The MAIN MAN Comes To The Screen

Hey there Lobo fans (remember him…the MAIN man?)

Well Variety is reporting that Guy Ritchie, fresh of his directorial stint on the forthcoming “Sherlock Holmes”, will helm the live action pic featruing DC’s wise cracking, bike riding, blue skinned bounty hunter. The film is due to go into production sometime in early 2010. I am posting the Variety article below. Frnkly I am really looking forward to “The Losers” and “Jonah Hex” but Lobo should be lots of fun!

Next - My retro review of Marvel Comics #1 (1939) !

Enjoy your Labor Day, otherwise known as "Take A Comic FAn To Lunch Day"

That’s 30!

Mitch


Variety - September 3,2009

Warner Bros. has locked Guy Ritchie to direct "Lobo," the live-action adaptation of the DC Comics drama about an alien bounty hunter.
Don Payne wrote the most recent script draft, and Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona will produce the co-production of Silver Pictures and Weed Road.
Ritchie will make the film his follow-up to "Sherlock Holmes," the Silver-produced pic that stars Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Rachel McAdams. Warner Bros. opens it Christmas Day.
Production on "Lobo" begins early next year. The character originated in 1983 in "Omega Men," written by Roger Slifer and Keith Giffen. Lobo has had several comicbook incarnations. In the film, he will be an indestructible, blue-skinned, 7-foot-tall and heavily muscled antihero who drives a pimped-out motorcycle and lands on Earth in search of four fugitives bent on wreaking havoc. Lobo teams with a small-town teenaged girl to stop the creatures.
WB is aiming for a PG-13 rating. Pic will be strong on visual effects, and Ritchie is expected to bring the irreverent, gruff tone of his past films such as "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels."
Steve Richards and Kerry Foster will be executive producers.
With all the attention on Disney's Marvel deal, the Ritchie pact gives WB yet another production start through its DC Comics banner. Silver and Goldsman are producers on "The Losers," while Goldsman is a producer on "Jonah Hex." WB recently set Ryan Reynolds to play the title character in the Martin Campbell-directed "Green Lantern." DC Comics is a WB-owned entity, and Gregory Noveck steers the film adaptations for DC.

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One more item regarding a possible Surrogates movie tailgate party. We are not sure yet if there is a midnight showing but if there is we will have a tailgate party on September 24th so stay tuned!

Socko

NEWS & EVENTS FOR THE WEEK OF 9/10/09

Summer is coming to a close but don't worry because comics will never die! This week will bring us another solid helping of new books, toys and other assorted goodies all of which can be found in the new books section of the website. But keep in mind that because of Labor Day our shipment of new stuff will be coming in on Thursday, September 10th, NOT Wednesday, September 9th. Our hours for Labor Day will also change, for all the latest info on all that as well as other events in the store, keep reading!

LABOR DAY SHIPPING UPDATE

Just a quick note so that you're all in the know, this week the delivery will be coming in on Thursday, September 10th instead of Wednesday, September 9th because of Labor Day. Also, on Labor Day, Monday, September 7th we will have shortened hours and be open from 10AM - 3PM.

BEASTS OF BURDEN SIGNING FEAT. EVAN DORKIN & JILL THOMPSON

In celebration of their new book, Beasts of Burden, Evan Dorkin (writer) and Jill Thompson (artist) will be appearing at Comic Book Jones for a signing on Wednesday, September 16th from 6PM - 9PM! This also happens to be the day that Beasts of Burden #1 is released so you can pick up your copy and get it signed! We will also have plenty of copies of their other works including Milk & Cheese, Sandman, Magic Trixie, etc. Here's a look into what they've worked on over the years:

Evan Dorkin
-Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
-Bizzaro World
-Dork Comics
-Milk & Cheese
-Occasionally writes and does animation for the hit TV show Yo Gabba Gabba! (Super Martian Robot Girl) on Nickelodeon.

Jill Thompson
-Dark Horse Book of Hauntings, Witchcraft, Dead, Monsters
-Fables 1001 Nights of Snowfall
-Magic Trixie
-Sandman

CARNAGE STATUE RAFFLE

A new week, a new raffle. An item many of you have asked about still does not have a home. This item, if you haven't read the heading for some reason, is the Carnage statue we proudly have displayed. This is a beautiful statue limited to 1200 pieces worldwide and has a retail price of $189.99. It can all be yours with some luck and at least one $1 raffle ticket! Feel free to buy as many as you like to increase your chances of winning! Carnage statues don't come around all that often so make sure you pick up some tickets. This raffle will begin on Saturday, September 5th and end on Wednesday, September 16th. Good luck!

BIRTHDAY COUPON!

E-mail us your full name and birthday and receive a special gift from us when your special day arrives! Send your e-mail to comicbookjones@gmail.com with the subject line "Birthday."

SHIPPING UPDATES

Amazing Spider-Man #609 - 10/21/09 (Old Date 10/14/09)
Amazing Spider-Man #610 - 10/28/09 (Old Date 10/21/09)
Amazing Spider-Man Pres Anti Venom #1 - 9/16/09 (Old Date 9/9/09)
Amazing Spider-Man Pres Anti Venom #2 - 10/21/09 (Old Date 10/7/09)
Captain America Reborn #3 - 9/16/09 (Old Date 9/9/09)
Dark Reign List: Daredevil - 9/16/09 (Old Date 9/9/09)
Dark Reign List: X-Men - 9/23/09 (Old Date 9/16/09)
Dark Reign Zodiac #3 - 9/16/09 (Old Date 9/9/09)
Gears of War #10 - 9/30/09 (Old Date 9/16/09)
New Mutants #5 - 9/30/09 (Old Date 9/23/09)
Secret Warriors #8 - 10/21/09 (Old Date 10/7/09)
Uncanny X-Men #515 - 9/23/09 (Old Date 9/16/09)
Vengeance of Moon Knight #1 - 9/16/09 (Old Date 9/9/09)
War Machine #11 - 11/4/09 (Old Date 10/28/09)
Web of Spider-Man #1 - 10/14/09 (Old Date 10/17/09)
Web of Spider-Man #2 - 11/11/09 (Old Date 11/14/09)

Comics just aren't black and white anymore...

In the vastness of The Cosmos there are billions and billions of comic books....(Sometimes I really miss Carl Sagan!)

As comic books have evolved from an entertainment pointed towards 8-12 year old children to a much more adult audience, the themes and story lines have taken a more “realistic” and often much darker tone. Back in the 1950’s or 1960’s Batman would chase down the Joker, who was planning theme based robberies, usually involving some oversized props. After a fist fight, Batman would toss Joker into jail, share a quip with Robin and go on to the next eight page story. No one died, the bad guy was caught, and all was right with the world. Under the Comics Code Authority there were not really too many other directions you could go as a story teller. As a response to Dr. Wertham’s witch hunt in which he accused comics of contributing to juvenile delinquency, in his book Seduction of The Innocent, the comics industry divested itself of blood, death, vampires, werewolves, real crime stories, sexuality of any kind and moral ambiguity. In comics of the age, the good guy was always good and the bad guy always bad. Elected officials and business owners were always pillars of the community and Heroes NEVER killed villains. Villains could TRY to kill heroes or their friends and family but did not succeed. And the number one rule of the Comics Code was “Thou Shalt Not Get Away With It” . In short, the bad guy always got his comeuppance.

The seeds of change began with The Amazing Spiderman #96-98, which led to the revision of the code that would ultimately lead to it’s demise as a censorship body. Previously, the Code forbade the depiction of the use of illegal drugs altogether. However, in 1970, the Nixon administration asked Stan Lee to publish an anti-drug message in one of Marvel's top-selling titles. Lee chose to feature a story depicting the negative effects of drug use. In the story, Peter Parker's friend Harry Osborn becomes addicted to pills. While the story had a clear anti-drug message, the Comics Code Authority refused to issue its seal of approval. Marvel nevertheless published the three issues without the Comics Code Authority's approval or seal. The issues sold so well that the industry's self-censorship was undercut and the Code was subsequently revised.
Not long afterward The Green Lantern/ Green Arrow “Snowbirds Don’t Fly” arc in DC, in which Oliver Queen’s ward Speedy becomes a heroin addict received a letter of commendation from then Mayor Lindsay of NY, and the Code was effectively dead. These stories opened the door to the story that would effectively end the Silver Age of Comics in Spiderman #121 and 122, The Death Of Gwen Stacy.

These industry shaking events occurred during the early 1970’s but the Comics Code Seal stayed around for many years after that and for the most part comics would go along pretty much as they had in the 60’s and 70’s. Marvel gave us characters with dimension and DC’s Batman began to grow up but for the most part, the good guys were good and the bad guys were bad.

The seismic change that we are still feeling today actually came in1986 from the less likely to rock the boat DC comics. It was in ’86 that DC published both Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. In one fell swoop, comic readers were confronted by “heroes” who were homicidal, suicidal, sociopathic and borderline psychotic. In short, they were real people. There would be no going back from the changes these books wrought on comic books. We would never look upon our “heroes” in quite the same way.

Today comics take on and whole litany of controversial topics. Racism, sexuality, drugs, civil rights, homicide, genocide and more are all discussed in what many people still consider “kiddie” books.

Currently DC is running a Justice League Mini-Series called Cry For Justice which takes on the question of how far a hero can go in dealing with Villains. When is it allowed, if it ever is, to use physical coercion or lethal force? For Hal Jordan the answer seems to be that, in the wake of the death of Batman and the Martian Manhunter during The Final Crisis, that time could be now. In issue three we see Jordan torturing a captured villain by having the Atom shrink down and stomp around in his head, while the other heroes look on with tacit approval. It is a scene lifted right from 24 and Hal might as well be Jack Bauer in this moment. But is he wrong? Does he go too far? The information he got might save lives. Doesn’t that justify his actions?
The Joker has killed THOUSANDS in the course of his many rampages. He and Batman go through a macabre dance of murder, capture, escape and repeat. Bruce knows that no matter how many times he throws him into Arkham, The Joker will escape to kill again. The Joker cannot be cured. He is not motivated by profit, revenge, politics or sex. There is no possible rede3mption for him. Joker is a force of nature and a monster in the truest sense of the world.

As Alfred says in the film “Dark Knight”;

“Some men just want to watch the world burn”

Yet Batman does not kill Joker when every instinct, every rational thought tells him over and over that killing him is not only necessary but RIGHT. Batman knows that to some extent, he shares the guilt for every murder that The Joker commits. He, Bruce Wayne, Batman could have stopped the Joker and saved hundreds, even thousands. Is he wrong? Is he weak? Or has Bruce made the determination that he does not have the right to act as jury and executioner?
Does Batman secure his status as hero by not killing while Logan becomes merely a vigilante because he does kill? And what about Frank Castle who kills more or less indiscriminately based upon his own identification of someone as being “dirty”. Is he just a mad dog, or the next step in our evolution?

There are many people who will take the position that in order to protect the many sometimes drastic actions have to be taken against the villainous few. That the Dr. Dooms have chosen their paths and deserve whatever they get. Wolverine would probably say that you need someone to do the hard, necessary, dirty jobs that no one else can do. There is an argument to be made for this position to be sure.

Other people will say that any civilized country is based on the rule of law. That fundamental to that rule is the right to due process. That it is not the place of the police force, and what is a superhero if not a super powered cop, to act as judge and executioner. An argument can also be made for this logic as well.

There is no easy answer to this. In the real world, the answers often lie between extremes. But the fact that the question is raised is an example of how much comic books have evolved into a legitimate form of adult literature.

The question of lethal force is just ONE of the deeply complicated issues being discussed openly in the pages of comic books these days.

Sometimes those questions are not even discussed overtly in a given story. In a bold move, even today, Detective Comics now features Kate Kane, Batwoman, a character who is openly gay. AND the fact that she IS gay does not define her character. She is a hero, a human being and a woman who just happens to BE gay. This is tremendously forward thinking and courageous on the part of DC. And the very existence of this character implicitly endorses her worth and her rights as an individual without ever actually SAYING so on a soap box. It is not unlike Avery Brooks as Captain Cisco on Star Trek Deep Space Nine. He was a black Starfleet captain and the lead character. But it was not about a black captain. It was about a captain who just happened to be black. He was defined by his courage, compassion and the strength of his character, not by his ethnic background. It was groundbreaking then and it is now.
Comic books have come of age.


And that's 30!

Mitch

Shamless Plug Wednesday!

Hello, kiddies! It's your creepy Uncle Stephen again... here to shamelessly plug away my various bits and bobs that I've got going on.

First, it's Wednesday, and that means it's time for another page of my weekly webcomic Saints & Warlords. S&W is the tale of rival streets gangs in Chicago cira mid-1970s who encounter a new threat on the streets that may mean the end of them all... You can check it out here:
http://www.captionsandballoons.com/saintsandwarlords/

But that's not all! Oh no, my friends... my despicable whoring out of myself is not over yet! It's September, which means there's a brand new Diamond Previews catalog out! And in said catalog is a listing for a little book that's near and dear to my heart called Jesus Hates Zombies featuring Lincoln Hates Werewolves Vol. 3!! The Diamond Order Code is: sep090570

I know what you're thinking - "But Uncle Stephen... what can I possibly do to help?" That's easy... you can ask Socko, Tiger and the rest of the CBJ crew to order you a copy! That's it! It's really that simple. You see, while I know they're going to order copies of the book, the more you demand it, the more they'll order. And the more they order, the more likely it is that I'll get to come out again for another signing and some 'special time'. Ahem...

And now, just because you're all near and dear to my heart and other tingly places, here's a little teaser poster in a 70s B-Movie style that I cooked up for Jesus Hates Zombies:

The Mouse Assimilates Spidey!

The editorial you are about to read is true…I have not yet changed my name to avoid embarrassment…the opinions therein are my own and are not intended to reflect the opinions of CBJ or any employees therein….this is the city…New York, New York…they say there are 12 million people in the naked city…(to which I say “get dressed”!)…many people live and work here…most are good law abiding citizens who don’t persecute Mutants or plot global domination …except sometimes they do…that’s when they call me…I read comic comic books… (somebody play the theme to Dragnet please.)

Dr. Doom couldn’t do it…Galactus couldn’t do it…The Red Skull and Magneto couldn’t do it…heck THE BORG couldn’t do it…but THE MOUSE did it…Disney, in a 4 billion buy out deal today assimilated Marvel Comics. Don’t bother to fight it. Trust me when I say that resistance was indeed futile. The Mouse is inevitable…The Mouse is a force of nature…the Mouse cannot be stopped even by the crew of the Enterprise. Just ask all the former owners of all those naughty books shops and ladies of the night (notice that I don’t use the “adult” words here…the influence of Disney is all pervasive!!) that The Mouse banished from Times Square after decades of attempts by elected officials failed. Get used to it fellow members of The Merry Marching Marvel Society, Wolverine now reports to The Mouse. Spidey has to see The Duck when he wants a raise. Reed Richards now parks cars at Epcot Center.

There is no question that things are going to change for Marvel. DISNEY is the all devouring black hole and Marvel merely a piece of flotsam sucked therein. The only question that remains is “Is this a bad thing?”. Not necessarily…but then again maybe. So please Front Facers don’t panic…or do. Here is the way I see it. Let’s start with the positives:

First , this is a phenomenal business decision on the part of both Marvel and Disney. There is no doubt that the infusion of resources that Disney can bring to bear in the areas of market penetration, television exposure, merchandising and animation ( oh and also MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!!!) can only increase the value of the Marvel stable of characters. The additional revenues that come Marvel’s way from this merging will allow them to bring even more of the very best talent in the comics industry to the legendary Bullpen. Disney will also be able to almost immediately close the gap between Marvel and DC in terms of the quality of their animated properties. Let’s face it DC Animated is head and shoulders ahead of Marvel right now. That will change at least from a technical point of view.

As for Disney, they are THE BEAST and THE BEAST must be fed. They acquire an enormous amount of content and characters with which to populate their Theme Parks, retail outlets and TV stations. I for one am looking forward to the Spiderman Pavilion in Epcot (opening in 2012!). And who would not want to bring their kids to a character breakfast featuring Herbie the Robot? How about The Red Skull Rollercoaster of Nazigoodness? (maybe that last one went a bit too far.) The possibilities are truly Homeric if not downright Orwellian.

In short, the good thing is that we will see more Marvel in more markets than ever before. That’s good for Marvel. It’s good for the comic book industry in general. We will undoubtedly see a large influx of new comic readers and circulation could potentially reach levels not seen since WWII all due to the Disney acquisition of Marvel. How can that be bad?

Now for the other boot dropping.

There is perhaps no entertainment entity MORE mainstream , more establishment, more status quo than Disney. If you think the Comics Code Authority was tough wait until The Mouse starts to edit Marvel Comics! Will we see Wolverine’s claws go from Adamantium to chocolate pudding? Will Dr. Doom change his name to Dr. Cranky? Will Ebenezer Duck become the Nemesis of the Fantastic Four? Even worse , will Emma Frost (gasp!) COVER UP??!!!

The possibilities are astounding!

Remember that Marvel has always been the maverick, the edgy company. It is Marvel that used a superhero team in The X-Men as an allegory for racial discrimination. It was Marvel and NOT DC that first defied the Comics Code in addressing the drug issue head on and it was Marvel that killed off the beloved Gwen Stacy. Marvel took on the issue of individual rights versus the power of the state in Civil War and the fall out of that war in the Dark Reign books. Marvel has in it’s stable two very popular protagonists in the Punisher and Wolverine who regularly KILL their enemies and enjoy doing it to boot. Does ANY of this sound like remotely like Disney approved content? There is a very real possibility that we could see, in the next few years, a “defanging” of Marvel as it becomes completely a product of the Disney philosophy.
Don’t get me wrong here. I personally love Disney. I have been to their various parks over thirty since times 1986 so they love ME too. (Now I go every year just to visit my money!) I own copies of every one of their Theatrical films and enjoy them immensely. Disney often does a lot of innovative and creative work. They also go through long stretches where they merely ride the formulas that they made popular and creativity dips. As I said earlier Disney is very much an example of “The Establishment” . They are not in the business of taking risks. Owning Marvel is not going to change that philosophy. No matter what else happens it will always be about what is good for DISNEY first and foremost .

It is naïve to think otherwise.

On the bright side, Disney is also comprised of some very smart people in decision making roles. We can only hope that those people are smart enough to allow Marvel to do what they have always done best. There is bound to be a lot of debate in Disney’s halls of power on just how much direct control they will exert over Marvel in an editorial sense. Be smart Disney, let Marvel stay…Marvel.

What will Marvel be in two years? In five years? No one really knows. Stay tuned.

That’s 30!
Mitch

Previews and Reviews with Gore Jones

What's up Comic Book Jonesers!!

What a week! Marvel put out every damn book they publish it seems. So who saw Halloween 2? I loved it. I thought it was Rob Zombie's "art" horror movie. It's a thinking man's slasher flick, not what everyone was expecting but non the less it was awesome. Check out this video our homeboy Smokey Jones did:



and now onto my reviews for this week.


BATMAN WIDENING GYRE #1

This week, Kevin Smith's new Batman miniseries came out. I myself am a fan of Kevin Smith, not the biggest fan but I still like his work. So..in this issue we find Batman retelling a tale of him and Dick taking down Baron Blitz. Flash forward to present day and the two heroes are fighting someone else in Blitz's armor. Dick askes Bruce to check something out for him which leads to Batman ending up at Arkham Asylum. It wasn't a bad issue but it wasn't a great issue either. The only parts I really dug were when Poison Ivy uses pot to try and subdue Batman and the 3 pages with Etrigan eating one of Arkham's guards. Nothing really draws you in a makes you want to read the next issue or the next 5 for this series.
2 out of 5

&

Green Lantern #45


Continuing my coverage of "Blackest Night"; This week gives us a look into the Titans part in the story and how Carol Ferris begins to play her part in the grand scheme of things. Any fan who's been reading Teen Titans knows that they die a lot, This gives the black rings plenty of people to "infect" and boy oh boy do they. The scene with Terra making out with Beast Boy: AMAZING! eww she's a zombie and he had his tongue down her throat. The part where Hank Hall aka HAWK comes back and starts kicking the crap out of the new Hawk and Dove: AWESOME!
Over in Green Lantern we're given a look into how Carol Ferris begins to play a major role in Hal Jordan's life and just how far she's willing to go to for him. Carol takes on Sinestro and attempts to reason with him about what he should be doing as opposed to what he is doing. We get to see more dead lanterns rise from their grave and become Black Lanterns and the hits just keep on coming. I really love the way DC is handling everything with this story. I can't wait to see what happens next!

5 out of 5 for both.


Dark Reign Elektra #5 (of 5)

I was really stoked when I first heard about this mini because I thought they were going to explain why Elektra was kidnapped in the first place by the Skrulls, what they wanted from her and what happened to her after Secret Invasion. We find out that the reason they took her is because she's "evaded" death twice and they wanted to find out why, We find out that Norman Osborn was going to experiment on her and use her for his own needs and then out of left friggin field we have rogue HAMMER soliders who were SHIELD agents putting out hits on her because she caused a Helicarrier to crash during her time undercover with the Hand. What a crock of shit! They don't explain anything beyond that point and we're forced to buy 5, $3.99 issues to find this out! Come on! What nonsense. We don't get to see the Hand even attempt to come for her once, we don't get to see anything beyond a couple of botched attempts on her life and a guest appearance by Marvel's posterboy Wolverine. Thanks for wasting my money. Worth a read if your a fan of Elektra's but not worth buying.

2 out of 5


Darkness / Pitt #1

I'm a really big Darkness fan and a big Pitt fan. I've tracked down back issues from both series for the longest time. I was very excited to hear about this team-up when they first announced it over 2 years ago was it worth the wait? NO! I'm sorry but to randomly have Pitt and his "sidekick half brother" Timmy walking the streets looking for god knows what where as the last time we saw them they were completely different and weren't even on Earth! Where's the bridge to gap the end of Pitt's series to this mini??? Hello Continuity!! The same goes with Jackie just randomly eating italian food as the place gets over run by Zombies? Come on...give some kind of link between this and the respective series. There wasn't even a lead in where it says "These events take place before or after events A,B and C" WTF!! The only redeeming quality of the book is Dale Keown's art. If you're a hardcore fan like me you'll be upset if you're new to one or both of these characters check it out.

3 out of 5


28 Days Later #1

Yes! Good stuff indeed. I can't tell you much aside from the fact that this picks up directly where the 1st movie leaves off and moves forward from there. It's really good and made me want to turn the page. CHECK THIS BOOK OUT! Apparently it's going to be an ongoing so it's really worth checking out even more.

5 out of 5!

and my picks for this week's bookS!
MAGOG #1
SUPERGIRL ANNUAL #1
GHOST RIDERS HEAVENS ON FIRE #2
MARVEL ZOMBIES RETURN #1
SOLOMON GRUNDY #7 BN