Is There Something In The Ink?

There must be something in it, or maybe paper. Possibly even keyboards. In the last year or so we've seen not just one, but several seemingly un-Civil (bad comic pun, we apologize) disagreements between comics creators. First there was the ever continuing brouhaha between DC and Marvel, and Neil Gaiman vs. Todd McFarlane, then we have Alan Moore vs. DC. Then, within the last few months we had Brian Michael Bendis vs. Gail Simone. Well now ladies and gentlemen, we tell you of the latest in the line of tete a tetes: John Byrne vs. Peter David. Read the story from Blog At Newsarama here. Forgetting the substance of that particular argument, what the fuck is up?

We provide you our own simplistic answer, one that the most daft of blind squirrels could discover. Namely, it's the damn internet. The internet for allowing people to complain ad nauseum about something -- anything -- and still have an audience! The internet for its ability to allow human beings to quickly send off an angry message without thinking of the consequences (there is a reason that some states have 24-hour waiting/cooling off periods before you can walk out of a store with a gun). The internet for allowing the comics media to be ever-present. The internet for allowing schmucks like us stand up on a soapbox where someone is bound to stop and listen, not to mention agree or disagree. The internet for allowing the publishers and creators to pander like $3 crack-whores.

If you don't agree with the above, go on the internet and complain about it. In fact, start here. It will be fun.

--Mister Fanboy Staff

PS: We will save you the trouble and remind you that we know we're being overly simplistic you fucktard!

More On Renaissance

We've mentioned a few times here already about how innovative and interesting the upcoming Renaissance film appears to be. Over at Newsarama today, there is an EXCELLENT story about the film. Check it out. We suspect that after reading it you will now want to see it as much as we do.

Wrong. So Very Wrong.

Thanks to tits list for posting a song (see #2) that's very ... funny. Yes, funny. But it's more than that. It's naughty, but in an icky wrong kind of way. And for that, we love Tits McGee's knack for finding crack on the net all the more.

Who's the? What the?

Really now? What's this all about?

(See the Blog At Newsarama for more.)

I mean, I know that he said he wished Spider-Man had not married Mary Jane, but I thought head Marvel honcho Joe Quesada said killing Mary Jane was not an option. Admittedly, I need to double check it. Any help out there? I hope this is just a stunt (well no, not really, but it's better than the alternative). Perhaps now that Spidey has unmasked himself as Peter Parker too many of his foes get too close and she has to go into hiding for her own safety. Kind of like a witness protection (not unlike current developments in Daredevil).

Angst is ok, but hasn't Spider-Man been through quite a bit lately?

Meanwhile, I am watching Spike Lee's documentary on HBO about New Orleans one year after Hurricane Katrina (today's the one year anniversary), and in reality the image and any associated kvetching really doesn't matter.

Andre Braugher Cast in Fantastic Four Film Sequel

Recent Emmy winner (he won last night) Andre Braugher is confirmed for the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer film. He will play a military officer. Not much more is know about the character at this time. Early reports had him playing Puppet Master. Thankfully, that is not the case. Braugher reportedly bowed out of a multi-episode committent with ER to take this role, something that might have resulted in yet another Emmy for him. Braugher is probably best known as Detective Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street (probably one of the greatest television shows -- ever!). No word yet on whether or not Detective Bayliss will join him in the military, or whether or not that "Don't Ask/Don't Tell" policy turned out to be an issue for him or not.

Wonder Woman Museum in Some Guy's Basement

Sure the headline is true, but there's really more to it than that. According to a story in the NewsTimes (Danbury, CT), Pete Marston, son of Wonder Woman creator William Marston, is planning on setting up a small museum to his father's work in his basement in Bethel, CT. Don't laugh. You'd be amazed at home many of the world's great collections started our as someone's pile of "stuff." The cataloging of the collection that is going on now will undoubtedly be helpful years from now for those seeking to do academic studies of the characer. Academic studies of Wonder Woman? Again, don't laugh. Female role model in a male dominated world of comics. Early S and M plaything in comics. Don't believe me? Check out the Golden Age issues. But back to the museum. You find true gold in some of these smaller museums. Some of our favorites are the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin and American Dime Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, which showcases circus sideshow memorabilia.

Giblet of Goodness

Every once in a while you run across something that just cracks you up. This is one of them, from Defamer.

"AFI's 100 Years,100 Movie Quotes" series at the ArcLight screens The Maltese Falcon, whose notable line of Humphrey Bogart dialogue, "I am tired of these motherfucking maltese on my motherfucking falcon," would one day be appropriated by a less artistically ambitious film.

Damn Maltese. They're everywhere these days.

Owensville: A Short Film

Today, one of the Mister Fanboy staff was surprised that he found something of interest in his university alumni newsletter. His old room mate had a major hand in a short film called Owensville that won two awards at the 48 Hour Film Project: "Best Film Directing, Cinematography, and Screenplay" and "Best of DC" awards. The idea behind the film festival is simple: The group of filmmakers/actors (who collectively call themselves the Shaolin Monkeys), have 48 hours to write, stage, film and edit a short 4-7 minute film. Their winning entry follows a Mormon missionary who can't ride a bike and a young woman who is too scared to walk more than 1000 steps outside of her home. It's a lot of fun and only 5 minutes long. Check it out here. The film has also been accepted into next month's D.C. Shorts Film Festival. Congrats to everyone involved.

Comics Writing Essay

Over at Newsarama there's an intrguing essay on writing comics that is well worth your trouble by comics writer Dirk Manning. Check it out.

More Than Meets The Eye?

Over at CanMag, they have leaked photos of a one of the robots from the Transformers movie set to open next summer. I am somewhat surprised they're not CGI, but perhaps they're just models. I know next to nothing about the film, other than it's directed by film hack Michael Bey (Bay?).

Accidental Surprise: 9/11 Graphic Novel Excerpts on Slate

This morning I ran across excerpts from The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation on Slate. I know a lot of people are approaching this project with some trepidation. Hopefully this will change your mind. It's really well-done and unique.

Let the Guessing Begin: Teen Titans Mystery Members

Over at the http://blog.newsarama.com/2006/08/21/just-when-you-thought-it-was-safe/, they posted this photo of the upcoming new Teen Titans cast. A few we were already familiar with, but now we've got two figures that are in shadows. Starting with Robin and moving clockwise, we have Ravager, Cyborg, Wonder Girl, Raven, our two mystery folks, and then Kid Devil. Martin and Wendy, from the first iteration of the Super Friends cartoon back in the 70's, have been hanging out at Titan's Tower too. No word on Wonder Dog.

Hollywood Drug Use Primer

This is funny for a whole host of reasons. The idea of Hollywood teaching about the dangers of drug use laughable, but then again, so is the so-called "War Against Drugs." Enjoy.

Get Your Daily Dose Of Kabuki Beginning Today

As we told just a few days before Comic-Con, Newsarama was to begin a daily Kabuki strip reaching back into the lauded series archives (similarly for Powers, which debuted last month). Well, it's finally upon us. Click here to check it out. Might as well bookmark it now as you know you're going to want to read it every day. It's a great series penned an drawn by David Mack, our favorite artist working in the comics business today. Kudos to all of those involved for making this happen. Don't forget to pick up issues from the Kabuki: Alchemy series running in Marvel's Icon line. Mack is also doing the covers for Ms. Marvel (one available now; 2 more to come) and the upcoming White Tiger series.

SPOILER: New JLA Line-up Revealed?

Can't wait? Check out Written World for more. Don't know if it's true or not, but it's interesting and not too shabby. The above image is not the spolier.

Mister Fanboy Comics Blogger Spotlight: When Fangirls Attack

Mister Fanboy Comics highlights a comics blog of special interest to women.

For those that aren't familiar with it, When Fangirls Attack should be on your list of daily blog reading. Why you ask? Let me count the ways.

1) It Is From A Women's Perspective: Comics are such a male dominated medium that whenever female creators or fans have something interesting to say, fans should listen. The perspectives of women, so often lost in the din of fanboy carping, are worth noting whether you agree with them or not. Witness the recent brouhaha over the back and forth between comics creators Gail Simone and Brian Michael Bendis about women at Marvel. Having said all of that ...

2) It's Not Your Typical Comics Blog: Gone are the rantings of the pissed off fanboy about their pet continuity peeve. Editors Ragnell and Kalinara troll the web looking for blogs or articles that are of interest to their fellow women (and, by extension, men such as myself who wants to know what they think about the medium/industry). Below their banner, they describe their site as:

A Compilation of Articles about Women in Comics. The opinions expressed by the links and materials we've gathered (even those directly posted on this site) are not intended as an expression of our own opinions. WFA only compiles, it does not take sides.

Of course, the links themselves may include the rantings of fanboys (and fangirls, of course), but you can be assured that there is a point to it and it's not an exercise in a stream-of-consciousness self importance.

3) It Forces Men to Reevaluate Our Relationship To Comics Vis A Vis Women: By clicking on the articles you often uncover real gold. Using the Bendis/Simone disagreement over working at Marvel as an example again, I am a well-edu-macated man and it never occurred to me that some women would find an environment where the finished work product objectifies women difficult to work in. A big D'oh on my part. That was so obvious I can't believe I missed it. (What's really interesting about this whole argument is that the Gail Simone penned Birds of Prey makes women the objects of men's affections more than most books, but I digress ...) The point being that in the male-dominated world of comics fandom, I am often not exposed to these perspectives.

4) It's Fun: One link may discuss the objectification of women by popular culture in general and the next might have buried inside it a discussion of Emma Frost's penchant for dressing like a high-class call girl. You never know what you're going to get. It's a grab bag. And that's a good thing!

5) They Share The Love: When Fangirls Attacks has also exposed me and others to lesser-known blogs that I may not have been familiar with. They have also linked to yours truly on occasion. With the comics blogosphere growing exponentially daily, they help me root out some of the good from the bad, helping me to avoid the umpteenth discussion of why Superboy Prime could not have done this or that.

Incidentally, Ragnell has her own blog, Written World and kalinara's can be found at Pretty, Fizzy Paradise, both of which are more than worth checking out too.

So what are you waiting for? Check them out!

--Mister Fanboy Comics

We're B-A-C-K!

We're back from our trip to the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia where, apparently, Dial-Up internet access is still a brand-spankin' new techo-nawl-igy, dag-nabit. Broad-baynd? Whuss dat?

Anyway, it will take us a few days to get back into the swing of things. In the meantime, check out the New Joe Friday's Column over at Newsarama. They're you'll learn all about the Civil War issue delays (sigh) and some serious backtracking on the gay character issue.

9/11-- What If It Never Happened?

New York Metro Magazine has an article where they wonder what might be different if 9/11 didn't happen. We guess that Shrub would not have been elected to a 2nd term, the sham that led us to Iraq wouldn't have either, and we'd all be feeling a lot better about being Americans. If you are an American, The article has a variety of perspectives from folks from many walks of life. Ex Machina creators Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris, answer the What If 9/11 Never Happened question with RUDY GIULIANI WOULDN'T BE "AMERICA'S MAYOR. The caption to the above reads: Sitting at his usual table at Windows on the wrld, former mayor Rudolph Giuliani dines alone, unnoticed.

Drama At Wizard

The Wizard Group, publishers of its namesake magazine, as well as other media pulbications, and organizer of many cons seems to having some trouble. Read the article here. Ignore the positive spin blathering from its suits, as they always say that. Kind of like George Bush saying we are winning the war in Iraq.

Avengers Coming To The Big Screen

Last week Marvel announced that a live-action Avengers film is in developent, as well as a direct-to-DVD animated Teen Avengers film. As usual, no idea yet if they will be any good.

Marvel's Got A Gay Character Policy and It Makes No Sense

It's like we're in 1982 all over again. No logic to this whatsoever. Read the article from the Blog At Newsarama here, and then follow the link to the Advocate article from there.

Animated Hellboy Film To Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network will premier the Hellboy: Sword of Storms animated film on October 28. That's our birthday weekend. Now that you have well over three months, you have no excuse not to give us a gift.

Jude To Be Zod?

Rumors abound that Jude Law may be cast as Zod in the Superman Returns sequel. Film buffs may recall that Zod was one of the three imprisoned Kryptonians that made their way to Earth and tried to take down Superman in Superman II.

Zod led the group of three and was portrayed by Terrence Stamp. We thought Stamp was phenomenal in that role, but we think his best was that of the aging disinterested drag queen in The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

This is all a bit confusing and here's why: As far as we can tell, there's been no definitive announcement that a sequel will actually happen nor are we sure if this will be a remake of Superman II or if this is some other time. Back to Law he may look a bit like Stamp, but we have seen maybe one or two of his performances that we have actually liked. Hmmmm.

Hulk Wrestles With Huge One-Eyed Monster

No words are necessary. From the good folks at Superdickery.

We're off to vacation back East to the humid summer cesspool that is DC and then to the mountains. Not sure how much internet access we'll have, so posts may be infrequent through 8/19. Thanks for checking out the blog. In the meantime, check out the archives and we'll be back as soon as we can.

Who Wants To Shill For William Shatner?

William Shatner, apparently wanting for more money, is hosting a contest where you can shill for his Sci-Fi DVD club. That's all fine and dandy, but a $1000 cash prize. That's way cheap. I'm guessing he makes that much in residuals in an hour from old episodes of Star Trek and TJ Hooker, not to mention The Twilight Zone. For a snarky look at the whole thing, check out Defamer. Why, oh why? However, I could so do this. Hmmm, maybe I'll apply ....

On a side note, his album from a few years ago entitled Has Been that he did with Ben Folds is genius. We shit you not. Get it.

Pickle-Phobia

Thanks to The Gilded Moose for sharing this with all of us. It's okay, you can have the same response we did -- WHAT THE FUCK? It's worth noting that we had the same response when we saw Donnie Darko the first time, but the sentiments are entirely different.

Bendis vs. Simone: Comic Creator Smackdown Or A Tempest In A Teapot

Whoa. What happened? People are fighting. The vibe is getting all weird. Mr. Bendis our history teacher and Miss Simone or Arts teacher just started arguing with each other. They're both two of our favorite. Read all about at the Blog At Newsarama. Please stop. I get enough of that at home, I don't want it at school. What dad? Fuck you. No dad, what about you. Fuck you ...

Yeah, the underlying issues are serious. But take a breather before this gets ahead of either of you and consider your options. Can't we all just get along?

Incoming! When Grace Jones Attacks!

DUCK! Curious? Check this out. Or maybe it's Whitney needing a fix. Hard to tell.

10+ Hottest Women Superhero/Good Gal Comic Characters

Going with the theme the weather seems to have foisted upon us nationwide, the crack (yes, we said crack) Mister Fanboy staff has compiled their list of the 10 hottest female superhero/good gal characters in comics. Granted, the list is very subjective and the costumes you see are the ones we like - others, not so much. We know that there are those among you that will quibble with the list, particularly with the omissions of Power Girl, Wonder Woman, or Scarlet Witch. Let us know who you would have put on the list by leaving a comment. On with the list in no particular order whatsoever

Dazzler: Oh yeah, baby. Let us count the ways. Sexy singer with superpowers. And let's not forget the roller skates and all around Disco look. Quite possibly, one of our favorite mutants. Meow! Her current look ... we won't go there.

Emma Frost: Bitchy and slutty. The bad girl gone good (maybe) that's still bad enough that you shouldn't keep going back for more but you do anyway. Can someone please explain the physics of this costume?

Storm: Strong. capable, goddess who kicks ass. Who can ask for anything more. We're partial to the punk look here.

Zatanna: At first glance, you want to laugh, what with the top hat and fish net stockings. But they grow on you, much like a Catholic school girl's uniform.

Birds of Prey: Yeah, we realize that this is a cheat. Sue us. On the other hand, we're only going to look at the three current core members.

First we have the Black Canary. See above comments about Zatanna - plus she's a hard ass.

Second, we have Huntress, hard ass with a chip on her shoulder and a costume that forces you to look at her female assets.

And finally, Barbara Gordon, A.K.A. Oracle/Batgirl. In or out of the wheelchair she is hot. But it's not just the looks or the red hair (always a plus), but the brain too. That is sexy hawt!

Ms. Marvel: Although we HATE her costume, there's no denying that this law and order queen is looking good these days - real good.

She-Hulk: Green is good. We will leave it at that. Yee-haw!

Spider-Woman: It's amazing what the successful return from limbo can do for a 2nd tier character. The way she's represented in the New Avengers series seriously gets our blood boiling.

Daughters of the Dragon: Yeah, we realize that this is another cheat but you can't include the one without the other. Misty Knight has that look that Pam Grier had in Coffey; the kind where you know you'll have bruises (or a gunshot wound) the morning after, while Colleen Wing is just so s-m-o-o-t-h.

Kabuki: Hero or anti-hero? You decide. Meanwhile we'll enjoy the view. By the way, we could have gone with a pencil drawn piece, but wanted to show you something a bit out of the ordinary (although par for the course these days by David Mack) that was done with watercolors and was a bit softer. See, we can be sensitive too.

Now tell us what you think.

Peter David's Comic Writing Workshop

Hidden deep within the bowels of the Comic-Con site's forum's, there's an article from Wizard World Chicago about the Peter David Writing Workshop held there. Read it here. It's relatively brief and has some good tips on writing. David is the author of X-Factor and Fallen Angel, among others. Now if we would only get our shit together and put our most-excellent ideas to paper. Or laptop. Whatever. You can buy his book about this very subject here.

Differences Between DC and Marvel, Seriously

Regular readers of comics know that there is a different "feel" between comics at the big 2 publishers. The most obvious difference is that Marvel tends to root stories more in the real world whereas DC's are not. Of course there are mostly comic book stories so all of that needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The Absorbascon has a well-thought and interesting discussion about this. Check it out here.

Wizard World Chicago News Part II

Here's some of more news we culled from the web today. Visit Newsarama as they seem to have
the most complete information out there if need to know more.

*Depending on sales of 52, DC may try another weekly comic. Although we aren't currently pick it up, we probably will pick up the trades.

*Civil War impacted the start of the Brian Michael Bendis/Alex Maleev Spider-Woman ongoing series. Look for that some early in 2007.

*Jeph Loeb and Michael Turner on Ultimate Wolverine. Over the years, I've heard a lot of complaints about the number of books he's in. Currently, he's in Wolverine, Wolverine: Origins, New Avengers, Astonishing X-Men, X-Men, and Ultimate X-Men, not to mention all of this guest appearances and miniseries. I may be missing some too. This is now officially too many.

*Marvel editorial is looking at the possibility of a Luke Cage solo series. As long as there is lots of Jessica Jones, then all will be well. Additionally, a Thor solo series may be in the future.

*An upcoming issue of Action Comics written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner may be in 3-D.

*Marvel editorial continues to look for ways for Peter Parker/Spidey to be single again without killing or divorcing Mary Jane. Good luck with that.

*Watch for Demon in Shadowpact, Arsenal and John Stewart in Green Lantern, Jason Todd/Red Hood in Green Arrow, and Phantom Stranger in Blue Beetle.

*Civil War will impact Moon Knight with issue #8.

*Still no word on when Kevin Smith's Daredevil: Target will be completed. Come on guys this is YEARS late. Question for Smith: Why take a project when you can't finish it OR why not MAKE time to do it? Question for Marvel: Why are you still stringing us along. Which reminds us, has Dardevil: Father ever wrapped up? Speaking of late books, the final issues of Ultimate Hulk/Wolverine are being written.

*Chris Claremont's recovery continues and even visited the Marvel offices recently. Watch for new Claremont-penned issues of Exiles and New Excalibur beginning in January.

Bjork Pulled Out Of Storage To Be Displayed For Unknown Holiday: Catherine Deneuve Horrified

Soon she'll be flattened again and stored until next year's holiday, just like the turkey I have for Thanksgiving. We found this pic over at trading faces.

Wizard World Fan Awards Announced

The Blog At Newarama is reporting the full list of Wizard Magazine Fan Awards, which are listed below. Interestingly, they are not yet posted on the Wizard World Site.

FAVORITE PUBLISHER—Marvel Comics
FAVORITE ONGOING SERIES—Astonishing X-Men (Marvel Comics)
FAVORITE ONE-SHOT—Countdown to Infinite Crisis (DC Comics)
FAVORITE MINISERIES—Villains United (DC Comics)
COMICS’ GREATEST MOMENT—“No More Mutants” ( House of M #7)
FAVORITE WRITER—Geoff Johns (Flash, Green Lantern: Rebirth )
FAVORITE PENCILER—John Cassaday (Astonishing X-Men, Planetary)
FAVORITE INKER—Scott Williams (All Star Batman & Robin)
FAVORITE PAINTER—Alex Ross (Justice)
FAVORITE COLORIST—Laura Martin (Astonishing X-Men)
FAVORITE LETTERER—Chris Eliopoulous (Ultimates 2)
FAVORITE EDITOR—Axel Alonso (Amazing Spider-Man)
FAVORITE BREAKOUT TALENT—Allan Heinberg (Young Avengers)
FAVORITE COVER ARTIST—James Jean (Fables)
FAVORITE MALE HERO—Captain America (Marvel Comics)
FAVORITE FEMALE HERO—Kitty Pryde (Marvel Comics)
FAVORITE VILLAIN—Winter Soldier (Marvel Comics)
FAVORITE SUPPORTING CHARACTER—Jessica Jones (The Pulse)
FAVORITE COMIC MERCHANDISE—Batman B&W Mike Mignola statue (DC Direct)
FAVORITE ACTION FIGURE LINE—Marvel Legends (Toy Biz)
FAVORITE COMIC MOVIE PROJECT—“Batman Begins” (Warner Bros.)
FAVORITE TELEVISION SHOW—“Lost” (ABC)
FAVORITE DVD RELEASE—“Batman Begins” (Warner Home Video)
FAVORITE VIDEO GAME—X-Men Legends II (Activision)

Donald Rumsfeld, Defense Secretary, Arrogant Asshole, Poet AND The Unexplainable

Tits list (again) clued us into this. You know when she refers to him as "Rummy Rumsfelch" it's gonna be good. It's beautiful. It's wonderful. It's infuriating. It's hysterical.

You knew we'd be able to use that photo somehow.

And then she links to this, which is unexplainable. Take one part "Total Eclipse of the Heart," liberally mix in large home appliances, sprinkle in the detritus of kitchen life, and knead by 3 Europeans. Oh and there's ass too. Sort of.

Perversion For Profit

Check out this old anti-pornography PSA that tits list clued us into. It's funny. A bit long at 13 + minutes, it does keep getting better. It's from 1965. Apparently, we must feat the Porno-Octopus. As our dear friends know, we love the octopus and porn. Guess that makes us perverts! Nakedness foisted on us by a minority ... Judeo Christian overthrow ... Preoccupation with the female breast ... Best-iality (?) ... God-given gift of sex ... Nudist cult ... Few blind people join the nudist colonies ... Stimulated to murder by a nudist publication ... Physique magazies with a homosexual viewpoint ... prolonged exposure will pervert ... Misfits, Homosexuals ... Evils of the breed ... Gays prefer lads ... Transvestites ... Flagellation cults ... She-Males and He-Males. Woo-hoo! Thanks Tits!