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Point-of-fact: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is an ABC show, not on NBC.

[…] From The Beat:  […]

Thank god it is “Marvel’s Hawkeye” vs Black Panther on that “Miniverse” two pack — T’Challa would destroy M.A.S.H.’s Hawkeye!

I think the Coates comic is going to sell *very* well for the stores who stock it properly.

-B

Cool!! 25 yr old me woulda killed for a Kirby or Billy Graham Black Panther tshirt. I remember trying to find any BP shirt at all a decade ago and discovering there was only one (!!!) design online at the time. I’m looking forward to watching this Panther merch onslaught.

I’ve had this since I bought the game. Maybe because I preordered? I did see some DLC titles for Masters of Evil and Captain Marvel, but I don’t know much more than that

Who is this “Jim Starland” you speak of? And does he know Chelsea Cain or Chelsea Caine?

They are all residents of typo land, which I am the ruler of.

Wait, did you not pick up The Vision? It might be the best comic at the Big Two, period.

Of course I picked up The Vision! This column examines new #1’s and the books that I occasionally missed in my ongoing adventure into exploring the All-New, All-Different line as a whole. Here’s my first thoughts on vision back when the line was first launching:

http://www.comicsbeat.com/all-new-all-different-marvel-rundown-week-five/

Did you check out Mockingbird yet?

What does it mean for a Marvel characters to be relevant?

[…] Original article: Preview: How C-3PO Became The Red Arm Droid — The Beat […]

Didn’t they try doing this with the Sentry (the Sentinel?) about a decade ago and it went no where?

Aha! He’ll be Star-Lord’s dad in the movie! “He was an angel…” – perfect Superman allegory!

Hyperion is hot with a beard!

“Will Hyperion be Marvel’s next star?”

Extremely unlikely!

-B

“Will Hyperion be Marvel’s next star?”

Sure — about the same time Red Wolf becomes the next Jason Bourne.

I thought of writing an essay about Reisman’s own errors (Lee’s superheroines were “pugilistic?” Really?) However, most of those errors are piddling in nature, and don’t detract from the question he raises.

While I found the essay valuable for the wealth of quotes from industry professionals, I would say that the writer fails to set a proper standard for “legacy.” He remarks, correctly, that Lee’s Marvel success is one of the great second acts in American history. But as he relentlessly chronicles all of the unpopular or unfinished projects Lee did in his later years, it might’ve been proper to note that very few writers, high or low, have much of a “third act” in their careers. I’ve seen critics observe that Jack London was a bad businessman too, but nobody questions his legacy because of that. And how many writers continue to be productive past their 50s?

Reisman says something about how Lee might’ve been better off had he just rested on his laurels– but without Lee and his corny cameos, how likely is it that the mainstream public would even appreciate the presence of real comics-creators behind the projects that Hollywood tweaks for moviegoers?

Even if every post-70s project Lee worked on was pure dreck, being the “Walt Disney” of American comics may be a valuable legacy in and of itself.

Gene: “but without Lee and his corny cameos, how likely is it that the mainstream public would even appreciate the presence of real comics-creators behind the projects that Hollywood tweaks for moviegoers?”

The catch being that the mainstream public appreciates the presence of real comic-creators…if they’re named Stan Lee. His tendency lately to have large cameos in movies whose characters he had fuck all to do with (most recently Deadpool and Big Hero 6) only serves to further lift up the name of Stan Lee, to the detriment of the people who actually created them.

“And how many writers continue to be productive past their 50s?”

Bram Stoker did Dracula at 50, Laura Ingalls Wilder did Little House at 64, Raymond Chandler did The Big Sleep at 51, J.R.R. Tolkien did The Lord Of The Rings trilogy in his 60s. Nothing was stopping Stan Lee from finally writing that Great American Novel, except maybe whatever kept him from even being able to write either of his own memoirs.

People often ignore the fact that just like Kirby, Stan doesn’t own any of the Marvel characters he (co-)created either. While that’s no excuse for any false claims he’s made, he had just as much bitterness about the industry as Kirby and Ditko, with the benefit of power (nepotistically granted via cousin Martin Goodman) so as to never fear being axed. Again, this power doesn’t excuse his false claims, but it does demonstrate that even with money and power, Stan still lacked creative ownership and couldn’t even publish the stories he wanted to tell (he was dejected after Silver Surfer was canceled due to low sales).

People often paint The Man as THE MAN, but he was merely petty, not wicked.

“His tendency lately to have large cameos in movies whose characters he had fuck all to do with (most recently Deadpool and Big Hero 6) only serves to further lift up the name of Stan Lee, to the detriment of the people who actually created them.”

Er, you do realize Rob Liefeld was in the same scene as Stan in Deadpool, right? And it was Rob and Fabien, and not Stan, who were created at the end of the film? Your claim makes no sense.

Rob and Fabian were listed as “Special Thanks,” not as creators.

I spotted Rob for 2 seconds (slightly out of focus, walking past the camera) in the Hellhouse after his name was said…was he also in the strip bar? If he was, he must not have been very visible in that scene either, and he definitely didn’t have a speaking line. Stan got a series of speaking lines in both Deadpool and Big Hero 6, on top of his face being clearly seen.

The average theater-goer recognizes both the name and face of Stan Lee. If you asked the average theater-goer if they know who Rob Liefeld or Fabian Nicieza are, or if they recognized a photo of them, you’d get a lot of “no”s. Likewise Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau. Likewise Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.

Or to give another example, a Tumblr user Photoshopped Deadpool and Stan Lee into an image together. What the Photoshopper discovered?:

“I’ve come to learn that WAY too many people are under the impression that Stan Lee created Deadpool”

http://artemuscain-gamingandbs.tumblr.com/post/127767987584/the-hoody-geek-thatthinginyourshoe

It’d make for an interesting survey to see if it’s true, but it does seem that if someone is a Marvel character, the general public assumes Stan Lee created said character.

And when the ‘Dr Strange’ movie comes out, people will assume Lee created him even though Lee said in writing he was Ditko’s idea!

Kate,
The point IMO is that Stan is there to communicate the fact of authorship at all, as opposed to the days when outsiders never gave a thought as to who created Superman and Batman. Even when Jerry Siegel tried to sue over ownership of Superman in the 70s, it took considerable time for wire services to even bother to cover the story, according to Larry Tye’s findings.

If you want to believe that Stan stole all the credit for the Marvel works, you’ve got a lot of company, because it’s a familiar knee-jerk response in fandom. But the question of authorship is one that anyone can investigate if they care to do so.I believe that while Lee’s claim to complete authorship is exaggerated, but I believe the claims of Ditko and Kirby are just as exaggerated. But why do fans only attack Lee for his exaggerated claims, but allow Ditko and Kirby to skate on by? (Reisman comes close to this as well; he just barely mentions any questionable aspects of these artists’ outsized claims.)

I know that mainstream audiences are not likely to investigate anyone’s claims in detail, just as they were willing for many years to think that Walt Disney created all the Disney projects. The important thing is not the masses, who will never remember such details. My concern is that at least some of the intelligentisa– genuine or would-be– can even grasp the fact of comics-book authorship. If THEY don’t do their bloody research, that’s not Lee’s fault.

“Rob and Fabian were listed as “Special Thanks,” not as creators.”

I wrote a typo. I meant “credited.” And they were.

“I spotted Rob for 2 seconds”

There you go.

“The average theater-goer recognizes both the name and face of Stan Lee. If you asked the average theater-goer if they know who Rob Liefeld or Fabian Nicieza are, or if they recognized a photo of them, you’d get a lot of “no”s. Likewise Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau. Likewise Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.”

Therefore . . . what? Stan’s been in the public eye since he did the university rounds in the mid-’60s. Your whole “detriment” argument is still baseless.

“If you want to believe that Stan stole all the credit for the Marvel works, you’ve got a lot of company, because it’s a familiar knee-jerk response in fandom.”

Stan even said he had no intention to appear in GotG because they were not his creations and he never worked on the characters (which is actually not true – he co-created Groot). Is it his fault they people want him in their movies? Is he “taking credit” for anything outside of, you know, cameoing as himself?

Ross is terrific.

These look really good.

The completist in me asks… was this ever done for the prequel trilogy? Dark Horse would have had the liscence then, wouldn’t they?

the international marketing campaign has also been genius. I live in Peru and last week they launched a tv ad mocking one of the candidates running for office in this year’s national elections. deadpool’s been all over the place.

How is it Liefeld’s name has been in the media more for one movie than Kirby has for over a dozen?

prolly because Liefeld is still alive. He can like, be interviewed and stuff.

Maybe this will convince studios that superhero movies don’t have to be PG-13 to be hits. I can’t think of an R-rated movie based on a Marvel or DC property since WATCHMEN in 2009.

Kingsman, george

Liefeld is correct that R-rated action movies used to be common. The early Die Hard and Terminator movies were rated R. And the first Conan movie. So were the Robocop movies, the Rambo movies, the Dirty Harry movies, etc. This continued into the late ’90s with big-budget movies like Face/Off, Air Force One, and The Matrix, all rated R.

But at some point, studios decided that these movies were so expensive, they had to be PG-13 so “everyone” could see them. So we get the ridiculous MAN OF STEEL, where a heavily populated city is devastated but we see no mangled corpses. Because corpses might result in an R.

AGAIN with the Jack Kirby whining??? FFS. There’s always some random idiot complaining that Jack Kirby isn’t getting his due each and every time a Marvel movie comes out. It’s just plain tiresome… Give it a rest already… HE’S DEAD. STOP BEATING ON HIM.

George you hit the nail on the head. I was lamenting the very same thing earlier tonight. Happy to see something tongue in cheek and over the top has injected life into an increasingly tired genre.

More importantly, I’d be interested in seeing more of these films adopt a mid-level budget approach. The need for extravagant productions are why so many of these outings have such similar, world-shaking endings.

This movie strives to be a comic book brought to life. And it mostly succeeds. They have done a lot with such a low budget. More than expected!

THANK YOU FOR CREATING THANOS. PLEASE DON’T SUE.

Hulk’s three toes on each foot–not a good look for him.

ETI: The three toes are cannonical. http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/avengers_2.shtml

Did Davis lose a bet or something?

@zach: Actually, Davis has said that he’s really pleased to be working with a writer who’s also an artist, and therefore knows something about visual storytelling–unlike some of the other writers with whom he’s worked at Marvel in recent years. He doesn’t name names, but I’d guess Bendis has to be the top of that list. Perhaps Brubaker, too? Hopefully not Al Ewing, with whom I thought Davis made really good comics. What other writers has Davis worked with at Marvel recently?

Looks like they’re holding back on the big Spidey reveal! I’m definitely Team Cap, but the Vision isn’t exactly a pushover.

I was surprised that Warner Brothers whiffed on running a Batman vs. Superman commercial. The big-wigs at WB must have been gnashing their teeth when they saw that great Ant-Man/Hulk Coke commercial. Hard to imagine DC being that playful with their characters. Really showed how hugely far ahead Marvel Studios is…

“I was surprised that Warner Brothers whiffed on running a Batman vs. Superman commercial.”

They ran two actually in conjunction with Turkish Airlines. From an economics standpoint, kind of smart actually. And from a creative standpoint, the viral nature of them I thought was neat. Maybe not as impactful as the 30 second Civil War clip, but I would argue not a Whiff from Marvel’s ad as you suggest.

$15.99 for 112 oversized pages isn’t that bad compared to a $9.99 trade paperback..

$3.99 x 5 for the first five floppies. Or $15.99 for the Treasury reprint of the first five issues. You don’t need to be a math major to figure this one out.

Marvel… EAN? Or should I look for it on the newsstand? }]

Also, it would be cool if the Star Wars miniseries were produced this way as well.
Treasury first… then regular trade.

” I am going to continue to work on Ms Marvel, for the following reason: I have never, in my entire career, seen a character and a story fill up my pocket book the way this has, and I need to see it through a little longer, at least until I find some other job that pays as well”.

Just a little edit for you to consider.

Maybe if Obama was as judicious in his spending as Perlmutter was, he wouldn’t be out of a job next Jan…..

I don’t get why anyone is upset with anyone else for whatever stance they take up in response to the Perlmutters and their support of political parties. This goes for whatever direction.

Paperclip incident -> If I’d been Ike I’d have fished the letter out of the trash too and commented: “And this paper should go in the paper recycling… after you’ve used the back of it as notepaper.”

Then again, I’m not Ike and I’m not running Marvel.

Sean Howe’s “Marvel: The Untold Story” reported that Marvel employees were terrified of Perlmutter. The rumor was that Ike, a Six-Day War veteran, wore a pistol on his ankle. Howe describes him as the most hands-on owner Marvel has ever had.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9e3e42fa-fda7-11e4-b824-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3zEjW8C5F
Mrs. Jobs, George Lucas, and Ike Perlmutter are the largest individual shareholders.

Ike got $694 Million in shares at the time of the deal (plus $867 Million in cash). Approximately 21.5 Million shares.
Lucas received 37.1 Million shares.(plus $2.2 Billion in cash).
Jobs still owns 130 Million shares. (Originally, 138,000,007 in 2006, from the 60M Pixar shares he owned. 2.2 Billion total Disney shares at the time.)

Interesting… Mellody Hobson, aka “Mrs. George Lucas”, is chairman of the board of Dreamworks Animation!

Disney can’t really fire Perlmutter. Yes, he’s the CEO, but he’s not a board member. Fire him, and he could become one. Then Disney would have to deal with the politics…

What’s wrong with that? Its a business, you think Disney cares about diversity? They pretend to, its a tatic. They are trying to make the most money possible like Ike, and they’re using diversity to do that.

Most companies (and wealthy people) donate to both parties, as a way of hedging their bets. They’ll have to deal with whoever wins.

“Maybe if Obama was as judicious in his spending as Perlmutter was, he wouldn’t be out of a job next Jan…..”

American presidents get two terms max. You know this, yes?

HOW DARE HE SUPPORT A FUNDRAISER THAT TRUMP WAS IN CHARGE OF. THE GALL. HOW DARE HE HAVE OPINIONS DIFFERENT THAN MINE!!!!!!1

lol the fuck is wrong with people today. So he gave some of his own money to a cause that happens to be associated with someone you disagree with politically. So what? It’s his money to do with as he wishes, and his political beliefs are also his to do with as he wishes. All these gossip points about “someone said that he was MEAN to a WOMAN once omgosh” or “well I heard that he was meaniepants to a BLACK person once” are just laughable. You just sound like a mob psyching itself up for a lynching.

Hmmm…

That design is Sam Wilson Captain America, not movie Falcon.

Makes you wonder if this will not be movie inspired promotion (which has had a history with Dr Pepper).

Hi…can I purchase these cans with box? Tks

So sad. One of my favorite all-time characters. Unfortunately the creative team was really not the best for this character. Here’s hoping SOME DAY they give him another ongoing chance…

Launching eight zillion new titles all once means that most of the non-A-list ones are going to suffer. This is definitely the first of many axes to fall.

I agree with Greg. Why don’t the companies do like Marvel and DC did in the Silver Age, and launch titles one at a time (on a bimonthly schedule) and nurture them along? Flooding the market always results in lots of casualties, as the Big Two learned in the ’70s.

As I’ve mentioned before, we seem to have returned to the ’70s, with titles getting cancelled after less than 10 issues.

Greg and George are absolutely correct– George, the reason Marvel and DC don’t handle things that way (logical as it may be) is that having fewer titles doesn’t help make this fiscal quarter better than last year’s corresponding quarter, and with both companies under the corporate thumb more than ever they don’t have much choice but to continue to flood the market with even more titles to make up the attrition.

It won’t be the last. Red Wolf must be on its last legs as well.

One key problem is that they are worried more about maintaining shelf space and not freeing up retailer dollars for other things.

A character nobody cares about, spinning off from one of the worst-selling miniseries from Secret Wars. What brainiac thought this title would sell in the first place?

A lot of these 2nd and 3rd level titles may have had a better chance at $2.99 than $3.99 I imagine. Avengers $3.99, check. Spiderman $.3.99, check. Black Knight and Red Wold at four bucks? I don’t think so.

I did not even know it was being published.

This is the downside of being an intellectual property warehouse instead of, you know, a publisher. Rather than looking around for something new or at least trendy to throw out there and see if it floats, which led Marvel to produce such stuff as CONAN, MASTER OF KUNG FU, ROM, MICRONAUTS, GHOST RIDER and TOMB OF DRACULA and DC to put out ARAK, WARLORD, BLACK LIGHTNING, RONIN, AMETHYST and ELECTRIC WARRIOR.

Now they just keep churning through their backlist of C and D-list characters, most of whom have already demonstrated their limited appeal. I mean, Black Knight? At least El Aguilar would have had the whole Latino angle going for it.

Mike

“Very very rich people like other very very rich people.” Exactly so. It’s something Robin and I are fond of saying whether we’re watching sporting events or a Congressional debate or a Hollywood-based awards ceremony or a talk show. These people all have more in common with each other than they do with us, and even if they disagree with each other vehemently they’re still inclined to go out for a beer together after the game or the debate or the show.

The attempt to downplay the charity is very strange. There is no reason to assume that because the money was donated to a particular organization it won’t be sent along to veterans. The website linked uses a weak argument to taint the charities motives, claiming it donated more to political organizations than to veterans. However they are only talking about 180 thousand dollars, the origin and purpose of which is no elaborated upon. This is not to mention the fact that many charitable organizations do make political donations, take planned parenthood for example.

These points are irrelevant of course because it’s not as though the money has been misspent yet! We have no reason to assume it’s going to be, either, unless you have some pre existing bias which wants to see every virtue of this candidate perverted into a vice. Is it so surprising that he would use a personal charitable organization that already exists to facilitate this somewhat spontaneous event rather than setting up a new organization?

I understand comics is not interested in politics other than to sling mud at perceived opponents of the hive mind, but perhaps if we hope to ever mature the medium we should attempt to broaden our minds and at least treat these topics fairly and their proponents with respect.

Andrew, the Perlmutters’s philanthropy is well documented and longstanding. .For whatever reason, they are definitely very charitable.

Check this out: http://thefederalist.com/2016/01/28/trumps-new-pro-veterans-website-directs-all-donations-to-trumps-personal-foundation/

Trump’s New Pro-Veterans Website Directs All Donations To Trump’s Personal Foundation
Rather than going directly to veterans groups, 100% of online donations on Trump’s pro-veterans site will go directly to Trump’s personal foundation.
JANUARY 28, 2016 By The Federalist Staff
After ducking the final Republican presidential debate heading into next week’s Iowa caucuses, GOP front-runner Donald Trump announced that he would hold his own pro-veterans event during the debate to raise money for veterans. Trump even set up a special website to solicit donations to help veterans.

“Honor their valor,” the website, donaldtrumpforvets.com, states. “Donate now to help our Veterans.”

The website, which is nothing more than a single page with stock photos and a credit card donation form, claims that “100% of your donations will go directly to Veterans needs.”

There’s only one problem: 100% of the money raised on the site goes directly to Donald Trump’s personal non-profit foundation, according to a disclosure listed at the bottom of the page.

“The Donald J Trump Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization,” the disclosure reads. “An email confirmation with a summary of your donation will be sent to the email address provided above.”

While i’m certainly not a fan of Trump, I think it’s hyperbole to say that he ran away from Kelly. He’s the front runner and all the other candidates would want to get their last shots in before the caucus. It’s actually a pretty smart move to bow out and just run out the clock.

The other reason to doubt Trump was his raising money for the “Veterans for a Strong America” organization earlier in his campaign. Trump said the organization “represented thousands of Veterans” when it only represented one person: Joel Arends. That organization’s non-profit tax status had already been pulled after not filing income taxes for 3 years. After the fundraiser the organization declared bankruptcy and restarted under the new name “Vets for a Strong America”. There is no evidence that Joel’s former group spent any of the Trump raised money it received on Veterans.

The movie “the 1 Percent” indicates how the Fanjul family is a top contributor to both the Republican, and Democrat parties (it is somewhere around 24 minutes into the documentary), and I would not be surprised if Ike contributes just as much to Hilary Clinton.

At the end of the day, regardless of who is President, regardless of education, and salary, and work ethic the majority of our adult lives as ‘Americans’ will still be asphalt, strip malls, junk food, screens w/advertisements disguised as entertainment w/commercials, brand identity, bigotry, consumerism, more grueling traffic, homes made to be flipped instead of lived in as products and services are made to break down and take our money, outsourcing and lobbyists, and more and more and more grueling traffic -the whole time anyone you walk up to will not be able to articulate how to be involved in town hall meetings and where they take place, where city council meets or who they are, how to meet their congressmen, or how a bill gets blocked let alone passed, and never would anyone feel it would be expected to know who are non-violent protest leaders or how to be involved in a peaceful protest -because…? We are ‘Americans’ still?

Ike can freely do whatever he wants, it is not like ‘Americans’ are going to do anything. Did you all tell yourselves to ‘think positive’, and ‘im special’ enough while sitting in traffic, and being reduced at work? Make sure to pay attention to corporate policy, so you can keep your jobs, OK? Are there enough condo complexes filled with out-sourced labor, and ‘Americans’ obsessing who is either ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’, while we pretend work ethic, cooperation, and education have value?

You guys dont actually think the USA still exists, do you? We know more about Marvel and DC brands, than we do about how to improve livability in this fake country.

In the spirit of a miogynist supporting a racist like they’re Klan members too afraid to wear the white hoods in public, Ike Perlmutter’s support of noted bigot Donald Trump provides Disney and Marvel with every justification they need to kick him put of the entire conglomerate. Ike, meanwhile, is contemplating changing his name to Isaac Scott Card. When reached for comment, Ike hid behind a random veteran and whined, “It’s all Hillary’s fault!”

America needs a father figure.. I can`t wait until he is President.
The best thing when he wins is to see that silly smirks wiped off the people in shock!
Go Trump! Make America great again.
Freedom of Speech rules!

I stopped buying Marvel’s comics years ago. Thanks, Mr. Perlmutter, for giving me a reason to continue avoiding them.

Amazing Stam, if you have any Muslim friends or relatives, I’m sure you’ll enjoy visiting them in detention camps if Trump is elected. The rest of us will be making plans to move to Europe.

My money’s on Gwen. She’s been such a massively popular hit for them (Spider Gwen, Gwenpool, Gwen variant month) that resurrecting her for real is going to be just too tempting.

Doctor Octopus maybe?

I’m leaning toward Gwen as well. “Too much of a good thing” aren’t words you’re going to hear much at Marvel and DC, after all.

10 to 1 odds its Gwen. Ben Parker’s the one person who needs to stay dead. Bringing Gwendy back just adds to the soap opera that is Spider-Man.

Doc Ock, surely.

As for Gwen, now that they found a way to have her back (in a fashion) without ressurrecting, why would they do it?

Or maybe it’s the totally unexpected (and unwelcome) return of… Ben Reilly!

Really excited by the possibility that Charlotte might be coming back to life.

Those liberals at Marvel prolly want to bring back Bin Laden….

Trump2016 Make USA Great Once MOre

It’s Shakespeare:

“If I be waspish, best beware my sting.”

Gordon Sumner is back!

Good to hear it’s coming back. Hope everything is alright.

If only there were some way for editors not to release the first issue of a series until they had the first six issues completed. But it’s impossible, I assume.

1. Ugh. That page is pretty much what I hate about modern comics and their cinematic pretensions.

2. “Our creators have lives outside of comics, and sometimes those lives have difficulties that can get in the way of writing or drawing”

I don’t think there is any other area of entertainment where that would be acceptable. I’m not sure if that says something positive for how comic creators are treated or is a negative statement on how rinky-dink the whole industry is.

Mike

I recently binged the acclaimed Prez mini from DC and was mildly dismayed that a middle issue of that mini was by a different artist. Fortunately I paid nothing for it so standards are sufficiently adjusted. But philosophically I think I’d rather have a delay than an artist change.

The first issue of Karnak I did purchase with designs on the brief affair that is a Marvel Ellis project. This complicates things…and that’s exactly why I deigned to indulge in a mini, even one as rare as a Warren Ellis mini…that it wasn’t going to be complicated. It was going to be quick and rapturous and over before I realized I don’t do minis until they’re released and in my hands and being read all at once.

At least it didn’t happen in the middle before I snapped out of it. Trade it is then. I wish Zaffino well and hope everything is alright.