Comic Books

We mentioned a Kindle graphic novel sale on Amazon.co.uk to coincide with the launch of Nook Comics, this morning. Looks like it’s happened on Amazon.com too. It’s harder to spot because the US site doesn’t have a dedicated graphic novel sub division for Kindle, but they are there. A mix of IDW, Dark Horse and Rebellion and some seriously major bargains. Buying five volumes of Locke And Key for under $20 is just one example. Because right now you can get up to 90% off the likes of Locke And Key, Judge Dredd, Buffy Season Eight And Nine, Angel, Hellboy, Star Trek/Doctor Who, Sin City, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, Transformers, Parker: The Hunter and more… Fill that cloud space up! 90% Off Graphic Novels On Kindle Hits Amazon.Com Too

Steven T. Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen, the creative team behind the moodily engrossing House of Secrets and the “meditation on creativity using Superman” book It’s a Bird…, have reunited for a look at Genius. Genius First Second puts out so many great books for kids and teens that I think of them as an all-ages publisher, but Genius is clearly for adults. Not for any naughty content, but because the themes and fears expressed here aren’t going to resonate with younger readers. Genius is the story of Ted Marx, a former child prodigy who’s now just a cog, fearing that the discoveries of younger co-workers mean he’s at risk of losing his job as a think-tank physicist. Although being a smart child, especially one who’s promoted into classes with older kids, is hard, it’s harder dealing with what happens once the brilliance fades. When you’re a kid, learning can be fun … and a refuge. Once you have kids of your own and a wife who may be facing a medical crisis and a father-in-law you have to care for although he hates you, well, smart doesn’t matter so much. There are too many other distractions. Seagle gets this so right that getting to know Ted as the pages unfold can be painful. Knowing that you’re no longer the hot young thing is a speed bump that happens to many people, whether it’s about smarts or creativity or any other field. This is an involving portrait of the concerns of age, complicated by learning to worry more about the others closest to you than yourself. Seagle’s ability to get inside minds and express their deepest concerns and motivations in just a few well-chosen words is used to its fullest here, accompanied by Kristiansen’s beautifully sketchy images. He’s not so much illustrating the events as capturing the emotions. At times, the light lines almost fade into the solid color washes, indicating how tenuous Ted’s memories or sense of being is. The murky tones of beige and grey underscore the lack of clear answers in Ted’s life. The images are lovely yet foreboding, done in monochrome with a few highlights picked out. The use of light and shadow to suggest more than what we see is impressive, and the occasional impressionist page to indicate realization of an idea is astounding. The conflict, where an intelligent person has to learn the value of other kinds of knowing, is a classic one. As Ted tells us, early on: It turned out there were two kinds of knowledge: brain knowledge and heart knowledge. I was grossly over-developed in one. Painfully under-developed in the other. I worry that I still am in a lot of ways… Albert Einstein serves as kind of a ghost mentor here, the closest thing Ted has to a deity. He reminds Ted that as Einstein got older, “It became more difficult to think in grand ways. Too many expectations… distractions…” Such as Ted’s 14-year-old son, Aron, who is more socially developed than he ever was, so Ted has to have The Talk with him about his girlfriend. Hope, Ted’s wife, isn’t feeling well, and Cece, his daughter, has his brains but would rather fit in. Hope’s father Francis lives with them although he thinks Ted is a huge disappointment. Then Ted finds out that Francis, during his military service, was a bodyguard for Einstein. More, Albert entrusted Francis with a secret that might assure Ted’s career. Ultimately, many of us are looking for the one big break, the idea that will change everything. That quest might be futile, as this book shows us that it’s the small things that make up a rewarding life. The publisher has made preview pages available. Genius can be ordered now from comic shops with the Diamond code MAY13 1161. It’s due out in early July. (The publisher provided a digital review copy.) Similar Posts: *Girl Genius: The Beetleburg Clank — Recommended § Randomness? (Eureka)

Superman Annual #9, 1983 - Perhaps originally intended for World's Finest, Superman and Batman join forces against Lex Luthor. While there's plenty of action throughout the tale, there is a light-hearted, almost comic tone as well. Alex Toth's graphic yet approachable art works well within this context. Some of the characters' clothing and hairstyles look outdated, suggesting this tale was

Publisher: Secret IdentityDownload Location of the Week: Chester, NH ReviewsStar Wars FCBDAll-Star Western #19Batman and the Red Hood #20Batwing #20Battlestar Galactica #1 Summer Reading ProjectStar Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron #2 Send comments to sipodcast@comcast.net OR leave us a voicemail at 860-698-0468. Check out www.secretidentitypodcast.com for all things Secret Identity. And please go review us on iTunes!Price: $0.00

There’s a constant desire these days, it appears, to try to improve on existing works. That’s not a bad idea except when it is a bad idea. A good character, a good concept, that’s been around for a while needs to have the barnacles taken off every so often to make it fresh and work better. Movies adapted from comics have to take a good look at the source material and then tweak and change it to make it work for the big/small screen. For me, the problem comes when the concept is changed willy-nilly until you can no longer recognize it. When J.J. Abrams re-booted the Star Trek franchise a few years back, I was dubious but I genuinely enjoyed the result (as of this writing, I haven’t seen the sequel). I can understand many hardcore Trek fans not sharing my enthusiasm. For them, Abrams wandered too far from the zeitgeist of Star Trek. I think it was nephew Bill who said to me, “I love Star Wars. But if I wanted to watch Star Wars, I’d watch Star Wars. This is Star Trek.” (He’ll get his opportunity to see an Abrams Star Wars film in the future, if he’s so inclined.) We see it all the time in comics. Characters are re-imagined on a constant basis. The only constant is change, it would seem. Change for the sake of change, however, is not always a good plan. I’ve been as guilty of it as the next writer. Years ago, Marvel approached me with coming up with a new pitch for The Punisher. The fans had gotten burned out with the multitude of Punisher titles and the concept was moribund. I’ll be honest; I wasn’t much of a Punisher fan. I felt he was one-dimensional and Frank Castle had wiped out enough Mafiosi over the years to populate a small city. I told them I’d try to come up with something and what I came up with was – Castle joins a Mafia family. I thought they’d never go for it, but they did. Different? You bet. Wrong? Yup. Did the readers buy it? Nope. It wasn’t The Punisher. I had wandered off the essential concept. I wasn’t on the book all that long (18 issues) and, late in the run, the concept of Castle switching sides was dropped and we played a different game – Castle, as a result of an explosion, had lost his memory. He didn’t know he was the Punisher, he couldn’t remember his family being killed, but he still had the same skills, the same instincts. Frank Castle was still The Punisher although he didn’t know it. This worked better but the series was cancelled before we could get too far; in fact, we wound it up in Heroes For Hire that I was scripting at the time. Perhaps if we had gone with the amnesia angle from the start, it might have worked better. A revamp or a remake works if you can define what makes a given character to be that character. You want to get down to the basics, not ignore them. For example, we’ve seen in recent years three different versions of Sherlock Holmes, two set in modern times. They all work more or less because they all keep key elements of the concept. Sometimes a revamp can be quite radical. Late in my run on GrimJack, I booted the character down his own timeline and into a new body, a new persona and a whole new supporting cast. His soul was the same but it gave me, and the reader, a chance to look at the character with fresh eyes. To my mind, it stayed true to the concept of the character and the location. My rule of thumb: if you look at a character after a revamp and you could simply give the character another name, then you’ve wandered off the concept. So long as you remain true to the basic ideas that makes a given character unique until him/herself, then it doesn’t matter how radical their evolution. First, they have to be true to themselves. MONDAY MORNING: Mindy Newell TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten

The future (or past?!?) fate of Shaun White: Great Caesar's Ghost, why hasn't someone made a movie of this 1958 cover?

Dan Adkins passed away a little more than two weeks ago. Dan was a top-notch inker and a talented penciler. He worked for Marvel, DC, and many other comic book publishers over the course of his career. Dan collaborated with Wally Wood and also produced illustrations for pulp magazines. A short obituary can be found here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/readingeagle/obituary.aspx?n=danny-adkins&pid=164699512

Karen: Offer your SPOILER-FREE thoughts about the newest entry in the Star Trek film series, Star Trek Into Darkness. Should it live long and prosper? Or be swallowed whole by the Doomsday Machine?

Peter Willis writes for Bleeding Cool. Borgman arrived at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival this morning as the first Dutch contender for the Palme d’Or in 38 years. And, though unlikely to walk away with any of the top honours, it will no doubt be one of the most talked movies of the festival – if for no other reason than trying to unravel its mysteries. We follow Camiel Borgman (Jan Bijvoet) as he infiltrates a wealthy household and begins to untie the knots that keep the family together, his progress charted as something between a murderous thriller and outlandish black comedy. Knocking on the doors of a tree-lined avenue seeking a shower, Borgman soon finds his “victims”. Hadewych Minis is Marina, an artist who has a strained relationship with businessman husband Richard (Jeroen Perceval). He slowly works his way into the trust of the household through various guises, becoming an intimate part of their lives while changing them forever. With help from four malicious but ever-polite assailants, Borgman “takes care of” anyone that happens to get in the way of him reaching his ultimate goal – whatever that may have been. Drifting swiftly between the incredibly surreal and the boldly unsettling, Borgman is far from being an uproarious comedy, but the totally absurd nature of many scenes can’t help but leave you with a grin wider than a Cheshire cat. A sparingly used soundtrack manages to often instill a certain degree of seriousness to the proceedings; introduced at just the right moment when things could easily have got completely stuck in a comedic mire. Devilishly intriguing throughout the opening hour, Borgman tends to lose its self within its own mystery towards the conclusion. While it is clear that Van Warmerdam didn’t want to paint the whole picture for the audience, the sheer audacity and muddled nature of the final 20 minutes felt entirely out of place in what had, to that point, been a relatively slick and well-guided script. Although the narrative isn’t entirely obscure we are left scratching at the surface of something that feels much deeper that, if presented with a shade more reality, could have offered much more. It will doubtless leave many, myself included, feeling ever so slightly short changed. Primed for multiple sittings, Borgman is slated for release in Europe towards the end of the year. Cannes 2013: Borgman Is Devilishly Intriguing And Malicious

Doctor Strange #177 (Feb. 1969) via WikipediaAs usual, I've been scouring the internetz in my never-ending quest for more info on Marvel movies, and this week I found a treasure trove.Wanna know which Marvel characters will be joining Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America on the big screen?Thanks to Anthony Breznican of Entertainment Weekly, we've got a much better sense of what to expect in the next five years. Anthony posted a fact-filled article on the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I wanted to touch on a few highlights. As I'm sure you know, Phase One of Marvel's master plan for its big screen heroes culminated in The Avengers, and Iron Man 3 kicked off Phase Two with spectacular success.In addition to Iron Man 3, Marvel has already announced opening dates for all of its Phase Two movies -Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase TwoThor: The Dark World (Nov. 8, 2013)Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4, 2014)Guardians of the Galaxy (August 1, 2014)The Avengers 2 (May 1, 2015)Now, the big question is - Which characters can we expect to see in the slate of movies after The Avengers 2?The EW article does a great job of outlining what's known as of today (5-19-13). Just keep in mind that nothing is written in stone in Hollywood, and sometimes the studios don't want to divulge info about movies in the works.Which Characters Will Appear In The Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Three?Ant-Man fan-made poster - via AndrewSS7Ant-Man - YES - An opening date of November 6, 2015 has already been set for Ant-Man's debut. According to Marvel boss Kevin Feige, the planning for the Ant-Man movie goes back to at least 2006. Director Edgar Wright will begin filming in early 2014.Doctor Strange - YES - A movie has been announced starring Marvel's Sorcerer Supreme, but it's still very early in the planning stage. At this point, there's not even so much as a rumor about who would star. FYI - Patrick Dempsey has stated he'd love to play Stephen Strange. Iron Man - MAYBE - You'd think with Iron Man 3 making a billion dollars Marvel would already be at work on number 4, right? Well, it's complicated. Robert Downey Jr. has fulfilled his contract with Marvel, as far as the Iron Man franchise goes, but he's not ruling out playing Tony Stark again in a solo movie. If there's an Iron Man 4, it would probably be at least five years away. A lot can happen in five years, and RDJ has already said he's looking to start a new movie franchise. We'll definitely see RDJ play Iron Man in The Avengers 2, but many factors might prevent an Iron Man 4 movie starring Downey from being made. Can you say "reboot"?Black Panther - MAYBE - There's still no definitive word on whether the African king, T'Challa, aka Black Panther, will get his own solo movie anytime in the near future. Anthony speculates that we'll see the character in a supporting role in one of the upcoming Marvel movies or maybe in the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. NOTE: On May 17, 2013, a report surfaced that Marvel is interested in filming part of The Avengers 2 in South Africa, which fueled speculation that Black Panther would appear in the movie. Daredevil (Marvel Comics) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Daredevil - NO - Matt Murdock aka Daredevil, is one of those lower tier characters that Marvel Studios recently acquired the movie rights to - along with The Punisher, Blade, and Ghost Rider. While it's very cool that Marvel has creative control over these characters, don't look for a movie starring any of them anytime soon. When asked about these characters, Marvel boss Kevin Feige told EW -“So Punisher, Ghost Rider, … Blade, all those characters are back. They all have potential, but I think we need to find the right time.”The Punisher - NO - same as DaredevilBlade - NO - same as DaredevilGhost Rider - NO - same as DaredevilMark Ruffalo as Hulk in The Avengers - via Marvel Hulk - MAYBE - Mark Ruffalo has said that he's ready to play Bruce Banner / Hulk again in a solo movie, but Marve