Paper Cuts
PAPER CUTS FOR AUGUST 2004
Compiled by Glenn Walker and Bill Watson, press releases courtesy of Virtual Infinity Comics and Terminal Press, special thanks to Mark Wheatley, Comics Continuum, Image Comics, Internet Movie Database and Jeff Mason of Alternative Comics.
Now filming, Batman Begins, has a new teaser trailer available online:
http://batmanbegins.warnerbros.com/
Directed by Christopher Nolan (Memento and Insomnia) and written by David S. Goyer (the Blade films, Dark City and the JSA comic) it features American Psycho's Christian Bale in the title role. Other cast features Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes, Rutger Hauer, Michael Caine, Tom Wilkinson and Gary Oldman as a young Sergeant Gordon. The villains this time out are Cillian Murphy as the Scarecrow, and in a brilliant casting move, Ken Watanabe as Ra's Al Ghul.
From the JLA/JSA Panel at the San Diego Comic-Con International...
Grant Morrison is returning to the Justice League, writing the first arc of a new title, JLA: Classified, it was announced by editor Mike Carlin. While JLA will have a new regular team of Kurt Busiek and Ron Garney, JLA: Classified with feature the rotating teams that JLA has had for the past two years. "This will be set in any era the writer wants," Carlin said. "This is the place where you can do your JLA Satellite era story. We'll be covering all the bases and hopefully we'll be picking top guys." The new book is also where Gail Simone's JLA story will probably wind up. The story is penciled by Jose Garcia-Lopez and inked by Klaus Janson. "Oddly enough, they haven't worked together in 30 years," Carlin said of the art team.
Movie News
ADV Film's Lady Death: The Motion Picture will arrive in stores on October 5th. The anime adventure is produced and directed by Any Orjuela and features the vocal talents of cartoon veteran Christine Auten.
There's a new live action Conan movie set for release in summer 2006. More info will be available when a director is chosen. Watchmen, with David Hayter's script has Darren Aronofsky set to direct. Death: The High Cost of Living, now titled Death's Day may have original writer Neil Gaiman directing.
OPEN LETTER - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Alternative Comics needs your help!
Please buy our books from your local comic book store to help Alternative Comics survive!
Dear Comics Fans:
I'm Jeff Mason making a direct appeal to you, our faithful readers, in a time of serious financial difficulty. If you could find a way to buy some of our books listed below, you would greatly help in our time of financial crisis. Please check off the books you want below and then buy these books from your favorite retailer. You can also use the checklist in the back of your copy of Alternative Comics #2 that was given out by your local comic book store on Free Comic Book Day. If your retailer does not stock our comics and books, they can use this form below as a way to order our in-stock titles form any of our distributors.
Alternative Comics is suffering some very dire cash flow problems and I am turning to you for help. In the spring of 2002 our book trade distributor, LPC, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy owing Alternative Comics a lot of money. I had hoped that I could weather the storm by taking money from my savings and by borrowing on credit until receiving the agreed-upon 42% of what LPC owed us. Now over two years later, LPC is still in bankruptcy proceedings and I am completely out of savings and credit.
In the past (prior to LPC) I had ample working capital - I had great credit terms with my various printers. Now (post LPC) I have absolutely no working capital and must pay up front to print every book.
For each publication, I now wait for all of the retailer advance orders to come in to Diamond, then I contract Diamond to assign the payment they'd pay to me to my printer to print the book. This contractual agreement costs money and cuts into our razor thin margin.
Lack of cash on hand has also caused me to have to shrink print runs on some books. This increases the cost per unit of each book, and speeds the looming reprint costs.
I've been increasing my publishing schedule over the last two years, and in hindsight, I expanded too quickly. Alternative Comics is moving forward with a much more reasonable, much more foresighted publishing schedule, with some really amazing projects in the works!
Alternative Comics' cash flow problems have been the only reason for not yet reprinting Bipolar #1 and Humor Can Be Funny as well as having been the only reason a number of books have been arriving late or re-solicited.
I am asking you to please buy Alternative Comics books from your local retailers. In my fanciful imagination, the best result would be for retailers to quickly sell out of all Alternative Comics books in inventory to customers and hurriedly place nice reorders with distributors.
Alternative Comics has no staff other than myself, so I am unable to handle orders directly. I ask that readers buy from your local comic book retailers, and retailers to buy from your favorite distributors.
The single most important variable for our publishing efforts is the number of comics or books advance ordered by retailers. Retailers decide their advance orders of books based on what you, the reader, let them know you want to buy.
If you can find it in your hearts to help Alternative Comics, I will be eternally grateful.
Thank you,
Jeff Mason
Publisher - Alternative Comics
FRANKENSTEIN MOBSTER IS BUSTED!
An Arresting New Shawn Nagle Sculpture Is Announced
Award-winning comics creator, Mark Wheatley has signed a licensing agreement with ReelArt Studios to produce a 1/6th scale prepainted, cold cast resin bust of his highly acclaimed creation, FRANKENSTEIN MOBSTER.
The bust will depict Frankie rising from the grave, surrounded by his three spirit soulmates, Stitches, Twitch and Hammer. As usual, Frankie will be rising to the occasion armed and dangerous, ready to battle crime and whatever else gets in his way in Monstros City.
Master Sculptor Shawn Nagle will be helming this project, achieving remarkable likenesses based on conceptual art provided by Mr. Wheatley.
Mark Wheatley is excited about the relationship, "Shawn Nagle's sculpted figures just blew me away. His work looks like it has life in it, like these little characters might just start moving! So I figured if he builds my Frankenstein Mobster and we get just the right lightning storm we might be making some real news! Needless to say, I can't wait to see the final sculpture."
ReelArt Studios owner, Michael Hudson says, "The chance to work with a comics legend, Mark Wheatley, and to bring his visual concept of the wonderful FRANKENSTEIN MOBSTER character into a 3D reality is about as good as it gets and what could be more fun than that?"
FRANKENSTEIN MOBSTER is published by Image Comics and issue #4 is available at your favorite comic book store now.
The bust is slated to arrive in December and should be just in time for that special someone's Christmas gift. For updates, please visit us at www.reelartstudios.com or Mark Wheatley's Insight Studios Group at .
ReelArt Studios is a producer of top quality statues and busts specializing in movie, comic book and pulp characters. The company works with the top figure sculptors in the world, always seeking to bring the collector a little something different.
Contact: Michael Hudson
Sam was recently given a heads-up about an independent comic published by Virtual Infinity Comics - called Intermezzo that I think will be of significant interest to other fans.
The story deals with a character named Corey O'Brien, "a young, heroic, super-powered rock star" and his attempt at a moment of anonymity between adventures with his teammates and band members, "The Infinity Five". Without revealing too many spoilers to potential readers, O'Brien and his friends find their attempt at a little rest and relaxation disrupted by an unceremonious supernatural event...which threatens to place Corey in a position to reveal much more about his abilities than he intends.
Writer/Artist Mike Sullivan is clearly influenced by the works of legends like Jack Kirby and Gil Kane, but has a modern edge and a style all his own. This witty and richly illustrated book serves as a great introduction to the character, and should appeal to fans of the classic era of comics and contemporary readers alike. I guess it speaks to the fanboy in me, but I'm hoping that this talented artist is able to continue with his independent releases...as I'm already eagerly looking forward to the further adventures of The Infinity Five.
DOCTOR CYBORG HAS CLIMAX
Long Running Daily Web Strip Begins Conclusion
When Allan Gross and Mike Oeming started Doctor Cyborg back in 1999 they had no idea it would become one of the most popular web continuity strips. They also didn't expect it would take more than half a decade to reach the conclusion to the story!
"Mike and I were just filling our time with a creative passion. Then I got the TARZAN gig and Mike snagged POWERS." said Allan Gross, "however, we never lost our desire to finish the project."
With a home on Insight Studios Group's SunnyFundays.com page, Doctor Cyborg brought an ever increasing audience to the site, to the archives and even reached out to many other sites through Steve Conley's Tooncasting. "What really still impresses me is the traffic we get even for the reruns of the strip." And there have been quite a few reruns over the years as Al and Mike fought deadlines on other projects. But there was always Doctor Cyborg waiting to be finished.
This is not the end - more a beginning. The new Image Graphic Novel, Doctor Cyborg: OUTPATIENT hits shops in August and the prepublication response has been impressive. "We were astonished at the sell through at the San Diego Comic Convention. In just three days we blasted through nearly ever copy we had advance shipped - the only copies we still have were for our files that we refused to sell to repeated requests."
Many of the buyers of the slick 96 page color book (selling for $9.95) had never seen the strip on the web site. But just seeing some of Mike Oeming's best unknown work prompted them to pick it up.
"I think the web strip is a great introduction to the story - but not the final word" Many new words were added to the Graphic Novel. "We rewrote the entire story and added some strips to make it flow as a single Graphic Novel rather than just a collection of daily strips. So each version is unique and appropriate for its own form of presentation. And the printed version finally does justice to the amazing art and dynamic color that the computer monitor cannot provide."
The web strip starts the final chapter today and runs through August 20th. You can see it on SunnyFundays.com and many other Tooncasting sites. After that, expect more Doctor Cyborg stories featuring new Doctor Cyborg artist Adrian Salmon and spin-offs with other popular characters from the strip.
Image Comics is a comics and graphic novels publisher formed in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image Comics is the home of Mark Wheatley's FRANKENSTEIN MOBSTER, as well as the upcoming DOCTOR CYBORG: OUTPATIENT Graphic Novel. Image comics and graphic novels cover nearly every genre, sub-genre and style imaginable, offering science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. Visit www.imagecomics.comfor more information.
Insight Studios is also well known for its series of coffee table art books featuring some of comic art's greatest names, such as Al Williamson Adventures and Gray Morrow Visionary.
SunnyFundays.com, the Insight Studios Group on-line strip site also features the on-line strip version of Harry Roland's Trying Times, Mark Wheatley's Frankenstein Mobster, Marc Hempel's Naked Brain, Allan Gross and Jerry Carr's Cryptozoo Crew, Steve Conley's Astounding Space Thrills, and Robert Tinnell and Ed Piskor's Feast of the Seven Fishes all using Conley's Tooncasting technique that allows the strips to run for free on anyone's home page.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Long Beach, NY
"Silent Assassin: Understanding Trauma," the debut title of Terminal Press, LLC premiered at this year's Comic Con International in San Diego and has been available nation-wide following the event. This 48 page, full-color, Prestige Format book features the words of Brian Ferrara as penciled and colored by Narek Gevorgian, with inks by Don Redick.
"I am proud to start with this book and think it gives readers a solid sense of the experimental and edgy material we will continue to release and hopefully be known for," says Ferrara of his company's debut title. Terminal Press is the New York based publisher releasing The SuperFun Company's "Toxic Teddies" comic book (Based on the Toy Line) and Ken Knudtsen's (My Monkey's Name is Jennifer) "Crowpsey / Rufus and Cleveland" graphic novel, amongst others, later this year. With "Silent Assassin," Terminal Press is moving forward with the creative works of the company's core team.
"We're interested in putting the best possible material out there. We're lucky enough to have a talented and dedicated team and thrilled that we're able to attract other talented and dedicated individuals to our company." Brian Ferrara's team includes creators Jessica Ferrara, Narek Gevorgian and Rolo Ledesma. Confirmed collaborators include Jim Krueger, Sam Kieth and recording artist Gloria Velez on upcoming projects.
This first graphic novel tells a tale three years in the making. It takes place in The Old City on the planet Terminus, the last remaining home of all life forms in the self-created Final Planet Universe. This is one of a number of titles contained therein, including Ferrara's "Final Planet" and "Blurin Da Lines," a collaboration with Rolo Ledesma.
"Silent Assassin" explores a deformed and abused child's journey through trauma as he is shaped into a hardened killer. At the height of his pain, a dark secret will be revealed, forever changing the world he has become so far detached from.
"Understanding Trauma" is Book I in a series that allows the reader a glimpse into the motivations and driving force behind this most heinous of professions. It shows this individual's struggle and his survival. This book is an origins tale that sets up a journey into the underbelly of a planet on the edge of extinction.
Visit www.terminalpress.com for more information.