing celeb mug shots, has a spy report saying that Edgar Rice Burroughs’s John Carter of Mars may have landed back at Disney.

Our spies tell us that the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs is in negotiations with Walt Disney Pictures to turn the eleven volume “John Carter of Mars” series of books into a motion picture franchise — some ninety years after it first became a best-seller.

It won’t be the first time Hollywood tries to do so. An attempt was made in 1970 to turn the massive, sprawling sci-fi epic into a film, and again in 2005.

Two years ago, Paramount hired Jon Favreau to direct it, and “The Mummy” producers Sean Daniel and Jim Jacks, to produce it. Even Harry Knowles, the founder of Ain’t It Cool News, came aboard to produce the venerable sci-fi series. The estate briefly negotiated with Fox and Walden Media to make the movie there, but that deal fell through, insiders tell TMZ.

Hm. Unmentioned in the item is the past involvement of Kerry Conran, Robert Rodriguez, John McTerinan and god knows who else. Plus, the movie was ALREADY at Disney for a long time. So who knows if the circle has been completed.

IF IT HAS, that might be good news, because then the Ted Elliott/Terry Rossio script might be resurrected. We know we gave them crap for PIRATES 2, but otherwise they are the only guys we would trust with the Virginian gentleman.

UPDATE: Ah, THR has official confirmation, along with this:

A representative of the Burroughs estate said the studio was acquiring the live-action rights for a possible tentpole franchise. However, sources at Disney believed “Mars” to be headed for animated adaptation.

Animation, live action ai yi yi. The idea of a CGI John Carter holds little savor for us but…well, let the saga continue.

Posted verbatim from Senator Barack Obama’s website. Apparently, if you are launching an exploratory committee, x-ray vision comes in mighty handy!

Ghost Rider stars in this ad for Jackson Hewitt tax services. Satan cannot inspire fear the way the IRS does.

Webcomicker Spike is trying to get advance orders to help her print a collection of her long-runningTemplar, Arizona:

So here’s the deal.

I want to publish Templar, Arizona on paper. But I can’t, because that costs money. It costs three thousand dollars, and I don’t have three thousand dollars to spare. So I want to try something ridiculously optimistic and potentially humiliating.

The quote from the printer for 1,000 7.5 x 6, two-color, 112-page collections of Templar, Arizona’s first chapter, first Intermission, and bonus material (footnotes, foreword, sketches) is about $3,000. If I charge $15.00 a copy, that means 200 people have to buy a copy before I break even.

I want those 200 people to consider buying a copy now.

This is the Templar, Arizona Pre-Order Project!

Click on the link to support a good book.

§ CBR presents an archival interview with the late Dave Cockrum about his model kit designs:

DC: I did a set of science fiction characters and a time machine that would link them to the Prehistoric Scenes line. It never got off the paper, but they liked it. It might have been a little too ambitious for them at the time. I got involved with the Comic Scenes line and it turned out to be all re-issues, although I had concepted several new figures. I did a Phantom kit [this design has since been produced in resin by Action Hobbies of Louisville, Ky.], and Dick Giordano designed a Flash Gordon and Ming kit. It was really a beautiful sculpture; the two of them were dueling with swords and Ming was stepping back and off balance. It was wonderful. I did the box art for the Superboy model, and instructions for five or six of the kits.

§ Comics Fodder presents a long discussion of why six-issue story arcs are bad. Not sure we agree with all the conclusions, but don’t have time to rebut at the moment.

The rise of the writer as rockstar phenomenon and the six-issue story-arc has taken the former serial format of long-running comics and attempted to condense all series into an endless cycle of mini-series. As editors attempt to draw marquee talent for just a few issues to drive up sales, and writers refuse to stick any one place in hopes that the next paycheck will be bigger (or, perhaps that was their one idea), even flagship titles can’t seem to land writers who will publicly state that they will stay on a single book. Even if the checks keep clearing.

The effect has been chilling for readers. Writers, by necessity, do not write toward the long-term. Instead, readers can expect a story with as little impact as possible with respect to the tropes of a franchise. One could safely argue that it is the duty of the editor to ensure that the writer can bring whatever they would like to a title and assist them in working it into continuity, but, instead, readers often see stutter steps of half-completed thoughts and storylines. As mentioned before, the effect of multiple six-issue story arcs occuring one after another is that the stories often fail to ever reference one another, and one wonders if each arc couldn’t have been part of an independent mini-series.

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§ Our Spanish is not very good, but this story seems to be saying that Warners will be producing comics (and other stuff) based on Luchadores — masked Mexican wrestlers — in Mexico:

Atlantis comentó lo anterior y detalló que tanto las caricaturas como los comics serán de aventuras, en los que los luchadores enfrentarán a duros adversarios. Todo será producido por el canal de televisión Warner Chanel y tanto las transmisiones como los productos estarán disponibles a través de los sistemas de paga y por Intenet.

“Es un proyecto interesante y divertido porque la gente nos podrá ver en historias divertidas. Me parece que son opciones atractivas para los niños por el formato, de caricaturas y de comics, que además son muy cercanos a ellos”.

“Los veinte luchadores que prestamos nuestro nombre e imagen pertenecemos al Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), por lo que consideró que el público también encontrará historias entretenidas con sus héroes favoritos como protagonistas.

[Thanks to CFK for the link.]

§ If you’re in the Washington DC area, you’ll want to check out this show at the Japan Information and Culture Center:

Shojo Manga! Girl Power! “Girls’ Comics from Japan”
January 29th - March 16th, 2007
Girls’ comics, or Shojo Manga occupy a very special place in the world of Japanese comics. Not just tales of love, these illustrated stories empower the girls of Japan and aid them in traversing the intricate societal roles and expectations females face in Japan. Featuring artwork from World War II to the present, “Girl Power!” focuses on a period of Japanese history that has seen women’s position in society undergo drastic changes. That path is documented in shojo manga. For more information, please click here. For some examples of the artwork featured in this exhibition and its appearance at other venues, please click here.

§ Meanwhile, Japan is getting its first free manga weekly:

Comic Gumbo, Japan’s first ever free weekly manga magazine, will hit the streets next week, bolstered by the success of a growing number of handout magazines like R25 and Hot Pepper.

Venture Publisher Dejima will start handing out Comic Gumbo from Tuesday next week, giving comic fans two complete stories and 11 series features, featuring such manga-ka as Tatsuya Egawa (who will give his own interpretation of novelist Soseki Natsume’s classic “Botchan”), Motoka Murakami, Hiroyuki Yoshida and Shuho Itabashi.

Dejima plans to produce 100,000 copies per issue, handing them out to the target readership of men in their 20s to 40s on Tuesdays and Wednesdays each week.

Gumbo will be distributed during busy periods in the morning and afternoon mostly at stations along the Yamanote Line, but will handed out at about 30 stations in the Tokyo area as far as Omiya, Yokohama and Chiba stations.

Gumbo will have 230 pages, about half the number of popular manga books, with around 26 pages devoted to ads. It will also be available free online.

[Link via Comipress.]

§ Finally, we’re used to breast festishes, but this is just sick. NSFW!!!

[Link via Icarus]