In honor of Free Comic Book Day, Topless Robot’s Brian Heiler counts down “The Five Best and Worst Comics Blatantly Designed to Sell Toys.” It’s a solid list, even if it does omit Marvel’s Shogun Warriors.
But I wonder how Secret Wars was overlooked? Maybe it wasn’t blatant enough.
Technical difficulties prevented me from posting an installment of “Stark Ravin’” yesterday, so I’m just going to jump right into the links.
Note: Some of these links may contain spoilers.
• Iron Man will actually debut at 8 tonight at some 2,000 theaters across North America, which may cut a little into the weekend gross. Still, the tea-leaf readers predict an opening weekend of at least $60 million (probably more like $70 million) — and as much as $102 million by Monday morning.
The movie’s production costs are an estimated $150 million, with another $75 million for prints and advertising. [ The Hollywood Reporter, Slashfilm ]
• If you’re looking for the much-rumored Samuel L. Jackson cameo, stick around until after the closing credits. [ Slashfilm, Rich Johnston ]
• $486 million-a-year Marvel has a lot riding on this, its first solo film [BusinessWeek]
On his Toycutter blog, Super Punch’s John Struan points to lemondrop’s custom figures of Spaceboy and The Kraken from The Umbrella Academy.
I haven’t been into action figures since elementary school, but if Dark Horse were to release a series based on the Gerard Way-Gabriel Ba comic, I’d be all over it. Make that two series: one of the characters as adults, the other as children.
Miller wants to direct Hard Boiled
MTV spoke with The Spirit director Frank Miller at the New York Comic Con this past weekend about the possibility of his graphic novel Hard Boiled finally making it to the big screen:
“We’re talking about [it],” Miller declared to us at NY Comic Con. “I’ve got a really unusual way I want to do it.”
But that’s not all…after co-directing “Sin City” and single-handedly helming the upcoming adaptation of Will Eisner’s “The Spirit,” Miller has decided that the only person he’d want directing a “Hard Boiled” movie is himself.
“I’m in love with directing,” he gushed. “I’ve found a way to expand my career. Comics and directing are really two sides of the same coin. That’s what Robert Rodriguez taught me…good drama is good drama.”
Sunday at the New York Comic Con, expectedly, was a little bit slower on the news front than Friday or Saturday, which gave the comic sites a little bit of time to catch up and post a lot of stuff from yesterday’s panels. The big news today, it seems, is the show itself; Lance Fensterman reports on the NYCC blog that they surpassed last year’s attendance numbers:
So what do we know?
At least 64,000 people attended New York Comic Con this weekend. We have more details to pour through from retailers and on site tickets sales, but as of tonight we know that at least 64,000 attendees were in the building over the weekend. That’s an intense jump from 49,000 last year and it seems to say this crazy little party we call New York Comic Con continues to grow as fast as a speeding bullet.
Stay tuned for final numbers in the next few days.
Some other folks found time to blog today as things were winding down. Peter David gave an update on his wife, who was in a car crash while he was at the con on Friday:
Kathleen was in one piece: As anyone who’s read her blog knows, Kath was in an auto accident. Fortunately she’s fine, albeit a bit achy and bruised. Upon learning of the accident Friday, I immediately headed home, rendering me unavailable for the Marvel autograph session and also the Mondo Marvel panel. I left word at the Marvel booth, but somehow they didn’t get the message to panel moderator Jim McCann. On stage he noticed my absence and wondered aloud where I was. When one of the panels whispered in his ear what had happened, a startled Jim said “Oh my God!”…right into the open microphone, causing some degree of confusion and alarm for the audience which he quickly had to undo.
And Mark Evanier talked about the Steve Gerber tribute panel … which Gerber was able to attend:
Friday, I did two panels — one about the work of the late/great Will Eisner; the other, about the state of the animation business. Saturday morn, we had a nice public memorial panel about our pal, the late/also great Steve Gerber. Many of Steve’s fans and friends were there, along with members of his family. And Steve himself was present as you can see from this photo…
I guess you can’t read the label so I’ll tell you what the top line of it says: “This Package Contains the Cremated Remains of Stephen R. GERBER.” That’s right. We had his ashes there. Morbid, I know…but Steve wouldn’t have wanted to miss a whole panel about himself. It was announced that immediately following the panel, we’d be taking the ashes down and flinging them in the faces of certain editors.
More coverage of New York Comic Con:
Action Figure Insider reports on the Mattel panel at the New York Comic Con today, which included a list of San Diego Comic Con exclusives and details on figures for their Justice League Unlimited, DC Universe Classics and DC Infinite Heroes.
Folks attending SDCC this summer can look forward to some fun exclusives — a JLU Giganta two-pack, featuring both 10” and 4” versions of the characters, and a DC Universe Classics figure of Lobo and his dog. “No bike,just the main man, his pooch, and some bitchin’ chains!” There will also be figures from The Dark Knight.
For details on new figures coming out from Mattel this year, go check out their report. Fans will be pleased. Or not.
Who could’ve guessed that retailer Gordon Lee, comics legend Stan Lee, DC’s Wildstorm imprint and Virgin Comics would be the big newsmakers on the first day of New York Comic Con?
The big story, without a doubt, was the announcement Friday evening by Neil Gaiman that charges against Rome, Ga., retailer Gordon Lee have been dropped.
Lee’s legal battle stemmed from a Halloween 2004 giveaway during which one of his employees mistakenly handed a copy of the Alternative Comics #2 Free Comic Book Day sampler to a boy. The issue depicts a naked Pablo Picasso. After several false starts, the case finally went to court in October, only to end in mistrial during the prosecutor’s opening statement.
Gaiman said Friday the case has cost the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which represented Lee, more than $100,000.
But Gordon wasn’t the only Lee in the spotlight: Stan Lee (no relation) kicked off the convention in fine form Thursday night when he was presented with the inaugural New York Comics Legend award. The event, held at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square, drew countless creators and media-types, including Comic Foundry’s Laura Hudson, who had an interesting encounter with the folks from Virgin Comics.
The Stan Lee juggernaut continued on Friday during the invitation-only event for Ultimo, his collaboration with Shaman King creator Hiroyuki Takei for Shueisha’s Jump SQ.II spin-off magazine. As expected, Viz Media’s “exciting news” is that Ultimo will be released in North America shortly.
But wait! The Man isn’t finished: He’ll oversee a line of superhero comics for Virgin Comics, which also announced that writer Grant Morrison and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur are collaborating on an animated series to be delivered via the Internet and mobile phone. The series, titled MBX, is a futuristic retelling of the Mahabharata epic poem.
DC’s Wildstorm imprint, meanwhile, continued efforts to rebrand itself — or, perhaps, simply brand – with the announcement of three license acquisitions: Prototype, Gears of War, and The X-Files. That last property is expected to be officially announced today. However, X-Files creator Chris Carter let the information slip last night.
More coverage of New York Comic Con:
EW.com has the first peek at the Rorschach and Nite Owl action figures from DC Direct’s collector-edition Watchmen line. The figures, based on the designs for the Zack Snyder movie, are set to debut Friday at New York Comic-Con.
The line should hit stores in January, and retail for about $14.99.
– Jeff Smith talks RASL with Heeb Magazine.
– Brigid Alverson’s MoCCA panel discussion from last December with Del Rey editor Dallas Middaugh, translator Mari Morimoto, Kinokuniya manager John Fuller, and letterer/designer Brad Foltz is now online.
– The discussion between Douglas Wolk and David Hajdu continues, and leads to some heated debate over at Comics Comics.
– Jeet Heer talks about the Superman case.
– This may be Jim Mooney’s last published work.
Diamond Select Toys is adding the new Captain America to its Marvel Select line of action figures. The figure, sporting gun and shield, comes with a gargoyle display stand (ala the cover to Captain America #34). It will be released this fall, and retails for $20.
DC Comics, IDW Publishing and Viz Media were named publishers of the year in their respective categories in Diamond’s 2007 Gem Awards.
Red 5 Comics was selected as New Publisher of the Year.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1 was named Comic Book of the Year Under $3 and Licensed Comic of the Year. Captain America #25 was chosen as Comic Book of the Year Over $3. Naruto, Vol. 14, was selected as Manga of the Year, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier as Original GN of the Year.
The awards, announced yesterday, honor direct-market suppliers and products. The nominees were selected by Diamond Comic Distributors and voted on by retailers.
The full list of winners appears after the break:
Adult Swim fans have something to look forward to later this month — a line of mini-figures that includes Dr. Girlfriend from The Venture Bros., Robot Chicken’s Mad Scientist and Harvey Birdman’s sidekick Avenger, among many others.
Ben Templesmith posts a wonderful illustration of He-Man villains Skeletor, Evil-Lyn and Trap-Jaw he created for a card insert for a Masters of the Universe DVD.
Something smells funny about this Incredible Hulk-themed edition of the classic Operation game. Maybe it’s the fact that he has a teddy bear growing under the skin of his foot — whatever disease causes that, I don’t want it — or maybe I just don’t trust Iron Man with a scalpel. Toyology not only talks about this game, but also one called Hulk Smash that lets you smash your opponent’s vehicle as they try to escape a Hulk-torn city.
Both, no doubt, will provide hours of entertainment for the kids and lots of licensing dollars for Marvel. Look for them in June.
MTV has eight images of collectible statues, mini-busts and movie props from the upcoming Dark Knight film. Go check’em out.
Superpunch shares several cool images made by “Zelevol” from various Marvel action figures.
Slashfilm discovers these adorable chibi-like Indiana Jones figures from Kotobukiya, which first popped up on the IndyJones.jp site last month. The 1.97-inch high toys are set for release in June, but apparently only in the Japanese market. Curses!
(Via Super Punch)
Every Friday Richard Marcej is sharing concept artwork he did while working for Hasbro in the 1980s. He’s started with several Nintendo “trophy figures,” like Super Mario Brothers and Zelda, but plans to get to G.I. Joe and Transformers in the next few weeks.
Gary Gygax, legendary co-creator of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, died this morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis. He was 69.
According to The Associated Press, he had suffered from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm.
Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval settings and characters influenced by mythology, pulp fiction and contemporary fantasy authors, such as J.R.R. Tolkien and Michael Moorcock.
As estimated 20 million people worldwide have played D&D.
“I thought we would sell about 50,000 copies,” Gary Gygax told the BBC’s Darren Waters in 2004.
The influence of Dungeons & Dragons, and Gygax, on gaming and popular culture is undeniable.
“Without the creation of D&D, the video game landscape would be very different indeed,” Waters writes today. “Would World of Warcraft be the global hit it is today, for example?”
The Wizards of the Coast D&D website has posted a brief eulogy, calling Gygax a “grand storyteller” who “inspired generations of players, designers and authors.”
