Aaron's Comic Books Blog

Halloween is just around the corner, and with it comes the perfect excuse to dress up in your favorite superhero costumes. Some people just buy them off a rack, while others cobble something together from the local thrift store. Then there are those that painstakingly create their costumes from scratch - sewing, designing, gluing, making everything look perfect. Now is the time to rise up with your costumes and show what you are made of. We've seen some interesting costumes int he past few years, but I'm betting this is just the start. Be sure to be sending them in to me at comicbooks.guide@about.com and a gallery of the contestants will be put forth for all the world to see and judge. Get working on those costumes!

Image Copyright Alvarado

Mark Millar, writer of Civil War, Wanted, Kick Ass, and others, has a hero whom he looks up to. He credits this man for getting him into comics through a Scottish television show called Cavalcade. It was there that he met Spider-Man and started reading Marvel Comics. He actually had this man at the premiere of Wanted, and wrote the introduction to his biography. Who is this man? His name is Glen Michael. Yeah, I don't know the name either, but to many Scottish folk, he is a local hero. This article from the Times Online written by Mark Millar explains just who Glen is and why Millar is so indebted to him.

Who is the person who got you into comics? For me, it was my brother and next door neighbor. When they started picking up the likes of Iron Man and Captain America from the local comic book shop, I did as well. The difference was I kept reading them while they gravitated on to other things. I never really thanked them for introducing me to the medium, so I guess now is as good a time as any. Thanks bro! Who got you into comics? Post your comments below.

The presidential race is heating up and the finish line is just around the corner. IDW is hoping to enlighten and cash in on the mystery surrounding the two candidates. Comic books have been used in many ways beside just entertainment, and it seems more and more items are getting into comic book format. Take this mini comic about the Detroit Tigers 2008 season. This article from FOX News about the presidential comic books from IDW Publishing talks about the men behind the comics. No, not McCain or Obama, but rather Mariotte and Helfer, the two writers of the presidential comic books. The writers have promised non-partisan approaches to the material, seeking to tell their stories rather than whom people should vote for. It seems to be moves like this that have helped IDW become the fourth largest comic books publisher in the USA.

Image Copyright IDW Publishing

About.com's own Thomas Trennant, the Talk Show Guide, has a great write up of the upcoming appearance of talk show host Stephen Colbert in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man. Colbert, who's presidential campaign fell short in the real world this January, is still gunning for the presidential race in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man. Turns out a team-up is in order for this dynamic duo. Read more about it in Tom's blog.

Newsday.com has an interesting article about the man behind the recent rescue of insurance conglomerate AIG, Eric Dinallo. What was behind the public servants move to help rescue AIG and also helped post 9/11 New York? Spider-Man. Dinallo quotes the famous saying from Amazing Fantasy #15, "With great power there must also come great responsibility." Turns out Dinallo is a comic book fan, sporting Avengers action figures on his desk and thinking of himself in terms of what comics have taught him saying, "I do admit there are the sort of moral and first principle themes in comic books that I find kind of simple truths for when you are serving the public..." I know I have learned a great deal about morals, purpose, and heroism from comic books, my main favorite being Captain America. People are attracted to comic book characters for all sorts of reasons, even the ones that are borderline villains, the comics of today are filled with heroes. These values of goodness and light come up over and over in the world of comic books and can be seen in guys like Dinallo who are trying to leave the world a better place than they found it.

With the new Iron Man DVD release this last week, there came with it a bevy of collector editions that were only available at different retailers. This reminds me of the alternate covers of comics, but on a whole different scale. Here is the rundown of available sets.

• Circuit City - Access to exclusive Marvel Digital Comics featuring the artwork of Adi Granov.
• Best Buy - Custom Lithograph created by Marvel artist Gerald Parel.
• Target - Target Deluxe Edition includes exclusive Mark III mask packaging. Available on both the Ultimate 2-Disc Edition and 2-Disc Blu-ray.
• Costco - Giftset includes the Ultimate 2 Disc Edition DVD and 3 Iron Man Bobbleheads, with all 3 Iron Man suits from the film. Giftset includes the “Battle Damaged Mark II”, available exclusively in this giftset at Costco.
• Walmart - Two exclusive SKUs. Ultimate 2 Disc Edition packed with an exclusive comic book chronicling the Nick Fury story. The single disc giftset is packed with the 1st episode of the new Iron Man animated series.
• Kmart & Sears - Save $5 on the Ultimate 2 Disc edition with any $25 Craftsman purchase.
• Trans World - FYE and Suncoast Exclusive Steelbook Package available on the Ultimate 2- disc Edition. (pictured above, left)
• Borders - On pack collectible book featuring original sketches by Bob Layton and the top 24 comic cover of Iron Man.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry about this one. Some of them make some sense like packaging a comic with the DVD, and I like that with the Walmart exclusive you get the 1st episode of the new animated series (the single disc is extremely light on bonus material). Others a bit of a stretch, I buy a new drill and get some cash off of the Iron Man DVD. Do they expect me to try to make my own suit? I picked up mine at Best Buy, and saw a gift package of a bust with the DVD and a $50 gift certificate for Sideshow Collectibles. They all seem a bit excessive, forcing collectors to try to get them all with a bunch of trinkets that probably won't be worth much in the long run.

Me? I just stuck with the basic 2 Disc DVD. It seemed the best bang for my buck with the single disc being very short on extras and for seven bucks more you get a whole disc full of tons of extras. It seemed like the best buy for me.

Image Copyright Best Buy

The Bendis VS Kirkman panel occurred at the Baltimore Comic Con yesterday and CBR has a full write up of the event. I think both make good points. The Big Two have the economic stability to offer living wages for creators, but own your work. I mean, I heard an interview with Neal Adams that he was presented with a check for 100,000 dollars since Batman Begins was influenced by a lot of his work, but look at how much money those films have made. The Dark Knight is the second largest grossing film in American history. That's money that the many artists and writers who have made Batman what it is today may never see. The flip side is that with creator owned content, you can get a piece of the pie, not only on the individual sales from comics, but the related material as well. The merchandising aspect of comics, as I understand it, makes up more money than the actual comic sales for Marvel and DC. The problem being you have to have something that can be marketed, and many artists and writers just aren't able to make it in the creator owned world.

I think of an artist like Prince, who again as I understand it, began to sell his records on the internet and through show sales himself, and was making more money than by going through a record company, even with the record company selling more individual records. But would Prince have been able to if not for his fame in the music industry prior to doing this. If I ever got into actually writing comics, I would think that the creator owned route would be the best for me. The thing that has always concerned me with The Big Two is the ideas from the bosses upstairs that you have to incorporate into your writing. I wonder how many writers and artists now cringe when they hear of the next big crossover event and know that their stories will have to change to meet that mandate. But when you work for the man, you got to play by his rules. I just picture that as being a very frustrating wrinkle in writing solid stories. One hopes that what comes from this is better comics for all of us, whether from The Big Two or from creator owned comics.

First reported in the CBR column Lying in the Gutters by Rich Johnston, it appears that FOX, who actually owns the rights to the Watchmen movie, isn't after stopping the movie after all. According to Johnston, FOX is after the ability to release the 1960's Batman television series. FOX owns the rights to the show, but not the rights to characters, thus making them unable to release any DVD's to the public, something Batman collectors have wanted for quite some time now. I completely wondered why FOX would have waited so long to take Warner Bros to court, since they had to know about this deal for quite some time. Either this was a cunning move by FOX, or this was something that just fell into place for them. I'm thinking they were planning this all along, waiting for Warner Bros to be in a position where they needed to put out the movie in order to recoup all the money they have put into it. The weird thing is that comic fans should not only be able to see The Watchmen on schedule, but pick up some much sought after Batman DVD's as well. That was a slick move indeed.

Saw this link posted by Comic Mix and thought I'd share it with you as well. We all know that Frank Miller got the movie bug when he co-directed Sin City with Robert Rodriguez, but got it so bad as to quit making comics? It would seem so. Frank Miller's latest project, The Spirit, based on the classic comic character by Will Eisner, comes out this Christmas. His next slated project seems to be Sin City 2, again with Rodriguez. This Italian interview from Bad Taste with Miller has him saying, "I'm not planning to make new comics, because I'm too much in love with making movies." Although he hasn't done a lot with comics lately it would be sad to see him quit comics completely. His latest endeavor, All Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder been taken to task for its completely over the top storyline and re-imaging of classic characters, but has sold huge amounts. There is still a market for Miller's work, it just seems we will have to receive it in the occasional comic and comic based movie for now.

Related Material:

• The Spirit Movie Gallery
• Will Eisner Profile
• Frank Miller Profile
• Top Ten Frank Miller Comics

This article/interview of Alan Moore from the LA Times shows what many of us have known for quite some time. Alan Moore has no love for Hollywood. Many of his works have been made into films, From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta to name a few. I could see why he was upset, especially about The League, that one didn't fly with me at all. There is one man who seems to be gunning for Moore's approval, director Zack Snyder. Word is that Snyder is trying very much to be faithful to the original work. Obviously some of the comic isn't going to make it into film, but I bet many comic fans are hoping that this one will get it right and win over the comic scribe that seems to be unable to be won over. If they can win him over, it would mean that the Watchmen film would be one great piece of work.

Related Material:

• Watchmen Photo Gallery