Superman: Man of Steel First Poster

 

SDCC Recap: Neil Gaiman Returns to The Sandman!

Out of all the exciting and surprising announcement to come out of 2012 Comic-Con was this major announcement from DC’s Vertigo. Neil Gaiman is returning to The Sandman series! We repeat, Neil Gaiman is returning to The Sandman series. Additionally, he is being paired with artist JH Williams III from Batwoman.

Easily one of my favorite series ever (maybe my all time favorite,) The Sandman is considered to have fundamentally changed the face of storytelling in the comic book industry. First released in 1988 it has sold more the 7 million copies and is one of the few graphic novels to make the New York Times Best Seller list (along with Watchmen and Dark Knight.) The release will be a mini-series in honor of the 25th anniversary of the series.

If you aren’t familiar with The Sandman go and get familiar with it. It will rock your world. For those who are familiar with it, the story will pick up from the very first issue of The Sandman. As you may recall, Dream starts in captivity, is weakened and dressed for battle. This story explains how we find him in such straits.

I missed out on the original series in 1988. Rest be assured I will not miss out on this one. It is slated for release in 2013.

Superman: Man of Steel Official Teaser Trailer #1

Take a Look at the Official SDCC 2012 Swag Bags

For the third year in a row, Warner Bros. Entertainment will sponsor the official San Diego Comic Con “Swag Bag.” The bags will feature double-sided artwork and each will have the all-new Comic-Con 2012 official design on one side, with the other highlighting Warner Bros. titles, including TV series — live-action and animated — from Warner Bros. Television and Warner Bros. Animation, and upcoming theatrical features from Warner Bros. Pictures. The features TV titles include:  Arrow, The Big Bang Theory, DC Nation, Fringe, Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries, along with motion pictures Man of Steel and Pacific Rim.

Over 130,000 of the bags will be made to guarantee that every badge holder will get their own swag bag, which have become very popular SDCC keepsakes over the past few years. They measure 24 x 9  and are an oversized messenger style bag, unlike last year’s, which could be converted into a back pack.

WB released these photos of the bag today . Not included is the art work for Man of Steel and Pacific Rim, which will most likely be a surprise for SDCC fans. Which one is your favorite so far?

     

Countdown to SDCC: T-Minus 13 Days

In our award winning series we continue to countdown to SDCC 2012!

Here is something interesting I stumbled upon yesterday that you may want to check out while at SDCC. While you and I both know that the comic book world has some amazing artists, it is generally not considered a “high society” or “artsy” genre. So who says you can’t get a little cultural while at San Diego Comic Con this year?

Hopefully you are aware by now that the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya) is suffering from one of the worst famines in decades. Somalia in particular is in trouble as they have had no functioning government since the mid 1990’s. There are literally millions of people  at risk. Africa is a place I have come to care greatly about and so I was thrilled when DC Comics launched the “We Can Be Heroes,” two-year, multimillion dollar campaign to raise money for humanitarian groups working to provide relief in the famine struck area (as reported by B5’s Tony Kim.)

Okay. so, what does this have to do with the SDCC? There is a touring art exhibition called Darkness and Light: Art Inspired by Heroes and Villains, Hope and Heroism that will be viewable by fans attending Comic-Con this year. Various artist, most notably Jim Lee, have donated pieces of art work to the tour that will be mixed with photography’s of the real heroes, humanitarian aid workers, fighting hunger in Ethiopia. At the end of the tour the pieces will be auctioned off to support relief efforts. Proceeds from sales of variant cover comics also went to the cause. They had a pretty cool shirt you could get for making a donation to the cause as well and I can only assume it is still available since this is a 2- year drive.

I won’t get on my high-horse here, but I do think in our 21^st century world where we have so much, it is sad that people still go without food and clean water. I would expect the DC booth to have some info on this as well. I plan on checking out the art show whatever the case may be. Here is the info of where to find it.

www.wecanbeheroes.org

Michael J. Wolf Fine Arts

363 5^th Ave. #102

San Diego, CA 92101

This is literally 2 or 3 blocks away from the convention on the corners of J St. and 5^th.  We can only

assume that Michael J. Wolf is distant evolutionary cousin of Michael J. Fox.

Superman

New Superman banner releases. Thoughts? Leave your comments below.

Wondering about WonderCon?

If you weren’t fortunate enough to acquire passes for Comic-Con 2012, then you should really consider WonderCon March 16-18. Held for the first time in Anaheim (across from Disney), WonderCon has much of the feel of Comic-Con with less of the hassle. With an impressive programming line-up, it is sure to fill your nerd tank to full. We are most looking forward the panels for Amazing Spiderman, Prometheus, Fringe, DC, Marvel, Once Upon A Time, and Community. Best part is that its a very affordable convention! Buy tickets ahead of time to save money! Hope to see you in Orange County!

You can be a hero!

Some of you may not be aware, but there is a huge famine in the Horn of Africa and they are facing what is being called the worst hunger crisis of the last 60 years. Approximately 13 million people are suffering without food. It doesn’t help that much of the area, like Somalia, doesn’t have a functioning government and local leaders are making distribution difficult. I read a story about one women who had to walk 100 miles to find food. On the way she had to stop and bury her infant son who had died during her travels. Terrible, heart-breaking stuff, but you can help.

DC is launching the We Can Be Hero’s campaign. For every donation you make to raise food for Africa, they will match it 100%, they are also selling super cool gear with the slick We Can Be Hero’s logo, 50% of those proceeds go to help raise food as well. I have had the privilege of visiting Africa (not this part though) it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and I can honestly say the people are the most kind and joyous I have ever met. Here in America, where we have so much, let’s help those who have so little. The world is in need of a few hero’s, what are you waiting for?

Comic Con Member Registration Begins

Fellow Babblers! If you are one of the countless millions that hope to get into Comic-Con this year be warned, like The Flaming Lips say, “the test begins now.” (Brownie points if you name that song or album.) As of now until February 28th you must first register with Comic Con and receive a member ID that you will later use to crash their system when tickets sales go live. This is done to make things easier, how?  We don’t know! But they say it is, so thus it must be! That being said, we all plan on being there this year and hope you do too! Good luck.

Here is the   Comic Con Member Registration Link.

a man who unknowingly influenced us all

If you have ever been to, or dreamed of attending Comic-Con, or any geeky convention, then your life has been influenced by Richard Alf, one of the cofounders of Comic-Con San Diego. He passed away today at age 59 of cancer.

The ironically named Alf, helped form the convention in 1970 with a handful of volunteers. He also loaned money to the convention in its early years and did a lot of the hands on work as well. Of course, back in those days the convention was nothing like it is now. Low numbers of visitors and get this, actual comic book related items covered the sales floor and panels.

I remember as a kid in the 1980’s reading my comic books and seeing the convention advertisements and dreaming about how cool it would be to go someday. It only took me a couple of decades to do so. Now I have been 5 times and look forward to every year.

So here is to you Alf, unknown hero of nerds everywhere. We give you are condolences and thanks for making Comic-Con such an amazing event. It’s pretty impressive to go out with what you know has become a tradition for so many. Your legacy will live on.

R.I.P. Joe Simon

The comic book industry has lost another legend this week. Joe Simon, co-creator of Captain America passed away at age 98. Simon has had an incredibly influential career and is seen as one of the founding fathers of the comic book industry.  In the 1940′s Simon worked on the comic book companies, Timely which was the forerunner to Marvel, and National Periodicals, which later become DC. He is considered one of the most prolific writers of the “Golden Age” of comics and has created dozens of superheroes and villains.

Most famously he worked closely with legendary artist Jack Kirby and in 1940 the two of them created Captain America, who debuted in “Captain America Comics” 1 in December of that year.  The comic caught the public’s attention immediately due to the fact the cover had a picture of the Captain delivering a right-hook to Hitler, a year before the U.S. was in the war.

Simon later said, “Jack and I read the newspapers and knew what was going on over in Europe. And there he was — Adolf Hitler, with his ridiculous moustache, high-pitched ranting and goose-stepping followers. He was the perfect bad guy, much better than anything we could have made up, so what we needed was to create his ultimate counterpart.”

He also always kept his sense of humor. When recently talking about a character he and Kirby created called the Blue Bolt, he was quoted as saying, “Like Captain America, Blue Bolt got his powers from an injection, long before the baseball players were doing it.”

It is nice to note that in his waning years Simon got to see his beloved Captain America return to mass popularity in the American mind. In fact, with the recent push in movies, the Avengers have been outselling X-Men.

So there we have it, so long, Joe, you will be missed but your legacy will always remain.  That being said, we can only assume you passed away. You might have faked your own death to hide from your arch nemesis and are planning on reappearing a year from now to vanquish evil everywhere.

The comic book universe at a glance

Up, up, and away!
In the last five weeks, since the first of these 52 renumbered or new series were introduced, the sales of DC comics have increased by leaps and bounds. The gambit was risky: if it failed, it could alienate longtime readers and send an already declining industry into a tailspin. Read more at the NY Times.

Gender battles and anime
Revered japanese animator, Hayao Miyazaki (Ponyo), made some controversial tweets about putting the future of anime in the hands of women. Read more at The Beat.

The Death of Optimus Prime
IDW Publishing and Hasbro held a press conference call Wednesday to present the future of ”Transformers” comics – a future that, it would appear, does not include the famed leader of the Autobots. Read more at Comic Book Resources.

Be a CHAMPION!
A spectacular new comic book app is now available from iTunes for your iPhone or iPad. Champion! is a monthly interactive magazine focusing on comic books, toys, movies and pop culture. Champion! focuses on the latest pop culture news, and utilizes the latest technology to blend the aesthetics of a magazine with the immediacy and interactivity of the internet. It’s very fun! Click here to check out Champion! Magazine app.

We lost our version of Tony Stark…
Steve Jobs was the closest thing we had to Tony Stark. It’s true- just as the comic book character Stark radically shaped the look and technology of the Marvel Universe, the work of Apple co-founder Jobs has made a lasting impact on almost every impact on our lives. Read more at MTV Geek.