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Radical Party

And the Comic-Con news keeps on coming, almost a week after it finished. This is impressive news though. Radical Publishing really are the new kids on the comics block, but have already made a solid name for themselves thanks to some bold painterly interior art, experienced creators and high concept series. They also know how to get the attention of non-comics media, which is something every publisher could learn from. Thanks to their connections in film and music, due mainly to founder Barry Levine, people outside of the often insular world of funnybooks are sitting up and taking notice, and I have to applaud them for that. Official press release below regarding a Con party.

RADICAL PUBLISHING ROLLS OUT THE RED CARPET FOR COMIC-CON CELEBRATION

The biggest names of the comic book and entertainment industry took to the red carpet during THE RADICAL EVENT AT THE HARD ROCK HOTEL at San Diego Comic-Con 2009, hosted by Radical Publishing, Gene Simmons and Nick Simmons, promoting both the future titles of Radical Publishing and the release of Radical’s newest title INCARNATE by Nick Simmons.

Guests included Ain’t It Cool News’ head geek Harry Knowles; filmmaker Len Wiseman, producer and director of Radical’s Shrapnel; Bill Condon, writer and director of Dream Girls; actress Hayden Panettiere of Heroes; Marc Forster, director of Finding Neverland and Quantum of Solace; Wesley Snipes, who brought the character Blade to life in the blockbuster film trilogy; Kellan Lutz, star of Twilight and 90210; Darren Bousman, director of Saw II, III and IV and creator of Radical’s upcoming Abattoir; musician, director, screenwriter and film producer Rob Zombie, who terrified audiences worldwide with The Devil’s Rejects and Halloween; screenwriter Rich Wilkes, who wrote XXX; actor Terry Crews of Everybody Hates Chris and the upcoming The Expendables; actress Virginia Madsen, the Academy Award nominated star of Sideways; actor Thomas Jane, star of Punisher and Hung; actor Eli Roth, who is starring in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming film Inglourious Basterds; actor Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister, star of The 5th Element and Friday; popular comedian and entertainer Carrot Top; actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, star of G.I. Joe and Lost; and actress Adrianne Palicki of Friday Night Lights; model Jade Cole; and from the Fisher House, trustee Tammy Fisher.

The event also featured a who’s-who of the biggest names in comics including industry legend Stan Lee; DC Comics Editor-in-Chief Dan DiDio and Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada; Comics icon and designer of Radical’s Hercules series Jim Steranko; Steve Pugh, creative talent behind Hotwire: Requiem for the Dead; Arthur Suydam, fan-favorite artist of Marvel Zombies and creator of Cholly & Flytrap: Center City; David Hine, writer of Radical’s upcoming FVZA: Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency; as well as the creator of 30 Days of Night and Radical’s City of Dust: A Philip Khrome Story, Steve Niles.

“San Diego Comic-Con International is a weekend of celebration for the comic book industry and this year, Radical has a lot to celebrate,” said Radical Publishing’s President Barry Levine. “This past year, we were awarded Diamond Distribution’s Gem Award for Best New Publisher of the Year; our newest title, Incarnate, has already sold out of its first printing; and we’re set to ring in our next year in style.”

The most exciting is yet to come, beginning fall 2009 with Rick Remender’s The Last Days of American Crime, David Hine’s FVZA: Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency, Nick Percival’s Legends, Jimmy Palmiotti’s Time Bomb and Oblivion by Joseph Kosinski, director of Tron Legacy from Disney. Current Radical titles on the stands include Mateki: The Magic Flute from award winning Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano (Vampire Hunter D, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman: The Dream Hunters), the first book of the epic Shrapnel trilogy, Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising, from Zombie Studios’ Mark Long and novelist Nick Sagan, and the hotly anticipated second installment of Radical’s Hercules series, Hercules: The Knives of Kush by Steve Moore.

July 31, 2009
Categories: New To Comics?, News . Tags: Radical Publishing . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

This Week’s Marvel Stuff

As usual, there’s a bunch of Marvel goodies going on sale this week, including New Avengers #55, the Dark Reign: The Goblin Legacy one-shot and Dark X-Men: The Beginning #2. For the complete list see the link below.

Continue reading →

July 29, 2009
Categories: Comic Art, News . Tags: Marvel comics . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: 3 Comments

Marvel At Comic-Con

Marvel have released a slew of great photos from last week’s Comic-Con, including some impressive fan costumes, the cast at the Iron Man 2 panel, and a great shot of the Iron Man Mark IV armour from next year’s sequel. Go here to see all the photos. On a related note, Marvel dropped the bomb at the Con that they now have the rights to the troubled Marvelman character. If that isn’t enough, they also shared that they are working with Sony on their LittleBigPlanet game, with Marvel characters and exclusive content set to appear in the popular interactive title.

July 28, 2009
Categories: Games, New To Comics?, News . Tags: Comic-Con 2009, Marvel comics . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Top Cow Panel

The last panel I went to at Comic-Con was the Top Cow one on Saturday. It was a pretty wild affair, with lots to say and not enough time. President Matt Hawkins, Publisher Filip Sablik and founder Marc Silvestri (complete with sunglasses indoors for extra cool) were the main speakers, but there were more people brought on stage than an American Idol episode.

The first big announcement was about the Magdalena movie, which now has a screenwriter in Holly Brix and director in Ryuhei Kitamura. The showreel of the Japanese film maker was presented, consisting of great films such as Versus, Azumi and the recent (and very bloody) Midnight Meat Train. I’ve seen most of his films and teaming up a female writer with a director who knows how to create wild action films with female characters is a great choice. Even Top Cow admitted that the love of this character is surprising, considering she’s only appeared in limited series and x-overs, and never an ongoing series. A teaser poster had the names of Luke Goss (Blade 2, Hellboy 2) and Jenna Dewan (Step Up, The Grudge 2) and like the series, it centres on the Catholic church and its power plays but will also focus on the transfer of power from one Magdalena to another, with someone trying to “hasten the Second Coming of Christ.”

There will also be a new Magdalena ongoing series written by Ron Marz who writes Witchblade for the company, with Ryan Sook as the cover artist. Marz is so impressed by his work that he was willing to wait until Sook was available. No interior artist has been announced yet.

The next film news was about Aphrodite IX, another rarely seen character whose popularity seems to defy logic. Apparently the statue based on the green haired character is their most popular and more news about that film will come next month. Hawkins only hinted that the lead actress is “very hot.”

A sequel to the gory The Darkness game is in the works, since the first one sold over a million units. A film is also in the works for Jackie Estacado and more news will come in 6-8 weeks.

In December arrives a Darkchylde/The Darkness one-shot x-over from Darkchylde creator Randy Queen. You can read more about that in Broken Frontier’s interview with Queen.

The Pilot Season book, Alibi will also get its own film and Common Grounds, described as “Cheers with superheroes and villains,” will receive its own, darker live action TV series.

Busy scribe Marz will write a series called Artifacts which focuses on the 13 artifacts he’s introduced in his Witchblade series, and what happens when you bring all of them together, which is something very bad.

Tracker was then briefly mentioned and it focuses on a look at werewolves in a new way. It’s written by Jonathan Lincoln with art by Francis Tsai. William Harms, writer of the excellent Impaler series is bringing us Epoch, which is like a “supernatural Fight Club,” with a myriad of creatures from mythology battling it out.

Then Heroes actor Milo Ventimiglia and his producing partner Russ Cundiff came on stage (they were both sitting right infront of me) to discuss their gruesome Berserker series that plays with Norse mythology and decapitating rage. Ventimiglia obviously likes what Top Cow are doing and believes they’re the only publisher brave enough to publish the series. The director of the indie film Gabriel, Shane Abbess was pointed out in the audience and fans were encouraged to champion his name as a director behind a Berserker film.

Another Pilot Season series will begin, with Silvestri and writer Robert Kirkman creating all 5 one-shots, the most popular of which will become a series.

Then things started getting even more rapid-fire, but here’s a rundown. There will be a Cyberforce ongoing with art by Kenneth Rocafort and a writer to be announced later. Christos Gage will be writing a series called Sunset, and Silvestri will be working on Midway Earth, Jack the Giant Killer and Warrior. Their deal with Jeff Katz’s (Booster Gold writer) company American Original was also mentioned. Phew. Expect more detailed announcements from the busy Top Cow crew in the coming months.

July 28, 2009
Categories: News . Tags: Magdalena, Top Cow . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: 2 Comments

New Radical Website

Press release below about Radical’s new website. I liked the old one, but this one is more streamlined, with heaps of pretty pictures and info about their books.

RADICAL PUBLISHING LAUNCHES NEW MEDIA HUB AT WWW.RADICALCOMICS.COM

Radical Publishing is proud to announce the premiere of Radical’s newly launched website at www.radicalcomics.com featuring a host of new pages designed to better inform, excite and entertain Radical fans worldwide.

In an initiative to exhibit Radical product and titels through the web, the new website features a sleek and stylish new design to highlight the high quality artwork and stories contained in every Radical project. Not only does the site contain information pages on City of Dust: A Philip Khrome Story, Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising, Hotwire: Requiem for the Dead and Incarnate, it also features exclusive preview pages of all currently published titles.

Radical’s new site serves as a hub for all Radical news stories and media including an up-to-date archive of comic trailers, videos of creator interviews; the latest interviews and reviews and breaking announcements sorted by category in one convenient stop. Users will also have the opportunity to sign up for Radical Publishing’s exclusive e-mail newsletter containing breaking news and exclusive announcements.

In addition to being a media and news hub, the website will feature an updated retail page for ordering your favorite Radical books such as Yoshitaka Amano’s Mateki: The Magic Flute; single issues of all Radical comics; and apparel including a shirt with the Hercules artwork of comic legend Jim Steranko.

The new Radical experience can be found right now at www.radicalcomics.com.

July 27, 2009
Categories: New To Comics?, News . Tags: Radical . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Slave Labor Graphics Panel

On Saturday at the Con, I visited 2 panels. Slave Labor Graphics (or SLG) was up first, as presented by founder Dan Vado. It was a casual and intimate affair, with Vado presenting a few short trailers for current and upcoming releases. I’ve been familiar with SLG for a while now but have only recently read some of their books, including Captain Blood (which is a 5 ish mini, but may become an ongoing if successful) and Zeke Deadwood: Zombie Lawman. Their Gargoyles comic (based on the 90s cartoon) will continue, with unproduced issues finally being released.

The book Vado talked about most was Winchester, the first issue of which will be released in October. Being an Aussie I’m unfamiliar with Sarah Winchester and her unusual legacy, but her story sounds like a great premise. The story centres on a haunted house next to a freeway, in which 2 people enter with weirdness ensuing. Vado describes it as a tale of “historical fiction, bits of horror and spooky stuff.” Vado has written it, with art provided by Drew Rausch. The pair worked together on the Haunted Mansion series. Interestingly Vado was a tour guide in his youth for the Winchester Mystery House but was fired on his first day after deviating from the traditional tour guide script. He mentioned that Sarah Winchester used to travel around the house using the pipes of the sprinkler system as monkey bars. Unsurprisingly this impressed the Con audience.

Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer was up next. Vado revealed that this series has been a sleeper hit, thanks to the simple, yet lovable concept. The book launches in September from creators Van Jensen and Dustin Higgins and centres on the original, darker book rather than the well-known Disney film. Vampires kill Pinocchio’s father Gepetto before he can become a real boy so he goes on a vamp killing mission of vengeance. He lies so his wooden nose grows, snaps it off and stabs the bloodsuckers in the chest. Classic. The trailer for the book has had 8000 views in 3 weeks.

Jamaica Dyer’s Weird Fishes comes out in October. Originally released as a full colour web-comic, the collected edition will be black and white but it still looks lush with its water colour effects. This is Dyer’s first book and is a coming of age tale about a girl named Dee who discovers she’s not as unusual as she thinks she is. Vado seems quite proud of this book and it does look quite touching.

Vado also mentioned the Emo Boy film, which is in the works from Vanguard Films and closed the panel out with a few short videos made from the SLG team in their office/warehouse. These included two boys riding a pallet lifer around the place and an amusing ode to their love of Macs while taking their frustrations out with PCs with a baseball bat and a handgun.

Vado closed things off by mentioning that the first Friday of every month SLG convert their San Jose warehouse to a gallery and have bands made up of SLG staff play. It seems like they’re a fun publisher.

July 27, 2009
Categories: New To Comics?, News . Tags: Dan Vado, Slave Labor Graphics . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Comic-Con Saturday Photos

I went to the Top Cow and Slave Labor Graphics panels today, but to tide you over until my reports of those, here’s some random photos for your viewing pleasure.

July 26, 2009
Categories: News . Tags: Comic-Con 09 . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Comic-Con Friday

3 panels today. I kicked off this morning at Room32AB, which was filled with people. Not surprisingly, as pretty much everyone who reads comics wants to create comics and the topic was focused on just how to do that. Entitled From Fan to Creator: Goal Setting for Creative Types it was run by teacher and founder of Toucan Learning Systems Douglas Neff. Neff has given this seminar at other cons and was certainly comfortable in front of the eager audience. Think of him as a Tony Robbins for the geeks. Neff had an amusing Power Point presentation filled with inspirational quotes, comic art and sound effects. With references to The A Team, The Lord of the Rings and Mario Bros. getting a few laughs, Neff was reminded that the listeners were “my people.” What he had to say wasn’t exactly revolutionary, but would’ve been a good encouragement for some. His helpers all had Blue Lantern t-shirts, symbolising hope, and that’s something he was trying to dish out to the creative hopefuls. With a rundown of his “Ten Magic Coins to Collect Along Your Path to Success” he focused on steps such as making specific, measurable and attainable goals, playing to your strengths and never giving up. Again, not entirely original but many were nodding and taking notes. A few attendees revealed their goals, such as opening up a comic shop and working for an animation studio and hopefully everyone learned, or was reminded, that a dream without hard work is just a fantasy, and also that every pro working in comics today was one day a fan too.

The Radical Publishing Panel was by far the best one I’ve been to. It was moderated by Harry Knowles of AICN. Though he didn’t really say much his enthusiasm for Radical’s impressive titles was obvious. Editor-In-Chief David Wohl kept things moving briskly with a look at their most successful series with a brief rundown by each book’s creator. Legendary painter and snappy dresser Jim Steranko talked about how he was influenced by a tough guy in the neighbourhood of his youth when designing Hercules and president Barry Levine showed off a tattoo of the character on his arm. Writer Jimmy Palmiotti ran from the Jonah Hex panel to talk about his new time travel WWII series Time Bomb, Steve Niles talked about City of Dust and Rick Remender discussed The Last Days of American Crime, which is a great premise (the U.S government is about to broadcast a signal in a few days making criminal thoughts impossible, so a grifter has one last chance to get away with the perfect crime).

Nick Simmons, son of KISS’ Gene got a warm welcome with his new book as writer and artist, Incarnate which is a fresh spin on vampire mythology. The space opera Shrapnel (which has a follow up called Hubris coming) and western series Caliber were discussed, with the latter being developed into a film, which director John Woo has pulled out off. Caliber writer Sam Sarkar said, seemingly with some seriousness that Woo wanted to make a more comedic Blazing Saddles approach. The biggest cheer was saved for Steve Pugh’s beautiful Hotwire book, which is a series everyone should be reading. New series such as David Hine’s FVZA, Arthur Suydam’s When Giants Walk The Earth, a Caliber sequel entitled Book of the Dead which focuses on Lancelot’s visions of the dead, and Hine’s noir-like Ryder on the Storm. All of Radical’s books have the distinction of having phenomenal art and many heads were turned at the screen which showcased some of their best current and future work.

The BOOM! Studios panel was hosted by PR guy Chip Mosher who soldiered on despite battling a cold. E-I-C Mark Waid showed he was a good egg when the team talked about the Mark Waid Is Evil promo for the Irredeemable series, and Andrew Cosby, Ross Richie and relatively new editor Matt Gagnon joined them for a few laughs and a look at new acquisitions such as their Disney/Pixar line including the now ongoing The Incredibles, Cars and now Mickey Mouse and co. The Muppet Show received an impressive round of applause, and it was announced that Waid’s series about a dying woman’s investigation into the afterlife, The Unknown now has a sequel. Their brave word for word adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? has sold out and their new series include more Cthulhu, Kill Audio and a new series from Waid which just may be called Incorruptible. Maybe.

After the panels I talked to a few people in Artists Alley promoting their wares and picked up a few sketchbooks and some books from SLG and Fantagraphics. It’s so hard to choose!

July 25, 2009
Categories: News . Tags: BOOM!, Comic-Con 09, Radical . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Bousman Directs Abattoir

Press release below about Radical Publishing’s continued involvement with Hollywood.

Following up on the announcement of Darren Bousman signing at the Radical Publishing booth for the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, Radical Publishing is proud to announce that Bousman, the acclaimed director of Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV, is attached to write and direct Abattoir as a feature film, based on the upcoming comic miniseries developed by Bousman and writing-producing partner Michael Peterson. Abattoir will be produced by Radical’s President and Publisher, Barry Levine and executive produced by Radical’s executive Vice President, Jesse Berger and Darren Bousman.

Abattoir chronicles real estate agent Richard Ashwalt who is assigned the impossible task of cleaning up after a brutal massacre that takes place at a mansion. As he cleans the blood-soaked grounds, a twisted old man journeys to the house with a sinister and terrifying purpose, and draws Richard into a web of shadows, murders and massacres that will shatter him to his very core…and make him run for his life.

“I am addicted to haunted house stories.” stated Bousman “I love them… My addiction to this genre became an obsession to create one of my own. Abattoir is my spin on a haunted house story.

“Darren has crafted a thrilling horror story and we are excited to have him both debut a preview of the cover art at San Diego Comic-Con and have him adapt the film.”said Radical Publishing’s President and Publisher Barry Levine.

Darren Bousman will be signing on Saturday, July 25th at the Radical Publishing booth.

Radical Publishing booth #3735

Saturday

3:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M.

July 25, 2009
Categories: New To Comics?, News . Tags: Radical . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Dark Horse Unveils New Projects

Press release below regarding some intriguing new titles coming from Dark Horse this year.

DARK HORSE UNVEILS THE NEXT WAVE OF COMICS, GRAPHIC NOVELS, MANGA, AND MORE AT THE 2009 COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL

Dark Horse is proud to again deliver a loaded catalog of new projects that exemplify the evolution of the comics medium. Here are just a few of the highlights from this year’s Comic-Con International:

365 Samurai and a Few Bowls of Rice—Swiss artist J. P. Kalonji’s graphic novel comes to America. A young swordfighter must kill 365 samurai on a quest to avenge his master—in a fun, humorous, cartoony style.

Age of Reptiles—Film designer Ricardo Delgado returns with the third installment of his epic (silent) dinosaur comics series. Carnivores hunt herbivores on a migration south.

Aliens vs. Predator: Three World War—The 2009 relaunch of the Aliens and Predator series comes together with a creative team of John Arcudi and Rick Leonardi.

Archie Archives—The classic Archie comic books get the deluxe treatment in a series of hardcovers as the newest editions to the Dark Horse Archives series.

Blacksad—Collecting all three of the international award-winning European volumes, the third of which has not been published in English before. This crime noir about a cat detective, PI John Blacksad, is a phenomenal anthropomorphic story with fully painted artwork. By Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido.

Casper Anniversary Special—A 64-page hardcover celebrating Casper’s sixtieth anniversary and featuring his first appearance in comics.

Conan: The Weight of the Crown—Darick Robertson writes and draws our first Conan one-shot since the Conan the Cimmerian relaunch. This comic is part of Dark Horse’s all-new One-Shot Wonders program.

Dark Horse GelaSkins (see above and below and here for more)—Decorative coverings for phones and laptops featuring some of Dark Horse’s most popular properties, including The Umbrella Academy, Yoshitaka Amano, Tim Burton, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, and many more. A select few will be available at the Dark Horse booth during the convention as supplies last. The whole program is set to launch in September 2009.

Devil—Devil is an original Japanese manga being created for Dark Horse by Torajiro Kishi and animation powerhouse Madhouse Studios, featuring genetically designed vampires in a sci-fi police drama set in Tokyo.

Electropolis—Electropolis: The Infernal Machine is the perfect companion to Mister X: Condemned. Visionary artist Dean Motter revisits his unique brand of “antique futurism” in a story full of familiar faces, including a memorable cameo by Mister X himself.

Final Fantasy Boxed Set—A luxurious edition that stays true to the original Japanese collection of the complete Final Fantasy artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.

Furry Water and Mesmo Delivery—Eisner winner Rafael Grampá comes to Dark Horse with two books: Mesmo Delivery, a reprint of his psychedelic small-press debut; and Furry Water, cowritten with Daniel Pellizzari, a six-issue postapocalyptic action comic.

One-Shot Wonders—A new program running from October to December, highlighting some of Dark Horse’s biggest characters and properties in standalone comics retailing at $3.50 each. The program includes “Sugarshock,” Conan, Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Star Wars (two titles), “Dr. Horrible,” and The Goon.

The Art of Blade of the Immortal—Hardcover edition of the original Japanese book with 32 new bonus pages not previously available. This book will be in the style of the Dark Horse The Art of . . . and Library Edition series.

July 24, 2009
Categories: New To Comics?, News . Tags: Dark Horse . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: 1 Comment

Superman, Batman And Batgirl Motion Comics

The Watchmen Motion Comic is awesome, and now more are on the way. Full skinny below.

WARNER PREMIERE CONTINUES TO LEAD THE MOTION COMICS CATEGORY WITH THE DEBUT OF “SUPERMAN: RED SON,” “BATGIRL: YEAR ONE” AND “BATMAN: BLACK AND WHITE” COLLECTION 2

First Episode of Superman: Red Son Available for Free via iTunes for Limited Time – Click here now.

Complete Motion Comics Series for “Batgirl: Year One” and “Batman: Black and White” Collection 2 Debuts

Warner Premiere and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution today announced three new additions to the best-selling Warner Premiere Motion Comics slate. Classic graphic novels Superman: Red Son and Batgirl: Year One, as well as graphic album Batman: Black and White Collection 2 entered the digital age as Warner Premiere Motion Comics on the iTunes Store. Also announced today comrades everywhere, for a limited time, can download the first glorious episode of Superman: Red Son for free and see how Stalin’s most powerful weapon swayed the balance of power during the Cold War.

Continuing to lead the motion comics experience, Warner Premiere’s Motion Comics connect comic fans to authentic DC characters through short-form content. The Motion Comics slate draws on a deep reservoir of source material to bring a visually engaging experience to life through the use of subtle movements, voice-overs, sweeping music scores and stunning comic book artwork.

“Last year we debuted our Motion Comics slate and saw the voracious appetite graphic novel fans had for this digital content,” said Diane Nelson, president, Warner Premiere. “One of the reasons for our success is Warner Premiere working closely with DC Comics to determine if a story naturally lends itself to becoming a motion comic. Another key is the process we use to select the studios that ultimately create these motion comics. They are very passionate comic book fans so creating these motion comics really are a labor of love. We’re very proud of our success and look forward to bringing more titles to comic fans in the future.”

Superman: Red Son

Warner Premiere Motion Comics is proud to bring “Superman: Red Son” to its Motion Comics slate. Based on the Eisner Award-winning graphic novel written by Mark Millar and drawn by Dave Johnson and Kilian Plunkett “Superman: Red Son” takes viewers back in time to the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union where Superman is fighting for the Communists. In this alternate universe, Superman lands in Russia rather than the United States andSoviet Union’s greatest weapon as the world is transformed into a communist state opposed only by a crumbling capitalistic AmericaLex Luthor. Now as Superman stands on the brink of ultimate power, three heroes, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern, each make a valiant stand to destroy the reign of the Man of Steel. The Superman: Red Son Motion Comic was animated by New Zealand-based Karactaz.

For a limited time, the first episode of Superman: Red Son is now available on iTunes for free. To download, visit here or here. Future episodes will debut once a week and fans are encouraged to sign up for a Season Pass to automatically receive future episodes.

Continue reading →

July 24, 2009
Categories: Comic Art, New To Comics?, News . Tags: DC, free comics, motion comics . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Comic-Con Thursday

I must be the easiest sell the self publishers at the Con floor have ever seen. I filled up 3 bags of goodies today. I also lost count of how many of my cards I handed out, but I have a soft spot for self publishers. It takes guts to put your time and money into putting your own heartfelt art out there for the world to see. I respect that, and there’s some real talent to be seen. Most of the creators were people I was unfamiliar with and they were all willing to have a chat with this man with the strange accent. A few people were familiar with Broken Frontier, which was great and I even got invited to a few press parties and got freebies for review. Ah, percs of the ‘job.’

I visited a few panels today as well. The guys from Tripwire Magazine were up first with their free danishes and witty banter. On the panel were Kody Chamberlain, U.S editor Andy Grossberg, UK Editor-In-Chief Joel Meadows and everybody’s favourite comics columnist Rich Johnson, formerly of CBR and now of Bleeding Cool. It was a casual and somewhat meandering discussion which included, but was not limited to how Twitter is killing English, companies clothing the homeless as sponsors, the merits of facing graphic novels face out or spine out on the shelf and how monthly comics are similar to singles, while TPBs are albums. It’s obvious that the guys from Tripwire love comics and are glad to see Hollywood making non-superhero films, and gaining credibility as an art form. They see being dropped by Diamond as a hurdle not a disaster and are focused on spotlighting the diversity of sequential art. Their 2009 Annual is available at the Con and you can see a preview here.

Next up was the Top Shelf panel. These guys put out some seriosuly good stuff, and I was glad to discover that I wasn’t the only one who discovered the wonders of spandex free stories via one of their books. After the obligatory technical difficulties publisher Chris Staros gave a visual rundown of the company’s 12 year history. Fun Fact: Top Shelf was originally the name of an early anthology series. Moderated by PR guy Leigh Walton, the guests included Robert Venditti, writer of The Surrogates, Far Arden creator Kevin Cannon and Nate Powell of Swallow Me Whole fame. Staros mentioned that although they are known for their high-end mature books such as From Hell and Blankets, their all-ages line is turning heads too, thanks to series like Owly, Korgi and James Kochalka’s stuff.

Things became more interesting when the creators revealed their artistic backgrounds. It’s well known that Venditti started in Top Shelf’s mail room (according to Leigh, he’s “a demon with a tape gun”) and now his first book is a movie starring Bruce Willis! Surrogates comes out on September 25, and the great trailer was shown.

Powell mentioned that he’d been self publishing since 1992 and back then had made a list of 25 people in the biz who he admired. Staros and co-publisher Brett Warnock were pretty much the only ones who responded and critiqued his work. Powell also mentioned that although he does have an autistic older brother, Swallow Me Whole was more influenced by his own grandmother, who after being diagnosed with cancer began painting and then in the last few months of her life experienced delusions. Powell lifted a lot of her dialogue in his book from those experiences.

Staros mentioned that although many of the Shelf’s creators’ works are very literary that they could give most fanboys a run for their money in a superhero quiz. He also seems genuinely inspired by Top Shelf’s success and critical praise and revealed that at Christmas time their orders go up, as fans buy their fave books as presents for others, which is always a good sign.

My final panel was the one focused on The Clockwork Girl, Arcana’s widely praised all-ages OGN, in which a trailer for the CG film was shown,which is in the works now. It looks very impressive.

Tomorrow’s another busy day. So much to see and buy.

July 24, 2009
Categories: News . Tags: Arcana, Comic-Con 2009, Top Shelf, Tripwire . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Underworld Director Tackles Shrapnel

Len Wiseman, the man behind the latest Die Hard and the Underworld films is tackling the film adaptation of Radical’s sci-fi epic, Shrapnel. Press release below.

Radical Publishing is proud to announce that Len Wiseman, director of Live Free or Die Hard and co-creator, director and producer of the Underworld franchise has signed on to develop and direct the motion picture adaption of Radical Publishing’s Shrapnel.

Co-created by Zombie Studios’ CEO Mark Long and science fiction novelist Nick Sagan, Shrapnel is an epic 3-part miniseries that unfolds in a dystopian future in which imperialism has laid siege to the Solar System and Venus stands as the last free colony of humanity. Caught in the middle of this interplanetary war is Samantha “Sam” Vijaya, a soldier in self-imposed exile recovering from her service in the military. When the battle once again crashes into Sam’s life, she must choose to either remain on the sidelines and watch a colony’s destruction, or risk her physical and psychological well-being to intervene. The first story arc revolves around Venus, while the second arc rages across Mars and the final climax carries over onto Earth itself.

“I’m really drawn to the reluctant-hero story.” said Wiseman, who noted that the last hero he directed, John McClaine in Live Free or Die Hard, fit that archetypal mold.

“Shrapnel is a story about making choices and rising to the occasion.” stated Radical’s President and Publisher Barry Levine. “I enjoyed it so much that I made this Radical’s biggest commitment to date. Len was my top choice for adapting this perfect balance of action and drama and I’m glad to have him on board.”

Developed as a live action film with possible 3-D approach, Shrapnel will be produced by Barry Levine, Len Wiseman and Mark Gordon with Radical’s Executive Vice-President Jesse Berger, Mark Long and Josh McLaughlin of Gordon Co. attached as executive producers. A video game version of Shrapnel, developed by Zombie Studios, is set for release in the near future.

Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising Trade Paperback, which collects the first miniseries of the Shrapnel universe, goes on sale August 19th.

July 23, 2009
Categories: New To Comics?, News . Tags: Radical Publishing, Shrapnel . Author: Kris Bather . Comments: Leave a comment

Preview Night At Comic-Con 2009

I didn’t go to Preview night last year as I arrived on the Wednesday from Perth and was far too wrecked. This year I came a day early, so went to the traditional Wednesday night opener. The first thing I noticed was the wait for the shuttle bus. What should’ve been 30 minutes turned into a 2 hour sojourn, but everyone in the queue was chatty and patient. It was rush hour after all, and the trip back was far quicker. The line to pick up the badge was extremely shorter than last year and I hardly stood there for more than a few minutes.

The crowds were almost as packed as they will be tomorrow, and not every exhibitor was open, but it was a good chance to grab a bunch of freebies, though I could’ve taken a lot more, but I don’t have any use for oversized bags, posters, flyers or comics I won’t read. Marvel’s display was impressive, with 4 Iron Man movie suits including the slightly changed version from next year’s sequel. Rob Liefeld and the exclusive Green Lantern figures had the longest queues. Tyrese Gibson was signing copies of his new Image series, Mayhem! and wasn’t letting anyone take photos. DC had a playable demo of the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum. New trailers for Imagi’s CG Astro Boy and Gatchaman (otherwise known as G-Force) films were amazing and elicited a few excited whoops from watching Gen Xers. James Cameron’s new film Avatar was prominent, with a life size model of what looks like Ripley’s Hangar suit from Aliens, and a few action figures.

I also talked to the duo from new fanboy musical group Kirby Krackle, but there’s much more to see in the next 4 days.