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§ Top link: Raina Telgemeier blogs abouther SMILE Fall Tour 2010 which saw her talking in front of hundreds of kids who all like comics and read them and read SMILE. It’s enormously heartening. This photo alone should be the mascot for the New World Order.

§ Deborah Vankin interviews R. Crumb, who mentions the collection he and Aline are working on:

RC: Aline and I are working on a collaborative book together. It’s from WW Norton.  Since “Genesis” sold well, they’re up for anything I’m involved in.  We did stuff for the New Yorker over the years, short pieces, and  before that we did comics together. Mostly it’s gonna be a gathering up of older stuff that we did for the New Yorker. And we’re doing one new story.

§ Disney has opened a new flagship store in Times Square and Marvel is a big part of it.

The 22,000 square-foot Times Square storefront aims to take Disney’s retail stores in a new high-tech direction, from the mobile checkouts to a 65-foot high animated billboard.

 Disney’ isn’t just trying to sell stuffed animals to the 365,000 daily passersby; it’s trying to promote the Mouse House’s other businesses as well — from the theme parks to the musicals like Lion King, which is playing right next door.

 This is classic Iger.

 Make the most of strong brands like Cars, Princesses, and now Marvel by exploiting them across all platforms, and use each division to promote the others. And this store gives a hint of how Disney will exploit Marvel, which it acquired last August, alongside more familiar Disney faces like Mickey Mouse: there’s an entire area devoted to Marvel Comics.


Hm, methinks a field trip is in order.

§ Abhay is back. an’ he’s talkin’ Nazis and MOVING PICTURES:

I’ve killed roughly 5.2 zillion videogame Nazis over the years.  I’ve seen Nazis stabbed with knives and flags, exploded by grenades, rockets, and mortars, shot by pistols, machine guns, and tanks, melted by Arks of the Covenant.  I’ve watched Jim Brown pour gasoline and grenades onto Nazis while Telly Savalas butchered Nazi hookers.  If you include Illinois Nazis, I’ve also seen Nazis get into some pretty damn hilarious car accidents.

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§ Warren Ellis recently suggested he might be working on FELL again. His erstwhile collaboration with Ben Templesmith hasn’t been seen in a while. Then again, sometimes Warren Ellis is mean.

§ There is something called ‘Marvel Brothel’ but, fortunately, it is illegal.

§ Fanboy Wife explains Luke Cage:

Now, Luke Cage is in The New Avengers and he’s possessed by a demon, who is trying to find the Eye of Torquemada (of whatever it’s called). He’s also bald and a giant. Dr. Voodoo is supposed to be in charge of the Eye, but demon got a hold of it and took it to another dimension.


Fanboy Wife should explain more things.

§ Nerd stuff: people have been noting that the DVD of the original TRON has been unavailable for a while. But that is because a sparkly remaster is in the works:

Director Steven Lisberger recently remastered the film, color correcting it and reframing certain shots for a planned Blu-ray edition. But Disney hasn’t yet set a release date for Lisberger’s new version, and as the studio’s marketing for ‘Tron: Legacy” has become ubiquitous, interest in the original is outstripping supply.

“They’re trying to figure out when the best time is to release it,” Lisberger says. “I don’t think there’s anything intentional going on to deprive ‘Tron’ fans of the new edition.”


Riiiiiiiight.

1 COMMENT

  1. I’ve been putting off buying that anniversary Tron DVD for a long time, mostly because it was slightly $ and I thought: “maybe someone will get it for me for Christmas because I sometimes wear a t-shirt with a Recognizer on it.” Now you can’t find it anywhere! On the bright side, maybe the MCP can show up in an Avengers book now and team-up with Quasimodo.

    In some ways though, it kind of keeps the original in a more pristine state of coolness.

    Brad

  2. Please… release thrmastered Tron in Imax! (And I hope they left the Pac-Man cameo in.)

    So…big question… what sort of BOOKS are available at th Disney store?

    (P.S. D23 has anounced the dates for “Disney Con 2011”.)

  3. I went to that Disney Store yesterday. There’s a whole section of Marvel merchandise. T-shirts, statues, toys.

    But not a single comic book.

    Sure, there’s a a bunch of books about comic books (All published by Marvel licensee DK Publishing. The Marvel Encyclopedia, The Marvel Chronicle, various books about Spider-Man and Iron Man, and early childhood readers), but nothing published by Marvel proper. And none of them are comic books.

  4. “But not a single comic book.

    That’s not all that surprising, is it? After all, did the Disney stores ever carry any of the Disney comics?

    Plus, if they ever did decide to carry marvel comics, they’d be limited to the kid-friendly Marvel Adventures books (or however they’re branded now) since the mainstream Marvel comics would send shocked parents into fits of disgusted rage, calling for a ban on all comics.

    Just sayin’.

  5. “That’s not all that surprising, is it? After all, did the Disney stores ever carry any of the Disney comics?

    Plus, if they ever did decide to carry marvel comics, they’d be limited to the kid-friendly Marvel Adventures books (or however they’re branded now) since the mainstream Marvel comics would send shocked parents into fits of disgusted rage, calling for a ban on all comics.

    Just sayin’.”

    True, but I’m not expecting it to replace the local comic shop with a complete selection of every weekly Marvel book published. I’m just surprised that they carry none of it, especially since they carry other Marvel related books. You’d think some Marvel Adventures trades, or some classic silver age collections would fit in on the shelf next to “The Complete Guide To Iron Man” or “The Marvel Chronicle” (both books contain pieces of that seedy Marvel history that would set certain parents off.

    The retail branch that runs the stores at the Theme Parks have no problem carrying trades, even ones with some of the racier material. I’m just surprised that the people who run the Disney Stores disagree.

  6. I wanted to get a copy of TRON so my son can see the original before LEGACY hits. I’ll do it off Netflix if I have to, but geez, come on. This is serious no-brainer territory.

  7. Matt M. – It’s actually not even available through Netflix at the moment. I would imagine some people who were desperate to own it ordered and kept it.

  9. I wonder if Disney is actually witholding the original Tron so as not to damage the buzz on the new one. I’ve shown it to a bunch of friends who have never seen it, but were excited for the sequel.

    Afterwards, they were less excited.

  11. A few years ago, one of the midnight cinemas actually had a screening of Tron. This surprised me, as Disney rarely rents their old movies without a national campaign.

    Checking Blockbuster, there are stores in NYC which have it for rental.

    Disney is vaulting Tron to clear out the old stock and to prepare for the fanboy/D23 edition to be sold just in time for Comic-Con. It will probably include the original, the sequel, lots of extras, and a figurine.

  14. If memory serves me right, the new Disney Store is located in the same space where Charmin had a “pop-up” store offering public toilets for a few years during the Christmas season.

    Also, if it IS the location I’m thinking of, they’re just five or six blocks north of Midtown Comics’ Times Square store.