Techno Tuesday

If you both a tech and comix fanboy you should check out Techno Tuesday, a weekly web comic created by New Jersery based cartoonist and illustrator Andy Rementer.

Found via Drawn.

Batman Poster by Andy Kubert

If you admired the cover of Batman #655 which featured a cover by Andy Kubert (seen above), well you’re in luck as DC Comics is putting it out as a poster later this year.

Found via Toy News International.

The Faces of Frank Webb

There’s a great post at Michael Sporn’s Splog on the book “How to Make Faces” by Frank Webb. Webb is a classic American cartoonist who was behind comic strips like ‘Kartoon Kollege’ and ‘Raising Kane’ during the 1940s.

Shazam! Jeff Smith Illustrates Captain Marvel

Above is the Shazam! poster from DC Comics illustrated by Jeff Smith. The poster will be on sale in late November this year, making it a perfect fanboy Christmas gift.

Found via Toy News International.

Marvel Theme Park

The good news is that there’s going to be a Marvel Theme Park! But alas us fanboys are going to need a Passport as it’s going to be in Dubai and won’t open until 2011:

Marvel Theme Park Coming to Dubai

“United Arab Emirate-based Al Ahli Group and Marvel Entertainment, Inc. announced today a partnership that will bring Marvel’s full library of Super Heroes — including Spider-Man, Iron Man, The X-Men, Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer — to Dubai for a major new theme park destination being developed by AAG. The development is in line with the vision set by HH Shk. Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, through his innovative entertainment and hospitality driven expansion projects for Dubai and the UAE.

The Al Ahli Group, under the leadership of Chairman Nasser Ali Khammas and driven by the idea and dedication of CEO Mohamed Khammas, is poised to bring the region’s first and only global theme park destination directly to the heart of the Emirates. AAG and Marvel are also in initial stages of discussions about additional projects throughout the greater Pan Arabia region.

AAG has been in discussions for more than two years with the owners of the world’s top intellectual properties in the entertainment arena and is extremely proud of its new long-term partnership with the world renowned Marvel brand. The Project will open in 2011 with a direct investment of over $1 billion USD. The creative team, which consists of some of the most spectacular creative minds from around the globe, will be based in Hollywood, Orlando and Dubai throughout the four year development process. New technology and unparalleled visitor experiences will be the hallmark of the theme park, creating a new standard for theme parks around the world.”

300: Comic to Screen Comparison

This is fantastic! Someone has gone ahead and done a side-by-show showing panels of the comic book 300 next to to stills. The funny thing is that they’re pretty darn close, check out this great Flickr slideshow:

Comic to Screen Comparison of ‘300’

Found via Solace in Cinema.

New International Spider-Man 3 Poster

Looks pretty sweet, no? I guess we’ll have to wait until May to see the film…

Found via FirstShowing.net

Frank Miller’s Ronin Headeding to the Big Screen

Great news for fanboys who like comic book samurai:

Frank Miller’s Ronin Finds A New Master

“In spite of the casting uncertainty and production rumors surrounding Sin City 2, there doesn’t appear to be a shortage of Frank Miller material headed to the big screen. The opening date of 300 is looming closer, and now IESB has posted the news of the latest Miller graphic novel to be chosen for a film adaptation. 300 producer Gianni Nunnari has confirmed that he is already planning his next project — an adaptation of Miller’s Ronin. Ronin is the story of a dishonored 13th century samurai existing in an apocalyptic New York packed with mutants, cannibals, and a reincarnated demon while on a quest for redemption. The story has a little bit of everything; Miller himself has described it as “a superhero, science fiction, samurai drama, urban nightmare, gothic romance.”

On board to direct this delicate balance of a movie is the unlikely choice of Sylvian White, whose most memorable credit so far is the teen dance drama Stomp The Yard. In a recent interview with White about the project, he answered the question foremost in the mind of fans — are they sticking to the original story? White admits that some cuts will be made, saying, “Ronin is very dense and very long, so of course we are going to have to streamline the story to fit it within a movie time frame. ” Sin City definitely raised the bar when it comes to comic book films, so hopefully White can keep up.”

Spielberg to Tackle Tintin

No word on if Spielberg would make Tintin into animation or live action, but it’s a sure thing that he’d do a good job with any film that features a kid and cute doggie:

Spielberg to tackle adventures of Tintin

“Tintin, the heroic young journalist and adventurer created by Belgian cartoonist Hergé, is set to take to the silver screen again — this time with the help of Steven Spielberg.

Spielberg and his company DreamWorks have committed to produce at least one Tintin movie and are gearing up for pre-production on the film, Nick Rodwell, head of Hergé’s Moulinsart Studios, which holds the rights to Tintin, said Thursday.

“If movie No. 1 works, we will continue,” Rodwell said, adding that it is still unclear which of Tintin’s adventures — depicted in 24 books — will be filmed. A completed movie could show up in theatres by 2009 or 2010, Rodwell told a press conference.

Since his debut in 1929, Tintin has enthralled comic readers with his ongoing adventures. In 2004, fans around the world celebrated his 75th birthday.”

All the Captain America Fit to Print

I was pretty amazed to see that Captain America was featured on the front page of the New York Times (click on the thumbnail above to see the screenshot at full size). Yes I know it’s not the print edition of the Times, but it’s still pretty cool from a fanboy point of view! Afterall this is the newspaper that’s too snotty to carry daily cartoon strips (except for the editorial ones on Sunday). But sadly for Captian America, he’s been shot dead:

Captain America Is Dead; National Hero Since 1941

“Captain America, a Marvel Entertainment superhero, is fatally shot by a sniper in the 25th issue of his eponymous comic, which arrived in stores yesterday. The assassination ends the sentinel of liberty’s fight for right, which began in 1941.

The last episode in Captain America’s life comes after the events of “Civil War,” a seven-issue mini-series that has affected nearly the entire line of Marvel’s library of titles. In “Civil War,” the government began requiring superheroes to register their services, and it outlawed vigilantism after supervillains and superheroes fought during a reality show, accidentally killing hundreds of civilians. The public likened the heroes to weapons of mass destruction that must be controlled.

The registration act polarized the superhero community. Captain America (whose true identity was Steve Rogers) considered the legislation an erosion of civil liberties; Iron Man, on the other side, believed that training heroes as the military, firefighters or the police are trained would only benefit society. When the factions came to blows and caused more destruction, Captain America chose to fight his battle in court.”

Manga Toilet Paper

Wipe that smile off your face! This is the ultimate fanboy bathroom accessory:

Manga Toilet Paper Announced
Famous newspaper manga artist and TV Talent Yakumi Tsuru to launch line of manga toilet paper

“TV Commentator and 4-panel manga artist Yakumi Tsuru (real name: Hatakeyama Hideki) announced on Friday that paper goods company Banbix will be selling toilet paper with his manga drawings and 4 panel comics printed on it. The toilet paper, called “Food Toipe”, can be purchased in cases of 50 rolls from the Banbix website for 8,500 yen (approximately 80 US Dollars), and will be available as of March 2nd.”

If you speak Japanese you can order the toilet paper here.

Read more…

Superman Sells Sugar Smacks

Young man if you spill those Sugar Smacks you’re fired:

Romance Comics

Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity for fanboys (and fangurls) to explore those heart breaking comic books of yesteryear! This is a great website on the topic with tons of great cover art:

The Golden Age of Romance Comics

Shazam! Captain Marvel Returns

According to Wizard Universe, it looks like Captain Marvel and friends (Capt. Marvel Jr., Mary Marvel, Dr. Sivana and Billy Batson with silly sidekick Hoppy) have been spotted in action at the American International Toy Fair in New York City.

Anne Cleveland and Jean Anderson

There’s a great tribute to the cartoonists Anne Cleveland and Jean Anderson at Shaenon K. Garrity’s Live Journal:

Anne Cleveland and Jean Anderson

“A while back, there was a debate about why women don’t get no respect in comics, like there always is, and a cartoonist by the name of Anne Cleveland came up. Basic summary: Anne Cleveland was a little-known cartoonist working from the 1930s to 1960s, starting with a series of cartoons about campus life drawn while she was a student at Vassar College (class of ’37). She often worked with a collaborator, Jean Anderson, although it’s unclear how they split the duties. It seems likely that Anderson was a writer only, but I have no confirmation on that.

These cartoons are all scanned from the booklet Everything Correlates, first published in 1946. I also have another booklet, Vassar: A Second Glance. The booklets contain no information whatsoever about the cartoons or their creators, so I don’t know if these were drawn while Cleveland and Anderson were students, or, if not, when, where, and why they first appeared. Cleveland also painted murals on the walls of the Vassar Alumnae House pub which were still there when I was a student, but I don’t have pictures of those.”

Found via Linkfilter.net.

Barbarella Remake?

I like the idea of a new Barbarella, but I don’t quite trust Dino De Laurentiis after that Flash Gordon remake:

New Barbarella In Works

“Dino De Laurentiis confirmed to Variety that he is planning a remake of the classic campy 1960s space opera Barbarella, which Peter Weber (Hannibal Rising) will direct. De Laurentiis describes the new film as “female James Bond in outer space.” The movie isn’t green-lighted yet. The original 1968 Barbarella, directed by Roger Vadim and based on a French comic book, made a star of a young Jane Fonda. ”

Stone Says: Infinite Civil War Crisis

OK, so everyone is so sick of all the Civil War & 52 stuff. Don’t get me wrong I like both of them for different reasons I’ll start with 52 from DC. For those of you who don’t know here’s a quick background on 52 the huge mini-series. Years ago there was a great story called “Crisis on Infinite Earth’s” since at the time DC was still doing Silver Age & Modern stories together. They explained this by having multiple earth’s such as earth x, earth prime, earth 2, etc. Heroes from the JSA were in the golden age earth where world war 2 never seemed to end, but the JLA were on the modern day earth but they used to cross the borders of time and space all the time to do stories.

The problem was having all these earths we had all different versions of the heroes we had our Superman, we had classic Superman who was older with gray hair around the temples…well you get the point. So DC does this incredible story which blew up the whole universe and re-wrote history so only one of each hero or so we thought. The one glitch was that classic Superman & Lois Lane along with Superboy & Alexander Luthor all of different worlds, they were sealed in a pocket universe. Well Superboy being a little nuts now wanted out and talked Superman into helping bust out of their pocket prison, see at this point his Lois is very sick and close to the end of her life.

Well with Alexanders help they make a mad scientist machine that will bring back their earth which they think will fix everything…WRONG! Well I don’t want to tell everything go buy the story if you didn’t read it already. Well at the end of “Infinite Crisis” powers get jumbled heroes go missing such as Superman and others, well 52 is the story of the missing year. See now the title makes sense, huh? 52 is still going on but all the other titles never stopped they just jumped a year into the future. So 52 is a mini series that comes out every single week to try to explain what happened in that missing year.

Read more…

The Eisnerpedia

The website for legendary comic book artist Will Eisener has been relaunched, and I have to say that it’s well worth a visit if you’re a true fanboy like myself! Eisner created the classic series ‘The Spirit’ which is being turned into both a new comic book series and movie. The revamped website includes a gallery and ‘the Eisnerpedia’ which is a wiki on all things Will Eisner.

WillEisner.com

Colbert to Conquer Comic Con

Truthiness meets sequential art as the Colbert Report is set to invade the New York Comic Con on February 23rd through the 25th:

NYCC Announces More Special Guests

“Stephen Colbert is the Emmy Award-winning host of Comedy Central’s Colbert Report . He will be at NYCC on behalf of Oni Press in support of his new 5-issue comic book miniseries, Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen , which will arrive in stores on March ’07. The series is written by John Layman and Tom Peyer with Jim Massey and illustrated by Scott Chantler with others. It is a full color, 32-page comic book that will retail for $3.99. Colbert will be autographing on Friday, February 23 at 4:30pm.”

Indian Superman

It doesn’t get any more silly or low budget than this Superman song from the 1988 Indian film Dariya Dil starring Govinda. Watch out for the girl dressed like Spider Woman:

Here’s a funny description of the above scene:

“During the movie there is a with a song called Too Mera Superman (You are my Superman), which features the leading pair, hero Govinda thrusting pelvis in Supe-suit, and ‘heroine’ Kimi Katkar dressed as (sacrilege!) Spidey. The song takes them from the typical running around trees to a supermarket and finally to a dance floor, with a lot of very badly chromakeyed flying thrown in.”

Spiderman Three: Website Live

The new Spiderman movie website is up and running and loaded with tons of goodies (like Spidy wallpaper):

Spiderman3.sonypictures.com

Crumbs Covered in the Times

There’s a great article and multimedia slideshow on cartoon couple Roberta and Aline Crumb:

Mr. and Mrs. Natural

“They moved to France 16 years ago, sickened, they said, by the infiltration of their once sleepy California town, Winters, by newcomers who bulldozed hilltops for McMansions. The Crumbs also wanted to shield their daughter, Sophie, from a growing conservative and fundamentalist Christian influence while continuing to educate her in what they consider the classics. They reared her on “Little Lulu” comics from the 1940s and ’50s and Three Stooges videos.

It was Mr. Crumb’s absorption of such popular culture that led to his signature style. He applied a lowbrow, all but forgotten crosshatched technique to a kaleidoscope of sexual fantasies, controversial racial topics and images of the hippy counterculture. In so doing, he laid the groundwork for adult-theme graphic novels, influencing everyone from Daniel Clowes, the creator of “Ghost World,” to Art Spiegelman, the author of “Maus.”

“He’s a monolithic presence, who rewrote the rules of what comics are,” Mr. Spiegelman said.”

Jack Kirby Interview

This is a video clip from a documentary called ‘The Masters Of Comic Book Art’. It’s introduced by Harlan Ellison. Jack Kirby is seen talking about his cosmic Marvel comics and how those led to his Fourth World books at DC. He then says a few words about the history of comics:

Read more…

Superman and the Senator

Following his 50th town hall meeting in Massac County. U.S. Senator Obama poses in front of the Superman Statue in downtown Metropolis, IL. known as the home of the DC Comics super hero.