Bradley’s Almanac

Comic-Con Come & Gone

Posted on July 25, 2006 at 9:40 pm | No Comments

Unless you’re a complete pop-culture neophyte, you know that the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con finished up a couple days ago, and even though I was totally on the wrong coast for it, I was there in geek-spirit. In honor of that ever-growing entertainment love-fest, I offer you a little diversion as I write about one of my non-music obsessions. Read this whole thing, and you might just get a prize. No, really…

Keeping tabs on this year’s Comic-Con was easier then ever, with regular updates at Newsarama, Between the Panels, Bags & Boards, Heidi MacDonald’s The Beat, the Onion’s A.V. Club, and on-site updates from my internet crush, Whitney at Pop Candy. My RSS reader was refreshing non-stop.

The A.V. Club offered up four reports (1,2,3,4), The Beat has a bunch of great video posts (divx-style), including one with James Kochalka (who also got a plug at Pop Candy). PC’s Ms. Matheson, who usually takes weekends off, did a bunch of overtime with panel coverage and random news bits, as did BtP’s Jevon Phillips. All well worth a read through, especially Whitney’s pre-Con primer post, ‘Comics For People Who Don’t Read Comics‘. If that sounds like you, dive in.

It’s a fine time to be a Mike Mignola fan, for a few reasons: Not only do we still get a regular supply of new Hellboy-related comics (the latest BPRD collection, ‘The Black Flame‘ is excellent), but there’s a wealth of other Mignola media available…

The pilot episode for the animated adaptation of ‘The Amazing Screw-On Head‘ is available for free online viewing (it debuts on the Sci-Fi Channel this Thursday, for the bandwidth-challenged). I loved the thing, and hope we get more than just a pilot, which perfectly captured the humor, action, and art-style of the printed work. Great dialogue that often got me laughing out loud in front of my laptop, with a solid voice cast that includes including Paul Giamatti, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, and personal-fave Patton Oswalt (who must be geeking out to be involved, unabashed comic nrrd that he is). Check out a Newsarama interview with animated series creator Brian Fuller (Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me) right here, and if you watch the episode, make sure you fill out this sci-fi.com survey. But only if you liked it, of course. Naysayers keep quiet!

As much as I dug that pilot, I’m even more excited about the upcoming Hellboy animated film, ‘Sword of Storms‘, which appears on DVD in October (and is not to be confused with GRRM’s ace fantasy novel ‘A Storm of Swords‘). I’ve been following writer/director/producer Tad Stones’ blog since it appeared last November, and while he’s been offering up some very cool images and insights into the creation process, the mother of all previews came this past weekend at Comic-Con. Check out an entire hour-long panel, with Tad, Hellboy creator Mignola, producer Guillermo Del Toro, screenplay writer Matt Wayne, and character designer Sean “Cheeks” Galloway. The panel includes a 6-minute clip from ‘Sword of Storms‘, which you can grab on its own over here. While the translation of Mignola’s signature drawing-style isn’t anywhere near direct as it appears with Screw-On Head, they smartly stuck with nearly the same cast from Del Toro’s 2004 live action film for the voicework (including Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, and John Hurt). The excerpt smartly shows off a couple of the required storytelling staples: Hellboy smacking around some big-uglies with his stony right hand while saying ‘Awww… Crap’? Check. Liz nearly losing control after reluctantly roasting up some of the undead? Roger that. Looking forward to seeing what else they give us in just a couple months.

Assuming that the film, and it’s January ’07 follow-up ‘Blood and Iron‘, do well enough, we’ll be getting more direct-to-DVD Hellboy down the road. Considering that a sequel to Del Toro’s live-action film is currently up in the air, let’s hope those DVDs sell mightily.

Check out both an interview with Tad Stones and a write-up of the panel over at Bags & Boards, and take a look at this nifty Mignola-illustrated promo-poster for Guillermo Del Toro’s next film, Pan’s Labyrinth. Quite excited for that one, I am.

Some of the more straightforward superheroes over at DC Comics are are also taking the direct-to-DVD route, with the announcement that one of my favorite stories from a couple years back, Darwyn Cooke’sThe New Frontier‘ will be getting the movie treatment. Alongside that we’ll see an animated version of the classic 1980’s Teen Titans tale, ‘The Judas Contract‘. Loved loved loved that story arc when I was a kid, and it’s nice to hear that original creators Marv Wolfman & George Perez will be involved in the adaptation. Also slated for release is a personally less-exciting Superman/Doomsday film. The best part? The whole project is being overseen by Bruce Timm. If you know who he is, you know why that’s good news.

A whole bunch of DC characters will also be appearing on TV screens, but those screens will have a gaming console attached to them. The release of the previously announced Justice League Heroes videogame (Xbox, PS2 and PSP) is getting closer, and the offical site has a couple of production blog posts up. A hands-on review was posted after E3, and more recently Justice League Unlimited writer Dwayne McDuffie was interviewed about his scripting work in the game. McDuffie’s involvement bodes very well for the storyline and character portrayals, and seeing what he comes up with is probably the main reason I’ll be picking this one up. Especially after the finale of the JLU animated series last spring.

While comics-to-screen adaptations are fairly commonplace, TV-to-comics projects are much less so… especially ones I actually care about. Suddenly, there are three books in the works that I’m curious to see…

  • Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer have probably heard that the show will live on in comics pages, as creator Joss Whedeon writes a six-issue series that many are calling ‘season eight’. Not sure if that’s the official title, but issue #1 arrives in October from Dark Horse, and you can get a look at some preview art over at EW’s PopWatch.
  • A Buffy comic is hardly surprising… but a My Name Is Earl‘ comic sure as hell is. In a ‘very pleasant surprise’ kind of way. It’s one of the best comedies on television, and the book is coming out on Oni Press, one of my fave imprints. It’s being written by one of the show’s writers, Hunter Covington, who is also the script coordinator and a big comics fans. My biggest hope: That the artists (including Dean Trippe, Steve Rolston and Dave Crosland) are able to capture Jason Lee’s hilarious facial expressions. And hey, if the comic gets super-huge… Crab Man action figure! Oh, to dream.
  • Think this whole TV-to-comic thing can’t get any weirder? Oh, but it can! Oni is also bringing us… a Colbert Report comic? Yes. But not of the show itself, of course. Believe it or not, we’re actually getting graphical telling of Colbert’s fictional novel, ‘Stephen Colbert�s Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: A Tek Jansen Adventure‘. Look for Colbert to display it proudly on his studio’s bookshelf in spring of next year.
  • As they are every year, the 2006 Eisner Awards were announced and presented at Comic-Con, and while a couple of my faves nominees were denied (Zak Sally for a ‘Recidivist‘ story, Warren ‘I’ve never won one and never will’ Ellis for Desolation Jones, Fell, & Ocean), there were a bunch of other winners I very much agreed with…

    Best Archival Collection – Comic Strips: The Complete Calvin & Hobbes, by Bill Watterson

    Best Archival Collection – Comic Books: Absolute Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

    Best Penciller/Inker: John Cassaday (for Astonishing X-Men & Planetary)

    Best Cover Artist: James Jean (for Fables & Runaways)

    Best Lettering: Todd Klein (especially on Desolation Jones, Promethea, Top Ten: The Forty-Niners, & Fables)

    Best Graphic Album � New: Top Ten: The Forty-Niners, by Alan Moore & Gene Ha

    Best Graphic Album � Reprint: Black Hole, by Charles Burns

    Best Writer: Alan Moore (Promethea, Top Ten: The Forty-Niners)

    Best Writer/Artist: Geof Darrow (Shaolin Cowboy)

    Best Limited Series: Seven Soldiers, by Grant Morrison and various artists

    Best New Series: All Star Superman, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

    Best Serialized Story: Fables �Return to the Homelands,� by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and Steve Leialoha

    For a complete list of the 2006 Eisner Award winners, go here.

    Speaking of Warren Ellis, I’m eagerly awaiting more details on the new half-hour TV series pilot that he’s been contracted to create and write for AMC. It’s been described as a “sf/entertainment-industry dramedy”. Whatever it is, I’m ready.

    And something I’m not sure I’d be ready for: a possible Preacher series on HBO. Don’t get me wrong, if my favorite comic series ever gets visualized, HBO would be a fitting place for it, and it’d be nice to have something longer than the stalled movie adapatation. But I’m so close to the books that the whole idea makes me a tad nervous. We’ll see if it ever becomes more than a rumor, though.

    An adaptation I’m more than happy to see: A drawn b&w version of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami short story ‘On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning‘. I’m still in a Murakami mood, making my way through his entire bibliography (after a brief detour into Banana Yoshimoto). Just started in on ‘Sputnik Sweetheart‘.

    Some of these are very cool, others are very not: Superheroes incorporated into works of fine art. Equals parts awe and shudder.

    Suicide Girls offers up a little light reading to go with your emo-erotica: interviews with a couple of the best comics writers around. Greg Rucka chats about all sorts of stuff (including the fact that a ‘Whiteout’ movie movement should be happening soon) and Alan Moore talks about Lost Girls, his new fairy-tale sex story, and about the state of television. Nice to find out he’s a big fan of The Wire (season four soon!), even cooler to know how much he digs crime novelist George Pelecanos.

    I mentioned the unabashed nerd-pride of Patton Oswalt above, and you need no further proof than the unaired Super-Nerds TV pilot over on YouTube. Oswalt plays a comic shop manager, fellow comedian (and comic writer) Brian Posehn plays an in-store hang-arounder, and Sarah Silverman stops in to play the “pretty girl who reads comics?!”. Middle America never woulda bought that, right? And it’s almost too geeky to hang the plot on a smashed Star Trek statue. Even for me.

    Picture books I’ve been digging lately: Rick Veitch�s epic “Can�t Get No” (reviewed here, buy it here), that aforementioned BPRD book “The Black Flame“, and the latest Fables collection, “Arabian Nights (and Days)“. Glad to hear Bill Willingham announce a new original Fables graphic novel, “1001 Nights of Snowfall“, which arrives in October.

    Writer/artist Brian Wood has been getting a bunch of mainstream press this year, thanks to his great work on Vertigo’s DMZ series and his other current books, Local (from Oni) and Supermarket (on IDW). Wizard Magazine spotlighted him back in February (read it here and here), and Entertainment Weekly gave the first DMZ collection, ‘On The Ground’, an ‘EW Pick‘ in its new issue. Local, his 12-issue limited series with Ryan Kelly that sets each story in a different locale, got some love from G4’s Attack of the Show yesterday (video clip here). The series is almost halfway done, with the fifth issue out and the sixth in the works (set in Brian’s current home-base of Park Slope, Brooklyn), and Brian recently spilled the remaining backdrops. In no particular order, we’ll see Ann Arbor, MI, Norman, OK, Austin, TX, and Chicago, IL. Last but hardly least, issue 12 will be set in Burlington, Vermont, our shared childhood stomping grounds. Goes without saying, but I can’t wait to see Ryan Kelly’s take on some too-familiar sites.

    Which brings us to the giveaway I promised way back at the beginning of this epic post. Since I just picked up Brian Wood’s ‘On The Ground‘ collection, I’ve got an extra set of the original five issues found within. Brian was here in town recently for a New England Comics signing, and scribbled his signature in the cover of the debut issue, so if you live in the U.S. or Canada, drop me an email (address in the left hand column) with ‘DMZ’ as the subject sometime before Monday. I’ll randomly pick a winner of that signed copy (along with issues two through five) and send it along next week . And no, I’ll not ask you to answer some obscure comics trivia question. As a matter of fact, I’d be psyched if they went to a comics novice. Actually, I’d be very surprised if a comics novice made it all the way to the end of this post…

    Tomorrow, back to music, with a live set from Scotland’s Camera Obscura.

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  • BOSTON-AREA LIVE SHOW ACTION
    Thursday, March 21st
    Otoboke Beaver
    Drinking Boys & Girls Choir
    Editrix
    @ the Royale

    Thursday, March 21st
    Laetitia Sadier
    (of Stereolab)
    Storefront Church
    @ the Somerville Armory

    Friday, March 22nd
    Consumer
    Tysk Tysk Task
    Vivid Bloom
    Little Fuss
    @ Deep Cuts

    Friday, March 22nd
    Fog Lake
    @ the Somerville Armory

    Saturday, March 23rd
    Incinerator
    Karen Zanes
    Land of Enchantment
    Audrey & Karina
    @ the Loft, Somerville

    Saturday, March 23rd
    Stars Like Ours
    Andrea Gillis
    @ the Lizard Lounge

    Monday, March 25th
    Unwound (!)
    Cherubs
    @ the Paradise

    Monday, March 25th
    Andy Shauf (solo)
    @ First Church Cambridge

    Tuesday, March 26th
    Anders Parker
    @ an Allston Living Room

    Wednesday, March 27th
    Thalia Zedek
    @ the Square Root

    Thursday, March 28th
    Thus Love
    Native Sun
    Robber Robber
    @ O'Brien's

    Thursday, March 28th
    Arlo Parks
    Chloe George
    @ the Royale

    Friday, March 29th
    Grouplove
    Bully
    @ Roadrunner

    Friday, March 29th
    The Rolling Stones
    @ Gillette

    Saturday, March 30th
    Ex-Hyena (release show!)
    The Shallows
    CMB (Casey Desmond/Jimmy Rossi Jr.)
    @ Deep Cuts

    Saturday, March 30th
    Guster
    Fruit Bats
    @ MGM Music Hall

    Saturday, March 30th
    The Cavedogs
    @ the Burren Back Room

    Monday, April 1st
    Adam Ant
    The English Beat
    @ the Wilbur

    Friday, April 5th
    Joe Pernice (solo)
    @ a Boston living room

    Friday, April 5th
    Richard Thompson
    @ the Cut, Gloucester

    Saturday, April 6th
    Choo Choo La Rouge
    Lupo Citta
    The Bret Tobias Set
    Jay Walsh
    @ the Midway Cafe

    Saturday, April 6th
    Land Of Talk
    @ Rockwood Music Hall

    Saturday, April 6th
    Destroyer (solo)
    Lightning Dust
    @ Brighton Music Hall

    Saturday, April 6th
    Choo Choo La Rouge
    Lupo Citta
    The Bret Tobias Set
    Jay Walsh (of the Douglas Fir)
    @ the Midway Cafe

    Saturday, April 6th
    Colin Hay (Men at Work)
    @ the Wilbur

    Monday, April 8th
    Swami & the Bed of Nails
    (John Reis of Hot Snakes/RFTC/etc)
    The Freqs
    @ Crystal Ballroom

    Tuesday, April 9th
    Moron's Morons
    Andy California
    Adult Learners
    G. Gordon Gritty
    @ O'Brien's

    Thursday, April 11th
    Trash Sun
    @ O'Brien's

    Thursday, April 11th
    Hotline TNT
    Cicada
    @ the Somerville Armory

    Saturday, April 13th
    Dead Gowns
    Kathy Snax
    Hannah Mohan
    Audrey & Karina
    @ the Loft, Somerville

    Saturday, April 13th
    DARK SPRING BOSTON FEST
    with Korine, House of Harm,
    Widow Rings, Allie Frost,
    Hemlock for Socrates,
    Midnight Psychic, the
    Spearmint Sea, and more
    @ the Middle East

    Sunday, April 14th
    Woods
    Avey Tare
    @ the Sinclair

    Monday, April 15th
    Matthew Sweet
    @ the Wilbur

    Wednesday, April 17th
    Metz
    @ the Crystal Ballroom

    Wednesday, April 17th
    Real Estate
    Marina Allen
    @ the Royale

    Friday, April 19th
    Quattracenta
    Thalia Zedek Band
    Rip Room
    @ the Midway Cafe

    Friday, April 19th
    Drop Nineteens
    Greg Mendez
    @ the Paradise

    Wednesday, April 24th
    Teen Suicide
    awakebutstillinbed
    @ the Crystal Ballroom

    Friday, April 26th
    Waxahatchee
    Good Morning
    @ the Orpheum

    Friday & Saturday
    April 26th & 27th
    The Town & the City Festival
    @ various venues in Lowell, MA

    Saturday, April 27th
    Kal Marks
    Grocer
    Bedroom Eyes
    Main Era
    @ O'Brien's

    Saturday, April 27th
    Belle and Sebastian
    The Weather Station
    @ the Orpheum

    Sunday, April 28th
    Yot Club
    Boyscott
    @ Brighton Music Hall

    Tuesday, April 30th
    Adult Learners
    Perfectly Lethal
    Over Ends
    Free with food donation
    @ Notch Brewing Brighton

    Tuesday, April 30th
    Teenage Fanclub
    @ the Paradise

    Wednesday, May 1st
    Ty Segall
    @ the Royale

    Thursday, May 2nd
    Outer World
    @ Deep Cuts

    Thursday, May 2nd
    The Decemberists
    Ratboys
    @ Roadrunner

    Friday, May 3rd
    Ra Ra Riot
    @ the Royale

    Saturday, May 4th
    Slothrust
    Weakened Friends
    @ the Sinclair

    Saturday, May 4th
    The Lights Out
    Gretchen Shae & The Middle 8
    Brian K & The Parkway
    @ Faces Brewing

    Sunday, May 5th
    Sheer Mag
    Pile
    @ Crystal Ballroom

    Sunday, May 5th
    CSS
    @ the Sinclair

    Monday, May 6th
    Cloud Nothings
    @ the Crystal Ballroom

    Tuesday, May 7th
    Bad Religion
    Social Distortion
    (playing "Mommy's Little Monster")
    @ MGM Music Hall

    Wednesday, May 8th
    Todd Rundgren
    @ the Wilbur

    Wednesday, May 8th
    Chastity Belt
    @ the Sinclair

    Thursday, May 9th
    Cheekface
    Yungatita
    @ Brighton Music Hall

    Friday, May 10th
    Hot Water Music
    30 Year Anniversary Tour
    with Quicksand
    & Off With Their Heads
    @ the Royale

    Friday, May 10th
    Sarah Shook & the Disarmers
    @ the Cut, Gloucester

    Saturday, May 11th
    Bradley's Almanac (that's me) presents...
    SAVAK
    SAMUEL s.c.
    HEY I'M OUTSIDE
    PLAZA
    8pm @ O'Brien's

    Saturday, May 11th
    Ride
    @ Big Night Live

    Saturday, May 11th
    Hallelujah the Hills
    Colleen Green
    Mallcops
    @ Deep Cuts

    Sunday, May 12th
    Sunny Day Real Estate
    @ Big Night Live

    Monday & Tuesday
    May 13th & May 14th
    Mannequin Pussy
    Soul Glo
    @ the Sinclair

    Tuesday, May 14th
    Swans
    @ the Paradise

    Wednesday, May 15th
    Wussy (duo show)
    @ an Allston living room

    Thursday, May 16th
    Helmet
    Cro-Mags
    @ the Middle East Downstairs

    Friday, May 17th
    Special Sapphic Pride Show
    Ruby Grove
    Galaxy Cake
    Miss Geo
    Linnea's Garden
    @ the Loft, Somerville

    Friday, May 17th
    Neil Young & Crazy Horse
    @ the Xfinity Center

    Thursday, Friday, & Saturday
    May 16th, 17th, & 18th
    Jukebox the Ghost
    @ the Sinclair

    Friday, May 17th
    Buck Meek (of Big Thief)
    @ Crystal Ballroom

    Saturday, May 18th
    The Messthetics
    James Brandon Lewis
    @ the Crystal Ballroom

    Monday, May 20th
    Echo & the Bunnymen
    @ the House of Blues

    Tuesday, May 21st
    Another Michael
    Tenci
    @ the Rockwell

    Tuesday, May 28th
    Shannon & the Clams
    @ the Sinclair

    Tuesday, May 28th
    Brookline Booksmith presents...
    Kathleen Hanna
    "Rebel Girl" book tour
    @ the Wilbur

    Wednesday, May 29th
    The Alarm
    Jay Aston's Gene Love Jezebel
    Belouis Some
    @ Brighton Music Hall

    Wednesday, May 29th
    Madness
    @ MGM Music Hall

    Thursday, May 30th
    Camera Obscura
    @ the Paradise

    Thursday, May 30th
    Nation Of Language
    @ the Royale

    Tuesday, June 4th
    Melt-Banana
    The Flying Luttenbachers
    babyaby_explores
    @ the Sinclair

    Tuesday, June 4th
    Joe Jackson
    @ the Wilbur

    Wednesday, June 5th
    Andy Summers (The Police)
    @ Cary Hall, Lexington

    Thursday, June 6th
    Reverend Horton Heat
    @ the Crystal Ballroom

    Friday, June 7th
    Joe Pera
    @ the Wilbur

    Monday, June 10th
    Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade) @ Brighton Music Hall

    Monday, June 10th
    Bleachers
    Samia
    @ MGM Music Hall

    Thursday, June 13th
    Jon Langford & the Bright Shiners
    @ the Cut, Gloucester

    Thursday, June 13th
    Aaron West & the Roaring Twenties
    Future Teens
    Maura Weaver
    @ Brighton Music Hall

    Friday, June 14th
    Dylan Earl
    Tiger Saw
    Audrey & Karina
    & one more artist tba
    @ the Loft, Somerville

    Sunday, June 16th
    Pixies
    Modest Mouse
    Cat Power
    @ Xfinity Center

    Wednesday, June 19th
    Future Islands
    @ Roadrunner

    Friday, June 21st
    The Church
    The Afghan Whigs
    Ed Harcourt
    @ the Royale

    Friday, June 21st
    Blushing
    Airiel
    Bodywash
    @ Deep Cuts

    Saturday, June 22nd
    Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
    playing "Shake The Sheets"
    with guests
    Ekko Astral
    @ the Paradise

    Saturday, June 22nd
    Guided By Voices
    The Moles
    @ the Royale

    Tuesday, June 25th
    Jon Anderson (of Yes)
    playing “Yes Epics, Classics, and More”
    @ the Shubert Theatre

    Tuesday, June 25th
    Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
    Courtney Marie Andrews
    @ Roadrunner

    Friday, June 28th
    Janet Jackson
    Nelly
    @ TD Garden

    Sunday, June 30th
    Les Savy Fav
    @ Somerville Armory