May 21, 2013
It’s old news now, but if you missed it — ABC has given the all clear for Joss Whedon’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” TV show starring Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson!
“Yesterday the word was out that ABC was picking up Joss Whedon’s ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ TV series after a 7 second teaser of the pilot leaked online. Today the news became official as EW reports the show’s a go for the network’s Fall 2013 season, offering a first-look at the new logo.”
May 16, 2013
This beauty arrived in my store late last night — a well-loved copy of “Batman” #121 from 1959, boasting the First Appearance of villain Mr. Freeze! Back then he went by “Mr. Zero” and carried around what looks to be an ice-blasting tea kettle.
I’m going to be honest — I almost chucked this thinking it was too beat up to sell, but I always look stuff up in the “Overstreet Price Guide” first, when BAM! I realized what this issue truly is. So crazy! Even in this shape it closes in on $100.
What’s your most prized “Batman” comic? Off the top of my head, I’d say 1992′s “Detective Comics” #647 for me, the First Appearance of Stephanie Brown, the Spoiler. It’s not very valuable, but it holds a special place in my heart since Steph’s one of my favorite characters. Now that I think about it, probably the most valuable “Batman” comic I own is the First Appearance of Harley Quinn in print form, 1993′s “Batman Adventures” #12 — and it was bought off the newsstand at cover price! In fact, I have two copies since at that time (I was 9) my mom would buy me a copy to read, then secretly buy one to save which she later gave to me in life. So cool. My mom’s awesome.
May 14, 2013
Now we know who Batman’s pulling for in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs!
The Los Angeles Kings begin their series against the San Jose Sharks tonight at Staples Center.
GO KINGS GO!!
UPDATE: Gotta love the fan interaction of the @LAKings twitter account!
May 4, 2013
“Sesame Street” #1 from Ape Entertainment was such a fun read I had to review it! I love how it encourages being read out loud with your kiddo — great stuff!
REVIEW: “Sesame Street” #1 — Click to read full article
“‘Sunny days, sweepin’ the clouds away’ is a phrase every American child has heard since 1969, when producer Joan Ganz Cooney and psychologist Lloyd Morrisett’s Children’s Television Workshop first aired their creation, ‘Sesame Street’ starring Jim Henson’s Muppets and the genius of the man himself. Re-named Sesame Workshop in 2000, it surprisingly took 13 more years for ‘Sesame Street’ to make its first big score in comics with Ape Entertainment and Kizoic. The debut issue is true to the franchise’s legacy of making learning entertaining — it’s fun!
Featuring Sesame Street denizens from all generations, the opening page sets the tone and shows it has a lot to offer the parents of the comic book reading community and their children.
Up pops Elmo — of course it’s Elmo — who explains what word balloons are. Elmo’s the Wolverine of Sesame Street, but still that’s cool. This is a kids comic after all, and Sesame Street is geared toward the younger portion of the reading youth, so why not give a demo on how to read comics. It makes the issue truly accessible to all kids of all ages and reading levels. There’s even a QR Code to scan with a smart phone, complete with additional “How to Read A Comic” tutorials. But as Elmo goes on to explain the workings of comics — joined by Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and an orange version of Murray — not only does the over-saturated little red guy become more endearing, but the book truly becomes something special; it encourages parents and adults to read the issue out loud with their child.”
May 2, 2013
Robot 6 has been nominated for the 2013 Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Publication/Journalism! R6 is produced by one of my employers, Comic Book Resources. In a nutshell, the Eisner’s are the Emmy Awards for the comic book industry, with the winners announced annually at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
click to enlarge
Congrats to the whole R6 & CBR team — I’m honored to be a part of it!
May 1, 2013
Actors Matthew Mercer and Clare Grant spoke with me about voicing Tony Stark & Black Widow in Marvel Animation’s “Iron Man: Rise of Technovore” anime.
“Mercer & Grant Give Voice to ‘Iron Man: Rise of Technovore’” — Click to read full article
“With the anticipated arrival of ‘Iron Man 3′ in theaters May 3, Marvel is thrusting Tony Stark in the spotlight early with the animated feature ‘Iron Man: Rise of Technovore.’ Releasing April 16 on DVD & Blu-ray, ‘Technovore’ is an English dub of the anime directed by Hiroshi Hamazaki, presenting an edgier take on the Marvel Uninverse than other Marvel Animation projects like the ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ cartoon.
The English dub voice actors are headlined by ‘The Walking Dead’ star Norman Reedus, who plays The Punisher in ‘Technovore.’ Matthew Mercer plays Tony Stark, fresh off of voicing Tygra in Cartoon Network’s ‘ThunderCats’ and Leon Kennedy in the video game ‘Resident Evil 6,’ while Clare Grant of Team Unicorn gives life to Black Widow.
CBR News: Who or what, exactly, is the Technovore?
Matthew Mercer: It’s from a storyline in “Iron Man” #294 from the ’90s. The Technovore’s a character from Tony’s past who went through a transformation experimenting with bio tech armor that wrote itself into this individuals DNA. It’s a living suit of armor that makes it extremely dangerous and completely unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. Things get weirder considering this individual has a strange, almost psychotic philosophy he adheres to.
The scope gets very big — there are parts that remind me of “Akira” and other thought-inducing anime from the early 90s.
Clare Grant: I love the animation for this movie. It’s beautiful. It’s broody.
In playing to that, I tried to keep Black Widow grounded, solid and tough. I didn’t let her get in my girly voice — I kept her in my ‘I will kill you voice.’ [laughs]“
April 30, 2013
Writer Joshua Williamson and artist Mike Henderson spoke with me about their “TMNT Villains Micro-Series: Krang” #1 one-shot story from IDW Publishing.
“Williamson & Henderson Join Brains for ‘TMNT’s’ ‘Krang’” — Click to read entire article
“IDW Publishing’s ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ ongoing series has been shipping regularly for almost two years now, and in that time it’s seen two spinoff titles in ‘TMNT: The Secret History of the Foot Clan’ and the ‘Micro-Series’ lineup featuring one-shot stories of major heroic players in the new continuity. The latest spinoff is the ‘TMNT: Villain Micro-Series,’ a 4-issue miniseries (that actually maintains the same numbering as the first ‘Micro-Series,’ picking up with #9) spotlighting a different TMNT rogue in each issue.
The first bad guy takes center stage this April as writer Joshua Williamson and artist Mike Henderson – the team behind the digital-first series ”Masks and Mobsters” – pen the tale of Krang before we meet him in the main title.
CBR News: Where in the IDW TMNT continuity is this story set and how does it affect the greater picture of the IDW Turtle-verse?
Joshua Williamson: It takes place right after ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ #20 and gives you a glimpse of how Krang became the ruthless killer we all know and love. The ‘Micro-Series’ issue shows his motivation and why he’s not stopping until his mission is accomplished. For readers it gives a bigger glimpse into why he is doing what he does. After this issue, Krang is reminded why he has chosen his path with renewed dedication.
The best way to describe our story is ‘Black Hawk Down’ with Krang. Krang sneaks on a mission to assassinate his father’s arch enemies and nothing goes as planned. Krang is stranded without his bodysuit and has to survive… and complete the mission.
Krang’s a hideous creature to look at — are you running with this perspective on the character or have you attempted to capture the ‘softer side’ of Krang?
Mike Henderson: I’m not sure there’s a soft side to be captured, actually. Or if I would want to make him relatable even if I could. If we can get the reader to root for someone as nasty as Krang can be, then I think we can call this one a success.”
April 29, 2013
I spoke with writer Vince Hernandez about his latest volume of “Charismagic,” part of Aspen’s 10 For $10 initiative. The first issue is out this Wednesday, May 1!
“EXCLUSIVE: Hernandez Takes Center Stage in Aspen’s ‘Charismagic’ v2″ — Click to read entire article
“Aspen Comics Editor in Chief Vince Hernandez pulls double duty as the writer/creator of the fantasy series ‘Charismagic.’ The series stars a Las Vegas magician named Hank who discovers his abilities are much more real than simple parlor tricks. Lacking any combat experience, Hank is forced into a dangerous conflict against dark magic, accompanied by his talking cat Sparkles and the beautiful druid Sudana. In the wake of ‘Charismagic’ volume 1′s completion and nearly wrapped ‘Charismagic: Death Princess’ prequel miniseries, Aspen and Hernandez are preparing to launch ‘Charismagic’ volume 2 featuring artwork by Vincenzo Cuccaand vibrant colors by Emilio Lopez.
CBR News: A threading theme throughout ‘Charismagic’ is fear. The main villain of Volume 1, Samsun, imposes it on others throughout the story and in Volume 2 the Death Princess feeds off it. What makes fear such a driving force in ‘Charismagic?’
Vince Hernandez: Fear is a very powerful emotion for storytelling — you can go in any direction with how a character responds to their own fears and what drives them to do the things they do. With Samsun a lot of his anger and motivations are built out of fear in how people respond to him and what he can do to others. However, even the good guys in ‘Charismagic’ have their own fear challenged — our leading man Hank responded heroically to his fear. What he didn’t know he jumped into full-bore. Comparatively, Kon, one of the most powerful characters in the story, ran when confronted with his fear in ‘Death Princess.’ The all powerful wizard doesn’t always act heroic.
I want my characters challenged and grounded — fear makes a lot of sense to do this. People like to think they’d act heroically when put in fearful situations. I like to think I would, but at the end of the day when considering what the characters are confronted with in these books, I’d probably run my ass off too.”
