Posts
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
COMIC NEWS: Hero Initiative and Archie Comics Team up!
“ARCHIE COVERS: FIFTY TIMES AN AMERICAN ICON”
50 new Archie covers by 50 great artists will benefit Hero Initiative
Archie and the whole Riverdale gang certainly are heroes. Now they’re joining forces to aid cartoonists in need.
Archie Comics is teaming up with the Hero Initiative, the charity dedicated to helping comic creators in medical or financial need, for an amazing artistic extravaganza involving the premier issue of the world-renowned Archie wedding series, Archie #600. Archie Comics has printed 50 blank-covered copies of the landmark book, and Hero will have 50 stellar artists do original Archie covers on the special edition books. The originals will be auctioned off at a later date to benefit Hero, and a book will be published, collecting all 50 covers.
Superstar artists such as Neal Adams, Darwyn Cooke, Sam Kieth, Jerry Ordway, George Pérez, John Romita, Tim Sale and more are all contributing to the project, “Archie Covers: Fifty Times an American Icon.” More artistic surprises are yet in store, as artists from the animation world and even underground comics will be making contributions as well!
"Hey, Archie Comics is one of the very few companies I've never worked for and any opportunity to draw the lovely Betty and Veronica is one I can't possibly pass up, especially as it also benefits the Hero Initiative. “ , said legendary Marvel/DC artist and Hero board member George Pérez. “And, considering my reputation as a super-team artist, how could I resist drawing the Riverdale gang in their superhero persona?"
“Archie Comics is committed to supporting those who have spent their lives as the cornerstone of the comics industry. We are thrilled to be working with the Hero Initiative on this project,” remarks Co-CEO Jon Goldwater. “The covers have been remarkable and we can’t wait to see what the remaining artists have in store for their edition of the Hero covers for Archie #600.”
Each original cover will be auctioned off via eBay.com at a future date. A release date for the book is also pending. Stay tuned! You will not want to miss out on these amazing once-in-a-lifetime covers!
About The Hero Initiative:
The Hero Initiative is the first-ever federally chartered not-for-profit corporation dedicated strict to helping comic book creators in need. Hero creates a financial safety net for yesterday’s creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It’s a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.
Since its inception, The Hero Initiative has had the good fortune to grant over $400,000 to the comic book veterans who have paved the way for those in the industry today. For more information, visit www.heroinitiative.org or call 626-676-6354.
Archie Comics
The Archie Comics line of comic books is one of the most successful, longest running brands in the history of the comic industry. Archie Comics has sold 1.5 billion comics and is published in a dozen different foreign languages and distributed all over the world. Archie Comics has spawned characters whose popularity has spilled over into other media and who have become part of popular culture. SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH and JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS are just some of the many legendary franchises that are part of the Archie Comics library. Read more... Read More
COMIC NEWS: Marvel Unveils New IRON MAN BY DESIGN Variant Covers
Marvel urges retailers to check their orders on these hotly-anticipated variant covers, as Iron Man continues to garner mainstream media buzz! No Marvel fan can miss April’s Iron Man By Design variant covers!
DARK WOLVERINE #85 (FEB100573)
DARK WOLVERINE #85 IRON MAN BY DESIGN VARIANT (FEB100574)
Written by DANIEL WAY & MARJORIE LIU
Pencils & Cover by STEPHEN SEGOVIA
IRON MAN BY DESIGN VARIANT by SKOTTIE YOUNG
Parental Advisory …$2.99
FOC—3/25/10, On-Sale—4/21/10
X-MEN LEGACY #235 (FEB100561)
X-MEN LEGACY #235 IRON MAN BY DESIGN VARIANT (FEB100563)
Written by MIKE CAREY
Penciled by GREG LAND
Cover by ADI GRANOV
Variant Cover by DAVID FINCH
IRON MAN BY DESIGN VARIANT by DAVE JOHNSON
Rated A …$2.99
FOC—3/25/10, On-Sale—4/21/10
WOLVERINE ORIGINS #47 (FEB100575)
WOLVERINE ORIGINS #47 IRON MAN BY DESIGN VARIANT (FEB100576)
Written by DANIEL WAY
Penciled by WILL CONRAD
Cover by SIMONE BIANCHI
IRON MAN BY DESIGN VARIANT by HUMBERTO RAMOS
Parental Advisory …$2.99
FOC—4/1/10/10, On-Sale—4/28/10
Marvel Entertainment, LLC. is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 5,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in licensing, entertainment (via Marvel Studios and Marvel Animation) and publishing (via Marvel Comics). Marvel's strategy is to leverage its franchises in a growing array of opportunities around the world, including feature films, consumer products, toys, video games, animated television, direct-to-DVD and online. For more information visit www.marvel.com. Read more... Read More
COMIC NEWS: Hero Initiative at Wizard World Toronto!
The Social
Sponsored by Hero Initiative
Join Hero Initiative and thousands of fellow fans as they converge in Canada at Toronto Comic Con, March 26, 27 & 28 at the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place. Hero Initiative, the non profit organization helping comic creators in hard times, will be celebrating the best in pop culture by bringing special guests for signatures and sketches.
In addition, we are proud to sponsor the Official Wizard World party! Saturday evening from 9pm to 2am at the Social, 1100 Queen Street West in Toronto. Come get your grove on with the folks from Wizard, your favorite comic creators and actor guests. Fifteen dollars at the door will get you to this most exclusive party of the weekend. The first lucky100 party-goers will receive a bag of exclusive goodies, and you can bid on art donated by many of the guests! You won’t want to miss out on this bash!
Our Wonderful guest line up is as follows:
FRI., 26 MAR, con hours 1200-800:
300-400: Marcus To
600-700: Gail Simone
SAT., 27 MAR, con hours 1000-700:
1030-1230: Ken Lashley
1230-230: Leonard Kirk
230-430: Richard Isanove
300-400: Marcus To
430-630: Phil Jiminez
FRI., 28 MAR, con hours 1000-500:
1230-230: Leonard Kirk
300-400: Marcus To
230-430: Richard Isanove
About The Hero Initiative:
The Hero Initiative is the first-ever federally chartered not-for-profit corporation dedicated strict to helping comic book creators in need. Hero creates a financial safety net for yesterday’s creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It’s a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.
Since its inception, The Hero Initiative has had the good fortune to grant over $400,000 to the comic book veterans who have paved the way for those in the industry today. For more information, visit www.heroinitiative.org or call 626-676-6354.
Read more... Read More
TOY REVIEW: MOTUC Moss Man
A sighting of the elusive Moss Man, last seen briefly on March 15th.Who would have thought that poor mellow Moss Man would be involved in so much drama? From the very beginning there were problems. We were first shown a knockout fully-flocked prototype of the character. Then we were told the flocking would present problems and we were given the option of several levels of flocking, and even shown a fairly hideous non-flocked version of the character. Once the decision was made, we were informed that Moss Man would be only partially flocked. When we were next shown the character, he was almost entirely flocked but he was a dingy brownish green and his ears were flocked over. We were told he was too far into production to make changes. Mattel then told us they were, in fact, making the change and that there would be two versions of the character sold, with and without the flocked ears. When Moss Man finally went on sale, both versions of the character sold out in under five minutes, which is a record even for Masters of the Universe Classics, especially considering that Moss Man is hardly an A-list character. Sadly, many fans did not get their figure, which is sad because so far Moss Man is easily my favorite figure released in the line this year.
Use Moss Man in the stinkiest parts of your house.Like his vintage counterpart, Moss Man is largely a flocked and repainted Beast Man. Being that he is based on Beast Man, he lacks the lateral calf articulation of the booted figures and has his right hand sculpted open. Unlike his MOTUC body double, Moss Man has the longer preternian loin cloth first introduced on King Grayskull.
Moss Man says, "Go flock yourself."
The Moss Man Redemption.Oddly, Mattel chose not to fully flock the figure because they were afraid the flocking would come off the joints...leaving the character looking like the version which they released. Maybe it would have been better to have flocked the joints for people who don't open their figures or handle them a lot. I'm just sayin'.
Looks like Moss Man needs a bit of a pedicure.Although not as vivid a green as was first shown, the flocking is actually quite nice and has a few different shades of green and brown in it. Even with the limited flocking on the figure, it still manages to hide some of the joints quite nicely. When Moss Man is posed with his ab crunch bent down, the joint pretty much disappears into the flocking. Like the original toy, the flocking gives the character a different tactile element and he is literally fun and pleasing to handle. I find myself taking him down from the shelf to touch.
Amazing what a shave and little blue eyeshadow will do, no? Moss Man includes an alternate head. The second head is said to be inspired by the 2002 cartoon but really doesn't look much like that version of the character. He is packaged using his Beast Man head, with its screaming Klingon expression. The alternate head is much nicer, with its stern simian gaze and pupil-less metallic green eyes. Moss Man's new headsculpt is really one of the nicest headsculpts of the line so far, he really has tons of character.
"Get off my lawn!"The figure is packed with an updated version of his classic mace and Matty really went the extra mile with the detail on this weapon. The could have just given us a flat brown mace but instead it is sculpted with all kinds of really nice woody details as well as a curling vine painted in a different shade of brown. Moss Man also comes with an over the shoulder satchel with a built in knife holder.
How much do you want to bet that there is weed in that bag?The satchel has lots of nice botanical details. The knife is a simple obsidian-looking blade with a stone handle which does not quite fit in Moss Man's weapon hand, although it fits snugly in its sheath next to the pouch.
Why isn't this mace flocked?As a throwback to the 1980's figure Moss Man is pine scented, although it is apparently not the exact same scent that you remember from the original. Some people online have been saying that it is overpowering or that it smells like Pinesol but I don't think so. It's strong but not overpowering, and certainly not unpleasant. There is a somewhat spicy quality like eucalyptus but to me it smells a lot like walking past a Christmas tree lot.
On the quality control front, my Moss Man has some loose joints. This is a collector line that has been around for over a year now, so I have to wonder why these figures are still shipping with loose joints. Are they shipped to a preschool between their production and the time in which they are packaged? Mattel, the only thing you have going for you in this line is the quality of your product, everything else has been screwed up at every opportunity. Please fix this, it is inexcusable.
Moss Man asks you to give him a little privacy.Although I would have preferred a less articulated, fully-flocked, figure, I am happy to say that Moss Man ended up being a standout figure in Masters of the Universe Classics, and well worth all of the drama that surrounded his development and release. Due to his cool flocking, his excellent alternate headsculpt and accessories, and his enjoyable pine scent Moss Man has quickly become one of my favorite MOTUC figures. Sadly, due to his shockingly fast sellout, a lot of collectors were not able to pick him up on the 15th but Matty assures us that he will be re released early in 2011.
Patrick Garone
Creative Director Read more... Read More
MINI TOY REVIEW: MOTUC SKELETOR (MOTUC VS. DCU 2 PACK)
Finally, Masters of the Universe makes its return to retail. This month, exclusively at Toys R' Us, a pair of special two packs featuring DC Universe and Masters of the Universe Classics figures were released. Each pack features a reprint of a classic 1980's crossover comic. I'm going to be taking a look at the Skeletor figure from the Skeletor vs. Lex Luthor 2 pack.
This is a simple repaint of the re-released Skeletor figure with the tighter left hand, with an eye towards capturing his bolder comic appearance. While the paint on the head is less detailed than the other versions, the paint on the armor features a richer purple color and new metallic highlights. The crossbones are painted in a metallic purple, similar to the paint scheme on the Faker armor. This is a great detail that should have been implemented on the very first release of the character. Another difference in this figure is that there seems to be a pronounced gap in the area around the ab joint near the waist whereas this is much tighter in my original Skeletor.
The hood is also painted the same richer purple as the armor and the loincloth. Instead of the yellow and green face deco on the original, this new Skeletor features a uniform yellow face and unpainted eye sockets that give him a more Filmation look. The teeth are also outlined in black paint which is a little sloppy on my figure. The two pack Skeletor also includes an exclusive yellow and gold version of the powersword, previously seen at the recent art exposition.
I highly recommend this new Skeletor. It represents major improvements over the two previously versions of the character. I particularly like the new purple color used throughout and the great metallic paint on the bones. This is my definitive version of the character until Keldor comes out and I can kitbash a new, more cartoon-based version of the character.
Patrick Garone
Creative Director Read more... Read More
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
