2009 January
Fox looks up and shouts ’8.5%,’ Warner Bros. whispers ‘OK’
Rorschach, from "Watchmen"
Details are still trickling out about the terms of the settlement that brings to an end the bitter feud between Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox over the Watchmen movie.
The agreement, revealed late Thursday, clears the way for Warner Bros. to distribute its $130-million adaptation of the 1986 DC Comics miniseries by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The Zack Snyder-directed movie is set for release on March 6.
Although the details of the settlement won’t be disclosed by the studios, The New York Times’ Carpetbagger blog reported last night that Fox will get a cut of profits from Watchmen and any sequels or spinoffs, and recoup its development costs and legal fees.
Variety now provides more concrete figures: Fox’s gross participation will be on a sliding scale, ranging between 5 percent and 8.5 percent, depending on Watchmen‘s worldwide revenues. The studio reportedly also will receive between $5 million and $10 million upfront to cover the other expenses.
- January 16, 2009 @ 05:35 AM by Kevin Melrose
Steve Wacker responds to Larsen’s Spider-Man comments
Amazing Spider-Man #583 (Obama variant cover)
Earlier this week I blogged about Erik Larsen’s comments on Amazing Spider-Man #583 and Savage Dragon #137 that appeared on the ComiCon.com message boards. If you haven’t seen those comments, go read them first before you read this post, as it’ll make more sense that way.
Everybody up to speed? Good. Here’s Spider-Man editor Steve Wacker, who sent us an email responding to Larsen:
- January 15, 2009 @ 10:44 PM by JK Parkin
Studios will announce Watchmen settlement Friday morning [Update]
Watchmen
Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox will announce Friday morning that they have resolved the lawsuit regarding the $130-million Watchmen movie.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studios will present the settlement at 9:30 a.m. (PST) to U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess and request that the case be dismissed.
Although the terms of the agreement won’t be disclosed, the trade paper reports “it is said to involve a sizable cash payment to Fox and a percentage of the film’s box office.”
The studios are expected to release a joint statement on Friday.
Fox filed the lawsuit in February, claiming it still holds the movie rights to the 1986 DC Comics miniseries, which it had acquired in the late ’80s for producer Lawrence Gordon. Although the project passed from studio to studio over the next two decades before finally settling at Warner Bros., Fox asserted Gordon had never obtained the necessary rights from the studio.
Feess agreed, ruling on Dec. 24 that “Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the Watchmen motion picture.”
Attorneys for the two studios began settlement talks five days later, ahead of an expected Jan. 20 decision from Feess on whether Fox could block release of the movie. Negotiations reportedly “got serious” last weekend after the judge postponed a settlement hearing so the studios could meet further.
If everything goes as planned in the morning, Warner Bros. will release Watchmen on March 6.
(Note: Post updated to replace earlier reporting from The Hollywood Reporter’s media-law blog with expanded information from the trade paper.)
Update 2 (8:26 p.m. PST): Details of the agreement — y’know, the one whose terms supposedly won’t be disclosed — already are leaking out.
The New York Times’ Carpetbagger blog reports Fox will get a cut of gross receipts of Watchmen or any sequels or spinoffs — as much as 8.5 percent — which could end up amounting to tens of millions of dollars. The studio also will recoup its development costs and legal fees, which amounts to millions of dollars more.
- January 15, 2009 @ 05:25 PM by Kevin Melrose
Thin wallets, fat bookshelves: Toon Books plans for spring
Luke on the Loose
I wanted to point out two things. First, Deb Aoki has a more complete round-up of Viz’s early line-up. Second, Douglas Wolk has done an impressive job running down the big-ticket books of the year over at Savage Critic.
Moving on we turn to Toon Books, the new children’s graphic novel company from Francoise Mouly. They have two books planned for the first half of the year:
Benny and Penny
Luke on the Loose by Harry Bliss. The popular New Yorker cartoonist and children’s illustrator (Diary of A Worm) makes his graphic novel debut in this story about a boy who, while following some pigeons, ends up taking a rather unconventional tour of New York City. $12.95 hardcover, April 6.
Benny and Penny in the Big No-No by Geoffrey Hayes. Hayes’ cute mice siblings return for another outing. This time the pair go snooping in their mysterious new neighbor’s backyard. Will they find a monster or a friend? Maybe a monster friend! $12.95, hardcover, May 5.
- January 15, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Okay, you can look behind the curtain now.
Okay, bear with me here. I’m beginning to monkey around in the guts of Robot 6 (pretty clean, all things considered) and am getting some old pages up. As anyone who’s read my blogging before will know, I like to make tiny little changes that tend to bring down entire websites. Who knew that one little slash could cause so much trouble?
The first page of chapter one should be here. Could a couple of you actually click on this and give it a look, make sure it doesn’t have any browser-breaking code? Thanks.
Assuming this works, I’ll be putting up the rest of the old pages over the next couple of days (but won’t be publishing them with a current date, so as not to completely clog the works with 26 pages of material.) Oh, and I’m working on a “get up to speed” page if folks don’t want to slog through all the old material. Keep an eye out for that, probably tomorrow.
- January 15, 2009 @ 11:47 AM by Matt Maxwell
Latest auctions for Carla and Lance end soon
I linked to the awesome artwork Walt Simonson donated to our auctions for our injured friends Carla and Lance Hoffman a few days ago, and since our latest round is about to end I thought I’d show off a few more pieces currently available for bidding. First up, a Wonder Woman original watercolor by Jose Carlos:
Wonder Woman
- January 15, 2009 @ 11:45 AM by JK Parkin
Why do folks still think this kinda thing is OK?
I know I probably have a less elastic view of this issue than most, what with me causing to have produced copyrighted entertainment for sale, and all, but I was tipped off to this site.
I dunno about you, but it’s rare and unique to see such blatant and overt copyright infringement in this day and age. To use a few superfluous redundant pleonastic tautologies.
- January 15, 2009 @ 11:42 AM by Larry Young
Annotations for Trinity issue #33
Before we begin, just a bit of follow-up from last week. I had thought that “every woman can be a Wonder Woman” was a quote from the Golden Age. It may still be (I haven’t finished scouring my new copy of the Fleisher WW Encyclopedia), but I think what I was remembering was the full quote, “Do good to others and every man can be a Superman,” from October 1962′s Superman vol. 1 #156.
Ah, a clean conscience! I feel better — don’t you?
Now for this issue…
SPOILERS FOLLOW
* * *
LEAD STORY
“There Must Be Hope” was written by Kurt Busiek, pencilled by Mark Bagley, inked by Art Thibert, colored by Pete Pantazis, and lettered by Pat Brosseau; Rachel Gluckstern, associate editor; Mike Carlin, editor.
- January 15, 2009 @ 08:53 AM by Tom Bondurant
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Naruto, Vol. 33
Sales charts | Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen slips 10 spots to No. 39 in its 26th week on USA Today’s list of the Top 150 books. The 33rd volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto, meanwhile, falls 72 places to No. 140.
And the latest installment of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, The Last Straw, debuts at No. 121, joining previous books The Diary of a Wimpy Kid (No. 98) and Rodrick Rules (No. 91). [USA Today]
Politics | Apparently President-elect Obama isn’t the only world leader/comic-book stars. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni appeared in two separate comics in 2007 and 2008. The first sold more than 200,000 copies, the second 100,000 and counting. [Top News]
Creators | Jamie Smart talks about working on Beano and The Dandy, reveals the return of Bear is “unlikely.” [Den of Geek]
Retailers | Rapper/comics writer Percy Carey chats with Ryan Liebowitz, owner of Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles, about the climate of the comics market. [Complex]
Publishing | Image Comics teases an intriguing ninth-century crime series by Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein called Viking. [Newsarama, Ivan Brandon]
Art and design | Letterer Nate Piekos has compiled a nice guide to comics-lettering “grammar and tradition.” [Blambot]
Art and design | Brian Wood walks through the logo treatment for John Paul Leon’s cover to DMZ #41. [Standard Attrition]
Contests | The Project: Rooftop website is playing host to a contest for artists to redesign the costume of Batman’s likely successor Dick Grayson. Prizes for “Batman 2.0: The Dynamic Do-Over” are being provided by Rogues Gallery of Round Rock, Texas. [Project: Rooftop]
- January 15, 2009 @ 06:15 AM by Kevin Melrose
Strangeways: The Thirsty comes to Robot 6
Strangeways: The Thirsty
I’m happy to announce that Matt Maxwell’s Strangeways: The Thirsty has joined us here at Robot 6. Matt started syndicating the book when we were at Newsarama and decided to join us at our new home once the first chapter wrapped up.
Courtesy of Matt, here are some details on the story, which started in Strangeways: Murder Moon:
Strangeways is the story of ex-Union officer turned expressman Seth Collins, as he finds himself adrift in the closing frontier of the post-Civil War era. Only this frontier is haunted by more than the ghosts of war. Things that are neither man nor beast, but the worst of both, hunt in the shadows and moonlight. Bandits and bad men are the least of your problems out here. Those can be solved by way of a little help from misters Smith and Wesson. But sometimes they’re not enough.
Strangeways: The Thirsty is the second graphic novel in the series. It follows on from the events of Murder Moon (though you certainly don’t need to have read the first to enjoy this one). Having both seen the town of Silver Branch saved from the wolf-man that preyed upon it and ultimately destroyed by its own dark secret, Collins heads further west in the direction of Virginia City, seeking his estranged sister. Only he finds a place called Drytown along the way. What lives in Drytown doesn’t come out during the day, and it really didn’t want to be found in the first place. But now that it’s been stirred, it’s up and packing a thirst.
You can order the first graphic novel, Murder Moon, on Amazon. Matt will have the first chapter of The Thirsty available on our Strangeways page soon, and will start posting pages from chapter two next week!
- January 15, 2009 @ 06:10 AM by JK Parkin
Insider trading: Tom Brevoort brings back a lost art
Fantastic Four #1
Marvel editor Tom Brevoort is using his blog on Marvel.com to bring back the lost art of trading — trading comics, that is. In a post from late 2008, he explains how the art became lost:
Time was, in days of yore, just about every comic book published was traded. When comics were first invented, at the tail end of the depression, because most kids didn’t have much disposable income, they’d buy a comic, then trade it with a friend after they were done reading it. Some publishers even inflated their readership figures using this model, estimating that six kids read each issue for every one purchased.
Most every old comic book dealer has a sign that says: Buying, Selling, Trading. But when was the last time you saw one trading? To each other, I suppose, rotating inventory between shops in different geographic locations. But seldom with a customer.
So Brevoort started an experiment on his blog … he started off with five random comics that he was willing to trade for other Marvel comics, with the ultimate goal of eventually trading his way to a copy of Fantastic Four #1 (the original Stan and Jack version) by the end of 2009. He plans to donate the book to the Hero Initiative.
He posted his seventh trading update yesterday; currently he has a pool of 18 comics and one hardcover to trade. Which is a pretty nice haul in about two weeks time, as it includes Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1, Amazing Spider-Man #31 and the NFL SuperPro Special. Heck, with that last one, he should be on his way to FF #1 by the end of January …
This will be a fun one to watch over the next few months.
- January 15, 2009 @ 06:06 AM by JK Parkin
Send us your shelf porn!
Comics are awesome. They’re a great artistic medium. They’re fun to read. They’re fun to collect. They’re fun to blog about. We all know that.
There’s just one problem.
Where are you supposed to keep them all?
That’s the inspiration behind this new feature here at Robot 6. We want to know how you take care of your comics. Do you store them in longboxes or on shelves? In airtight vaults or carelessly strewn about the floor of your apartment? Bag and board or leave them to the elements? Do you organize them in alphabetical order, by publisher or what? You get the idea.
Email me (cmautner at comcast dot net) with pics of your collection and perhaps a few words about how you came about your own unique storage solution and once a week we’ll post the responses we get here, for all to enjoy. Be the envy of all! Show us how inventive you are! Make us curse you for owning that one book we’ve been desperate to locate for umpteen years now!
For this debut post, I thought I’d kick off my sharing my own pics.
A few years back, my wife wanted to have the basement refurbished. At the time, bookshelf space was rapidly becoming untenable. Why not, I thought, slaughter two birds with one stone and have some shelves built into one of the basement walls?
Voila.
- January 15, 2009 @ 06:00 AM by Chris Mautner
New Herriman site reveals upcoming biography
A classic Krazy strip
The mighty Craig Yoe (editor of the Arf! books) has put together a Web site devoted to Krazy Kat cartoonist George Herriman. The site boasts a biography of the artist, several YouTube cartoons, comic strips, rare art and a shop where you can get Krazy-related merchandise such as books and T-shirts.
The really notable item on the site lies in the news section, where Yoe says that author Michael Tisserand (author of The Sugarcane Academy) is in the midst of working on a biography of Herriman, to be tentatively published by HarperCollins.
Tisserand reports that “the book begins with the extended Herriman clan in New Orleans and then follows George Herriman’s immediate family to California, and continues on with George Herriman’s amazing life and career, as well as examines his great contribution to comics, art, literature and the world.”
Tisserand says he can be reached “most easily at his email — michaeltisserand [at] yahoo [dot] com.” Tisserand goes on to say, “I’ll appreciate any ideas and leads, and I’d also be very happy to answer any general questions about the direction and scope of my work.”
(Via Bill K)
- January 15, 2009 @ 05:33 AM by Chris Mautner
Radical talks future plans at Publisher’s Weekly
Caliber
Calvin Reid at Publisher’s Weekly talks to Radical Publishing about their publishing philosophy and their upcoming plans:
“We’re a publishing company on a broad scale,” said Levine during an interview in Manhattan. “It’s the easiest way to brand ourselves and control our properties. We offer great content with multiplatform opportunities. Our books can stand on their own, and the films help them appeal to another segment of the audience.” Levine, who is Radical’s president and publisher, called the house’s movie plans “marketing strategies” that are used to cross-promote the graphic novels.
In addition to movie versions of their Hercules, Caliber and Freedom Formula comics, the article also hits on their planned move into prose publishing:
In addition, the house is negotiating with New York trade houses to create prose novelizations of its comics, and Matt Fleckenstein, a writer on the animated TV hit Family Guy, is developing Animal Square as a kids’ book and animated film. And in 2009 the house will publish a series of lavishly illustrated prose novels (each with 30 to 45 pages of artwork), developed by pairing writers from its comics list (“comic book writers are all frustrated novelists,” said Berger) with artists from the Storm Lion manga studio.
That last quote was surely said in jest, right?
- January 15, 2009 @ 05:15 AM by JK Parkin
They’ve got you covered
Ryan channels Barks
Everybody and their uncle has already mentioned it, but in case you haven’t seen it yet, there’s a cool new blog in town courtesy of artist and animator Robert Goodlin, titled Covered.
The idea is simple. Get various artists and cartoonists to reinterpret classic comic book covers. That’s Johnny Ryan paying homage Carl Barks above. Other contributors so far include Jeffrey Brown channelling Mike Zeck and Eric Skillman offering his own take on Jerry Ordway.
it’s a shame the site doesn’t take requests. I’d love to see Ryan attempt a Dan DeCarlo Archie cover.
- January 15, 2009 @ 05:12 AM by Chris Mautner