The Beat

Hard to make a bad Benjamin Linus episode. Let’s discuss after the jump.
(more…)

Like the rest of you, I have now received my cancellation letter from Amazon, revealing that the entire Omnibus Gold Rush was just a big computer mistake:

Unfortunately, due to a pricing error, we sold many more than expected. In fact, we completely sold out — we don't have any in stock right now, and we're not even sure if we'll be able to get more.

As a result, we've had to cancel your order. I realize this is disappointing news, and I'm so sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

You may want to check our website from time to time to see if this item is available. If anyone is selling it, you'll see a "More Buying Choices" box on the product detail page; if it's not available from any sellers, you might see an "Order it used" or "Alert me" link. "Order it used" allows you to place a pre-order for the item in case another seller lists the item for sale later. "Alert me" allows you to sign up so we can e-mail you when Amazon has stock available for purchase.

I'm sorry I don't have better news. We hope to see you again soon.

For myself, I’ll live. I’d like to think that I’ll still get my hands on these volumes through means that are fair for all sides of the business transaction.

The Center for Independent Publishing turns to comics for a panel discussion tonight:

Danny Fingeroth
Gene Kannenberg, Jr.
Frank Tieri
Billy Tucci

New York served as the model for Gotham City, inspired Will Eisner as he created the noirish adventures of The Spirit, and became a recurring character during the 1960s resurgence of Marvel in comics such as Spider-Man and Iron Man. ForeWord Magazine contributing editor Peter Gutiérrez will moderate a high-energy roundtable on the relationship between superheroes and their favorite hometown… and on how comics culture has promoted potent and memorable images of New York to readers worldwide.

When:  Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 6:30-8:30 pm
Where: 20 W. 44th Street, New York, NY 10036

Tickets $15 for general admission, $10 for CIP Members, and $5 for students – and they’re tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Moderator Peter Gutierrez spoke with the NY Times about the panel yesterday.

The 20th-century big city, with its soaring spires, shadowy tunnels, huge crowds and towering suspension bridges, was a perfect incubator and backdrop for a new kind of archetypal adventurer who combined traits of the the warrior, demigod, frontiersman and rationalist crime fighter. What New Yorkers might take for granted, though, is the extent to which their particular hometown has been instrumental in creating the comic book superhero.

As we all know, moving is life’s most stressful experience (behind death and divorce) and Israeli cartoonist Asaf Hanuka explores apartment hunting for a young couple in Tel Aviv with the webcomic the realist.

BONUS: check out the portfolio of Hanuka’s wife (and co-lead character) Hilit Shefer.

• J. Michael Straczynski, whose stint at DC had been awfully low-key until now, busted out yesterday with the news that he’ll be writing 2/3rds of the DCU’s Holy Trinity. Starting in July, he’ll write both Superman and Wonder Woman. JMS introduced his thoughts on both characters in the above-linked essay. For Superman, it’s pretty much the chance to write a universal icon of hope and strength:

For me, and I suspect for a lot of people, that symbol stands for the belief in our own potentiality, in what we think we can do, and try, and aspire to. I was watching the news recently, and they were showing Palistinian protests, followed by a story on the night life scene in LA, and later on, a live report from London about somethingorother…and in the background of each of those stories there was somebody wearing a Superman t-shirt or cap. It’s universal.

As for Wonder Woman…well, there’s a heritage, but it resembles a Venus flytrap.

As Superman has been for me, so Wonder Woman has been for a lot of women readers, so the chance to dive into that character is something I’m eagerly anticipating. This is a strong, mythic, powerful character who for some time now has been kind of drowning under the weight of her own mythos, so I’m looking forward to paring away some of the layers of debris and undergrowth that have piled up around her in order to get to the core of the character. Coming from the world of TV and film, the first rule you learn is to service the main character more than anything else, so I’ll be writing with an eye firmly fixed on that rule.

• Marvel has rounded off their Avengers revamp with AVENGERS ACADEMY, in which young superheroes will learn how to fight and love. Christos Gage & Mike McKone provide creative services.

• Rob Liefeld is bringing a bunch of his comics to iPhone via comiXology, including the remastered YOUNGBLOOD, and his Biblically themed ARMAGEDDON NOW!. In comments, Liefeld seems to be pretty pragmatic about where things are going.

“I have an iPhone. My wife has an iPhone. My kids have the iTouch – we are constantly downloading apps,” Liefeld said of his draw to taking Shaft, Badrock and the rest of Youngblood to mobile screens. He added that the interface offered by the comiXology app was a selling point for him going exclusive with the service. “With comiXology’s amazing ‘guided views’ the process that they direct the page and guide the eye, I see the pages infused with an all-new energy. The comiXology application adds to the entire experience.”

Okay it’s not comics, but it’s TRON.

Fantagraphics is joining the gekiga (art manga) movement with a new line of manga edited by Matt Thorn and licensed from Shogakukan (A co-parent company of Viz) . The first two books are by much admired manga-ka Moto Hagio and Shimura Takako. Hagio, a member of the 49ers, is one of the most influential manga-ka of all times, a multiple award winner and a pioneer in the shojo and shonen-ai genres. Takako is well known for her exploration of gender issues. Hagio will not only see an anthology of her recent stories, Drunken Dream published in September, shell be a guest at Comic-Con. Fantagraphics has signed an agreement with Shogakukan to launch a full manga line edited and curated by Matt Thorn.

December will see publication of Takako’s Wandering Son, a manga about two friend who wish they were the other gender.

Simon Jones is excited and everyone else should be, as well. D&Q and Viz have been bringing some amazing Japanese comics that fall outside the usual genre lines to the English speaking world, and to see Fantagraphics get involved is a very promising development. Full PR in the jump:

UPDATE: Editor Matt Thorn

comments on the line with the complete lineup of the Hagio book:

I’m too busy with the actual project to go into much detail here, so I’ll leave that to others. Suffice it to say, this is a dream project for me. If I hadn’t encountered Hagio’s The Heart of Thomas (1974) at the tender age of 21-ish, I would never have ended up on this peculiar career path. But choosing stories from Hagio’s massive body of work objectively was difficult. Obviously, I have my own favorites, but I wanted a selection that a broad swath of Hagio aficionados would consider “representative” of her four-decade career. To this end, I resorted to shamelessly deceptive means, and so I must apologize to and thank the members of the Moto Hagio Community over on Mixi for tricking them into offering recommendations for a “hypothetical” English-language primer intended to introduce anglophone readers to Hagio’s work.

(more…)

We’ve received word that the upcoming C2E2 show in Chicago is extending their deadline for pro registration until March 19th. Free passes for all professionals are available for 10 AM to 1 PM on Friday =– this part of this show is open only to creators, artists, librarians, educators, and other industry members. A badge for the entire weekend is $10. After March 19th the prices will go up. Registration information is available here.

So, as you may have heard, on Sunday (or possibly Saturday, as this tweet from Mark Waid seems to indicate) a bunch of large comics collected editions that normally cost between $50-125 were suddenly offered on Amazon for $8.24-$14.99. Rich Johnston and Bully seemed to get the ball rolling, and Twitter and excitement did the rest. For a time, Omniboo and other deluxe hardcover collections from Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, IDW, Avatar and other publishers dominated the Amazon bestsellers list — Madman, Ultimates, Wolverine, X-Men and so on. A few of them are still there even, but at the more sane price of $62.99.

Since then Johnston has followed up with a host of posts, Johanna Draper Carlson has analyzed the matter, strange conspiracy theories about Diamond have been floating around, and amazingly, a lot of the bargain books seem to be actually shipping.
(more…)

Sorry about that, kids, but computer problems and travel plans conspired to silence The Beat. We’re back on the trail and have a few stories brewing that will blow your little minds.

Via Blog@Newsarama, this cute exclusive print by Jeremy and Kelly Dale uniting classic and ultimate Marvel.

After the Oscars, we got to see the second IRON MAN 2 trailer debuted on Jimmy Kimmel…or YouTube. More Iron Man, more War Machine, More Black Widow, MORE Whiplash and MORE RD Jr in the Official Marvel Research Scene Wife Beater™. Wonder if this movie is going to make any money?

As an aside to our previous post on winning the Oscar® pool by picking the winner in the Best Animated Short category, by chance we went to a film screening of all five nominated shorts. After viewing them all on the big screen, we’re changing our pick to LOGORAMA, the stunning French film that imagines a Jerry Bruckheimer styled crime/end of the world action picture using corporate logos as characters, settings and props. It’s a dazzlingly imaginative short film, brilliantly shot and executed, that packs an acid, ironic punch into a sun bleached digital landscape of Los Angeles.

The shock of LOGORAMA comes from the familiarity of its symbols. When you see Ronald McDonald as a foul mouthed kidnapper, and the North Face logo as the cliff side of the apocalypse, the images are already as familiar as the faces of our loved ones, and their recontextualization is just as stunning as suddenly seeing your grandma as a bank robber.

Although it’s hard to bet against Nick Park and Wallace and Gromit’s charming “A Matter of Loaf and Death,” it is another wonderful outing in a series as comfy and familiar as your favorite wool sweater. LOGORAMA is new, daring — how the hell did they not get sued? — and it makes you think. While such things, admittedly, don’t really sound like Oscar bait, it’s so fresh that the Academy may actually notice it this time out.

We could be wrong on this, but think about it this way: If you get it right, you’ll be well on your way in the mystery categories.

MOre info here

As we remind you every year, the key to winning the Oscar® pool is correctly selecting the winners in the Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short and Best Short Documentary categories. Usually a careful examination of which of them deals with any of the following will yield the winners: AIDS, the Holocaust (also Rwanda, Cambodia), the American Civil Rights Movement, mental illness, the triumph of the disabled, raising 19 children. These topics are not as applicable to the Animated shorts, but some of the same principles apply — unless Aardman or Pixar are nominated, in which case see below.

Figuring out what the Animated short nominees were about used to be an arduous task of research but now, thanks to the internet, you can watch them all this minute! Thanks to Beat reader Dave Knott who collected these for us:
(more…)