kate

Details are slim, but it’s obviously early days. Arrested Development’s producer Brian Grazer has told Bloomberg that negotiation are underway for Netflix to get another run of the show.

We are in conversations with them to do another. They are interested in doing that.

Where will this leave the movie? We’ve had it pitched to us that this recent Netflix series was “act one” and a film would wrap up acts two and three.

I suppose the movie is going to be left carrying just act three now.

I understand that there was a lot of fancy editing and even green screen trickery required to get the cast on screen together for the last run. These are busy, popular people. Could we see some opt out of the next series altogether? Might that kill the plans? Or could we all just be left waiting for years?

Incidentally, Netflix made their other comedy series, Orange Is The New Black, available today and it’s very good. Perhaps this video will give you some clues as to how and why.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Netflix Making Deals For Second Series Of Arrested Development

rubycosmos:

Me in line for Pacific Rim this weekend.

Super Robot Chogokin Grendizer (Already Released, Price: 5,000 Yen)
Review by Taste
GG INFINITE: ORDER HERE






































 

The future under The Hat Building is being revealed...

When the schedule was announced a couple of weeks ago, a lot of people were confused as so many of the films coming out from Walt Disney Animation Studios had the same name: "untitled".  Well, perhaps it should've just been said unrevealed.  Because now we will slowly start to give you a hint as to what lies ahead, and what you can be prepared to see over the next few years.

Other sites have started to get an inkling as to what is ahead, so I've been given permission to reveal a  little more of what's ahead by my Bothans.  After "Frozen" comes out this year (expect the actual trailer out around "Cloudy 2") we have next year's most unusual animated film yet with the Marvel adaptation of "Big Hero 6" to make an impression on Disney fans like no film before it.  WDAS takes a year break before starting back again on 2016 with Byron Howard's (sans Greno who was attached before his own project) "Zootopia" staring a very foxy Jason Bateman.  Then Nathan Greno's new twist on fairy tales entitled "Giants" which will show you how much his influence on "Tangled" truly was ends out 2016.

After a short break we'll finally get Ron and John's next feature, "Moana" which will be a Polynesian tale involving the island folk and the idols made famous the world over.  It will also mark the directing duo's first computer animated film, or at least computer hybrid animated film (think "Paperman").  Following that, if story issues are worked out Dean Wellin's teenage space race animated film will rush to the screens.  Wellin's film is an unusual story that is different from most Disney Animation, just as Big Hero 6 marks a change in perception of what comes from the Mouse.

After that there are a couple projects being developed right now that are way too early to really get into.  But as you can see, the list of animated films coming ahead are more than just fairy tales.  And John Lasseter is working hard to make sure that the quality and content are focused and entertaining the way that fans expect animated films from Burbank.  So to put it in chronological perspective for you here is the schedule:


Frozen (2013)

Big Hero 6 (2014)

Zootopia (2016)

Giants (2016)

Moana (TBA, likely 2018)

Untitled Dean Wellin's  animated feature ( TBA, likely 2018)


Just get some animated shorts in front of them...

"Mr. DBZ" Hironobu Kageyama of "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA" fame and his band, anime song super group JAM Project (Masaaki Endoh, Hiroshi Kitadani, Masami Okui and Yoshiki Fukuyama), are holding a Dragon Ball Z themed concert in Hollywood on August 18 to benefit the non-profit JAAF, promoting contemporary Japanese culture and arts.

 

It takes place August 18th, 2013 at 8-10pm at Musicians Institute Concert Hall, 1655 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood 90028.

 

Tickets are available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/409987. They're $20, or $25 to participate in a cosplay contest feature $500 and tickets to Anime Expo 2014 in prizes.

 

 

 

via Dao of Dragon Ball (who is giving away tickets)

 

 ------
Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

The remaining half of programming for San Diego Comic-Con has been announced, and for your convenience, we have separated out every animation-related program. The sheer number of programs is impressive, and fans of TV animation—past, present and future—have especially rich pickings. Nostalgia is rampant on Saturday and Sunday with panels devoted to The Simpsons, Futurama, Pinky and the Brain, The Tick, Batman: The Animated Series, and the Disney Afternoon.

Creators of current and upcoming TV shows are also well represented, including Alex Hirsch (Gravity Falls), Pete Browngardt (Uncle Grandpa), Rebecca Sugar (Steven Universe), Skyler Page (Clarence), J.J. Villard (King Star King), Will Carsola and Dave Stewart (Mr. Pickles), Glen Murakami and Mitch Watson (Beware the Batman) and numerous others. Visit the Comic-Con website for program updates and additional information.

Animation Events: Saturday, July 20

Creating Animated Series
What does it take to create or develop an animated TV series? Do you have to be a writer? An artist or animator? Both? Neither? What do you have to have to pitch an idea, and what are the studios and networks looking for? Members of the Writers Guild of America’s Animation Writers Caucus who have created and developed series and network/studio executives who buy them talk about it and answer your questions. Ted Biaselli (VP, programming and development, The Hub), Steven Melching (Transformers Prime, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Craig Miller (Pocket Dragon Adventures, Trash Pack), Bob Roth (Disney’s Legend of Tarzan, Penguins of Madagascar), and Dean Stefan (Matchbox Big Rig Buddies,Quack Pack) join the discussion.
Saturday July 20, 2013 10:00am – 11:00am
Room 9

Hasbro Studios: My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
Representatives from Hasbro Studios and The Hub TV Network’s My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic share details of the making of the popular animated series and how the “friendship” and “magic” are brought to life. Also includes Q&A time.
Saturday July 20, 2013 10:00am – 11:00am
Room 25ABC

Marvel Television Presents
It’s the biggest, most animated Marvel Television panel ever! Join Marvel’s head of television, Jeph Loeb, for the latest from inside Marvel Universe on Disney XD, including what’s next for Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man, a new episode of the hit series Marvel’s Avengers Assemble, and the world premiere of Marvel’s Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.
Saturday July 20, 2013 10:30am – 11:30am
Room 6BCF

Avatar the Last Airbender: Beginning and Beyond
This panel is for fans who can’t get enough of the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe. Moderator Avatar_Mom, Kevin Coppa (Puppetbenders), Alisa Christopher (FatCat Gameworks), Gene Luen Yang (writer, The Promise/The Search), Gurihiru (artist team Sasaki and Kawano, The Promise/The Search), Sifu Kisu (martial arts coordinator), and Dante Basco (voice of Zuko/General Iroh) will be on hand to share their experiences and answer questions. Who knows, perhaps a surprise guest or two might stop in! Finally, the panel will end with a show of talented cosplay contestants.
Saturday July 20, 2013 11:00am – 12:00pm
Room 29A

Gravity Falls
Creator and executive producer Alex Hirsch (Grunkle Stan), creative director Michael Rianda, and series stars Jason Ritter (Dipper) and Kristin Schaal (Mabel) uncover the mysteries of Disney Channel’s hit series Gravity Falls. Find out what’s in store for television’s spookiest town with an exclusive clip from the show’s exciting season finale and an audience Q&A. The panel will feature a sneak peek of Wander Over Yonder, the new series coming from Craig McCracken (Powerpuff Girls).
Saturday July 20, 2013 11:00am – 12:00pm
Room 7AB

Mattel: Monster High 2013: Where SCREAMS Come True!
Celebrate the freaky fabulous year of 13 with the Monster High Team! Get a freak peek at exclusive scenes from the newest Monster High DVD, 13 Wishes (this fall from Universal Studios Home Entertainment). The freaky talented Monster High voice actors, including Erin Fitzgerald (voice of Abbey, Spectra, Scarah, and Rochelle), Debi Derryberry (voice of Draculaura), and America Young (voice of Howleen and Toralei), will discuss the making of the ghouls’ latest adventure. Moderated by Emmy Award-winning executive producer of Monster High, Audu Paden. But that’s not all…the Monster High team is just dying to share more secrets lurking the halls of Monster High! Garrett Sander, Rebecca Shipman, Natalie Villegas, and Javier Meabe (toy designers), Roy Juarez (packaging designer), and Eric Hardie (copywriter) will reveal uhhh-mazing new Monster High ghouls and how they came to un-life! Don’t forget to dress your monster best for a chance to win some scary cool prizes!
Saturday July 20, 2013 11:00am – 12:00pm
Room 25ABC

Futurama
We’re dooooooooomed! An epic panel for the ages will celebrate Futurama‘s latest and greatest final season. On hand will be most or all of Futurama‘s legendary voice cast, consisting of Billy West, John DiMaggio, Katey Sagal, Maurice LaMarche, Tress MacNeille, David Herman, Phil LaMarr, and Lauren Tom, performing never-before-heard scenes from the upcoming “Last Episode Ever.” Plus executive producer David X. Cohen, creator Matt Groening, and a cartooning showdown to the death! (Note: actual death not guaranteed.)
Saturday July 20, 2013 12:00pm – 12:45pm
Ballroom 20

The Simpsons
Celebrate The Simpsons’ 25th year on the air with creator Matt Groening, executive producer Al Jean, supervising director Mike Anderson, and consulting producer David Silverman, enjoy never-before seen footage from guest director Guillermo del Toro, and hear musical guests perform “We Put The Spring In Springfield!”
Saturday July 20, 2013 12:45pm – 1:30pm
Ballroom 20

Cartoon Voices I
Each year, moderator Mark Evanier gathers a bevy of the most talented cartoon voice actors working today and invites them to explain and demonstrate their artistry! This year’s lineup includes Scott Menville (Teen Titans Go, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Grey DeLisle (Scooby Doo, Pound Puppies), Christopher Cox (Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Family Guy), David Boat (Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Family Guy), Michael Leon-Wooley (The Princess and the Frog), and Kari Wahlgren (Bolt, Tangled).
Saturday July 20, 2013 1:00pm – 2:30pm
Room 6BCF

The Tick 25th Anniversary
Ben Edlund (the creator of The Tick), Chris McCulloch (Tick Karma Tornado artist/writer and Venture Bros. creator), and Bob Polio (art director of The Tick comic series) discuss the 25-year history of The Tick.
Saturday July 20, 2013 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Room 23ABC

Family Guy
The Griffins are back at Comic-Con for another raucous panel and a sneak peek at season 12, featuring Seth Green (Robot Chicken), Alex Borstein (MADtv, Shameless), and executive producer Rich Appel (The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show) plus other surprise guests.
Saturday July 20, 2013 1:45pm – 2:30pm
Ballroom 20

The Awesomes: A Hulu Original Series
The Awesomes is a new animated show for adults that combines the thrills of comic book storytelling with the irreverent and inspired comedy that is the hallmark of co-creators Seth Meyers (Saturday Night Live) and Mike Shoemaker (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon). It is the story of the greatest superhero team in history, The Awesomes, and what happens after all the most powerful members leave. Join co-creator/executive producer/ series star Meyers, co-creator/executive producer Shoemaker, writer/producer and comic book author Judd Winick (Batman: Under The Red Hood), and cast members Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live), Taran Killam (Saturday Night Live), Josh Meyers (That ’70s Show), Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live), and moderator Chris Hardwick (Talking Dead) for a special Comic-Con screening and audience Q&A. The Awesomes is the first animated Hulu Original Series and premieres August 1 on Hulu and Hulu Plus. It is a Hulu co-production with Broadway Video (Saturday Night Live) and Bento Box Entertainment (Bob’s Burgers). Watch The Awesomes first exclusively on Xbox 360 July 25-31.
Saturday July 20, 2013 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront

Abrams: An Adventure Time Encyclopedia Panel with The Lord of Evil and Marceline The Vampire Queen
A conversation moderated by Kent Osborne (head of story, Adventure Time) with Martin Olson (voice actor, The Lord of Evil), and Olivia Olson (voice actor, Marceline The Vampire Queen) about their new book from Abrams, The Adventure Time Encyclopedia, including a slide show and a dramatic reading from the book. Surprises may include a terrifying appearance by Hunson Abadeer himself, a music video from the Nightosphere, and Olivia singing with special surprise guests. Audience participation is encouraged for maximum chance of survival!
Saturday July 20, 2013 2:30pm – 3:30pm
Room 8

American Dad
Be on hand for an exclusive look at the new season, the world premiere of a song from the never-before-seen Christmas episode featuring the return of Krampus, and a Q&A featuring Wendy Schaal, Rachael MacFarlane, Scott Grimes (ER, Band of Brothers), Dee Bradley Baker (Phineas and Ferb, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), and more.
Saturday July 20, 2013 2:30pm – 3:15pm
Ballroom 20

Cartoon Network New Comedies: Uncle Grandpa, Steven Universe, and Clarence
Be the first to see an exclusive sneak peek of Cartoon Network Studio’s all new line up of chuckle-inducing comedies! The panel features Uncle Grandpa creator Pete Browngardt, creative director Audie Harrison, and Adam Devine (Workaholics) as the voice of Pizza Steve, Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar and creative director Ian Jones-Quartey, and Clarence creator Skyler Page. All your questions are sure to be answered and your anticipation is sure to be electrified!
Saturday July 20, 2013 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Room 6A

Pinky and the Brain 20th Anniversary Voice Reunion
Are you pondering what we’re pondering? How could two decades have passed since Pinky and the Brain first tried to take over the world? Celebrate one of the all-time funniest animated series when the original voices of the silly simpleton Pinky and his uber-genius pal Brain, Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche, join eight-time Emmy Award-winning dialogue director Andrea Romano for an hour of hilarious reminiscing. Narf!
Saturday July 20, 2013 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Lyceum

Spotlight on Paul Dini
As a writer, producer, and creator, Comic-Con special guest Paul Dini enjoys a flourishing career in all aspects of popular culture. Join Paul and moderator Bill Morrison (Futurama, Bongo Comics) as they look back at fan-favorite career highlights (Batman: The Animated Series, Arkham City, Lost, Tower Prep), some current projects (Hulk and the Agents of Smash, Black Canary and Zatanna), and a few surprises for the future.
Saturday July 20, 2013 3:30pm – 4:30pm
Room 24ABC

Spotlight on Vera Brosgol
Eisner Award winner and Comic-Con special guest Vera Brosgol (Anya’s Ghost) talks about her background and influences in writing, art, and animation with YA rock star Holly Black (The Coldest Girl in Cold Town).
Saturday July 20, 2013 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Room 4

Spotlight on Sam Kieth
Sam Kieth is one of the quirkiest and most eccentric artists in comics. His unique art style and incredible drawing ability have won him legions of fans worldwide. Now, in an extremely rare appearance at Comic-Con, you can join Sam, with his long-time friend and editor Scott Dunbier, in an informal gabfest covering the wild spectrum that is Sam’s career (Sandman, Wolverine, The Maxx, and much more).
Saturday July 20, 2013 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Room 9

[adult swim]: Rick and Morty
Premiering this winter, Rick and Morty is a show about a sociopathic scientist who drags his unintelligent grandson on insanely dangerous adventures across the universe. Executive producers Dan Harmon (Community, Channel 101) and Justin Roiland (Channel 101) will preview the new animated series and will be joined by writer Ryan Ridley and cast members Spencer Grammer (Greek) and Kari Wahlgren.
Saturday July 20, 2013 5:00pm – 5:45pm
Room 25ABC

Batman: The Animated Series Turns 21
Pop the champagne! The landmark television production Batman: The Animated Series turns 21 this year. Spend an hour with the creative core of this groundbreaking series — Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, and Eric Radomski — as they recollect the dynamics of crafting a series that would have a resounding influence on Dark Knight properties — and the entire animated television landscape — for two decades and counting.
Saturday July 20, 2013 5:45pm – 6:45pm
Room 6DE

[adult swim]: Aqua TV Show Show, Squidbillies, Superjail, King Star King, and Mr. Pickles
Dave Willis (Squidbillies, Aqua TV Show Show), Matt Maiellaro (Aqua TV Show Show), and Jim Fortier (Squidbillies) discuss the return of long-running animated series Aqua TV Show Show and Squidbillies. Christy Karacas (Robotomy) previews season 4 of Superjail. J. J. Villard (Monsters vs. Aliens), and Tommy Blacha (Metalocalypse) discuss King Star King. And get an exclusive look at Mr. Pickles from creators Will Carsola and Dave Stewart (Funny or Die Presents Nick Swardson’s Pretend Time).
Saturday July 20, 2013 5:45pm – 7:00pm
Room 25ABC

Animation Events: Sunday, July 21

DuckTales: Remastered
How do you take a beloved 24-year-old NES game and update it for today’s gamers while doing your best not to ruin anyone’s childhood? Go behind the scenes with Austin Ivansmith (director/designer), Matt Bozon (creative director), and Rey Jimenez (Capcom producer) for an in-depth look at how a great video game is made — from design, to art, to music, and more. Followed by a Q&A session, plus maybe a surprise or two.
Sunday July 21, 2013 10:00am – 11:00am
Room 25ABC

Emily the Strange Panel Experience
Join Emily the Strange creator Rob Reger and special guests to see the premiere of the Emily and the Strangers FIRST animated music video and single. See and hear private, behind-the-scenes footage in the recording studio and “making of” the animation. Take a sneak peek at the new comic book Emily and the Strangers #3 by Dark Horse Comics and hear more about the making of this new series and how it comes to life with Emily’s new band. There will be time for Q&A, including updates on the development of the motion picture with Universal Pictures and Dark Horse Entertainment. Reger will be encouraging “audience participation” to get giveaways, so bring on your strange and show him what you’ve got!
Sunday July 21, 2013 10:00am – 11:00am
Room 23ABC

LEGO Legends of Chima
The creators of LEGO Legends of Chima team up to discuss the development of the newest blockbuster LEGO property. Hear how the TV series is developed and see how LEGO model designers bring the characters and vehicles to life in LEGO form.
Sunday July 21, 2013 10:00am – 11:00am
Room 24ABC

San Diego International Children’s Film Festival
The San Diego International Children’s Film Festival presents creative, exciting, and imaginative short films from around the world — animation, live action, and documentary — good for all ages, throughout the day. Enjoy films from the U.S., Canada, Italy, Hungary, Croatia, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Spain, and beyond. Animators and filmmakers will talk about their work, ways kids can make their own films, and careers in animation and filmmaking.
Sunday July 21, 2013 10:00am – 5:00pm
Room 9

World Premiere of Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map
Everyone’s favorite Great Dane splashes onto the screen with a new, groundbreaking look that combines state-of-the-art puppetry with a cartoon sensibility. Witness the world premiere of this entertaining film along with panelists like Tony Award winner Stephanie D’Abruzzo (Avenue Q), puppetmaster supreme Peter Linz (The Muppets) and the voice of Shaggy, Matthew Lillard (Trouble with the Curve), as well as filmmakers David Rudman (The Muppets) and Adam Rudman (Sesame Street) and Warner Bros. Animation’s Jay Bastian as they reveal their magical visual techniques during a fun postscreening panel. Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map will be distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment as a digital download and a Walmart DVD exclusive on July 23.
Sunday July 21, 2013 10:00am – 11:15am
Room 6A

Cartoon Voices #2
Yesterday’s Cartoon Voices Panel will have been such a hit that we’ll have to do another one with different but equally talented actors from the world of animation voicing. Once again, moderator Mark Evanier has assembled an all-star dais that includes Bob Bergen (Porky Pig), Alicyn Packard (The Mr. Men Show, Poppy Cat), Maurice LaMarche (Futurama, Pinky and the Brain), Candi Milo (Dexter’s Laboratory, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends), Neil Ross (G.I. Joe, The Transformers), and maybe someone else.
Sunday July 21, 2013 11:30am – 12:45pm
Room 6A

Teen Titans Go! Screening and Q&A
This is a must-Go! panel for all Teen Titans fans, as Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven make their triumphant return to Comic-Con! Fans will be treated to a brand-new episode, as well as exclusive footage that will be screened only at Comic-Con! Following the screening, join producer Aaron Horvath (MAD) and members of the voice cast for a Q&A as they give fans a peek behind the cape at all the upcoming comedic mayhem that will be going on inside Titans Tower. From Warner Bros. Animation, Teen Titans Go! airs Tuesdays at 7:30/6:30c on Cartoon Network.
Sunday July 21, 2013 11:45am – 12:45pm
Room 6BCF

Mattel: Max Steel: Rise of Elementor World Premiere Screening!
Be the FIRST to see Max and Steel team up to take on their biggest threat yet in Rise of Elementor. You will get to watch this exciting two-part broadcast event before it airs on Disney XD this fall! Will our heroes be able to defend Copper Canyon and rescue Ferrus from the evil Dredd? Come by to find out, and receive a free toy giveaway!
Sunday July 21, 2013 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Room 7AB

Spotlight on Charlotte Fullerton
Join Ben 10 himself, Yuri Lowenthal as he interviews Comic-Con special guest Charlotte Fullerton, the co-head writer of Ben 10: Omniverse, about her extensive career in children’s TV, writing for a wide variety of shows such as My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Green Lantern: The Animated Series, as well as her involvement in making the now-legendary Star Wars comedy fanfilm Troops. On a personal note, Charlotte is the widow of renowned writer/producer Dwayne McDuffie, co-founder of Milestone Comics. Q&A session.
Sunday July 21, 2013 12:30pm – 1:30pm
Room 8

Beware the Batman Screening and Q&A
The Dark Knight makes his return to television in this new action-packed CG animated series. A cool new take on the classic franchise, Beware the Batman incorporates Batman’s core characters with a rogues’ gallery of new villains not previously seen in animated form. With backup from ex-secret agent Alfred and lethal swordstress Katana, the Dark Knight faces the twisted machinations of Gotham City’s criminal underworld, led by the likes of Anarky, Professor Pyg, Mister Toad, and Magpie. After screening a new episode, producers Glen Murakami (Teen Titans) and Mitch Watson (Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated) and others will take attendees into the shadows of Gotham City for a lively discussion on the adventures that await Batman this season. From Warner Bros. Animation, Beware the Batman airs Saturday mornings at 10:00 ET/PT on Cartoon Network.
Sunday July 21, 2013 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Room 6BCF

SpongeCon 2013: The Year of the Fan
Tom Kenny (voice of SpongeBob) hosts an interactive live SpongeBob event! Croon along with some of your favorite tunes from Bikini Bottom. Screen finalists from the SpongeBob SquareShorts fan film competition. Enjoy an exclusive sneak peek of the new half-hour special SpongeBob, You’re Fired! Plus a whole lot more. So get your goggles and dive on down. We want to have the Best Day Ever with you!
Sunday July 21, 2013 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Room 6A

Cartoon Network: Ben 10 Omniverse
It’s Hero Time! Set your Omnitrix for “Awesome” with the Ben 10 Omniverse panel, highlighting the Cartoon Network hero of a million alien faces! Voice talent Yuri Lowenthal (Ben 10), Steve Blum (Vilgax), Paul Eiding (Grandpa Max), and Eric Bauza (Dr. Psychobos), Matt Youngberg (supervising producer), and Derrick Wyatt (art director) talk about the show, premiere an unseen episode, and much more.
Sunday July 21, 2013 1:45pm – 2:45pm
Room 6DE

25 Years of the Disney Afternoon: The Continuing Legacy
Life is like a hurricane! Spin it! When there’s trouble, you call D.W.! It’s been more than 25 years since Disney Afternoon debuted on television screens, and the impact of “the golden age of Disney TV Animation” is still felt today. Let’s get dangerous with Tad Stones (creator, Darkwing Duck, Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers), Jymn Magon (DuckTales, creator of Talespin), Bob Schooley (co-creator, Kim Possible, co-ex producer Penguins of Madagascar), Rob Paulsen (voice actor, Darkwing Duck, Animaniacs), and Aaron Sparrow (Darkwing Duck: The Duck Knight Returns) for raucous recollections and never-before-heard stories!
Sunday July 21, 2013 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Room 7AB

World Premiere of Tom and Jerry’s Giant Adventure
Wind down Comic-Con with everyone’s favorite cat-and-mouse combo in an all-new original movie, Tom and Jerry’s Giant Adventure. Tom and Jerry are the animal assistants to Jack, the young owner of a fairy tale-inspired theme park “where dreams come true, if you believe.” Unfortunately, the theme park has fallen on hard times — until some magic beans provide the means for Jack, Tom, and Jerry to get their hands on a golden goose. Along the way, they’ll meet fabled fellows like Droopy, Spike and a massively mean and hungry giant. The voice cast includes Tom Wilson, Garrison Keillor, Paul Reubens, and Grey DeLisle. Producers/directors Spike Brandt (The Looney Tunes Show) and Tony Cervone (The Looney Tunes Show), and seven-time Eisner Award-winning screenwriter Paul Dini (Batman: The Animated Series) will be on hand to present the film, which will be released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment as a Blu-ray Combo Pack and a digital download on August 6.
Sunday July 21, 2013 2:15pm – 3:15pm
Room 6A

Business of Cartoon Voices
Interested in a career doing voices for animation and videogames? There are plenty of people around who’ll take your money and tell you how to go about it…but here’s 90 minutes of absolutely free advice from folks who work in the field. Get the scoop from cartoon voice actors Gregg Berger and Candi Milo, agents Pat Brady (C.E.S.D.) and Heather Vergo (Atlas Talent) and your moderator, voice director Mark Evanier (The Garfield Show).
Sunday July 21, 2013 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Room 25ABC

Crowdfunding has yet to prove itself as a reliable source of funding for new animation concepts, but filmmakers who have a well established style or who want to fund an existing property are continuing to find success. The latest major beneficiary of a Kickstarter campaign is the young Japanese animation studio Trigger, which is using Kickstarter to fund the next installment of its animated property Little Witch Academia, created and directed by Yoh Yoshinari. This spring, they released the first Little Witch Academia short with English subtitles on YouTube, where it has gathered nearly 800,000 views:

Their second Little Witch Academia short was to have been 20 minutes long, but they started a Kickstarter asking for $150,000 to expand the episode by 15 minutes. They achieved that goal in under six hours. After three days, the total raised is $348,789 from 4,487 backers, and there are still 27 days left in the campaign. If they hit their new stretch goal of $500,000, they will release an audio commentary, a ‘making of’ documentary, soundtrack and art book.

In 2011, Mondo, the makers of highly sought after, highly limited posters, announced its partnership with Studio Ghibli, presenting a series coinciding with GKids/New York International Children's Film Festival's Ghibli retrospective. The series continues with variants of their Olly Moss Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away pieces being brought to San Diego Comic-Con.

 

Mondo's complete SDCC line-up includes:

 

PACIFIC RIM by Kevin Tong
Size: 24” x 36”
Edition: 375 Regular, 200 Variant
Price: $45 Regular, $75 Variant

PACIFIC RIM (Kaiju) by Ash Thorp
Size: 24” x 36”
Edition: 350
Price: $50

PACIFIC RIM (Jaeger) by Ash Thorp
Size: 24” x 36”
Edition: 350
Price: $50

PACIFIC RIM by Vania Zouravliov
Size: 24” x 36”
Edition: 145 Per Colorway
Price: $50

DARK TOWER by Drew Struzan
Size: 20” x 36”
Edition: 450
Price: $275

 

 

CONAN by Martin Ansin
Size: 24” x 36”
Edition: 450 Regular, 225 Variant
Price: $50 Regular, $75 Variant

SPIRITED AWAY by Olly Moss
Size: 20” x 36”
Edition: 225 Variant Only
Price: $90

 

 

HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE by Olly Moss
Size: 20” x 36”
Edition: 225 Variant Only
Price: $90

 

 

via ‏@MondoNews

 

------
Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.

“Design something cool, you know, with lines and shapes.”

Three notes: 1) Post 400! 2) Yes, I should post more often. And 3) I switched computers, with a slightly different keyboard, and I keep mistyping stuff because every key is slightly further away / gives slightly less feedback then my fingers are used to. So there is a chance this post has more typos than usual (and 3.5) yes, still too lazy to proofread).

I can't exactly remember what the first mystery series was I've seen/read, but seeing as it has to be either Columbo, Poirot or Scooby Doo, Where Are You! and the latter is a cartoon, so I'm guessing it's the latter. For Scooby Doo, Where Are You! is really an awesome mystery series! And I don't even mean that sarcastic. Sure, it might be formulaic, but that is not a bad thing per se. For example, I love the way every episode features someone basically reenacting (urban) legends to scare off people; I am pretty sure that's where my love for the mitate trope in mystery fiction comes from.

In fact, my strange love for Ayatsuji Yukito's Yakata series with its creepy mansions with secret hallways? My love for Edogawa Rampo, his Shounen Tantei Dan series with kid detectives and criminals dressed in silly suits and outlandish plans? I suspect that's Scooby Doo  there working somewhere in my subconcious.

Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated has the same basic premise as the original series: a group of four teenagers and their dog solve mysteries. Fred, with a bizarre love obsession for traps, rich Daphne who has a crush on Fred, smart Velma, who is having a secret relationship with Shaggy, who in turn has troubles choosing between Velma and his dog Scooby. Their town, Crystal Cove, always seems to be under attack by some kind of monster or other supernatural phenomena, which always turns out to be the doing of some person with the most ridiculous motives and gadgets. The town actually thrives on the tourism lured by the supernatural however, so people aren't really grateful when the Scooby Gang once again prove the New Monster of the Week is actually just human. During their adventures, the Scooby Gang discovers there was once another detective group of four teenagers and an animal mascot, who disappeared from Crystal Cove twenty years ago. Taking the name of their predecessors, the new Mystery Incorporated sets out to discover what happened to the original group.

Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated is basically a Scooby show for the Buffy-generation. An episodic structure, but with character development and a story arc to connect everything. It's also a very meta-concious series, making references to, and parodying many horror movies, pop culture and of course the long (and sometimes) troubled history of the Scooby Doo franchise. And it works. Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated does everything right and does it amazingly.


The Scooby Gang might still unmask a villain dressed in silly clothing every episode, but the story arc really changes everything for the Scooby Doo franchise. Each episode brings the Scooby Gang a bit closer to the truth behind the mystery of Crystal Cove and the disappearance of the original Mystery Incorporated, so it's very easy to fall in the okay, I've been watching over an hour now, but just one more episode... trap. Crystal Cove as the main setting, and an extended cast of secondary characters (including the parents of the Scooby Gang!) all add something new to the franchise and I am almost surprised the series could have lived without those elements for so long.


Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated is a great series on its own, but it really shines as a parody / tribute to all of Scooby Doo. The series starts out as a sort of sequel to the original Scooby Doo, Where Are You! series, with clear references to the monsters that appeared in that series (there is even a museum starring all the unmasked monsters!). But it goes further than that. In the original series of Scooby Doo, Where Are You!, people went through ridiculous troubles (dressed in just as outlandish clothes) to scare off people from the treasure of the week. Mystery Incorporated! takes it up a notch, with some criminals making use of military-class technology and wrecking half of town for the most trivial of reasons. Scooby Doo was of course never a realistic series, but taking this to the extreme does not hurt the series at all. The tongue-in-cheek way to make fun of the franchise is simply hilarious, with a simple example being every episode ending on a variation on the famous I'd have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids.

And occasionally they throw a curveball. There were episodes that actually surprised me, something I'd never expected from a Scooby show. From an episode that is drawn in the old style and serves as a tribute to a number of old Hanna-Barbera series to an episode that actually subverts the standard formula in the most surprising way; the whole series is great, but there are some moments where they decided that 'just awesome' wasn't enough and they had to go one step further.


Of course, even if you don't catch all the references, Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated is still a solid series. Children who watch it now, will probably see it like when the first generation of viewers first watched the original series, while the older generation will see what a loving remake/reconstruction/parody Mystery Incorporated is.

And to bring it back to Japanese detective fiction and what I wrote in the introduction, isn't Scooby Doo really the closest thing we have to Rampo's Shounen Tantei Dan / Akechi Kogorou series? A highly formulaic series starring children solving mysteries, with 'monsters' turning out to be mere humans / the Fiend with Twenty Faces (spoiler: it's always Twenty Faces) using trickery / stage magic / unlikely technoogy. Houses with hidden hallways and other secrets? The many monsters seem closer to the Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo series, but names like The Black Lizard, the Clown from Hell, the Vampire were first featured in Rampo's novels.

Anyway, I definitely recommend any fan of the original series to try Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated. It's an excellent series and sometimes, a mystery series can sometimes work just as well without bloody murder, locked room mysteries and supercomplex deductions.

Women have been rallying for some time to overhaul the girl’s aisles in toy stores, tired of seeing everything packaged in pink, made for princesses, and only concerned with beauty or caretaking. But with tried-and-true brands like LEGO going out of their way to further remove girls from their central marketing, what can we expect besides more of the same?

Engineer Debra Sterling has figured it out. Because she knows little girls are more than princesses, and they deserve toys that engage their brains. With a brand new commercial to rally the troops, Goldie Blox is set to hit shelves.

[Check out Goldie Blox!]

First off, enjoy this incredibly badass commercial set to Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” featuring little girls constructing toys that better suit their needs and styles. They are fierce and unstoppable, and outraged that those rows upon rows of fuschia are letting them down.

If you head over to Sterling’s Kickstarter page where she originally funded the product (and got nearly twice the $150,000 she was asking for), she makes it clear that enjoying pink and princesses is not the problem. What is the problem are toys that refuse to engage girls in a constructive capacity. By conducting research on over 100 little kids, she decided to create a toy that ignited girls’ interest in engineering via storytelling (an area that girls are commonly attracted to from a very early age). Goldie Blox was born.

Through the story of Goldie—a kid inventor—and her plans for her dog Nacho, kids can follow along on the journey and construct items that Goldie requires to complete the tale. The hope is that by building girls’ confidence in areas of construction and spatial awareness, they will be more likely to pursue science and mathematics in school and beyond. Sterling herself notes that it never even occurred to her to think of engineering as a career until her final year of high school. What she wants is for young women to know that this is an option for them even in their formative years.

As she says, princesses and tiara-wearing can be fun for sure—but little girls are so much more than that. And they deserve toys that will prove it to them.

Goldie Blox’s first adventure is available at Toys’R’Us right now, with more stories on the way by the end of the summer. Support the future engineer in your family by giving her a head start!

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Emily Asher-Perrin would play with Goldie Blox now, they look so cool. She has written essays for the newly released Doctor Who and Race and Queers Dig Time Lords. You can bug her on Twitter and read more of her work here and elsewhere.

The pay-what-you-can Humble eBook Bundle 2 has added some fabulous new content! The bundle compiles works from across science fiction, fantasy, comics, and YA, and offers them on multiple platforms, DRM-free. It also allows you not only to pay what you wish, but also to choose how your payment is divided: between the authors, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Child’s Play Charity, or the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. (You can also tip Humble Bundle if you so desire!)

[Gaiman, XKCD, and more added to the already substantial bundle]

The ebook bundle already offered great work like the Deluxe Edition of Peter S. Beagle’s classic The Last Unicorn, Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker, Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother and Wil Wheaton’s Just a Geek, but now they’ve added four more titles:

• xkcd: volume 0, the first collection of Randall Munroe’s investigation of romance and math
• Signal to Noise, a haunting, seminal graphic novel from Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
• The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, by acclaimed fantasy author Holly Black
• Machine of Death, the wonderfully eclectic collection of stories about a device that predicts a person’s cause of death, edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, & David Malki.

If you’ve already bought a Humble bundle, the new content will appear automatically on your download page, and new customers simply need to pay more than the current average on the site, which will also get them all six books from the first week of the promotion! Check out Humble Bundle’s viedo below for more details about the sale, plus some wise words from Cory Doctorow:

 

These designer shoes are no ordinary Louboutins or Ferragamos– they’re by designer Iris van Herpen, who used a 3-D printer to create this pair of sky-high tentacle heels for her Paris Fashion Week show.

Head under the cut for more pictures of the 3-D printed collection, and a video of the shoes in action.

(via FashioningTech)

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This story first appeared on the Guardian website and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Google, which prides itself on building a "better web that is better for the environment", is hosting a fundraiser for the most notorious climate change denier in Congress, it has emerged.

The lunch, at the company's Washington office, will benefit the Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe, who has made a career of dismissing climate change as a "hoax" on the Senate floor.

Proceeds of the July 11 lunch, priced at $250 to $2,500, will also go to the national Republican Senatorial Committee.

It's the second show of support from Google for the anti-climate cause in recent weeks.

Last month, the Washington Post reported that the internet company had donated $50,000 for a fundraising dinner for the ultra-conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute—topping the contributions even of the Koch oil billionaires.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has launched multiple lawsuits aimed at trying to discredit the science behind climate change—accusing scientists of fraud. None have so far succeeded.

Continue Reading »

In Oklahoma City, one surgical center is successfully reducing the price tag for their procedures by thousands of dollars — and encouraging nearby hospitals to follow suit.

What’s the secret?

The two doctors who started the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, Dr. Keith Smith and Dr. Steven Lantier, are committed to charging fair prices, and they founded their hospital with the goal of price transparency. “What we’ve discovered is health care really doesn’t cost that much,” Dr. Smith told KFOR-TV. “What people are being charged for is another matter altogether.”

They have been posting all of their prices online for the past several years, and they charge significantly less than other hospitals in the area.

“When we first started we thought we were about half the price of the hospitals,” Dr. Lantier said. “Then we found out we’re less than half price. Then we find out we’re a sixth to an eighth of what their prices are. I can’t believe the average person can afford health care at these prices.”

After comparing the Surgery Center’s prices with the bills for the same surgical procedures at other Oklahoma City hospitals, KFOR-TV confirmed just how wide that gulf is. For example, a $3,500 breast biopsy at Surgery Center of Oklahoma will cost $16,244 at nearby Mercy Hospital. A hysterectomy jumps from $8,000 at Surgery Center to $37,174 at Integris Baptist Hospital. And the OU Medical Center consistently charges about $15,000 more than what the Surgery Center does for common procedures like open fracture repairs and gall bladder removal.

The two doctors started somewhat of a medical bidding war after they started publicizing their pricing options. People began traveling from out town and even from out of state to take advantage of the much lower surgical bills — and other hospitals took notice. At least five other Oklahoma City-area medical facilities started posting their own prices online, and some of them are even beginning to lower their bills as their patients pushed for price-matching.

“Hospitals are having to match our prices because patients are printing their prices and holding that in one hand and holding a ticket to Oklahoma City in the other hand and asking that hospital to step up,” Dr. Smith pointed out.

There are some caveats accompanying the Surgery Center of Oklahoma’s business model. What works for surgery centers may not necessarily work for larger hospitals, since surgery centers tend to focus on elective procedures that are a bit more predictable than the range of care needed in an emergency department. And, since the federal Medicare program doesn’t currently accept this type of online pricing for their beneficiaries, the Surgery Center doesn’t accept any patients with Medicare or Medicaid plans. Only those with private insurance, or those who are completely uninsured, are allowed to patronize the facility. Some critics say that allows the Surgery Center to cherry-pick the healthiest or most well-off patients.

But on a broader scale, more price transparency in the health care sector is sorely needed. New government data has confirmed that hospital pricing is often completely random, with the most expensive hospital in the country charging about four times more than average for no apparent reason. That’s partly because when it’s not clear what health services cost, doctors are more likely to recommend — and patients are more likely to agree to — expensive and unnecessary tests and procedures. It’s also partly because most patients can’t easily shop around to make the most informed decisions about where they want to get their care.

Provisions under Obamacare will attempt to spur some of this type of price comparison to both equip Americans with more information about their health care and convince hospitals to make their costs more competitive. Some private hospitals, like the handful in Oklahoma City, are already taking it upon themselves to get started.

Pocitical cartoonist Matt Bors is sooooo good, and his strip on the generation gap between boomers and millennials is the best thing I have read about it, and it helped me accept the fact that I am growing older and the universe is headed for heat death but not before people fuck things up way more than we can possibly imagine but we still have rice pudding so it’s okay.

HUMPH.

Anyway, go read the strip. Tom Spurgeon says it was so great that it got Bors more work with CNN. Go Matt, you baller you.

Amazon Publishing has entered the world of comic books with Jet City Comics, which aims to publish titles digitally and in print, and distribute them through Kindle, the online storefront and comic shops. Now the comics industry can fret over unfair competition and business practices just like the book industry. Still, it’s a sign of [...]

Thursday, July 11, Catalyst Game Labs will publish the digital version of "Shadowrun" fifth edition, with printed books coming to stores sometime in August. Jason Hardy, Shadowrun's Line Developer, said, "We worked to make this version of the rules approachable to newcomers as well as robust for veterans, so I hope the game appeals to anyone who is intrigued by the possibilities the setting presents." Hardy has managed the creation of "Shadowrun" books for four years, including the development of the new edition.

Since the original "Shadowrun" RPG was released in 1989, "Shadowrun" has been known for its intriguing mix of genres--a dystopian future where mega-corporations have the most power and cybernetically enhanced mercenaries do illegal jobs for them, but magic and shamanism have also emerged, along with fantasy races such as elves and trolls. Think William Gibson meets "Dungeons and Dragons."

It has been eight years since "Shadowrun" fourth edition and in that time real-world technology has evolved a lot, catching up to the fictional tech in the "Shadowrun" setting. "New tech and new weapons give us a chance to throw new toys into the game, as do advances in medicine and genetics," said Hardy. "Original editions did not anticipate wireless networking, while cyberlimbs and implants of our time have not yet caught up with "Shadowrun" (though they are making progress)."

Beyond actual tech, the new edition was informed by modern questions about technology. Hardy said, "The modern world presents several themes the directly relate to what "Shadowrun" is about, things like the role of the individual versus the oppression of monolithic organizations, how technology can be used both to promote and to subvert freedom, and the role wealth and other factors play in determining how technology and other crucial resources are distributed. Those are very current concepts, and "Shadowrun" is poised to tell stories directly related to them."

Roleplaying games have also evolved in the years since the last edition of "Shadowrun," with a rise in indie RPGs, thanks to the likes of self-publishing and Kickstarter. Some of the indie philosophy has rubbed off on the new "Shadowrun." "There so many game options out there, and players have played so much, that are really quite good. So we wanted to present some challenges and make players have to think about how they are going to accomplish what they want to do, and how they are going to make themselves awesome. We tried to build in challenges and trade-offs so that players would have to think about what they have to give up to get what they want," Hardy said.

Beyond shifts in tone, what about actual rule changes? "The game plays faster and smoother than it did in the older editions. The changes we made were geared toward focusing on how the skills and attributes of a character are at the core of what makes them awesome," said Hardy. "We introduced a mechanic called limits that forces characters to think about how they balance their attributes and also somewhat limits the amount of bonus dice they get from gear. We made a new use of the Edge attribute to allow people to ignore limits, and provided a way for Edge to refresh more frequently, encouraging players to be daring and creative in their roleplaying."

One of the biggest draws in "Shadowrun's" rules were characters called Deckers that hack into a three-dimensional virtual-reality version of the Internet called the Matrix--remember these concepts are from 1989, predating the Matrix film by a decade. So how does "Shadowrun's" fifth edition approach hacking? Hardy said, "We focused on two things: Making the rules consistent with other parts of "Shadowrun" and making the system approachable. We also wanted to better reflect the type of Matrix the megacorporations would want to have. A free and open Matrix does not serve their interests as well as one they can control and crack down on. It's a scarier and more dangerous place to run, but we like it that way."

Ultimately, all of the changes and updates made to "Shadowrun" are to make a better game for its players gaming in that unique setting. Hardy said, "Do you want to play a mage scrounging in the dark corners of the world for that secret something to boost your power? A decker steering clear of the relentless security of the Matrix in order to liberate exclusive nuggets of information? A street samurai straining to maintain a code of honor on streets that seem to demand compromise at every turn? If these or any of the other stories interest you, we are here for you and ready to roll!"

Related Video:

Watch: Chewbacca Gets A Job At MTV

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Playing Isabel Rochev in the series

Walmart fought hard to persuade DC residents to let it open stores in the district. But now the retail giant is threatening to walk away from three planned sites if the DC City Council passes a “living wage” bill that would require all major employers to pay workers a minimum of $12.50 an hour.

Walmart claims that the bill, which applies to retailers with corporate sales of $1 billion or more and stores that are 75,000 square feet or larger, is “arbitrary and discriminatory.” In a Washington Post editorial, general manager Alex Barron issued an ultimatum to Mayor Vincent Gray: veto the bill, or Walmart will halt construction on stores at Skyland, Capitol Gateway, and New York Avenue.

In less than 24 hours, the corporation is already seeing results: Some council members who voted for the living wage bill are now balking. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie said he is “going to give this some thought” because he voted yes “without knowing Walmart was going to pull out.”

Walmart is accustomed to singlehandedly taking down worker rights legislation. Seven years ago, Walmart threatened to scrap its plans to open stores in Chicago after the city passed a similar living wage law. The mayor promptly vetoed the bill. In March, New York raised its minimum wage but gave tax subsidies to Walmart and other firms that hire seasonal workers. Unions claimed at the time that Walmart had influenced the deal behind the scenes.

Other large stores like Costco, Home Depot, Target, and Macy’s would also have to abide by the DC proposal. But the new $12.50 minimum would be an especially dramatic change for Walmart, which currently pays workers 28 percent less on average than other large retailers, even as it reaps profits of nearly $450 billion a year. In contrast, Costco will have no problem meeting DC’s requirement if it passes — the average Costco worker currently makes $21.96 an hour.

Walmart’s refusal to pay their employees a livable wage translates into a bigger burden for taxpayers. A Congressional report found that the workforce of a single Walmart store consume roughly a million dollars in public benefits every year, relying on “safety net” programs like Medicaid, food stamps, school lunch, and housing assistance to survive. Since Walmart is the largest private retailer in the nation, the full taxpayer cost of the store’s labor practices is exponentially higher.

Protests erupted in June and last November over Walmart’s worker abuses. Besides paying poverty level wages, Walmart has a strict policy against overtime pay, and workers allege that managers deny them bathroom breaks or basic medical accommodations. The company also fired, suspended, and disciplined workers after the strikes last month, likely in retaliation.

Walmart was only allowed to start building in the nation’s capital after agreeing to a voluntary Community Partnership Initiative, in which the chain vowed to contribute $21 million to local charities, stock local products, allow space for local retailers, fund transportation measures, and create a citywide job training program for low-income and at-risk residents, among other conditions.

The DC Council will hold a final vote on the bill Wednesday.

Sengoku Basara 3 novel author writes original story for manga launching in Jump X next month

Based on David Aja’s work. the first of a series of Pizza Dog T-shirt designs for WeLoveFine, in the wake of Hawkeye #11, available in men’s and women’s sizes. And Matt Fraction’s fee being donated to Futures Without Violence.

 

The First Pizza Dog T-Shirt Design Comes To WeLoveFine

Silly NORAD… Won’t you ever learn?!

And then I quickly turned off the game and never discussed this again.

Gabe Newell approves this video.

Harris O'Malley who is known better by his internet alter ego Doctor NerdLove (he gives love and sex advice to geeks) handed out stickers to poke fun at "fake geek girls." No doubt you have seen the fake dating sites featuring alleged gamers and geeks and the pictures featuring professional models dressed up as geeks to titillate men.

read more

Usually, in our news posts here on ComicsAlliance, we tend to avoid being too forceful in our statements or letting our personal opinions shade our writing. But it's incumbent upon me to say this: If you are not following the @iamsteranko account on Twitter, you are missing out on the most entertaining comics Twitter going right now. Is it really Jim Steranko? I have no idea. It's not verified. It doesn't really matter, though. It's a thing of wonder.

Continue reading…

Ride a S.H.I.E.L.D. trolley to the convention!

I’d been hearing about this in whispers for a little while now, and just in case its recent activities hadn’t tipped you off that Amazon had an interest in graphic novels, this makes it official.

Amazon is publishing comics.

They’re launching with the kind of fantasy/SF book friendly line-up reminiscent of surviving GN efforts at surviving major publishing houses: George RR Martin, Hugh Howey, and the Foreworld shared-universe SF series. It’s a mix of new and original with some pick ups, like the Mike S. Miller adaptation of The Hedge Knight first put together by the Dabel Brothers.

The line launches today with “Symposium #1,” the first Foreworld-set comic, a shared universe primarily written by Neil Stephenson.

The PR mentions a mix of print and digital, with bundled collections also available. Alex Carr is the Senior Editor of the imprint, which joins a line-up of parallel imprints in other genres at Amazon.

Amazon has become the 8000-lb gorilla in the publishing world, calling the shots on pricing and distribution to an increasingly rebellious book world. Will they similarly dominate the comics landscape?

Doubtless more on this later.

Amazon Publishing today announced the launch of Jet City Comics, a new imprint focused on comics and graphic novels.  Jet City launches with new comics from George R.R. Martin, Hugh Howey, and Neal Stephenson, starting with today’s publication of “Symposium #1,” the first original Foreworld comic from the series created by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Nicole Galland, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey and Cooper Moo. Original adaptations of George R.R. Martin’s short story, “Meathouse Man,” and Hugh Howey’s best-selling science fiction novel, Wool, will follow in October. Jet City issues will publish on Kindle as standalone comics, as serialized comics released over multiple episodes, and as bundled graphic novels, with print editions available at amazon.com and other comics retailers. 

“It’s a dream to work with superstar authors like George, Hugh and Neal on the launch of a new imprint,” said Alex Carr, Senior Editor of Jet City Comics. “Millions of fans have read and loved their novels, and with Jet City we look forward to opening up these iconic worlds to new audiences. We’re working with an incredible, hand-picked team of comics professionals, writers, artists, and translators, who have done an amazing job developing and expanding these inventive stories. I’m looking forward to the response from comics readers and fans.”
 
“My fans have been clamoring for the return of Dunk & Egg ever since the graphic novels of “The Hedge Knight” and “The Sworn Sword” went out of print several years ago,” said author George R.R. Martin, “so I am delighted to announce that Jet City Comics is bringing them back—newly formatted for digital readers, and in paper for those who still prefer the traditional formats. And Jet City will be bringing you something new as well: the graphic novel “Meathouse Man,” adapted from one of my strangest, darkest, and most twisted short stories by the amazingly talented Raya Golden. I’m pleased and excited to be a part of Jet City’s takeoff. May they fly high.”

“Comics and graphic novels, especially in digital format, represent a unique area for innovation,” said Jeff Belle, Vice President of Amazon Publishing. “Our focus will be on adapting great books for this medium as a means of expanding the audience for our authors, pushing boundaries with new ideas that combine visual and narrative storytelling, and creating compelling new experiences for readers.”
 
Jet City will publish the following comics in 2013:

 

·         An original comic adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s story “Meathouse Man,” illustrated by Raya Golden, and a re-release of “The Hedge Knight” by Ben Avery and Mike S. Miller, a prequel set in the universe of Martin’s best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire epic fantasy series (the inspiration for the hit HBO program Game of Thrones). “Meathouse Man” will be released as a single issue comic in digital format in October 2013; “The Hedge Knight” will be released as a collected graphic novel in print and digital formats in November 2013; and its sequel, “The Sworn Sword,” will follow in early 2014.

·         An adaptation of Hugh Howey’s bestselling dystopian novel Wool by comics veterans Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, and illustrator Jimmy Broxton, where the remnants of humanity live in a massive silo hundreds of stories below the surface of the ruined and toxic landscape of Earth. Wool was a #1 bestseller in the Kindle store and is one of the most-reviewed science fiction novels on Amazon, with almost 6,000 customer reviews. It will be released as a Kindle Serial, as six individual comics issues starting in October 2013, followed by a collected graphic novel in 2014.

 ·         Six original comics from The Foreworld Saga, the bestselling alternate history series that began with The Mongoliad (a serialized novel collaboratively written Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Nicole Galland, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey and Cooper Moo). The first Foreworld comic, “Symposium #1” by author Christian Cameron and Illustrator Dmitry Bondarenko, details the origins of the Shield-Brethren in Ancient Greece in the days following Athens crushing defeat to Sparta in 394 BC. It goes on-sale today, with new installments releasing monthly before being collected in a series of graphic novels in 2014.

 Jet City Comics joins sister imprints 47North, AmazonCrossing, AmazonEncore, Montlake Romance, Thomas & Mercer, and the recently announced Little A, Day One, Two Lions and Skyscape in the Amazon Publishing family. For more information about all imprints of Amazon Publishing, visit http://www.apub.com/. Jet City Comics is a brand used by Amazon Content Services, LLC.

Back in the old days of the mid 2000s, comic fans could pick up any standard comic book issue for $2.99. It was the nailed-down price, and for that money they’d get 22 pages. Since those halcyon days wilted, however, more and more we find that we’re paying $3.99 for fewer pages than that. What kind of price should we put on a comic?

Comics are thought of as a quantifiable product far more than any other medium. Fans plonk down a certain amount of money and they expect to receive a certain amount of product for that price. Whereas films can run from a tight 90 minutes to an expansive three/four hours, or novels can have any number of pages, fans are very certain of one thing only – if they pay $2.99, they should get AT LEAST 20 pages.

But what should be on those pages, if so? Near the end of Brian Michael Bendis’ Avengers run, the comic went to $3.99 an issue, albeit with an ‘oral history’ back-up at the end of each story. Yet Brian Michael Bendis is hardly afraid of putting dialogue onto a page – his comics are wordy, filled with word balloons, and feature a lot of back-and-forth dialogue. So did Marvel really need to add in that back-up story to convince people that they were still getting a comparable amount of content for the money they were paying. Yet Bendis’ Avengers run also came up to criticism that, despite the abundance of dialogue in his later comics, the story was thin and slow-moving.

The page above, from his run on Daredevil, is a case in point. There’s a lot of dialogue in those panels, even though the content of those word bubbles could easily have been condensed into a much less verbose sequence. Would you say that having 20 pages of wordy comics matches 22 pages of more direct dialogue? Sales remained strong on Avengers throughout Bendis’ run, even as the prices rose, so it seems a solid majority of people would say so.

If readers feel like they aren’t getting the right amount of content in their comics, they’ll start dropping comics. What interests me most about the idea of page content is that the page count surely isn’t the correct way to judge the quantity of content in a comic – after all, 2000AD tell their stories five pages at a time, and they seem to be in finer creative form than ever before. Decompression and compression in comics are becoming a valuable arbiter in just how much bang people get for their 2 and 99 hundredths of a buck.

Splash pages, once considered to be saved only for the biggest events, now get thrown into comics at a moment’s notice. It provides an arguably easier and shorter working time for an artist, and fills up a page in one go – saving writers from having to overextend sequences later. It also makes for great pin-up shots which distract readers from the fact there’s no written content on a page.

 A short while back I dropped Batwoman after buying an issue which contained a pair of two-page splash sequences one after another, which were almost entirely wordless – that was a fifth of the comic, something I just paid for, which I could flick past in two seconds. Amy Reeder’s artwork is lovely, but it’s also lovely when telling a sequential story with PANELS. Why not let her show that off?

Which brings up another point – are we paying more for the writing, or for the artwork? After visiting ELCAF earlier this year, I was surprised to see a number of creators selling sketch books and pin-up collections for extraordinary prices. There was no attempt at story. This was simply a collection of images of women, all shapes, all sizes, all expressions, one after another. And people pored over those images.

Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Warriors series used to give several pages up to diagrams and schedules, explaining bits of non-essential backstory for completists to put together. Lists of secret bases and who operated them, or details of how the various terrorist organisations navigate each other. The content here didn’t tell a story, but I could sit over it for a long time (if I so chose) and gather all the information into my head.

The function of design in comics isn’t really considered very often, but it can tell the difference between a comic which is wasting your time and a comic which is offering something distinct.

The Pizza Dog issue of Hawkeye springs to mind here. It tells a story which only briefly has any importance to the overall narrative of the Hawkeye series. Barring the final page, the issue puts everything into the hands of David Aja and Chris Eliopoulos, the designers. Fraction’s script wasn’t any leaner for having no dialogue in it – this was a comic where every page was thought over and planned carefully, offering content and concept on every page. Even though there were barely any speech bubbles, there was a still a narrative voice guiding readers through the issue, and the artwork and design made sure that the pages weren’t blank glamour. They were content.

When I read the double-page splashes in Batwoman, the only function they served was to show to the reader that the heroine was wearing bulletproof armour – a service which could have been explained in a single panel. But instead we had four pages of lovely-looking artwork which served no real purpose to the narrative. Even the slight sequences in Hawkeye #11 still allowed for some memorable detail, so I felt like I was getting value for money with it. Batwoman, however…

The question also remains as to which of the pages we’re even paying for. Marvel has a recap page in each issue; DC have a two-page advertisement at the end of theirs. When I pick up a copy of, say, The Flash, am I paying for the Channel 52 pages as well as the story pages? I don’t get any use out of them, but I do find the recap pages phenomenally helpful. Am I willing to include the recap page as a 21^st page for a comic?

If you look away from the big two, you can find some crazy prices. People can ask $3.99 for a four-page flick-book, whilst Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples offer 30-odd pages for a dollar less. When I buy Saga, am I thinking that this offers me ten more pages than DC/Marvel would – or am I thinking that Marvel/DC offer me ten less pages than Image have? Are these bonus pages, or are the big two shortchanging me? And at the same time, does that hypothetically mean I’m more forgiving if Saga chooses to have a greater number of splash pages per issue? I’m already getting a higher number of pages, so it doesn’t matter so much if there are more splashes – the percentage of splashes is lower.

The question of content – physical, artistic or narrative – is important. And it’s utterly subjective. Two DC comics I read recently from their ‘Trinity of Sin’ branding offered similar page counts but different reading lengths. Pandora was filled with references and details I didn’t find interesting, but Phantom Stranger referenced a lot of things I found fascinating, and spent time looking into at a later date. Objectively they’re the same price and same length, but subjectively I found one had a greater amount of content than t’other, and gave me a longer read.

Which makes the opening question of this article extremely frustrating! For all that I might complain that Batwoman offered me four wasted pages, other people will take more value from those four pages of Amy Reeder than I could take from four pages of dialogue and narrative progression. As we move more to the digital realm and projects like Kickstarter, Thrillbent or Monkeybrain change the price point of comics altogether, the question of content is becoming even more nebulous and impossible than it was before.

What do you think? What content are you seeking? And how much are you willing to spend on a 22-page issue?