Archive Page 2208
August 2024
Some have said its the "best superhero movie yet made"
M. Night Shyamalan says the studio was ‘too scared' to market ‘Unbreakable' as a superhero movie – Indie Wire
....while his 2000 film "Unbreakable" was a superhero film, the studio was "too scared" to label it as such. Instead, executives wanted to emphasize Shyamalan's success with "The Sixth Sense," which also starred "Unbreakable" actor Bruce Willis, and position the film as a horror-thriller despite its comic book-inspired storyline.
"If you deny what it is because you're afraid of it being different, then you're stealing all of its strength," Shyamalan said. "They were like, ‘We had one of the biggest movies of all time and the same two people are making another movie. Let's make it look like that movie,' as opposed to what it was, which was the beginning of an entire genre. They didn't realize it because they were too scared to say the words ‘comic book.'"
Stock slide for WEBTOON – Businessinsider
In a report issued on August 9, Doug Anmuth from J.P. Morgan maintained a Hold rating on WEBTOON Entertainment Inc, with a price target of $22.00. The company’s shares closed last Monday at $12.03, close to its 52-week low of $11.15...."
The Comic-Con police report – Comicsbeat
Clooney and Tarantino spat – Hollywood Reporter
When I first got to the place where I could pick a movie, I took everything that came my way," he said. "Because I didn’t understand that I was going to be held responsible for the movie. So I get offered Batman & Robin, I call my friends like, ‘I’m going to be Batman!’ You don’t really think it through. And then after I did that for three films, where they didn’t really work, I was like: Oh, I’m going to be held responsible. I need to go back to: good script, good director, if I’m allowed to pick. And that means you have to take money out of the issue. Because remember: When you’re first famous, when somebody offers you a lot of money, you’re like, ‘Fuck, I’ve never been offered money before. I’ve never been offered anything..."
Comic book banned in Malay has prohibition lifted
Story at Malay Mail
The Home Ministry banned all editions of the book that same year, under Section 7 (1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act on grounds that its contents could be detrimental to public order and disturb the thoughts of the people..."
Deadpool and Wolverine at $924,656,382 worldwide and about to cross over into the billion-dollar club – The Numbers
Film will probably eclipse every other film of 2024 with this rate of ticket sales.
Former DC SVP Bob Wayne talks of his years in DC publishing and meeting famed comic book creatives – Bleeding Cool
At DC I was one of the people pushing constantly to do book format stuff…. I wrote a memo when we did the Death In The Family miniseries and I said we need to bring this out in a book immediately, there's not enough comics in the market, and I believe we can sell 40,000 copies. Over time I was only off by about four million..."
Image Comics top selling titles of July – Comicbook
Marvel Comics using QR Codes to fight spoilers and declining sales – Yahoo News
....single-issue format continues to be an unpopular way of reading the latest stories. In response, Marvel Comics has turned to QR code technology to incentivise sales of its periodical floppy comics—and hopefully cut down on spoilers."
QR codes provide web addresses that show off an extra page not printed within the comic book. The Yahoo News story details the complaints from readers.
UK actor Daisy Ridley of Star Wars fame has the thyroid autoimmune disorder Graves’ disease
Story at Washington Post
The $9 million that went into Zestworld appears to be gone now – Comicsbeat
Yet another comics company that launched with some great ideas and fanfare but just dissipated into thin air – the last post on the Zestworld Twitter was in June, 2023..."
Disney boasts profits off streaming in earnings report – Bounding into Comics
Iron Man Pop It Marvel
Interview with Alex Segura about the new Dick Tracy comic book – Comicsbeat
Is there already a Caped Crusader Season 2 to come? – NME
Deadpool first appearance artwork by Rob Liefeld available for $7.5 Million – Bleeding Cool
The Heritage Auction page showing the artwork and "add to cart" button so you can buy it immediately.
Deadpool and Wolverine keeps raking in the money – Benzinga
Deadpool & Wolverine is now the second-highest grossing movie of 2024, trailing only Inside Out 2 ($1.555 billion), and ranks as the third-biggest R-rated movie in history after Joker ($1.07 billion) and Oppenheimer ($975 million). It’s on track to cross the $1 billion mark soon..."
Absolute editions for Superman Red Son and Death of Superman coming – Bleeding Cool
Dick Briefer Original Art
Not currently available but represented at Heritage Auctions
Colin Kaepernick is making a comic book company and it is with AI – Gizmodo
Celebrities have found that you can leverage fame into making money with comic books, and with AI you can pursue the idea without the expense of hiring (human) talent.
Recently, activist and ex-football player Colin Kaepernick announced the launch of his comic book company Lumi. Its big “selling point” is that it’ll use genAI to draw and write comics that’ll be sold to readers, and according to Kaepernick, will be creator-owned and also lead to built-in merchandising. With $4 million raised to fund Lumi, he’s also certain this company will help “level the playing field,” and talks a big game about making this a way for aspiring creators to enter comics without having to rely on a full team or have personal Hollywood connections...."
Profiles in promotion
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman talk up their Deadpool and Wolverine movie and take a lie detector test
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman eat through a hot sauce assortment while talking about Deadpool and Wolverine and their careers
Previews on the Alien/Marvel crossover, the David Mazzucchelli Batman: Year One artist's edition, and other titles – AV Club
The Garfield comic strip that saved the title – CBR MSN
Peanuts is probably the most popular comic strip of all-time, and it REALLY struggled. Charles Schulz was so desperate to get his strip picked up by a syndicate that he accepted the name, Peanuts, that he hated (the name had nothing to do with the strip itself, just that some executive knew that Howdy Doody's audience of kids at each taping were in the "Peanut Gallery," and that's it)... everyone struggles at first. The same was definitely the case for Jim Davis and his world-famous Garfield comic strip (likely the SECOND most popular comic strip of all-time), and in fact, things got so bad at one point that when disaster was averted, Davis celebrated the strip not going under by putting out a special Garfield comic that appeared in only one city..."
Children's comic books on comeback trail? – Publishers Weekly
One remarkable trend at last month’s Comic-Con International in San Diego was the number of children’s comics that were being announced—not graphic novels (though there were plenty of those), but single-issue comics, the sort of thing kids used to buy for a dime at the newsstand. The newsstand is long gone, as is the 10-cent cover price, but kids go to comic shops now, and the publishers want to offer something just for them..."
Arrests at Comic-Con for human trafficking
Story at NBC News MSN
Fourteen people were arrested and 10 victims of sex trafficking were rescued — including a 16-year-old girl — in a sting operation at the Comic-Con International convention in San Diego, California, last week, officials said Thursday. The convention dedicated to comic books and pop culture is annually held in San Diego and has attracted crowds of over 130,000 in recent years..."
As has been pointed out elsewhere, comic books and crime operations have been closely linked in the past, with mafia types of groups using comic book publishing as a way to launder money out of illegal operations.
Get into the Public Domain archives that are online at Graphic Chatter
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Original page August 30, 2024