Tag: Comics

The past year has seen an unusually large number of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, both in comics and on the screen, but not all Holmeses are created equal. Last night, British viewers got to see the last episode of Season 2 of the BBC's wildly popular starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows starring Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law is still doing well in theaters a month after it opened. So if you're in a Holmesian mood and wondering what to read next, here's run down on the Holmes adaptations which have come out or had new installments in the past year. Varying from inspiredly odd to unreadably awful, don't go to the comic store without reading this first!

Comics+ is giving away a copy of STAR TREK #1 in their app -- but only until 3 pm EST. Use code FMST01 in the app for the free book. STAR TREK #1 features the classic characters in the alternate timeline of the reboot, overseen by Robert Orci with writer Mike Johnson and artist Stephen Molnar. #1 reimagines the original pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”

As the fallout from the Dark Horse digital initiative continues to blow like a glowing cloud over the internet, one other digital initiative has been trashed pretty thoroughly by a bunch of retailers in public and private: comiXology's digital storefronts. The rollout of terms was poorly handled and pissed off a lot of retailers with fears that it was just a front for comiXology to get their customer information. Perhaps in light of this, comiXology has just made a lengthy release about the program's first few months with news that money has been paid out early and at a lower minimum payment. Also a new TOS perhaps more to the liking of retailers will be released, along with other improvements. And the retailers that did use it have called it a big success. 100 stores -- listed below -- are taking part in the program. So -- consider this a new sales pitch: "Take a look at me now."

I'd been meaning to write something about the new Shade maxi-series, but James Robinson made this a higher priority when he tweeted "If sales don't improve it may be cancelled before the 12 issues are done."

Over at the Books-A-Million website, on the magazines page, DC's "New 52" is being highlighted. "Action Comics," "Justice League" and "Batgirl" are rotating in the middle slot at the top of the page, sandwiched between magazines like "Vogue" and Maxim. At the bottom of the page, filed under "special interests" are Batman, Action, Batgirl, Wonder Woman, Detective, Supergirl, Green Lantern Corps and Batman & Robin.

BY JEN VAUGHN - Opening up my mail the other day I was assaulted by religious propaganda from Jack Chick for the most fabulous of holidays, HALLOWEEN. My pack included TWO holiday-appropriate comics that I will not share with you but be certain they took all the fun out of pranks, scary stories and trick-or-treating in their clumsy attempt to remind you that 'Halloween was created by the devil.'

Over on the Vertigo blog, we find an announcement that Vertigo's titles are starting to be released simultaneously in both print and digital ("day and date" is an insipid phrase; let's all stop using it).

So before anyone gets offended: No one is a bad person for using Kickstarter. It's a tool in our toolbox for these tough economic times, and it has genuinely helped a lot of creators get their work into print who otherwise might not have been able to do that. For groups working on a project together, even better! As a mechanism for fundraising or pre-sales, when the money's put in the right hands, we can all feel nice about it. Good for you if you've been able to make it work, I am genuinely happy for your success.

Recently, the Hooded Utilitarian polled a bunch of comics-type people to answer the question "What are the ten comics works you consider your favorites, the best, or the most significant?" The results of the poll have been unveiled this week. Over 200 replies were received, so it's a pretty representative sampling. The #1 was revealed this morning and it's not a big shocker -- neither are any of the other Top 10:

Take a spin around the week's nerd entertainment news with Shannon O'Leary.

The weekly round-up of nerd world media news has Cap II already, a hot Wonder Woman and more!

Gorman's art tumblr has quite a few little animated gifs that work as storytelling devices. Clean and nice.