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THE COMICS BLOTTER #15 16 July 04 |
The Last Comics Blotter |
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MIKE PHILLIPS |
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If you are already
a member or you don’t mind registering with the online version of New York Times Magazine, there is a
great article by Charles McGrath that discusses the sophistication and
importance of Sequential Art. If you
are interested go here and read the whole thing: www.nytimes.com/pages/magazine/index.html. |
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JLA’s
Continuity Twist If you’re a regular
here then you know that we like to talk about continuity. Now, normally when you get an
inter-company crossover it’s an ugly mess that takes place in an alternate
universe so there are no repercussions in either company’s main continuity. Well here’s a new one for you. If you read the JLA / Avengers crossover you probably assumed the above statement
was, as usual, correct and the story took place outside of DC’s and Marvel’s
main continuities. Kurt Busiek, who
wrote that crossover and will be writing an arc (possibly two) of JLA, has something to say about
that. Without giving too much away
the JLA / Avengers crossover
storyline ended with this mysterious space egg (anyone want to take this
one?) leaving the reader with questions.
The interesting thing is that Busiek will now use this egg in his JLA arc, an arc that takes place in
the main DCU. What could this mean
for the relationship between Marvel’s and DC’s main continuities? Is there a way for Iron Man to hang out in
the real Gotham for a while? Can
Supes really come over to the X-Mansion for tea? Those questions probably won’t be answered but you’ll be able
to see what’s going to happen for yourself when JLA #107 comes out this Fall. |
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Mile High X-Force Preview Over at the Mile High Comics website you
can check out the entire first issue of the new X-Force series by
Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld (www.milehighcomics.com/firstlook/marvel). Hell, all we need now is Peter David and
Larry Stroman to bring back X-Factor and the X-Backlash can begin. Also, at the above link, you will be able
to check out every page of Ultimate X-Men #50, X-Men: The End
#1, Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4 and more. |
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Wachowski
Bros. To Conquer Comics Andy and Larry will
continue in the comics genre but they’re planning on kicking it up a notch
from their Matrix Comics days.
They have teamed up with a few artists and an editor to form Burlyman
Entertainment. Burlyman will start by
publishing two bimonthly comics entitled Shaolin Cowboy and Doc
Frankenstein. The artists are
Geoff Darrow and Steve Skroce, the editor is Spencer Lamm and they all worked
with the Wachowski brothers, in some capacity, on the Matrix trilogy. These first two titles will each premier
later this year and will both be made into trade paperbacks after six
issues. An extra noteworthy bit is
that Darrow, whose art is detailed as hell, has been working on Shaolin
Cowboy for a few years already. |
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McFarlane Appeal
Between lawsuits from Neil Gaiman and Tony
Twist it seems like the Toddmeister just can’t stay out of court. This past week an NHL hockey player named
Tony Twist was awarded $15 million in a suit against McFarlane because Todd
supposedly “infringed upon Twist’s publicity rights”. Todd created a mob boss character for his Spawn
comic and named him Tony Twist. So
the real Twist took him to court because he didn’t want to be associated with
a character that “was involved in murders and
kidnappings and rapes”. Twist won but it was then appealed and
overruled. Later Twist took it to a
higher court and this court awarded him said $15 mill. McFarlane plans on appealing this all the
way to the Supreme Court if need be.
If the ruling is allowed to stand it could be a disaster for authors’
rights in the U.S. |
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More Sandman Mystery Theatre to be
Collected Just to remind you, only the first story
arc of that series, “The Tarantula”, was ever collected.
Although not specified as to how much of
Sandman Mystery Theatre will
collected, it has been announced that two trade paperbacks will be released
in October. At press time I didn’t
find out how many pages these trades will be or which story arcs will be
published. I also checked out
Amazon.com but they are not listed there yet. Check back for updates.
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Spider-Girl Gets Another Six Months This poor title. It’s been going through the wringer lately with all of this
news of possible cancellation and a new Spider-Girl title (Amazing Fantasy)
butting in on Mayday Parker’s newsstand space. But Tom DeFalco posted some news online this past week stating
that his Spider-Girl has gotten a little breathing room. He also gave Mayday’s rival a little elbow
in the ribs. Here’s most of that
post: Thanks
to the efforts of Joe Quesada, Dan Buckley and Andy Schmidt--and ALL of you
guys--Spider-Girl has been renewed
for (at least) another six issues. We are currently guaranteed to run until Spider-Girl #87. While #87 could be
our last issue, we could also be extended beyond #87...if we can increase our
sales. Thanks for being there! Tom D. Mayday Parker-- The one, true Spider-Girl! Accept NO substitutes! At
the end there it looks as if Tom is telling everyone to not buy any Marvel
titles that spotlight a different Spider-Girl. I wonder what the brass thinks of his post. |
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The
Devil’s Due’s Aftermath All is quiet on the
DBPro front but Devil’s Due has wasted no time using its recent publicity
(see the Blotter #14) to announce their new imprint Aftermath. This snippet of Devil’s press release
about the upcoming San Diego Con discusses their foray into the
madness that is superhero universe building: Don’t
miss the Devil’s Due Panel (12:30 to 1:30 Saturday, July 24th in Room 1A) for
a major announcement, and the first glimpse of artwork, from the new Devil’s
Due Imprint: AFTERMATH – an all new
universe of super powered heroes launching this fall. Tentatively scheduled
to appear are the AFTERMATH series writers: Ron Marz, Marv Wolfman and Joe Casey (not to leave out writer
Chuck Dixon, who will not be attending the convention). I
think I may start a shared superhero universe as well. Check back here for details. |
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Alas,
Poor Comics Blotter Do you want the
good news or the bad news first? Okay, first the bad
news. This will be the last installment
of The Comics Blotter at least in its present format. But here’s the good
news: The Comics Blotter is coming
to an end because it will be rendered redundant -- by a new Sequart.com News
section! That’s right: we’re launching our own news section with
up-to-date stories. Perhaps even more
exciting, now you can make your voice heard by posting comments to these
stories as they appear. It’s all part of a
larger redesign of the site that will see added functionality and even new
sections. Right away, you will be
able to create your own account -- complete with your own customizable
webpage. And a new and expanding help
section will aid you as you add comments to the site and customize your own
page. Sequart.com has a
great future, and we hope to see you there! Thanks to all of you
doing the reading, and we’ll see you in the news section! |
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Read every The Comics Blotter on
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Mike Phillips can be reached at mike@sequart.com. |
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