I only read it for the cartoons: Professional Playboy Hugh Hefner discusses his interest in cartooning—obvious from the talent that’s contributed to the magazine over the years—with Geoff Boucher of the LA Times. Never let it be said that liking comics will prevent you from getting laid

Was turning into Tyler Mane a secondary mutation?: You’ll hear no complaints from me about anyone casting Liev Schreiber in anything, but man, he sure doesn’t look a whole heck of a lot like the Sabretooth in X-Men, does he? And while I’m linking here, “the iconic role of Victor Creed, AKA Sabertooth?” I think the entire Internet needs to engage in a discussion about the exact definition and connotations of the word “iconic.”

You know a good way to make sure tons of people who don’t normally read a comic strip poking fun at you read it?: Try to sue the cartoonist for it.

Attention every artist who somehow landed a gig on a superhero book without already knowing all this: Check out this 15-page how to draw pretty girls lesson presented on Comiccrazys.com. (Link stolen from Dirk Deppey, an excellent source of steal-able links)

Noooooooooo! Ah,well, whatever: The Captain Marvel movie, which would have been called The Shazam! movie because Marvel and DC have lame-os for lawyers, is apparently dead in the water, according to this Wired piece. The reasons cited were the success of The Dark Knight versus the failure of Speed Racer, and studios’ desire to go darker and more serious.

No Captain Marvel movie is probably better than a dark, serious one, judging by how dark, serious Marvel Family comics have turned out. If the “Dark Knight made gazillions, Speed Racer did not” logic is indeed the rationale, it’s a rather weak one, since Speed Racer seems a rather arbitrary movie to compare a potential Shazam flick too (Why not light-hearted, family friendly superhero movie The Incredibles? That made a few coins at the old box office). But hell, what do I know? Not only am I not a studio executive, I actually thought Speed Racer was one of the best movies I saw in ’08, and far superior to Dark Knight in a few areas.

Screenwriter John August had more on his blog, as Lucas pointed out the other day. Maybe August can sell DC on turning his unused script into a miniseries?

This should be interesting: Smart writers about comics Laura Hudson and Leigh Walton are tackling all 300 issues of Dave Sim’s Cerebus at their just-launched co-blog Cereblog. I guess I never realized how old Cerebus was, or how young Hudson and Walton are, but it should be interesting to see the next generation (or half generation…or whatever) looking back at that seminal work. Sim has definitely earned a spot in comics history, and not that his epic has been completed and put to rest and new, younger writers are taking a fresh look at it, we might begin to see exactly what that place could look like. (Link first seen at Tom Spurgeon’s linkatorium)

One thing will be slightly different from now on!: Blog@ alum and Savage Critic Graeme MacMillan takes a look at Marvel’s new, post-Secret Invasion status quo, and isn’t exactly impressed. Obviously he just doesn’t seem to get it. Norman Osborn got a promotion! Tony Stark got a demotion! What could possibly be more earth-shattering than that?!

Now if only President Obama could empower them to actually enforce people getting off the Internet…: Get Off The Internet rounds up some of the more hilarious responses to the Barack Obama/Spider-Man team-up.

Yahoo Movies has released an exclusive one-sheet with images from the sequel to the live-action Transformers film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

You can see the images — including an image of the Fallen as well as the towering figure of Optimus Prime — by clicking here.

The film, starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, is set to be released June 29, 2009.

It’s been mentioned in a few places before now, but this is the first concrete image I’ve seen to support Top Shelf’s one-volume compendium of Eddie Campbell’s excellent Alec stories.  The last few Alec stories, Fate of the Artist and How To Be An Artist were absolutely tremendous, and though I sometimes feel like I’m trying to catch up with a lifetime’s worth of inside jokes, the earlier books (which I’ve not read all of) have been pretty worthwhile as well.

This tome is an easy one to predict for next year’s Best of 2009 lists.

Top Shelf says:

Eddie Campbell’s autobiographical masterpiece ALEC is returning in 2009 from Top Shelf — a gorgeous brick of a book in two deluxe formats (hardcover and paperback) designed by The Criterion Collection’s Eric Skillman!

Also, check out Spurgeon’s interview with Eddie.

Acclaimed Cartoonist to Bring the Webcarzz World to Life

Las Vegas, Kids@Play Summit at CES, January 8, 2009 – Webcarzz, Inc., the company developing the upcoming virtual world targeted towards boys and their affinity for cars and racing, today announced it has entered into a partnership with world-renowned cartoonist Kyle Baker.  Baker will develop a comic book series based on the signature Webcarzz world, an isometric playground populated by original cars that kids are creating. The announcement was made in a press conference today as part of the Kids@Play Summit at CES.

“The world of cars and racing – from a kids perspective – is something that I am very interested in exploring,” remarked Baker. “As both a father and an artist, I can appreciate the imaginative design of the Webcarzz world with its bold shapes and colors. It is the perfect setting for a new comic book.”

“Comic books and graphic novels are increasingly used to fuel new brands and intellectual properties in the video game space – and our relationship with Kyle is sure to spark the interest of consumers all around the world,” said Nique Fajors, Executive Vice President, Webcarzz Inc. “Kyle’s talent, combined with his exceptional sense of humor, will no doubt deliver an outstanding comic book that captures the vision and quality of the Webcarzz world and further entertains our consumers.”

An accomplished cartoonist, comic book writer, animator and artist, Baker has authored thirteen graphic novels, including You are Here, Why I Hate Saturn and King David.  He was a writer and artist on Disney’s PHINEAS AND FERB, and penned two Plastic Man books for Vertigo/DC Comics and Nat Turner, Cartoonist Volume 1 & 2 and The Bakers collection.

Baker is world recognized and the recipient of eight Eisner Awards, including four wins in the “Best writer/Artist: Humor” category. Baker has also won five Harvey Awards, several Glyph Comics Awards and three awards for his comic series Nat Turner (Best Cover, Best Artist, and Story of the Year); in 2007, he won Best Artist for The Bakers.

In addition to his comic work, Kyle Baker cartoons have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vibe, Esquire, BusinessWeek, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and many other magazines, newspapers and books. His work in animation has appeared on MTV and he contributed to the Shrek and Looney Tunes movies.

Webcarzz is an integrated game experience that combines the depth of a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) and the competition of circuit track racing in a casual environment where all roads lead to fun. Webcarzz’ environment is comprised of shapes and structures that are constructed in real-time 3D as the players explore and interact through the game’s cities. The game is currently in closed beta.  For more information on the closed beta test, email info@webcarzz.com. (more…)

The Emmy-Award winning series Robot Chicken has spawned multiple iconic characters, one of the most recognizable is the ever-libidinous Humping Robot. SOTA Toys presents the 5″ Humping Robot articulated-free-standing-plastic-action-figure with ACTUAL HUMPING ACTION! Thanks to a manual-winding spring, the Humping Robot can hump any object he can get his hands on! What will your humping robot hump?

Humping Robot not to be used as a back massager!

MSRP To be announced and expect product to be available in early April 2009.

Quick! Was this summer’s Dark Knight movie an adaptation or not?

Obviously it was based on characters originally created in comic books, but was the screenplay an adaptation or an original work?

If you’re part of the audience for both Batman comics and the Dark Knight movie, as I am and I imagine an awful lot of those who read Newsarama are, then you probably answered, “No, of course not.”

For those that belong to organizations that honor movies for specific categories—for example, where “adapted screenplay” and “original screenplay” are two different categories—there are likely technical guidelines to consult when determining what falls into which category.

But it’s certainly an interesting question to consider (to me, anyway), so let’s do so, at great, rambling length, below the jump.
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USA Today, the world’s number one source of comic book news, has a story about the fact that President Elect Barack Obama will be appearing in next week’s Amazing Spider-Man #583:

In the story by Zeb Wells, Todd Nauck and Frank D’Armata, Spider-Man stops the Chameleon from spoiling Obama’s swearing-in. At one point, Spider-Man says he mistook Vice President-elect Joe Biden for the Vulture (a vintage Spider-Man villain)

In the article, Joe Quesada cites the inspiration of the story as the fact that Obama is a Spidey fan. I assume the phenomenal sales of the Obama issues of Savage Dragon, the amount of ink both Erik Larsen’s super-comic and IDW’s Presidential Material bio comics got and the fact that featuring Obama would land a story in USA Today or some other mainstream media source didn’t hurt  either. (By the way, a third printing of the Obama Presidential Material comic is on Diamond’s shipping list for next week as well).

USA Today also ran an image of Obama giving Spidey some awkward-looking daps, a drawing that the foul-mouthed smart-asses at Wonkette* found less than compelling:

…could Marvel Comics maybe hire somebody who can maybe draw something vaguely resembling the president-elect, rather than “random negro dude in a suit who also seems to have neck tumors”?

Okay, so it’s not the greatest likeness, but Nauck’s character designs are never too highly individualized. It doesn’t make him a bad artist—I really dig his work, personally—just not a great choice for celebrity likeness comics. But hell, it could be worse. Could you imagine what Ed Benes’ Obama would look like, if she showed up in Justice League of America? He’d basically look exactly like Green Lantern John Stewart, with his abs showing through his three-piece suit, the pants of which would cling to his rock hard ass as if they were painted on.

Oh God, why do I imagine such things, let alone say them out loud…? Sorry.

For more info, including a look at the Phil Jimenez drawn cover, and words with editor Steve Wacker, check out Vaneta Rogers’ piece on the Newsarama proper here.

*I mean that as a compliment, by the way. I read the hell out of Wonkette all day.

Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight, received a Director’s Guild of America nomination on Thursday.  According to The Hollywood Reporter, Nolan joins four other nominees: David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire, Gus Van Sant for Milk, and Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon.  The awards are handed out at the DGA “gala” on January 31st.

From our perspective, it looks like the confluence of acclaim from various quarters is building to a critical mass.  The Dark Knight is almost certain to be nominated in mulitple Oscar categories.  The question remains: is it an honor just to be nominated, or is a Return of the King-like momentum beginning to gather?

The patron saint of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee, has spoken with the House of Ideas regarding his story in the landmark 600th issue of Thor!

Explaining his inclusion in the project, Lee replied that Thor editor Warren Simons gave him a call and asked “if I’d write a story for THOR #600. How can you say no to something like that? I guess all the other writers were busy,” he laughed.

When asked about the longevity of the character, Stan replied:

He’s a great character. And again, the way Kirby drew him he’s unforgettable. He just looks so heroic and the other characters are so colorful. And of course you have Loki, the villain. I mean one of the most important things for any super hero is to have a great super villain, and how do you do better than Loki.

This incarnation of Thor was created by Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962. Meanwhile, in Thor #600, Stan will be teaming up with superstar artist David Aja to examine Thor’s temptation to go back to a simple mortal life.

[Via Marvel.com.]

Newsweek says it’s The Corrections, which I haven’t read. But it took me about two minutes to come up with my definitive Bush-era fiction.

It’s DMZ.

I picked up DMZ #1 way back in 2005 and reviewed it for Best Shots (wow, I’ve been doing this way too long). Since then, I’ve read and dropped many other monthly comics, but DMZ has stayed on my pull list. I’ve given it as a gift, made my professors read it, and flogged it mercilessly on this very site.

But aside from being an excellent story, it’s a story that at its core is about all the major questions of the Bush era.

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Writer-director David Goyer brings some disturbing news for comic film fans.  Over at IESB.net, Goyer related the following:

“A lot of the DC movies at Warner Brothers are all on hold while the figure out, they’re going to come up with some new plan, methodology, things like that so everything has just been pressed pause on at the moment. It was the double header of both Iron Man and The Dark Knight coming out, so more than ever I think they’ve realized, I think DC was responsible for 15% of Warner Brother’s revenue this year, something crazy like that, so they realized that comic books, it’s become a new genre, one of the most successful genres.” 

As Blog@ covered yesterday, screenwriter John August addressed the derailing of the Shazam! film at his blog.  Between that and the sandbagging of the nearly-made-it-to-shooting Justice League film, it looks like DC live-action films will be having a substantial break.

Goyer’s new horror film, The Unborn, opens this weekend.

The New York Comiccon has announced a tentative lineup of its panel schedule!

Here are some of the highlights for this year’s programming:

The Do’s and Don’ts of Being a Comic Professional: Creating the work is one thing, but what should you keep in mind in order to present yourself well to an editor? Do personality and rapport play a part in how you’re perceived? What’s the difference between a pro’s attitude and a novice’s? How do you balance doing quality work with making the deadline? What’s the proper way to pitch? (Friday, 2-3pm)

BOOM! Studios: BIG! BOLD! BOOM! Join Mark Waid, Ross Richie, and Chip Mosher as they run down the most exciting new projects at BOOM! Including a special announcement by Mark Waid that is sure to make your head explode! (Friday, 2:15-3:15)

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Even after taking the People’s Choice Awards by storm last night, now Christopher Nolan and company have received an even higher accolade, from the Writers Guild of America.

According to Variety, the Dark Knight has been nominated for a WGA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The script was written by director Christopher Nolan, his brother Jonathan, as well as David S. Goyer.

The film goes up against heavy-hitters including the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, Doubt, and Frost/Nixon.

SLG Publishing has announced that it will rerelease the series Stitch in honor of the book’s 10th anniversary.

Stitch, which was created by Tommy Kovac, was the story about a rag doll waking up in an attic with amnesia. Stitch is the only denizen of the playroom to question his surroundings, as he wonders about life outside, as well as the motives of his owner, Granny Pairley.

This new edition will not only collect all four original issues, but will include addition material including an illustrated prose epilogue.

Describing the project, Kovac told SLG, “”It seems like the quest for identity is obviously my own journey in defining myself as a creator… whether I intend to or not, I always wear my heart on my sleeve. I wish I knew how not to do that! But there it is.” You can read an interview with the author on SLG’s web site, linked here.

[Image via Tommy Kovac.]

The debate I mentioned in an earlier post has been resolved. Taylor Lautner will return as Jacob Black in the Twilight sequel, New Moon.

Director Chris Weitz (don’t get me started) said:

The characters in Stephenie’s books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance; so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series. But it was my first instinct that Taylor was, is, and should be Jacob, and that the books would be best served by the actor who is emotionally right for the part. I think that fans of Twilight the book and the movie will be surprised by the Jacob Black that Taylor will bring to the screen in New Moon; and I’m looking forward to working with him and the rest of the cast in realizing the film.

Despite his size being a bit of a problem, I tend to hate casting changes in a series (I make an exception for replacing Katie Holmes with Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight, because everything is better with Maggie Gyllenhaal). So I’m happy for Lautner, and still looking forward to letting my inner 14-year-old girl out to play for another two hours later on this year.

I ain’t gonna lie, though. I’m totally Team Edward.

Did you read the absolutely brilliant Pride of Baghdad graphic novel Vertigo released in 2006? If not, you should correct that mistake right away. It’s one of the books I give to non-comic readers as a perfect example of what the medium is capable of and it never fails to impress.

Niko Henrichon’s atmospheric artwork helped Pride of Baghdad make an indelible mark on readers’ hearts and minds. His art blog is equally memorable and will keep you up to date with samples of his upcoming work.

Future Oscar winner Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) is looking at playing either Whiplash or the Crimson Dynamo, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, respectively. Sam Rockwell (Frost/Nixon) is also rumored to be up for the part of multi-billionaire villain Justin Hammer. As Variety describes the film version of the Crimson Dynamo: “a heavily tattooed Russian arms dealer. He’s considered to be an evil version of Iron Man because he battles the superhero in a nuclear-powered suit of armor.”

This is starting to sound like a David Micheline/Bob Layton story…

I love the idea of Rourke getting a role in Iron Man 2. He’s an incredible actor, and much like Robert Downey Jr’s career resurrection in the first movie, Rourke’s comeback after nearly letting his personal demons destroy his career will make for a nice feel-good sidebar story. Personally, I hope he ends up playing Whiplash, since we already saw Iron Man battling an armored foe in Iron Man 1. What do you think?

Action-Figure.com has loads of new pics of Mattel’s DC Universe Classics series six, including photos of the figures in their packaging and several of the figures outside of packaging. I’ve made no secret of my love of this toy line, and I have to say that the sixth series is my favorite wave thus far. The lineup includes two new Superman figures from the Return of Superman storyline, black suit Superman and business in the front/party in the back Superman;  Mr. Miracle and his lamer, eviler twin Dr. Impossible; Hawkman; Captain Marvel/Shazam; and the unlikely choice of Killer Moth. Best of all, each figure comes with a part for an amazing Collect-and-Connect figure of Kalibak, scourge of the New Gods. As much as I love my C&C Solomon Grundy figure from wave three, I think Kalibak looks to be the toy line’s crowning achievement to date. Of the many reasons to praise Mattel for the DCU Classics line (and there are many), I think the love they’re showing for Jack Kirby’s creations is one of my favorites. Hopefully, the patron saint of action figures (St. Geoffrey the Giraffe?) will smile down upon us from on high an grace us with an OMAC figure soon.

The library is a great place for readers to discover comics, and it’s a great place for comics readers to check out things that they want to try without spending their hard-earned cash. I’m looking at comics that I find in the New York Public Library system.

Last week, the book I read probably suffered a bit from expectation.  Joshua W. Cotter’s Skyscrapers of the Midwest came to me as nearly a blank slate.  I’d heard the title enough to know it existed, but the between-covers content was completely unknown. The title refers to the towers of the mind contrasted against the incongruous mundanity of smalltown life. As such, it’s part autobiography and part tribute to childhood imagination. The narrative follows Cotter and his brother through their early childhood, dealing with schoolyard taunts, burying pets, losing toys and stumbling through awkward interactions with adult relatives. Running alongside the everyday and emotionally bruising reality, we get to witness Cotter’s young mind translating images into giant robots and imagining his own heroic triumph over impossible odds.

It’s that juxtaposition between imaginative victories and real struggles that gives the book its meat and raises it to engaging and successful levels. The art’s very strong. Cotter chooses to anthropomorphize everybody as cats. I can’t guess why he made that choice, but it adds a certain innocence to the characters, particularly the children. Cotter’s ability to weave between flights of fancy and grounded pseudo-tragedies is impressive, as it keeps you engaged, forcing you to question everything that’s happening in even the most straightforward sequences.

By balancing and weaving together mundanity and imagination, Cotter’s created a pretty compelling book. Each of its separate halves are solid, yet short of exceptional. Taken together, he’s crafted a whimsical, tragical, and very well drawn almost-memoir of young adolescence. I suspect that if they’re allowed exposure to the occasional cuss word, many teenage readers will connect with Cotter’s Skyscrapers of the Midwest, as will many adults.

Why are we doing this, you may ask? For the first time in its 35-year history, the PCAs run deep with comic-related and genre nominations. Moreso than almost any big show during awards season, you’ll likely see winners from “our world” crowned tonight. And, most importantly, it represents the things that the fans actually like seeing.

Let’s get to it . . . watch along on CBS if you’re so inclined . . .

9:01 pm: Queen Latifah is your host; that’s a loooong way from “Ladies First”, y’all.

9:03 pm: Ellen presents Favorite Funny Male Star. It goes to Adam Sandler over Steve Carrell and Jim Carrey. I am already mystified by the people.

9:06 pm: Just so you know, I’m regularly skipping the categories that lack genre connections. This is why I won’t say anything about Favorite Star Under 35, also known as the Arbitrary Anniversary Acknowledgement Award. What’s that? Now you’re curious. Fine. It’s Carrie Underwood. Now you’ll trust me.

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