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Kapow! EPIX Pre-empts Stan Lee Documentary Before Slamdance Debut

2012-01-22T15:17:00.001-08:00

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From Bondi Beach to New York, Hollywood, to Africa and beyond, the whole world knows of Stan Lee's Marvel superheroes.

You know - The Hulk, Spider-Man, Captain America - Lee was instrumental in their creation and was co-creator of many of these awesome hero's.

Slamdance has snatched a sweet deal. EPIX is closing a preemptive deal for With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story, a documentary that makes its Slamdance debut this Tuesday.

Lee is the co-creator of hundreds of comic character superheros that include Marvel movie staples Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Hulk, Fantastic Four, Daredevil and Iron Man.

We understand that the documentary will premiere on the pay channel along with EPIXHD, later this year. The doco examines Lee’s life, from growing up in the depression to finding his way to become an iconic comic creator during the Marvel heyday.

We were pleased to learn that the flick features the likes of Tobey Maguire, James Franco, Samuel L. Jackson, Kirsten Dunst and others who’ve starred in Marvel movies.

Lee shows up in all those movies in cameos and is still creating superheroes at age 88.

From comics, to movies, to games and exclusive interviews - its all in the flick.

The film’s produced by Paris Kasidokostas Latsis, Terry Dougas, Nikki Frakes, and Will Hess through 1821 Pictures. WME Global’s Deborah McIntosh is closing the deal.

Superhero fans around the world collectively shout "Excelsior!".

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Marvel Studios 2004 Films; Marvel Entertainment News; Thor II Director Announced

2011-12-28T18:14:00.001-08:00

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Marvel Entertainment Marvel Studios Thor Thor II Avengers Stan Lee Movies Hollywood

Marvel Studios changes the release date schedule for their unannounced 2014 mystery movies. Are they planning a third movie? Come let's explore the world of the Marvel Universe, with a focus on Marvel Studios. Oh, it's comics legend Stan Lee's birthday today True Believers.

Marvel Studios has had a tough time keeping to their plan of two theatrical releases per year. Delays with Thor and The Avengers had Iron Man 2 release by itself in 2010 and next year, The Avengers is without a partner since Runaways was indefinitely postponed. For 2013 and 2014 however, it’s back to two films/year or more.

News in from Disney that Marvel would be releasing The Avengers in 3D (post-converted). Marvel Studios also is claiming another release date in 2014 to release one of their films earlier.

Up until now, the official slate of upcoming films from Marvel Studios was scheduled as follows:

2012

The Avengers (May 4)
Runaways (canned)

2013

Iron Man 3 (May 3)
Thor 2 (July 26 pushed back to November 15)

2014

Unknown (May 16)
Unknown (June 27)

The 2014 schedule has changed the June 27 project will now be releasing on April 4th, nearly three months earlier. No information has been provided on the 2014 releases but know The Avengers will get a sequel eventually and that there’s talk of a follow-up for Captain America’s solo outing as well. Reports from two months ago also indicated that Marvel Studios would be working on Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Inhumans after Iron Man 3 and Thor 2.

So, will these 2014 movies simply be sequels to what we already know? Is Edgar Wright’s latest Ant-Man script finally going to be pushed into production? Is Marvel preparing to finally introduce some other characters in solo films? Or, as reported in recent months, is the studio going to take the risk by bringing fans deeper into the Marvel cosmic universe post-Avengers?

Two years might be pushing it for The Avengers 2 so it’s more likely that’ll be a 2015 release, depending on the success of its predecessor at the box office next summer. That would open up the 2014 dates to be used for films launching from characters and storylines introduced in The Avengers. Chris Evans went on record stating that the next time we’d see him suit up as the star-spangled Avenger would be in 2014 at the earliest. Ant-Man has been in development for a very long time and writer/director Edgar Wright told the press at Comic-Con this summer that his latest script was being submitted days later and that they already have concept art.

The Possibilities...

Marvel will add a third release date, either in the summer (maybe making use of that June 27 date) or in the fall, something they’re testing in 2013 with Thor 2. This would allow them to play with interconnected films and/or do more to setup for The Avengers 2 the following year.
Dropping a summer (U.S) date for a spring (U.S) date means one of two things. This mystery project is not a big-budget tentpole or it directly ties into whatever the second movie is in May and needs to come before it. The May date is the most important and has to stay there.

The April release is very likely Ant-Man finally getting his post-Avengers introduction in time for The Avengers 2 or it could be Runaways, the lower-budget film Peter Sollett was going to direct off of Drew Pearce’s script, a script that Marvel apparently really likes, and one that Pearce says could still be adapted after The Avengers. As for the May date, that’s going to be a major project. Expect a Captain America sequel.

Guardians of the Galaxy and The Inhumans are actively in development and are possibilities as well, but Marvel will not talk about those until we’ve very close to The Avengers (or afterwards) to avoid fans digging into how those play off and tie-in to what happens in The Avengers. Marvel knows what these films are so there’s very deliberate reasons for not announcing them – it’s because they’re launching off of The Avengers.

Other potential projects include Black Panther, Dr. Stange, Heroes for Hire and a S.H.I.E.L.D. movie.

What would you like to see Marvel Studios do in 2014? Ant-Man and Captain America or a few cosmic movies?

The Avengers stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg, Tom Hiddleston and Stellan Skarsgard. It is of course written and directed by Joss Whedon, opening in theaters on May 4, 2012.

Game of Thrones veteran to direct Thor 2...

The search for a director for Thor 2 has reportedly ended, with Marvel selecting veteran television director Alan Taylor to helm the sequel.

Taylor's most recent efforts have been for HBO, where he has directed episodes of the period fantasy series Game of Thrones.

Taylor has also directed episodes of the cable series Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men and The Sopranos.

He steps in for Monster director Patty Jenkins, who dropped out of Thor 2 citing creative differences with Marvel, movie news website Deadline revealed.

The sequel, which is due to start filming next spring for a November 2013 release, brings back 28-year-old Australian actor Chris Hemsworth as the hammer-wielding superhero.

Australian Chris Hemsworth reprise his role as the Norse god cast out to live among humans.

In the meantime, fans will be able to see Hemsworth team up with other Marvel stars in The Avengers.

Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner also star in Avengers, which is due out next year.

Chris Hemsworth profile...

Chris Hemsworth (born 11 August 1983) is an Australian actor most notable for portraying Thor in the Marvel Studios film Thor. Hemsworth is set to reprise his role as Thor in the upcoming films The Avengers in 2012 and Thor 2 in 2013. He also starred as Kim Hyde in the Australian soap opera Home and Away. He is the older brother of Liam and the younger brother of Luke Hemsworth.

Mini Biography
Though born in Melbourne, Australia, Hemsworth saw quite a bit of the country in his youth when his family moved first to the Northern Territory before finally settling on Phillip Island top the south of Melbourne.

In 2004, he unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Robbie Hunter in the Australian soap "Home and Away" (1988) but was recalled for the role of Kim Hyde which he played until 2007. In 2006, he entered the Australian version of "Dancing with the Stars" (2004) and his popularity in the soap enabled him to hang on until show 7 ("Dancing with the Stars: Episode #5.7" (2006) when he became the fifth contestant to be eliminated.

His first Hollywood appearance was in Star Trek (2009) but it was his titular role in Thor (2011) which propelled him to prominence worldwide.

His US representative, the management company ROAR, also manages Elsa Pataky and it was through them that the couple met, marrying in 2010. (Credit: IMDB).

Happy Birthday Stan Lee; Marvel Comics Living Legend...

Happy 89th birthday to one of Marvel’s founding fathers, “The Man” himself, Stan Lee! Without Stan, the Marvel Universe as we know it would not exist.

"There is no bigger star in all of comics," Marc Nathan of Baltimore Comic-Con — where Stan was the featured guest last summer — tells Comic Riffs.

The path to stardom was many decades in the making. Stanley “Stan Lee” Lieber broke into the business as a teenager in the late-’30s, hired by ”Captain America” co-creator Joe Simon as an office assistant. As Simon told Comic Riffs, Stanley was soon writing the filler prose that Timely Comics (Marvel’s precursor) needed to secure better mailing rates. (Simon, the first editor at Timely Comics, died earlier this month at age 98.)

By the early ‘60s, Stan seriously contemplated quitting Timely/Marvel, which had been launched by his relative Martin Goodman. But at the advice of his longtime wife, Joanie, Stan says he took a shot at writing superheroes the way he wanted to - relatable and with many human aspects.

Working with such fellow legends as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, of course, Lee and his “Marvel method” would launch the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, Iron Man and X-Men. (Other talents in that famed stable included Gene Colan — who died this year at age 84 — as well as Stan’s own brother, Larry Lieber, who first scripted Thor.)

“There’s no question that Stan and the innovations he came up with saved the comic book and the superhero,” Tom Brevoort, Marvel’s senior vice president of publishing, has told Comic Riffs — noting that Lee and the artists he worked with “made me want to do this professionally.”

“By crafting characters with feet of clay and personal problems — and not writing down to an audience that was perceived to be primarily 8-year-olds — Stan opened the doorway for more sophisticated and interesting treatments of any subject matter in comics,” Brevoort says. “He made comics interesting and relevant and fun again.”

Stan Lee quotes...

“I’d just like a Cabinet position [in the current White House]. For comic books. I’d be secretary of comics — something simple.”

“Being associated with Disney is the dream of a lifetime. The things Disney did just knocked me out [when I was young] — Mickey Mouse to Bambi and Pinocchio and Snow White. And then there were the nature movies and now movies like ’Pirates of the Caribbean.’ I think they’re wonderful movie marketers — they’re the best marketers you can find anyhwere. And to combine them with Marvel — the two companies I’m in love with the most.”

"I’m very lucky to still being doing this. I seem to get a good reception [when I pitch entertainment ideas]. I hope I can sell a lot more movies. And it would be nice to win an Oscar one day."

That's a wrap True Believers (References: Marvel Entertainment, Disney, IMDB, Google News, Wikipedia, POW! Entertainment, Dark Horizons, Comic Book Movies, Box Office Mojo and Paramount Pictures).

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2011-12-20T00:53:00.001-08:00

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As Marvel living legend Stan Lee would say, Excelsior!

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Marvel Studios Considering ‘Game of Thrones’ Vets Alan Taylor and Daniel Minahan to Direct ‘Thor 2′; Will Also Hire a New Writer

2011-12-11T16:15:00.001-08:00

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Marvel’s search for a Thor 2 director isn’t going as originally planned. Patty Jenkins was on tap to direct the sequel to the summer blockbuster, but left the project citing the generic “creative differences” bit as the reason why she is departing from directing Thor 2. The latest events have left Marvel scrambling to find someone to direct the movie before its November 15, 2013 release date.

According to THR, Marvel head to familiar ground but is coming back with some very unfamiliar names. The trade reports that Game of Thrones’ helmers Alan Taylor and Daniel Minahan are in the running to direct Thor 2. Marvel’s first choice for director was Brian Kirk, who also has Game of Thrones experience.

Some of Taylor’s credits include 1996’s Palookaville, but he has become a huge cable TV helmer, directing episodes of HBO’s Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire and The Sopranos (Credit: IMDB)

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Marvel Entertainment News: Kenneth Branagh 'Wouldn't Rule Out' Another Marvel Film; 'The Avengers' Official Character Descriptions

2011-11-30T05:38:00.001-08:00

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Kenneth Branagh was always a fantastic choice as the director for "Thor." Even when Marvel first announced his involvement, the industry got excited, more so that usual when a director gets named.

When the film hit in theaters, critics generally praised Branagh for adding Shakespeare flavour to Thor.

Thor was a much higher quality Marvel flick than what superhero movie fans are a custom.

Branagh spoke to Variety about 'Thor'.

"Of all the American comics, 'Thor' was the only one I was really familiar with from my childhood, and it intrigued me, maybe because it was a bit more European, with those Viking helmets and its basis in Norse myth," Branagh said. "The scale was exciting, and I did love the character and the story. It had depth and gravity in addition to being an entertaining ride."

According to the Variety story, Branagh considered the entire project "a joy," and that his decision to turn down the sequel was not out of any bad feelings, but because of timing. "Monster" director, Patty Jenkins, will take over for "Thor 2."

Branagh is open to working with Marvel again, going on record with "I certainly wouldn't rule out a return to Marvel; we had an excellent collaboration."

Marvel is planning more projects after "The Avengers" this May. We're mainly looking forward to Spider-Man, Hulk and Thor themes. How about you superheroes?

'The Avengers' Official Character Descriptions...

Walt Disney Studios and Marvel Studios have provided us with official character descriptions for their upcoming release, The Avengers, in theaters on May 4, 2012. In Marvel’s The Avengers, it’s the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.

CAPTAIN AMERICA (Steve Rogers)
After a top secret Super-Soldier program transformed frail Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) into the powerful and heroic Captain America, his amazing WWII exploits made him a living legend. Steve saved New York City and turned the tide of the war, but crashed into the Arctic during his final mission. Awakening in the modern day, Steve learned that he had spent decades frozen in the icy tundra. Now, Steve Rogers finds himself alone in a modern world that he hardly recognizes. When Nick Fury, director of the international peacekeeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D., calls on Rogers to help save the world again, he quickly suits up as Captain America, taking up his iconic shield and bringing his strength, leadership and no-nonsense attitude to The Avengers.

IRON MAN (Tony Stark)
On top of being an eccentric genius, a billionaire, a playboy and a philanthropist, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is also the armored super hero known as Iron Man. Fresh off of defeating enemies the world over, Stark reluctantly agreed to serve as a consultant to Nick Fury’s top-secret peacekeeping and intelligence agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Now, with a global crisis on the horizon and the fate of the world in the balance, Stark must again power up his Iron Man armor to save the world, and become a full-fledged member of The Avengers.

THOR (The God of Thunder)
An arrogant prince from the distant land of Asgard, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) was banished to Earth after his irresponsible behavior threatened his homeland. While in exile on Earth, Thor learned humility and helped to save his new friends from a destructive threat sent by his brother Loki. In the process, Thor redeemed himself in the eyes of his father, Odin, the King of Asgard. After being welcomed back to Asgard as a hero, Thor must now return to Earth once again to prevent a cosmic-level catastrophe. With Mjolnir in his hand, a legendary hammer with immense power, the mighty warrior soon finds himself drawn into an unlikely alliance with Nick Fury’s secret initiative, The Avengers, lending his power to their cause against his wayward brother, Loki.

THE HULK (Bruce Banner)
After a gamma radiation experiment went awry, mild-mannered scientist Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) found himself with a peculiar condition. When angered or provoked, he would transform into the uncontrollable, green-skinned monster known as the Hulk. Now, fearful of the damage that the Hulk could inflict, Dr. Banner chooses to live a discreet life in remote parts of the world, working to cure the sick and help the poor while trying to elude those who would take advantage of his ability to change into the enormous, green menace. When a mounting threat calls for Banner’s specialized scientific expertise, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury recruits him, knowing full well that the incredible strength of Banner’s alter ego, the Hulk, would be an asset to The Avengers.

HAWKEYE (Clint Barton)
One of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most elite agents, Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), code-named Hawkeye, is the greatest living marksman on Earth. Armed with his weapon of choice, the recurve bow, Hawkeye fires his arsenal of custom augmented arrows, specialized for any number of specific situations, with perfect precision. With the potential for global catastrophe on the horizon, he employs his amazing combat skills to fight along side The Avengers.

BLACK WIDOW (Natasha Romanoff)
S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), is one of the world’s greatest spies and quite possibly the world’s most skilled assassin. Armed with an extensive arsenal of specialized weapons like widow stings and cluster bombs, as well as a vast repertoire of martial arts skills, Romanoff’s unique talents make her one of director Fury’s top agents and an integral part in assembling The Avengers.

LOKI
After his bid to overthrow the throne of Asgard was thwarted by his brother Thor, the evil Loki (Tom Hiddleston) retreated to lands unknown to plot his revenge. Not just against his brother, but against Earth, whose inhabitants Thor now protects. Loki, now returns with a nefarious plot to conquer Earth and will stop at nothing to see his vision realized. When his misuse of power threatens the entire planet, it may take more than The Avengers to stop him.

NICK FURY (Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
As the legendary Director of the international peacekeeping organization, S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is humanity’s first line of defense against the world’s biggest threats. When S.H.I.E.L.D. becomes aware of an evil that threatens global safety, Fury assembles the planet’s most powerful beings and forms The Avengers.

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MARVEL, and all related characters and the distinctive likeness thereof are trademarks of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries, and are used with permission. Copyright © 2009 Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. All right reserved.

As Marvel living legend Stan Lee would say, Excelsior!

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Stan Lee's POW! Entertainment Inks Deals With YouTube and EQAL - 22nd November 2011

2011-11-23T05:22:00.001-08:00

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The comic business genius moves into digital content with exclusive programming and a new official website and more...

Comics creator and living legend Stan Lee and his POW! Entertainment is moving into the digital content production world, inking deals with YouTube and media company EQAL.

POW! is creating a YouTube channel called Stan Lee’s World of Heroes, which will be a joint venture with Michael Eisner’s digital studio Vuguru. The company announced it will launch the channel with “exclusive programming next year based on the company’s stories around amazing characters and extraordinary individuals.”

With EQAL, POW! plans to launch TheRealStanLee.com, a site to act as “all things Stan Lee.” EQAL is known for “building influencer networks around celebrities and brands,” creating websites and social media accounts for celebs such as Bethenny Frankel, JWOWW and Randy Jackson to name but a few.

Lee sure fits the bill as a celeb, thanks to his great work with Marvel Comics, Marvel Entertainment - Marvel Studios, and all that. He's a heat seeker and truly 'The Man' of the comic industry. Lee, who co-created superheroes such as Spider-Man, X-Men and Iron Man, will receive the Producers Guild 2012 Vanguard Award and is also being honored with the Visual Effects Society's 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award. Earlier this year, Lee received a star on the Walk of Fame.

Times are good for Lee and his army of brigadiers, and things look set to get even better. Excelsior!

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Sin City writer Frank Miller calls Occupy protesters a pack of thieves, louts and rapists - 22nd November 2011

2011-11-22T23:41:00.001-08:00

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Sin City - (Frank Miller's Sin City) speaks out on the Occupy Wall Street protesters...

Miller who brought us flicks such as Sin City and The Dark Knight Returns believes the anti-capitalist movement is "a pack of louts, thieves and rapists".

An open letter on his blog accuses the protesters of harming America with their "political garbage" and tells them to wake up to the country's real enemy - al-Qaeda.

Miller, better known for his Sin City, 300 and Batman comic books scribed:
'Occupy' is nothing short of a clumsy, poorly-expressed attempt at anarchy, to the extent that the 'movement' – HAH! Some 'movement', except if the word 'bowel' is attached - is anything more than an ugly fashion statement by a bunch of iPhone, iPad wielding spoiled brats who should stop getting in the way of working people and find jobs for themselves.

Wake up, pond scum. America is at war against a ruthless enemy.

Maybe, between bouts of self-pity and all the other tasty tidbits of narcissism you’ve been served up in your sheltered, comfy little worlds, you’ve heard terms like al-Qaeda and Islamicism.

In the name of decency, go home to your parents, you losers. Go back to your mommas’ basements and play with your Lords Of Warcraft.

Or better yet, enlist for the real thing. Maybe our military could whip some of you into shape.

They might not let you babies keep your iPhones, though. Try to soldier on.

The post has ruffled feathers with some comic book fans and news media around the globe.

In this case Miller is clearly not going for the underdog. What would Mickey Rourke think!

Miller has pretty much forever been a champion of the right wingers. Just check out the sequel to The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, with Batman raising hell against the Government.

Check out the Persian army in 300 that takes it to the Spartans, and then there's an attack of sorts to Islam in Miller's Holy Terror book. That book has been banned in some parts.

Readers, what's your take on Frank Miller? Not sure? Pass a little time playing the Sin City or Batman games, and you'll be glad to hear that at least you have the option to play for free or play for money.

Stan Lee's POW! Entertainment Inks Deals With YouTube and EQAL - 22nd November 2011

The comic business genius moves into digital content with exclusive programming and a new official website and more...

Comics creator and living legend Stan Lee and his POW! Entertainment is moving into the digital content production world, inking deals with YouTube and media company EQAL.

POW! is creating a YouTube channel called Stan Lee’s World of Heroes, which will be a joint venture with Michael Eisner’s digital studio Vuguru. The company announced it will launch the channel with “exclusive programming next year based on the company’s stories around amazing characters and extraordinary individuals.”

With EQAL, POW! plans to launch TheRealStanLee.com, a site to act as “all things Stan Lee.” EQAL is known for “building influencer networks around celebrities and brands,” creating websites and social media accounts for celebs such as Bethenny Frankel, JWOWW and Randy Jackson to name but a few.

Lee sure fits the bill as a celeb, thanks to his great work with Marvel Comics, Marvel Entertainment - Marvel Studios, and all that. He's a heat seeker and truly 'The Man' of the comic industry. Lee, who co-created superheroes such as Spider-Man, X-Men and Iron Man, will receive the Producers Guild 2012 Vanguard Award and is also being honored with the Visual Effects Society's 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award. Earlier this year, Lee received a star on the Walk of Fame.

Times are good for Lee and his army of brigadiers, and things look set to get even better. Excelsior!

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Disney Acquires Sony's Merchandising Participation For The Amazing Spider-Man

2011-11-12T23:06:00.001-08:00

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"Marvel's Thor and Captain America were among the top 10 non-sequel releases of the year and we are pleased with the performance of both films and the true benefits of our Marvel acquisition should be quite visible in 2012. First, in May, Thor and Captain America will join Iron Man, The Hulk and Black Widow in Marvel's The Avengers, the first Marvel film to be marketed and distributed by Disney. The Avengers shows great promise with a record 10 million downloads on iTunes when the trailer debuted, and it is well on its way to being our next great franchise. Then in July, Sony Pictures will release The Amazing Spiderman. We're excited about the film and expect it will drive significant benefits for Spiderman consumer products."

Division is expected to benefit next year from the release of "The Avengers" and Sony's "The Amazing Spider-Man." Disney recently brokered a new deal with the studio that enables the Mouse House to collect most of the coin from Spider-Man movie products.

"To that end, we recently completed a transaction with Sony Pictures to simplify our relationship. And then in the deal, we purchased Sony Pictures' participation in Spiderman merchandising, while at the same time, Sony Pictures purchased from us our participation in Spiderman films. This transaction will allow us to control and fully benefit from all Spiderman merchandising activity, while Sony will continue to produce and distribute Spiderman films. We won't be specific about the economics of this 2-way transaction, but we expect it will drive attractive returns for Disney."

Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Entertainment movies on fire in Hollywood...

Who doesn't like a good superhero movie (or game) from our friends at Marvel Entertainment? That's what we thought.

You have to hand it to Marvel Entertainment and their movie production partners - they have been on a roll for the past few years.

Thor was awesome, so was Iron-Man 1 and Iron-Man 2, Captain America: The First Avenger - fantastic, and upcoming The Avengers may prove to be Marvel's best flick ever.

The Avengers, coming in May we understand, has signed Robert Downey Jr and its directed by Joss Whedon, so that's an awesome start.

Marvel president of production Kevin Feige recently went on record with Entertainment Weekly that Adventures of Tintin co-writer Edgar Wright "developed an excellent draft recently" for the movie. Nathan Fillion is tipped to play Henry Pym/Ant-Man.

Iron Man 3, opening in the US May 2013, re-teams Downey with Shane Black (Lethal Weapon). The writer-director, who launched Downey’s comeback in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, has a gift for creating funny as stuff.

Thor 2 is also in the works, although without Shakespearean-actor-turned-action-director Kenneth Branagh at the helm. It's understood that Patty Jenkins, who helped propel Charlize Theron to an Oscar with Monster, will direct The Nine Worlds sequel.

Media Man readers, what's you're thoughts on the upcoming Marvel Entertainment movies? What Marvel Entertainment games have you played, or would like to play? Should Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, Virgin Games, or another gaming brand get the next batch of Marvel Entertainment slot games?

The coming year sure looks to be as great for Marvel fans as the previous. As Marvel living legend Stan Lee would say, Excelsior!

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Visual Effects Society Lauds Stan Lee - Comic book icon to receive Lifetime Achievement Award. - 19th October 2011

2011-10-19T05:51:00.001-07:00

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Comic book publisher and entrepreneur Stan Lee has been selected by the VES Board of Directors as the recipient of the VES 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award. The award will be presented at the 10th Annual VES Awards, which will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on February 7, 2012.

The VES Lifetime Achievement Award honors individuals whose "lifetime body of work has made a significant and lasting contribution to the art and/or science of the visual effects industry by way of artistry, invention and/or groundbreaking work." Stan Lee is known to millions as the man whose Super Heroes propelled Marvel Comics to its preeminent position in the comic book industry. His famous co-creations include Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil, The Avengers, Silver Surfer and Dr. Strange, among many others.

Lee first became publisher of Marvel Comics in 1972 and is presently the Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Enterprises, Inc. and a member of the Editorial Board of Marvel Comics. In 1977, he introduced Spider-Man as a syndicated newspaper strip that went on to become the most successful of all syndicated adventure strips. Spider-Man now appears in more than 500 newspapers worldwide -- making it the longest running of all Super Hero strips. Lee founded, and is currently Chief Creative Officer, of POW! Entertainment, where he continues to write and create new characters.

"Stan Lee's imagination has created a completely original and profitable niche in the entertainment world and has allowed visual effects to flex its muscle in service to it!" said VES Chair Jeffrey A. Okun. "Thanks to Mr. Lee's fantastic creations and amazing stories he not only created a future filled with gadgets and inventions that we aspire to create for real – but all while inspiring the minds and imaginations of storytellers, visual effects artists and computer wizards everywhere," added Okun.

"As a writer there is nothing more rewarding than to see your creations brought to life on the screen and I am indebted to all of the incredibly talented artists who have contributed to my projects," said Lee. "Visual effects have played a pivotal role in the ongoing success of Marvel's characters and allowed fans to experience their stories in an entirely new way. It is truly a great honor to receive this award from the Visual Effects Society."

Without question, Stan 'the Man' Lee has exerted more influence over the comic book industry than anyone in history. He created or co-created 90 percent of Marvel's recognized characters, which have been successfully licensed and marketed since 1965. The numbers are staggering -- more than 2 billion of his comic books have been published in 75 countries and in 25 languages.

In 1981 Stan Lee transformed his Spider-Man and Hulk creations into Saturday morning and syndicated television cartoons. When Marvel Comics and Marvel Productions were acquired by New World Entertainment in 1986, Stan's horizons expanded even further, giving him the opportunity to become more deeply involved in the creation and development of filmed projects for both the big and small screen. He supervised such diverse animated series as X-Men, Spider-Man and The Hulk. To date, Stan's characters have populated over 24 separate television series, all of which continue in syndication around the world.

In 2001, Stan founded POW! Entertainment, Inc., a multi-media entertainment company, where he is creating a myriad of new characters, stories and franchises for traditional and emerging media.

Previous recipients of the VES Lifetime Achievement Award are George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Dennis Muren, Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy & Frank Marshall, James Cameron and Ray Harryhausen.

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Marvel Entertainment: Don't just read the comics and watch the movies; Play the games!

2011-08-30T00:58:00.001-07:00

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PartyCasino.com - Accepts Canadian, Australian and New Zealand players. PartyCasino new players get up to $3000 sign up bonus. Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment is the world's largest and most succesful igaming company.

VirginCasino.com - No US, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand players. £100 sign up bonus. Virgin Games is part of Richard Branson's Virgin Enterprises Limited.

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Marvel artist Kirby’s heirs lose copyright claim - 28th July 2011

2011-07-31T10:18:00.001-07:00

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge ruled on Thursday that influential comic book artist Jack Kirby’s creations such as the Fantastic Four and the Hulk belong to Marvel Entertainment, and not his heirs.

The decision in New York by District Judge Colleen McMahon scuttles a copyright claim by Kirby’s heirs that threatened to undermine everything from Marvel’s movie projects to its integration into parent company Walt Disney Co.

“I conclude that there are no genuine issues of material fact, and that the Kirby Works were indeed works for hire within the meaning of the Copyright Act of 1909,” McMahon wrote in her 50-page ruling.

Jack Kirby, who died in 1994, is an iconic comic book artist whose role in the rise of Marvel is nearly on-par with the company’s former editor and writer Stan Lee. Kirby helped create such characters as the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the X-Men, Captain America and Thor.

Kirby’s heirs in 2009 laid claim to copyrights for work he created from 1958 to 1963, when he had no written contract with Marvel and he drew up many of his most popular characters.

During that five-year period, Kirby co-created such Marvel comic book titles as “The Fantastic Four,” “The Incredible Hulk” and “The Avengers.”

Marvel sued the Kirby heirs after failing to reach a negotiated settlement with them over their copyright claims, which led to the ruling by McMahon on Thursday that found the rights to the characters belongs to Marvel.

McMahon said in her ruling that the case was not about whether Kirby and other artists “were treated ‘fairly’ by companies that grew rich off the fruit of their labor.”

Instead, the case was simply about the law, McMahon wrote, and the judge pointed to a pair of 1970s written agreements between Kirby and Marvel that she said bolstered the company’s position that it owns characters Kirby helped create.

Marc Toberoff, an attorney for the Kirby heirs, said he plans an appeal of the decision.

“We knew when we took this on that it would not be easy given the arcane and contradictory state of ‘work for hire’ case law under the 1909 Copyright Act,” he said.

In 2009, Marvel was bought by Disney for $4 billion. In the past decade, Marvel has seen its characters such as Spider-Man and Iron Man soar in movies. Its latest release “Thor” has earned over $447 million at worldwide box offices.

Thor And X-Men First Class Tipped To Hammer Home Results...

Thor and X-Men: First Class got great reviews and we're awesome, and Captain America: The First Avenger seems set to hit the spot to, but big questions remain about Green Lantern, and the vibe is not particularly good. Green Lantern with Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively is getting very reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has a 23% approval among movie critics, according to the 153 reviews counters. But 72% of the 62,000 plus user reviewers say that they "liked it" with it just premiering in the U.S theaters Friday after a midnight release on late Thursday/early Friday. Comic Book Movie.com indicates are pretty negative on the flick. One reviewer called the movie "inert, artificial and dead on arrival." During the midnight release on Thursday, the film drew $3.35 million in the same region that alike movies that were recently released did; X-Men: First Class brought in $3.37 million on June 2nd, and Thor did $3.25 million on May 5th. X-Men: First Class and Thor both had a budget significantly less than Green Lantern; the former had a budget of $160 million while Thor had exactly half the budget of Green Lantern — $150 million. While the flick will likely end up eventually surpassing its budget, the fact the other comic book movies had much less budget isn’t a great result. Ultimately, X-Men: First Class raked in $55.1 million in its opening weekend while Thor did $65.7 million. With this being the third comic book-based movie released in a month-and-a-half and mixed reviews, will Green Lantern under perform this weekend, or will the hardcore - fanboy type audience that has been largely ripping on it, check it out at the cinema?

Our top picks: Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger looks like a safe bet.

Be it movies, comics or games, we think that Marvel Entertainment leads the pack, followed by DC Comics, with Dark Horse Comics getting a third, based on the positive news leaks and insider tip offs we've been getting.

As Marvel living legend Stan Lee would say, Excelsior!

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Marvel Entertainment And Marvel Comics News: Disney - Marvel Victory Over Jack Kirby Estate, by Greg Tingle - 31st July 2011

2011-07-31T06:47:00.001-07:00

Court Rules In Favor of Marvel Over Jack Kirby's Estate...

A nearly two-year legal dispute between the estate of renowned artist Jack Kirby and Marvel Comics came to an end Friday with the court ruling in favor of the comic book giant.

In 2009, Mr. Kirby's heirs sent Marvel and Disney 45 notices of a plan to reclaim copyrights in a series of Marvel comics that were published from 1958 to 1963. The comics included issues of "The Amazing Spider-Man," "The Avengers," "Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos," and others. In her ruling on Thursday, however, Judge McMahon said the notices "did not operate to convey any federally protected copyrights."

Marc Toberoff, the Los Angeles lawyer who represents the Kirbys, said, "We knew when we took this on that it would not be an easy fight given the arcane and contradictory state of 'work for hire' " case law under the 1909 Copyright Act. "We respectfully disagree with the court's ruling and intend to appeal this matter to the Second Circuit. Sometimes you have to lose to win."

Marvel, which always maintained that Kirby had created the characters under a "work for hire" contract, will now enjoy the unfettered benefits from his work for decades to come.

Read another report at The New York Times.

Stan Lee Intros ‘Spider-Man’ Double Feature In Santa Monica...

Stan Lee did Santa Monica yesterday to introduce an American Cinematheque double-feature of the Sam Raimi hit films “Spider-Man” and “Spider-Man 2″ that begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Aero Theatre.

The Marvel Comics icon who is by far the most famous name in comics (if you don’t count the heroes and villains in the stories) also make an appearance across the street at a meet-and-greet at Every Picture Tells a Story, the landmark gallery and shop on Montana Avenue. The store has the exclusive license to commission and create the Marvel ArtWorks series. A signed and numbered Alex Ross piece featuring the Avengers and the Invaders in full heroic gallop made its debut. The piece is giclee on canvas, 31.5 inches by 20.75 inches, limited edition of 100, priced at $1,250).

It's a busy and exciting time for Marvel. Marvel Studios has the No. 1 movie in the United States, a search underway for the director of “Thor 2″ and an all-star cast working away in New Mexico on the 2012 mega-film” The Avengers.” At Comic-Con International in San Diego, which ended Sunday, there was a major scrapbook moment for “The Amazing Spider-Man” as well as cool hints about live-action television plans for Hulk, Mockingbird, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. Well fanboys and fangirls, the Marvel - Disney legal fight against Kirby Estate is over. Stay turned to Marvel Entertainment and Media Man for more of the best in the superhero world.

What will be the highest-grossing comic book adaptation of 2011?; Box Office Mojo Poll

39.2% Captain America: The First Avenger
18.3% X-Men: First Class
18.1% Green Lantern
13.2% Thor
10.7% Cowboys & Aliens
0.5% Priest

1,832 users polled. (This poll is now closed.)

Marvel Movies Upcoming...

Movie Studio Date

Captain America: The First Avenger Paramount Pictures 7/22/11
Ghost Rider 2 (3D) Sony 2/17/12
The Avengers (2012) Buena Vista 5/4/12
The Amazing Spider-Man Sony 7/3/12
The Dark Knight Rises Warner Bros 7/20/12
Iron Man 3 Buena Vista 5/3/13
Thor 2 Buena Vista 7/26/13

Thor And X-Men First Class Tipped To Hammer Home Results...

Thor and X-Men: First Class got great reviews and we're awesome, and Captain America: The First Avenger seems set to hit the spot to, but big questions remain about Green Lantern, and the vibe is not particularly good. Green Lantern with Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively is getting very reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has a 23% approval among movie critics, according to the 153 reviews counters. But 72% of the 62,000 plus user reviewers say that they "liked it" with it just premiering in the U.S theaters Friday after a midnight release on late Thursday/early Friday. Comic Book Movie.com indicates are pretty negative on the flick. One reviewer called the movie "inert, artificial and dead on arrival." During the midnight release on Thursday, the film drew $3.35 million 0 the same region that alike movies that were recently released did; X-Men: First Class brought in $3.37 million on June 2nd, and Thor did $3.25 million on May 5th. X-Men: First Class and Thor both had a budget significantly less than Green Lantern; the former had a budget of $160 million while Thor had exactly half the budget of Green Lantern — $150 million. While the flick will likely end up eventually surpassing its budget, the fact the other comic book movies had much less budget isn’t a great result. Ultimately, X-Men: First Class raked in $55.1 million in its opening weekend while Thor did $65.7 million. With this being the third comic book-based movie released in a month-and-a-half and mixed reviews, will Green Lantern under perform this weekend, or will the hardcore - fanboy type audience that has been largely ripping on it, check it out at the cinema?

Our top picks: Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger looks like a safe bet.

Be it movies, comics or games, we think that Marvel Entertainment leads the pack, followed by DC Comics, with Dark Horse Comics getting a third, based on the positive news leaks and insider tip offs we've been getting.

As Marvel living legend Stan Lee would say, Excelsior!

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Marvel Entertainment, DC Comics; Warner Bros, Marvel Comics Etc United In Spirit By Death Of Gene Colan; Friendly Rivalry Continues, by Greg Tingle

2011-06-27T22:09:00.001-07:00

Marvel Entertainment, DC Comics; Warner Bros, Marvel Comics Etc United In Spirit By Death Of Gene Colan; Friendly Rivalry Continues, by Greg Tingle - 28th June 2011

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Rest In Peace, Gene Colan: Stan Lee And Dozens Memorializing Legendary Artist...

Late last week the comic book industry mourned the legendary Gene Colan, who passed away Thursday at age 84. Colan’s was inducted into the Will Eisner comics hall in 2005...dated from the World War II era to as recently as 2009. Late Sunday, fellow legend Stan Lee, a friend and associate of Colan for much of the past 70 years, shared some of his thoughts:

"That Gene was a great talent is beyond dispute" "But he was also one of the nicest, kindest, most conscientious, hard-working people I’ve known." "Gene had a great love for movies, and that feeling was apparent in the way he laid out his strips — as though each panel were a scene in a movie, each effortlessly flowing into the next, just as such scenes might do on the big screen. "He was truly an artist in the best sense of the word and I join his countless legion of fans in declaring he will be greatly missed."

On Saturday, Bleeding Cool reported that Clifford Meth has set up the Gene Colan Scholarship at the Joe Kubert School.

“Gene Colan was like no other artist of his generation. His ability to create dramatic, multi-valued tonal illustrations using straight India ink and board was unparalleled. The comics industry has lost one of its true visionaries today.” — Jim Lee, DC Comics

“He knew who he was — how valuable his contributions to the world of comic art have been — how prized it remains by so many. Yet he never felt less than grateful to anyone who’d even read a single panel that he’d drawn. ... And he was never satisfied with his artwork but always eager to learn a little more, do a little better, try something new. At 84.” — Clifford Meth

“The one time he drew a script of mine was one of those moments when I would have paid the company for the honor. I received Xeroxes of his pencilled pages — so much more wonderful, of course, than the printed product — and I just grinned for days…because I’d just written a comic drawn by Gene Colan. He always made everything look so damned good.” — Mark Evanier

“Gene is one of those rare breed of comic book artists that invent their own idiom. Colan’s work never looked like anybody else’s — he was a true originator, a one-of-a-kind visionary.” — Tom Brevoort, Marvel Comics

"Gene Colan is a one-of-a-kind artist whose style is as synonymous with my early comics-reading experience as that of Jack Kirby, Neal Adams or John Buscema.” — Axel Alonso, Marvel Comics

Gene Colan was one of the great draftsmen in the industry and his work is a fond part of some of my best comic book memories.” — Dan DiDio, DC Comics

"Gene Colan was one of my favorite artists in my early teen years, when I was first discovering comics. ... Gene Colan’s work was unique, personal, and always a joy to look at. May he rest in peace." - Scott McCloud

Marvel Superheroes and the Fathers of Invention (The New York Times) - 25th June 2011...

The comic book industry began life in the early 20th century as the province of con men who stripped artists of their creations, then moved on to the next mark. The artists who were paid virtually nothing for work on characters that are now worth billions at the movies are nearly all dead. But their heirs are beginning to speak for them through a federal copyright law that practically invites descendants to sue for ownership interests in characters whose current value could never have been imagined at the moment of creation.

Courts have already granted a share of the copyright for Superman to the heirs of a co-creator, and sided with Captain America’s creator in another copyright fight. These cases are small fry compared with the battle now being waged between Marvel and the heirs of the legendary comic artist Jack Kirby, who breathed life into such pop culture icons as the X-Men, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Thor and the Silver Surfer.

Of course these court battles are about money. They also force the modern entertainment industry to reckon with the often amoral practices of the old comics workshops. And they raise deeper questions about how to credit creative works produced at a time when even the most talented artists were treated as serfs.

Marvel pioneered a new method of comic book production. It broke with the industry’s tradition of requiring artists to draw almost by rote from a pre-existing script. Instead, it gave its best creative minds wide artistic latitude.

The Marvel editor Stan Lee sometimes offered general ideas for characters, allowing the artists to run with them. Mr. Kirby plotted stories, fleshing out characters that he had dreamed up or that he had fashioned from Mr. Lee’s sometimes vague enunciations. Mr. Lee shaped the stories and supplied his wisecrack-laden dialogue. And in the end, both men could honestly think of themselves as “creators.”

But Mr. Kirby, who was known as the King of Comics, was the defining talent and the driving force at the Marvel shop. Mr. Lee’s biographers have noted that the company’s most important creations started out in Mr. Kirby’s hands before being passed on to others, who were then expected to emulate his artistic style.

Mr. Kirby’s life experiences informed the look and feel of the genre. The cinematic movement in his narratives came out of his experience as an animator. The crowded fight scenes in comics like the Fantastic Four and the X-Men are reminiscent of his boyhood days as a street fighter on the Lower East Side during the Depression.

In 2009, shortly after Disney agreed to buy Marvel for $4 billion, the Kirby heirs filed notices of copyright termination. They argue that most of Marvel’s film earnings involve Mr. Kirby’s creations — and that therefore they have a right to a share of the copyrights.

Marvel counters that Mr. Kirby’s work falls under the rubric of “work for hire” — meaning it was done under the direction, supervision and control of the company — which, if true, would invalidate the family’s claim. But that could be difficult to demonstrate at trial, given the poor record-keeping of the era and what is known about how Mr. Kirby worked.

According to court documents, Marvel’s predecessor company fired nearly all of the art staff in 1957 to save money, making Mr. Kirby an independent operator who sold his work to the publisher. If this case comes to trial, Marvel’s star witness would likely be Mr. Lee, former chairman of Marvel Comics. In his 2010 deposition, Mr. Lee seemed to suggest that Mr. Kirby was little more than a talented foot soldier who followed the whims of his boss.

Mr. Lee sang a different tune during the Marvel glory years of the 1960s, when he sometimes described Mr. Kirby as an equal in the creative process. In a 1968 interview later quoted in The Comics Journal, Mr. Lee talked about brainstorming with Mr. Kirby, who, he noted, needed “no plot at all” to produce stories: “He just about makes up the plots for these stories. All I do is a little editing. ... He’s so good at plots, I’m sure he’s a thousand times better than I.” Analyzing published articles from that period, the writer Earl Wells, in his famous 1995 essay “Once and for All, Who Was the Author of Marvel?,” said the record “yields as much evidence that Kirby was the author as it does that Lee was — much of it in Lee’s own words!”

In the years since Mr. Kirby’s death in 1994, the once lawless comics business has been transformed into an industry where creators are more fairly paid, credit is clearly apportioned and rights are meticulously spelled out in contracts. The kinds of legal confusions that have recently flared up in the comic book realm are unlikely to ever be seen, say, in the burgeoning world of online games, where corporate authorship is firmly locked down.

It is up to the courts to decide the legal questions at the heart of the Kirby copyright case. There is no doubt that the King of Comics contributed far more to Marvel — and pop culture — than he has received credit for. (Credit: The New York Times)

Iron Man And Wolverine Anime Series Coming To G4...

While summer TV is often regulated to reruns and reality TV shows, G4 is about to make things more interesting. G4 is teaming up with Marvel to launch both a Iron Man anime series and a Wolverine anime series. The two original Marvel anime series will premiere via U.S television on Friday, July 29 at 11 PM ET. The series will consist of twelve half-hour weekly episodes with interconnecting storylines. There will also be cameo appearances by several popular Marvel characters. Heroes Stars Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventimiglia will both have voice roles in the new anime series. Adrian Pasdar will be the voice of Tony Stark in Iron Man, and Milo Ventimiglia will be the voice of Wolverine. Description: "In an effort to make amends for his past in weapons manufacturing, Tony Stark has dedicated himself to building the world up rather than tearing it down. Traveling to Japan to build a new arc reactor that will deliver unlimited free energy to the Japanese people, Stark is challenged by the Japanese government and the media when he attempts to import the necessary nuclear priming device. When the nuclear reactor is repeatedly attacked by the mysterious Zodiac consortium, Stark must gather his allies to take on Zodiac and its mastermind."

Description for the Wolverine anime series: "Based on the popular graphic novel by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, the series begins when Mariko, the love of Logan’s life, is forced back to Japan by her crime-lord father, Shingen. Logan vows to get her back at any cost. He is plunged into a chaotic world of corruption and violence, forcing him to team up with young assassin, Yukio, to battle their way through the Japanese criminal underworld."

The new anime series will be guided by New York Times best-selling author Warren Ellis and produced by Madhouse for Marvel Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan. Iron Man premieres via US television on Friday July 29th at 11 PM ET/PT followed by Wolverine at 11:30 PM ET/PT. The two series will air weekly Fridays from 11:00-Midnight ET/PT. Also, one more thing, G4 isn’t stopping with just Iron Man and Wolverine. X-Men and Blade anime series will premier later this year on G4.

Peter Parker is no more in 'Ultimate Spider-Man' - 21st June 2011...

PHILADELPHIA – The lights are going out for Peter Parker, the high school student bitten by a radioactive spider whose wall-crawling and web-slinging antics have made him a touchstone of Marvel Comics' universe of heroes and villains.

The publisher said Tuesday that Parker's alter ego, Spider-Man, will finally succumb to one of his most pernicious foes in the final issue of "Ultimate Comics Spider-Man" due out Wednesday.

Fans of Spider-Man need not worry much, though, because the Ultimates imprint is separate from Marvel's bigger universe. Whatever fate may befall Ultimate Spider-Man won't count in the pages of the other series, including Amazing Spider-Man.

The death, while dramatic, is not entirely unexpected. In November, Marvel said that the Ultimate Spider-Man was going to face an uncertain fate in the latest storyline by writer Brian Michael Bendis fittingly titled "The Death of Spider-Man," an eight-issue arc that saw the return of original series artist Mark Bagley. Bendis and Bagley had worked together on the series for 111 issues.

Bendis told The Associated Press that in issue No. 160 Parker fights valiantly but will pass on, heroically, in a pitched fight. To whom? (SPOILER BELOW)

"He will pass heroically, but he will die at the hands of the Green Goblin," Bendis said, recalling his nearly 11 years writing the title, which debuted in October 2000.
The death is real and in Marvel's Ultimate Comics imprint, death is not something taken lightly. Characters in that universe are dead and gone, never to return. The roll of the deceased already includes Magneto, Wasp and Wolverine, among others.

"Ten years ago, Brian Bendis and Mark Millar changed the way people saw super heroes with the birth of the Ultimate Universe. With `Death of Spider-Man' the two have done it again, creating a story just as big, and something that would really resonate with fans," said Mark Paniccia, Marvel senior editor. "But Peter's death doesn't signal the end of their larger plan — it's the start of one of the most ambitious stories you've ever read in comics."

Bendis said that Parker's death won't be in vain and hinted that the Ultimate Spider-Man may not be gone forever. But what exactly is to come, that's something he's not willing to share, at least not yet.

He likened the death to that of Parker's Uncle Ben, whose demise catapulted Peter into being a superhero and crime fighter, and called it an emotionally ripping decision to end Parker's life.

"I won't lie to you, it's embarrassing to say this out loud . tears were rolling down my face, I was very emotional in writing it," Bendis told AP. "This is a character that I have stayed with the entire time, that I have been almost solely responsible for. It represents such a great deal of my life."

Axel Alonso, Marvel's editor-in-chief, said there's never been a Marvel Universe without a Spider-Man, so killing the character is a big step.

"We've never seen a world without Spider-Man, a world without Peter Parker, so his death is a significant event for the Ultimate Comics universe and we're going to see how quickly it changes everything," he said, adding that the fallout from Parker's death will play out in the upcoming "Ultimate Comics Fallout" as the company retools its Ultimate universe. (Credit: Associated Press)

'Avengers' stuntman 'almost beheaded' during filming - 28th June 2011

A stuntman working on The Avengers has claimed that he narrowly avoided being decapitated in an on-set accident. Jeremy Fitzgerald lost part of his scalp while shooting the comic book team-up on Friday after a controlled fall resulted in him hitting his head against a brick floor. Fitzgerald was filming a sequence that involved him getting 'struck' by an arrow and safely plummeting 30-feet to the ground below, but was put off course after catching his foot on the way down. Despite his significant injury, Fitzgerald told TMZ that he was grateful to walk away from the incident intact after barely avoiding a head-on collision with a razor sharp rain gutter. Fitzgerald declined to be hospitalised after the fall and returned to work shortly after. Production of The Avengers was recently jeopardised after Samuel L Jackson's script was stolen and leaked online. The Avengers, which stars Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Chris Evans as Captain America, arrives in theatres on May 4, 2012.

Marvel Studios Casting WPAFB Airmen For 'Avengers' Movie...

FAIRBORN, Ohio - Marvel Studios is looking for 50 airmen from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to act in the new "The Avengers" movie being filmed in Ohio. The airmen will portray a deck crew on an aircraft carrier. The scene will be shot Aug. 1-4 in Wilmington. The film stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson. It opens in 2012. Just watch you're head!

No Avengers Panel at Comic-Con - 22nd June 2011

Did you year...the Avengers won't be back on stage together at Comic-Con this year, nor does it sound like any footage will debut either. LA Times' Hero Complex is confirming that Marvel Studios is passing on having a panel for the highly anticipated film at Comic-Con and won't have any presence in the huge Hall H, where the biggest panels are held. Marvel stresses they aren't skipping the convention in its entirety and no doubt they'll still have their large booth promoting both their comic books and flicks, where it's very possible that some Avengers content (perhaps prop displays and/or poster giveaways) will be present. In addition, Marvel will of course also have many comic book-specific panels. Hero Complex says that there is "talk of a promotional event beyond the walls of the San Diego Convention Center" for Marvel's Captain America: The First Avenger at Comic-Con, which opens the same weekend as the convention. They speculate that could involve some sort of special premiere or screening event. So why no Avengers panel? Hero Complex points out that Disney is throwing their second Disney-specific D23 convention in August, and it's possible Avengers will be part of that – John Carter, also skipping a Comic-Con panel, is expected to have a heavy presence at D23. Warner Bros. is also not having any film panels at San Diego Comic-Con, including for The Dark Knight Rises, meaning that arguably the two biggest comic books movies ever aren't going to be doing the usual push at Comic-Con. Of course some would say neither of these films need to build buzz like other films do, but it is a bit funny that while people complain about a lot of non-genre TV shows and films coming to Comic-Con, these two projects – so suited for Comic-Con – will have a diminished presence. Hero Complex notes that there will be a panel for The Amazing Spider-Man – which comes from Sony, not Marvel Studios – in Hall H at Comic-Con.

Marvel announces adaptions of John Carter novels - 7th June 2011

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — John Carter — Edgar Rice Burroughs' other famous pulp creation — is having his stories told anew thanks to an agreement between Marvel Entertainment and the author's estate that will return the Earth-born adventurer's Martian adventures to comic books.

Marvel said Tuesday that it will do new graphic novel adaptations of Burroughs' Martian series, starting with "John Carter, Warlord of Mars," as a five-issue mini-series in September.

Burroughs is best known for his creation of Tarzan.

The first mini-series will be written by Roger Langridge and drawn by Filipe Andrade.
"We are looking forward to introducing this original interplanetary adventurer to a new generation of fans and await the first issue with great anticipation," said James Sullos, President of Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.

Marvel called the adaptations a new way of experiencing the tales Burroughs wrote that were dubbed the "Barsoom" series. There are 10 novels in the series, with the 11th a collection of two separate stories.

The novels are set on Mars and include Princess Dejah Thoris, a four-armed warrior Thark named Tars Tarkas and plenty of fighting.

Marvel published a John Carter series in the late 1970s that lasted 28 issues. The character has also been the subject of other series from different publishers, too, including a four-issue mini-series that featured Tarzan from Dark Horse Comics; a newspaper comic strip in 1941-1942; and a series by Dynamite Entertainment called "Warlord of Mars."

"Edgar Rice Burroughs created one of the great action heroes in John Carter and we're excited to bring his novels to comics for a new generation," said Axel Alonso, Marvel's editor-in-chief. "Roger and Filipe are going to blow everyone away with their take on the John Carter novels, keeping fans new and old on the edge of their seats." (Credit: Associated Press)

Marvel Movies Upcoming...

Movie Studio Date

Captain America: The First Avenger Paramount Pictures 7/22/11
Ghost Rider 2 (3D) Sony 2/17/12
The Avengers (2012) Buena Vista 5/4/12
The Amazing Spider-Man Sony 7/3/12
Iron Man 3 Buena Vista 5/3/13

A Green Lantern Sequel?!...

Warner Bros. is apparently planning a sequel to Green Lantern despite that film's box-office and critical underperformance. The Hollywood Reporter has the word from the studio, noting that that it "won't walk away from the superhero franchise, despite the film's soft box office performance. ... Sources say Warners still believes in the franchise, even if the studio is 'somewhat disappointed' with Green Lantern's result." The film dropped some 66% domestically in its second weekend, meaning it's only made about $89.3 million as of last night. That's not a lot considering the reported costs of the picture ($300 million at least including marketing), and internationally it is not performing either. So why announce a sequel now? As THR notes, with Harry Potter coming to an end, the studio needs big franchises big time. And there's always the chance that Lantern will make a ton of money on DVD and Blu-ray and digital download. Plus, God only knows how the balance sheet looks for these things in terms of toys and all the other merchandising. Movies are also made for games these days, so don't you forget that. Of course, maybe Warner Bros. is just saying there's going to be a Green Lantern sequel since it wasn't very good. Maybe Warner Bros thinks their green monster will create more green cash, and they would know that answer better than most. As they say at Media Man and Marvel Entertainment, "Don't just read the comics and watch the movies, Play the games!"

Thor And X-Men First Class Tipped To Hammer Home Results...

Thor and X-Men: First Class got great reviews and we're awesome, and Captain America: The First Avenger seems set to hit the spot to, but big questions remain about Green Lantern, and the vibe is not particularly good. Green Lantern with Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively is getting very reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has a 23% approval among movie critics, according to the 153 reviews counters. But 72% of the 62,000 plus user reviewers say that they "liked it" with it just premiering in the U.S theaters Friday after a midnight release on late Thursday/early Friday. Comic Book Movie.com indicates are pretty negative on the flick. One reviewer called the movie "inert, artificial and dead on arrival." During the midnight release on Thursday, the film drew $3.35 million 0 the same region that alike movies that were recently released did; X-Men: First Class brought in $3.37 million on June 2nd, and Thor did $3.25 million on May 5th. X-Men: First Class and Thor both had a budget significantly less than Green Lantern; the former had a budget of $160 million while Thor had exactly half the budget of Green Lantern — $150 million. While the flick will likely end up eventually surpassing its budget, the fact the other comic book movies had much less budget isn’t a great result. Ultimately, X-Men: First Class raked in $55.1 million in its opening weekend while Thor did $65.7 million. With this being the third comic book-based movie released in a month-and-a-half and mixed reviews, will Green Lantern under perform this weekend, or will the hardcore - fanboy type audience that has been largely ripping on it, check it out at the cinema?

Our top picks: Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger looks like a safe bet.

Be it movies, comics or games, we think that Marvel Entertainment leads the pack, followed by DC Comics, with Dark Horse Comics getting a third, based on the positive news leaks and insider tip offs we've been getting.

As Marvel living legend Stan Lee would say, Excelsior!

Official Websites

Marvel Entertainment Marvel Entertainment YouTube.com

DC Comics Warner Bros. Online YouTube.com

Website Network

Media Man Int

Media Man

Media Man News

Media Man Entertainment

Superhero Movie Box Office And Comics News, by Greg Tingle - 27th June 2011

2011-06-27T03:02:00.001-07:00

Hulk And Thor Help Raise £1,000 In UK...

Rare American comics donated to a charity shop made more than £1,000 at the John Taylors annual Toy and Doll Sale in Louth, UK, last week. A man handed 1,000s of superhero comics to the Oxfam shop in Market Rasen which decided to put them up for auction to raise money for the charity. The comics from the 1960s and 1970s featured Marvel heroes like Captain America, Spiderman, the Hulk and Thor and DC heroes like Superman, Batman and Swamp Thing. Other highlights of the sale included an early 20th Century mohair plush bear that made £700 and a collection of early Steiff bears that all made upward of £500. Train sets and other toys also proved that big kids were all in attendance at the Woolmart auction rooms with Trix, Hornby and Schuco items all
making above their estimates.

Marvel Comic's Ultimate Spider-Man Dies Via Green Goblin...

The popular American newspaper, Huffington Post, reports that the end has come for Peter Parker, the high school student bitten by a radioactive spider whose web-slinging antics have made him a touchstone of the Marvel Comics' series. The publisher recently announced that Parker's alter ego, Spider-Man, will finally be killed off by The Green Goblin in the final issue of "Ultimate Comics Spider-Man". The death, while dramatic, is not entirely unexpected. In November, Marvel said that the Ultimate Spider-Man was going to face an uncertain fate in the latest storyline by writer Brian Michael Bendis fittingly titled "The Death of Spider-Man," an eight-issue arc that saw the return of original series artist Mark Bagley. Bendis and Bagley had worked together on the series for 111 issues. Bendis told The Associated Press that in issue No. 160 Parker fights valiantly but will pass on, heroically, in a pitched fight. "He will pass heroically, but he will die at the hands of The Green Goblin," Bendis said, recalling his nearly 11 years writing the title, which debuted in October 2000. The death is real and in Marvel's Ultimate Comics imprint, death is not something taken lightly. Characters in that universe are dead and gone, never to return. The roll of the deceased already includes Magneto, Wasp and Wolverine, among others. "Ten years ago, Brian Bendis and Mark Millar changed the way people saw super heroes with the birth of the Ultimate Universe. With `Death of Spider-Man' the two have done it again, creating a story just as big, and something that would really resonate with fans," said Mark Paniccia, Marvel senior editor. "But Peter's death doesn't signal the end of their larger plan - it's the start of one of the most ambitious stories you've ever read in comics." Bendis said that Parker's death won't be in vain and hinted that the Ultimate Spider-Man may not be gone forever. But what exactly is to come, that's something he's not willing to share, at least not yet. Parker will live on in Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man series, however.

'Daredevil' Writer Gives The Scoop...

Marvel Comics has teased the opening storyline for the new Daredevil ongoing series from writer Mark Waid and artists Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin. The series sees Matt Murdock return to New York City after his self-imposed exile in the wake of Shadowland, and Waid revealed that it will quickly become apparent that something
is wrong with the superhero. "There's something not right about Matt from the very get-go, now that he's come back to New York," Waid said, according to IGN. "There's just something off about Matt and that's going to drive [his relationship with Foggy Nelson] for the near future." Waid also explained that in terms of supporting characters, Foggy Nelson is the most important, but noted that Dakota North will still show up as a new assistant district attorney, and is set to play a big role in the series moving forward. The writer also elaborated on the premise of the new series, which aims to integrate Daredevil more with the rest of the Marvel Universe. "Without jettisoning the street level of the book, without getting rid of the noir feel of the book, without getting rid of the realism of it - let's take the superhero dial and move it up just a few notches to get back to a bigger sense of adventure," he explained. "Let's fold him a little more rigidly into the Marvel Universe." Daredevil #1 is due out on July 7 from Marvel Comics.

Patrick Dempsey Wants to Play Doctor Strange...

Patrick Dempsey has already revealed he won't be returning to Grey's Anatomy after next season. The ultra talented actor is looking to take his career back where it began...movies. Dempsey isn't looking to return to movies like Can't Buy Me Love and Lover Boy that jump-started his career in the 1980s, but, instead, Dempsey is hoping to continue his association with comic book themed movies that began with his role in this summer's Transformers: Dark of the Moon. In April, Dempsey revealed an interest in the Marvel Comics character of Doctor Strange, saying he would "love to play" the role. In a recent interview with MTV, Dempsey reiterated his interest in the role, admitting, "I really want to do it." I mean, it's a tricky character. The hardcore fans know this world and this character specifically — I don't know if the rest of the world does. So, it's like, how do we enter into that and get it so it doesn't lose its essence, but, at the same time, how do you do it with the right story? And I think the fans really need to speak up and say, hey, what do they want to see. When quizzed if Dempsey was a fan of the character and was knowledgeable of the comic book universe, the actor gave a (somewhat) informed answer, though he sounded like he wasn't sure of what to say. Well, there's different incarnations, and there's a whole philosophy behind how they wrote it, what messages is in it, and all of that. I mean, I would like to see him being the cocky surgeon, having the accident, going on a spiritual journey, and then becoming the Supreme Sorcerer. I think that's really what I would like to see — and see that journey initially and to see that arc. And, you know, developing how he does his thing and how you do the incarnations and stuff like that. So, to make sure we've got this straight: Dempsey is interested in playing Doctor Strange in a movie that would explain the character's origins? It's a safe bet that's what Marvel tasked Conan: The Barbarian reboot screenwriters Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer to do when they hired them to write a Doctor Strange script last June. Also, Paddycakes? It's "Sorcerer Supreme," not "the Supreme Sorcerer." So what does Dempsey do next? Contact Marvel and express his interest? Exactly. "Yeah, you definitely do that," said Dempsey. He also said that he'll "check out the websites" and "check out the blogs" to weigh fan responses. It may not be me. I mean, there are some people who are like, "yeah, you should do it," and then there are some people that say, "no" — there's a great debate. And I think that's always entertaining to see what people's feedback is. The actor is aware that he may not be seen as the ideal choice, but nevertheless is in full support of a Doctor Strange movie. "I think it's a good character that should be made anyway," he said.

Green Lantern Turning Fanboys Off Green...

In the season’s latest superhero spectacle director Martin (Casino Royale) Campbell ironically displays the same inexplicable affliction which affects his main character: A total failure of imagination. Given $150 million to play with, the filmmaker is at a loss to deliver a single memorable image or moment. Given a ring with the power to create anything his mind can envision, newly recruited savior of the universe Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) finds himself incapable of thinking up anything terribly interesting. For a movie named after a light source, Green Lantern suffers from an appalling dearth of ideas anyone over the age of ten would be inclined to characterize as bright. How does this DC adaptation disappoint? Let me count the ways. First, its writers appear to have scoured more than 70 years worth of back issues in order to distill the least intriguing elements of the emerald-suited figure’s mythology. Before Jordan begins his career as a superhero, he’s employed as a test pilot for a corporation that manufactures military aircraft. This part of his story actually might have been good for a few cheap thrills but the movie’s creators couldn't’t resist the temptation to turn it into a cheap imitation of Top Gun. No need to bring the oven mitts. Green Lantern serves up the least sizzling screen romance in recent memory. Jordan has a thing going on with the daughter of the company’s owner (a completely lost Jay O. Sanders). Carol Ferris is played by Blake Lively and together the two have all the chemistry of a pair of mannequins. But we didn’t buy a ticket to watch Hal Jordan make a love connection. We bought a ticket to watch him save the world. Which is why the second half of the film is an even bigger letdown than the first. The Green Lantern gets possession of a ring and a matching lantern which basically functions as its battery charger. The ring in turn brings him in contact with an intergalactic peacekeeping organization known as the Green Lantern Corps, based on the distant planet Oa. This may be the first movie to get its effects at a used CGI sale as another reviewed put it. The creators of Green Lantern might be happy with what they have created, but most audiences are non to impressed. Next time we hear about green in a comic book movie we will be hoping its the return of The Hulk.

Captain America: The First Avenger May Save Face For Comic Book Movie Genre...

Releasing trailers late in the game, keeping things under wraps as long as possible and staying out of the limelight to let others glow is an interesting tactic. Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger may just be the comic book movie of the year. Captain America seems to be everything that Green Lantern isn't. Captain America has balls and doesn't feel like it was made for kids. Both movies debut little over a month apart. Green Lantern was about giving you as much as possible as early as possible, debuting the first image of the hero in costume almost a year before the movie’s release, as opposed to Captain America doing so 6 months later. The trailers for Green Lantern seemed designed to dazzle with special effects and colors as opposed to really giving any idea of the plot beyond “Ryan Reynolds is comedy screw-up who gets magic ring, things explode,” whereas each of Cap‘s three trailers have focused on the – for want of a better term – emotional journey the character has to go through to become the hero. There’s actually something odd about the feeling of still learning new things, or seeing new visuals, about a big blockbuster movie this close to its release; it seems so counter to the way these things are generally sold to us, with the "important" images and plot points signposted way, way in advance so as to already have that feeling of inevitability and nostalgia by the time the movie actually gets released. Should Captain America be a success studios may start realizing that less can be more and later can be better when it comes to trailers and promotion in the future. Should Captain America die in box office, one should expect more movies to give the entire game away in the first full trailer and then just move scenes around for each new trailer, like in Pirates of The Caribbean, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon and almost every other big release this year. Comon Captain America, we are entrusting you to make us feel a whole lot better about the comic book movies that we've been getting feed lately.

Thor And X-Men First Class Tipped To Hammer Home Results...

Thor and X-Men: First Class got great reviews and we're awesome, and Captain America: The First Avenger seems set to hit the spot to, but big questions remain about Green Lantern, and the vibe is not particularly good. Green Lantern with Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively is getting very reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has a 23% approval among movie critics, according to the 153 reviews counters. But 72% of the 62,000 plus user reviewers say that they "liked it" with it just premiering in the U.S theaters Friday after a midnight release on late Thursday/early Friday. Comic Book Movie.com indicates are pretty negative on the flick. One reviewer called the movie "inert, artificial and dead on arrival." During the midnight release on Thursday, the film drew $3.35 million 0 the same region that alike movies that were recently released did; X-Men: First Class brought in $3.37 million on June 2nd, and Thor did $3.25 million on May 5th. X-Men: First Class and Thor both had a budget significantly less than Green Lantern; the former had a budget of $160 million while Thor had exactly half the budget of Green Lantern — $150 million. While the flick will likely end up eventually surpassing its budget, the fact the other comic book movies had much less budget isn’t a great result. Ultimately, X-Men: First Class raked in $55.1 million in its opening weekend while Thor did $65.7 million. With this being the third comic book-based movie released in a month-and-a-half and mixed reviews, will Green Lantern under perform this weekend, or will the hardcore - fanboy type audience that has been largely ripping on it, check it out at the cinema?

Our top picks: Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger looks like a safe bet.

Be it movies, comics or games, we think that Marvel Entertainment leads the pack, followed by DC Comics, with Dark Horse Comics getting a third, based on the positive news leaks and insider tip offs we've been getting.

As Marvel living legend Stan Lee would say, Excelsior!

Official Websites

Marvel Entertainment Marvel Entertainment YouTube.com

DC Comics Warner Bros. Online YouTube.com

Website Network

Media Man Int

Media Man

Media Man News

Media Man Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, Comic and Superhero Movie News, by Greg Tingle - 26th June 2011

2011-06-26T05:30:00.001-07:00

Superheroes Leap Up And Down At Box Office...

The superheroes have been doing through heaven and hell lately at the box office. It's not a very smooth or consistent run, and the numbers give mixed messages. Hollywood's crimefighters and caped crusaders have tripped up more often than they would have liked to and have pretty average box-office grosses. The numbers look impressive in some fashion but they hide a growing dissatisfaction among moviegoers, who may be losing interest in what once was a can't-miss genre. One of the first omens came with "Thor," starring Chris Hemsworth as the hammer-heaving Norse god. Despite a decent opening weekend gross of $65 million, the film suffered from negative reviews and is now at $176 million. That sounds big enough until you compare it to the $318 million of "Iron Man," which belongs to the same Marvel comics story line; "Iron Man 2" ended with a split-second "Thor" teaser. Then came "X-Men: First Class." Whether because it lacked Aussie legend Hugh Jackman (he has a cameo) or because its story line felt overly familiar, it opened with $55 million, one of the lowest in the franchise's history. And despite excellent reviews, it had the lowest attendance of any "X-Men" film, according to Box Office Mojo, which did not release specific figures. The latest pretty average superhero effort is "Green Lantern," starring Ryan Reynolds, which opened to not so good reviews (26% positive at Rotten Tomatoes) and a disappointing $53.2 million. That's worse than the new "X-Men" and even worse than "Ghost Rider." Next front and centre are "Captain America: The First Avenger," about a Nazi-conquering supersolider, and "Cowboys & Aliens. Can the superheroes save the world or themselves, or will the public have to try to save them? Fan's the globe over are hoping that Captain America doesn't disappoint, but are remaining pretty optimistic. We're missing the original Iron-Man... how about you?

Spider-Man Gets Killed; Franchise History?...

Bono's Broadway slip up of sorts has killed Spider-Man... sort of. What's your take on that Dr. Octopus? Marvel Comics—with a little help from the Green Goblin—announced it was squashing Spidey dead and it did. The character has apparently been killed off. Joining a long list of superheroes such as Captain America and Superman who've been killed dead, only to rise again, Marvel offered the Peter Parker of The Ultimate Spider-Man, a sort of alternative universe version of the wisecracking webcrawler in the series' 160th issue. The character's demise even brought tears to the eyes of writer Brian Michael Bendis, who wrote the fatal tale. So Spidey's dead. But not gone or forgotten or even going away, really. So get back in line for Turn Out the Dark, seek out spoilers for the Andrew Garfield reboot or hit up a comic book store for what Marvel promises will be "the start of one of the most ambitious stories you've ever read in comics." Spider-Man lives. And possibly loves. Go Spidey!

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark...

SPIDER-MAN, TURN OFF THE DARK follows the story of teenager Peter Parker, whose unremarkable life is turned upside-down when he's bitten by a genetically altered spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to his bedroom ceiling. This bullied science-geek suddenly endowed with incredible powers soon learns, however, that with great power comes great responsibility as villains put both his physical strength and strength of character to the test. SPIDER-MAN aims to thrill audiences through a unique entertainment experience in ways never-before-dreamed-possible in live theater. Though the reviews have been somewhat less than favorable for the $65 million giant, sales have been strong and the production opened on June 14th, 2011. For more information on Spider-Man visit http://spidermanonbroadway.marvel.com

Marvel Announces Creator Lineup - 24th June 2011

Many top writers and creators will be joining Marvel Comics at New York Comic Con (NYCC) as the renowned comic books and media entertainment company reveals preliminary plans for the 2011 edition of the annual pop culture extravaganza which will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, October 13 - 16, 2011. Marvel will not only have a 3000 square foot booth on the show floor where attendees will have an opportunity to mingle with creators and staff, but the company will also be conducting numerous high profile panels throughout the weekend which will feature their top talent. Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment, and Axel Alonso, Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief, will be Guests of Honor at the show and will be joined by many other notable Marvel creators including Guests of Honor Jason Aaron, Matt Fraction, Kieron Gillen, and Stuart Immonen.

“The enthusiastic participation of premiere companies like Marvel is critical to our success,” notes Lance Fensterman, Group Vice President for ReedPOP and Show Manager for NYCC. “We are always eager to host Marvel at New York Comic Con and to provide their talent with a range of opportunity. Our show not only brings thousands of fans together with their favorite writers, artists and creators but we are a preeminent venue for launching and displaying new content and product. Marvel’s participation is a huge validation of our efforts and we are grateful to them for their energy and commitment. We look forward to making the 2011 edition of New York Comic Con one of the best ever!”

JASON AARON: Jason Aaron is an Eisner and Harvey Award nominated comic book writer whose work includes the critically acclaimed crime series Scalped for Vertigo and stints on Black Panther, Ghost Rider and Wolverine: Weapon X for Marvel. Current and upcoming projects include Wolverine, Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine, PunisherMAX , X-Men Schism and Wolverine & the X-Men, all for Marvel. He was born in Alabama but currently resides in Kansas City.

AXEL ALONSO: A 17-year comics industry veteran, Axel Alonso got his start at DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint, where he edited such seminal series such as Preacher, Hellblazer and 100 Bullets, before leaping to Marvel Comics in 2001. Since that time, he has overseen many of the publisher’s biggest franchises – including Spider-Man, Hulk and the X-Men – and edited some of its most talked-about series – including Truth, Rawhide Kid and X-Statix. In 2011 Axel was promoted to Editor In Chief, a tenure during which he has overseen major events such as the Death of Ultimate Spider-Man and the chart-topping Fear Itself. Besides comics, Alonso’s passions include basketball, hip-hop, 8-year-old shooting guard Tito “Mr. T” Alonso, Asian food and preparing for the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse.

MATT FRACTION: Matt Fraction is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book writer known for his work on The Invincible Iron Man, Thor, The Immortal Iron Fist and Uncanny X-Men for Marvel Comics, Casanova for Icon Comics. This summer he masterminds Marvel’s mega-event Fear Itself alongside Stuart Immonen. He’s written the graphic novels Last of the Independents and The Five Fists of Science, and comics like 30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales and The Order. He’s recently contributed to the storylines and dialogue of both the Iron Man 2 and Thor video games for Sega, and was a consultant on the Iron Man 2 film. He lives in Portland Oregon with his wife, the writer Kelly Sue Deconnick, and his two children, two dogs, two cats, and frog. There were two frogs but they died.

KIERON GILLEN: Kieron Gillen is a foul writing worm who crawls inside artists' ears and makes them do his bidding. Products of this evil symbiosis include Journey Into Mystery and the award-winning Phonogram. This fall Kieron will be launching Uncanny X-Men #1 with Carlos Pacheco & Greg Land. There is no known cure.

STUART IMMONEN: Since his self-published debut in 1988, Stuart Immonen has worked for almost every publisher in the comics industry from Archie to Rip Off Press, with notable tenures at DC, where he wrote and drew Adventures of Superman; Gorilla, where he co-created Shockrockets with writer Kurt Busiek; and Marvel, where he pencilled Ultimate Spider-Man, Nextwave and New Avengers, and most recently the event title Fear Itself. Stuart is known for employing diverse drawing styles as seen in his sketchbook series Centifolia published by AdHouse Books, and in his work with writer Kathryn Immonen, including Boom! Studios' Never as Bad as You Think and Moving Pictures, published by Top Shelf. He lives in Toronto.

JOE QUESADA: Joe Quesada wears many creative hats, as both an acclaimed writer-artist and the Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment, the world’s largest and most dynamic comics publisher. In this role, Joe is steward of such legendary characters as Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Fantastic Four. His tenure as Editor-in-Chief recently drew to a close after 10 successful years – the longest term since Stan Lee himself. Under Quesada’s guidance, Marvel underwent a creative boom and became home to the comic industry’s greatest talents, which continues to hold true today. He brings this same vision to his role in the whole of Marvel Entertainment across the worlds of publishing, film, and television.

Customers interested in signing up for New York Comic Con should contact Larry Settembrini at lsettembrini@reedexpo.com. Tickets for NYCC are now on sale via the website www.NewYorkComicCon.com Limited 4-Day tickets are available. For further information about all ReedPOP shows and activity, please visit Lance Fensterman’s blog, www.MediumAtLarge.net Convention organizers note that many more guests will be announced over the next few weeks and months and fans should keep their eyes on NYCC’s website and blog for additional comics, entertainment and anime announcements.

ABOUT REEDPOP

ReedPOP is a boutique group within Reed Exhibitions which is exclusively devoted to organizing events, launching and acquiring new shows, and partnering with premium brands in the pop culture arena. ReedPOP is dedicated to producing celebrations of popular culture throughout the world that transcend ordinary events by providing unique access and dynamic personal experiences for consumers and fans. The ReedPOP portfolio includes: New York Comic Con (NYCC), Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2), Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) East & West, Star Wars Celebration V, New York Anime Festival (NYAF), and UFC Fan Expo. The staff at ReedPOP is a fan based group of professionals producing shows for other fans, thus making them uniquely qualified to service those with whom they share a common passion. ReedPOP is focused on bringing its expertise and knowledge to world communities in North America, South America, Asia and Europe.

Marvel announces adaptions of John Carter novels...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — John Carter — Edgar Rice Burroughs' other famous pulp creation — is having his stories told anew thanks to an agreement between Marvel Entertainment and the author's estate that will return the Earth-born adventurer's Martian adventures to comic books.

Marvel said Tuesday that it will do new graphic novel adaptations of Burroughs' Martian series, starting with "John Carter, Warlord of Mars," as a five-issue mini-series in September.

Burroughs is best known for his creation of Tarzan.

The first mini-series will be written by Roger Langridge and drawn by Filipe Andrade.
"We are looking forward to introducing this original interplanetary adventurer to a new generation of fans and await the first issue with great anticipation," said James Sullos, President of Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.

Marvel called the adaptations a new way of experiencing the tales Burroughs wrote that were dubbed the "Barsoom" series. There are 10 novels in the series, with the 11th a collection of two separate stories.

The novels are set on Mars and include Princess Dejah Thoris, a four-armed warrior Thark named Tars Tarkas and plenty of fighting.

Marvel published a John Carter series in the late 1970s that lasted 28 issues. The character has also been the subject of other series from different publishers, too, including a four-issue mini-series that featured Tarzan from Dark Horse Comics; a newspaper comic strip in 1941-1942; and a series by Dynamite Entertainment called "Warlord of Mars."

"Edgar Rice Burroughs created one of the great action heroes in John Carter and we're excited to bring his novels to comics for a new generation," said Axel Alonso, Marvel's editor-in-chief. "Roger and Filipe are going to blow everyone away with their take on the John Carter novels, keeping fans new and old on the edge of their seats."

Smith & Tinker launches Marvel Kapow! app for iPhone...

Smith & Tinker and Marvel Entertainment have released their first major game on the iPhone today. The game, Marvel Kapow!, is Marvel’s first broadly targeted casual game for comics fans on the Apple mobile platform.

The game is a big part of the strategy for Smith & Tinker, an innovative game company founded by gaming pioneer Jordan Weisman. If it takes off, then the two companies could see a bright future in branded content on mobile platforms.

The title is designed for touchscreen action, giving you super hero powers on your phone. The company began working on the Marvel-branded games last fall, after a few changes in strategy.

The versions of the game range from a free version to a $1.99 standard definition game and a $3.99 high-definition game. In the title, players can slash with Wolverine’s claws, rebound blasts with Captain America’s shield, capture bad guys with Spider-Man’s web and smite foes with Thor’s hammer. The game has 23 classic play levels, three boss levels, an arcade mode, Game Center leaderboard integration, and free content updates.

“With the explosive growth of touch-based smart devices now being adopted by men, women and even trickling down to kids, we’re presented with an unprecedented opportunity to bring our games to a very wide audience on a mobile platform”, said Joe Lawandus, chief executive of Smith & Tinker.

The deal could help turn things around for Smith & Tinker. In 2009, the company launched Nanovor, a fighting game for boys that could be played both online and on a $50 toy sold at retail. But the game didn’t sell that well, despite heavy TV advertising, and Smith & Tinker had to pivot to a new strategy. It laid off a bunch of employees and shifted to online-only games.

The company was able to do that because it raised $29 million in venture capital and because its founders — Lawandus and Weisman — are heavyweights in the game and entertainment industries. Weisman founded entertainment companies 42 Entertainment, Virtual World Entertainment, FASA, and WizKids; Lawandus is a former Disney executive. (Marvel is now owned by Disney).

Thor And X-Men First Class Tipped To Hammer Home Results...

Thor and X-Men: First Class got great reviews and we're awesome, and Captain America: The First Avenger seems set to hit the spot to, but big questions remain about Green Lantern, and the vibe is not particularly good. Green Lantern with Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively is getting very reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has a 23% approval among movie critics, according to the 153 reviews counters. But 72% of the 62,000 plus user reviewers say that they "liked it" with it just premiering in the U.S theaters Friday after a midnight release on late Thursday/early Friday. ComicBookMovie.com indicates are pretty negative on the flick. One reviewer called the movie "inert, artificial and dead on arrival."

During the midnight release on Thursday, the film drew $3.35 million 0 the same region that alike movies that were recently released did; X-Men: First Class brought in $3.37 million on June 2nd, and Thor did $3.25 million on May 5th. X-Men: First Class and Thor both had a budget significantly less than Green Lantern; the former had a budget of $160 million while Thor had exactly half the budget of Green Lantern — $150 million. While the flick will likely end up eventually surpassing its budget, the fact the other comic book movies had much less budget isn’t a great result.

Ultimately, X-Men: First Class raked in $55.1 million in its opening weekend while Thor did $65.7 million. With this being the third comic book-based movie released in a month-and-a-half and mixed reviews, will Green Lantern under perform this weekend, or will the hardcore - fanboy type audience that has been largely ripping on it, check it out at the cinema?

Our top picks: Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger looks like a safe bet.

Be it movies, comics or games, we think that Marvel Entertainment leads the pack, followed by DC Comics, with Dark Horse Comics getting a third, based on the positive news leaks and insider tip offs we've been getting.

As Marvel living legend Stan Lee would say, Excelsior!

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Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment News: PartyPoker 'The Big Draw'; PartyCasino 'Sin City' Classic Game

2011-06-21T03:57:00.001-07:00

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The Big Draw: Win a Porsche 911 Carrera!!

You have to be in it to win it and ‘The Big Draw’ is no exception. Every day in June we'll hold a prize draw where you can win heaps of prizes such as a Porsche, luxury holidays to Las Vegas and the Caribbean plus hundreds of gadgets such as iPads and TVs.

Earning tickets couldn’t be easier – simply play one raked hand to earn your first ticket! After that, you’ll then get another ticket for every point you earn playing on our tables in June.

All your tickets are re-usable, giving you the chance to win day after day. Every day you earn at least one ticket you'll be in that day’s draw and all the tickets you accumulated in previous draws will be included giving you even more chances to win.

There are over $500,000 worth of prizes up for grabs including:

60x Apple iPhone 4 16GB
60x Sony Bravia 46” Widescreen TV
150x Apple iPad 2 16GB
150x iPod Touch 64GB
210x LG 22” LCD monitor
Thousands of items of Branded merchandise including hoodies, shirts and caps
Cash prizes, free points to use in our loyalty store and free Big Draw tickets
Don't miss the Weekly Mega Draw:

Every Sunday we will boost the prizepool by adding some seriously big prizes.
5th June - VIP Vegas trip for two
12th June - Caribbean Cruise for two
19th June - Harley Davidson Fatboy Motorcycle
26th June - Porsche 911 Carrera

Taking part is exactly the same as the daily draws so make sure you earn at least one ticket on Sundays for all your previous tickets to come into play and the chance to win big.

Frank Miller's Sin City Comes To The World's Largest Online Casino; Cult Classic Comic Turned Into Slot Game...

Gibraltar - 17th June 2011 - Following up on last week’s release of Frank Miller’s Sin City: The Hard Goodbye at Digital DarkHorse comes more exciting news around this legendary title. Sin City has now entered the online gaming world, with a new game at PartyCasino.com This new five-reel, fifty-line slot features art and story from the widely acclaimed series by comics legend Frank Miller. When Sin City originally appeared in Dark Horse Presents: Fifth Anniversary Special in April 1991, it was clear that the face of the comics medium had changed forever. Since that time, Miller’s groundbreaking comics noir has found its way into the public consciousness with toys, games, and even a feature-length motion picture. Frank Miller’s Sin City remains one of the most stylized works in the history of the medium, drawing heavily from film noir, including its use of shadow and stark backgrounds. The black-and-white comic was perfectly suited to the original format of Dark Horse’s flagship anthology, with occasional spot usage of primary colors added to later volumes and editions. "Frank Miller’s Sin City is a very different slot to any other we have launched in recent times. The striking artwork and mature content mean this isn’t a game for the faint hearted," said a spokesman for PartyCasino.com There are five featured games, which win the player free spins and multipliers: “Straight to Hell,” “The Hard Goodbye,” “He Never Screams,” “Deadly Little Miho,” and “Just Get Warmed Up.” The games feature the series’ main characters: Hartigan, Nancy, Miho, Marv, Kevin, the Yellow B*stard, and Dwight. The game includes mature content and scenes of violence, nudity, and deprivation.

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Captain America: The First Avenger, by Greg Tingle - 2nd June 2011

2011-06-02T00:34:00.001-07:00

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Marvel movie fans, yet more reviews of Captain America: The First Avenger and they're fantastic.

"Captain America: The First Avenger" is set to stir up world politics come its worldwide release on 22nd July.

"Captain America: The First Avenger" is the story of the scrawny like Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), who wants to join the U.S. Army to fight the Nazis, but is thought to be unfit to enlist. Instead, he volunteers for a secret project entitled "Project: Rebirth," which transforms him into super-soldier aka Captain America.

After the U.S. decides he's too expensive to risk losing in combat, Captain America decides to wage war on the treacherous Hydra organization, led by the villainous Red Skull (Hugo Weaving).

Let's now cross to the conference call with Evans...

"A movie like this, you either win big or you lose big, and that's daunting. So it certainly was in my head, and I was extremely apprehensive."

Making film adaptations of comic books comes with another challenge: pleasing the fan boys and fan girls.

Diligently following the comic books is one thing, Evans said, but the cast and crew still had to produce a quality script as well.

"You're making the script that's given to you, so you want to incorporate as much information as you can from the comic books hand in hand with what the script tells you," he said. "So it's a marriage, and you have to find that balance, but luckily everyone at Marvel and the director also incorporates the origins from the comic books, as well."

In the film, Evans' character transforms from the measly, short Steve Rogers to the buffed-out Captain America, though Evans himself did not change his weight.

Because he didn't have time to rapidly shift from strong to skinny, it was done with CGI instead.

"I don't even think it would have worked had I tried to lose weight," he said. "They didn't just take away weight. They took away size. They took away bone structure."

Still, Evans wasn't too shocked seeing himself on screen looking incredibly skinny.
"I mean, I was a pretty skinny guy for most of my life, so it's fun seeing it on film, but it's nothing new to me," he said. "I spent a long time looking that way."

Though Evans has some starpower himself after appearing in the "Fantastic Four" films as the Human Torch, he had to share the screen with some other big names on the set of "Captain America."

Acclaimed actors Tommy Lee Jones and Stanley Tucci also appear in the film as Col. Chester Phillips and scientist Abraham Erskine, respectively.

"There are certainly days where you feel a little intimidated standing opposite them and trying to hold your weight next to them, but they were just so great, everyone," Evans said.

In the midst of the booming comic book craze, Evans said Steve Rogers and Captain America are set apart from the superhero competition because of the way he became a superhero.

"I think most superheroes, they either were born that way or they were given their powers by a freak accident," he said. "I think Steve Rogers is the only person who was really chosen ... for his values and his morals."

The character itself isn't the only thing that sets "Captain America" apart.

The film is set in the 1940s during World War II, making it a rare period-piece blockbuster.

"The movie's a period piece," Evans said. "Given the fact that it takes place in the 1940s transports us to another time and another world, which is obviously a fun escape for any moviegoer."

After tackling two big superhero franchises, Evans said he's now a big fan of comic books.

"You know, I never grew up reading them," he said. "But I've obviously done quite a few comic book and graphic novel-based films. And as a result, you've got to read quite a few. And I've certainly grown to appreciate and see the value in that medium."

"Captain America: The First Avenger," starring Evans as Captain America and directed by Joe Johnston, is scheduled to hit theaters July 22.

As Marvel Entertainment legend Stan Lee says of the current crop of Marvel Studio flicks, games and other merchandise, Excelsior!

Chris Evans: Steve Rogers / Captain America

Hugo Weaving: Johann Schmidt / The Red Skull

Stanley Tucci: Abraham Erskine

Tommy Lee Jones: Col. Chester Phillips

Richard Armitage: Heinz Kruger

Dominic Cooper: Howard Stark

Toby Jones : Arnim Zola

Hayley Atwell: Peggy Carter

Natalie Dormer: Private Lorraine

Sebastian Stan: James 'Bucky' Barnes

Neal McDonough: Dum Dum Dugan

Derek Luke: Gabe Jones

JJ Feild: Montgomery Falsworth / Union Jack

Kenneth Choi: Jim Morita

Anatole Taubman: Roeder

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X-Men: First Class: Strong Reviews, by Greg Tingle - 31st May 2011

2011-05-30T17:52:00.001-07:00

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Marvel movie fans, yet more reviews of X-Men: First Class are coming in, and they are great.

The Hollywood Reporter is comparing the flick to the recent James Bond movie Casino Royale in how it reinvigorates the rather tired franchise.

He states "roughly the first half of this massive and very well-cast origins extravaganza is arguably the best hour of Marvel Comics-derived filmmaking among the torrent of it that's cascaded across screens in recent years."

It's a sentiment that's been popping up on many geek sites, such as Dark Horizons, which calls it "not just the best of the series but the best adaptation of a Marvel title yet."

McCarthy says of the flick "audacious, confident and fueled by youthful energy" and gives props to Michael Fassbender's turn as Magneto as a young man, Kevin Bacon as the villainous Sebastian Shaw and Jennifer Lawrence as Raven/Mystique.

Further afield, Variety says the movie reclaims "much of the pop-operatic grandeur and insouciant wit so evident in the series' first two installments" and that director Matthew Vaughn "manages to invest this unabashedly commercial product with a unique stylistic identity."

As Marvel Entertainment legend Stan Lee says of the current crop of Marvel Studio flicks, games and other merchandise, Excelsior!

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Marvel Entertainment movie adaptations tipped, by Greg Tingle - 29th May 2011

2011-05-28T23:29:00.001-07:00

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Marvel Entertainment is smashing its way back to movie cinemas, spearheaded by Thor and X-Men: First Class, and how about the news that Captain America: The Last Avenger is coming up.

We can also expect a Spider Man 5, The Avengers, and Iron-Man 3 and Media Man spies have also been tipped by folks close to Marvel living legend Stan Lee and friends to expect a few surprises in the next 6 - 18 months.

Marvel Studios is bringing together many of their iconic characters for The Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Hulk).

As you may have heard, Marvel Studios don't own all of the film rights to their characters, and its more complicated than that the Jack Kirby (the late artist) situation. Film rights were signed over to other studios years prior to Marvel electing to adapt its own material (the first flick being Iron Man in 2008).

The upshot of the situation likely means that in addition to Iron Man 3 and forecast sequels to Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger...they're going to have to snatch from the portfolio lesser-known heroes and villains.

This situation may be of concern for Marvel powers that be. Thor has performed well for a character not strongly marketed in the past, but will other lesser known heroes and villains from Marvel fame fare so well? Not so sure.

Let's have a look at some of the other characters in the Marvel portfolio...

S.H.I.E.L.D. Presumably Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury will be joined by Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow and Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye -- both of whom figure in The Avengers -- when this spy thriller inevitably happens. Making it attractive? That it would help the studio branch into other genres (something it's also done with the mythic Thor) and help insulate the company from superhero-movie fatigue.

Dr. Strange: If a S.H.I.E.L.D spin-off is essentially a secret agent movie, this magic-based character could explore the mystical side of the Marvel universe. Dr. Strange's name recognition is arguably equal to Thor's, making it a probable priority, post-Avengers.

Ant-Man: Long in the planning stages, at last report Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) was still set to direct a movie about the miniaturized hero.

Iron Fist: Created during the post-Bruce Lee boom of the 1970s, this kung-fu fighter could provide a twist on superhero lore, opening Marvel to the martial arts genre.

The Runaways: This relatively new creation is about a group of teenagers who discover their parents are super-villains. Joss Whedon, writer-director of The Avengers, is a fan and actually penned some issues a few years ago.

Black Panther: Let's face it: most superheroes are lily-white. Which would immediately distinguish this hero -- an African prince -- from the pack.

The Punisher: This grim vigilante, who emerged out of the shadow of Death Wish and Dirty Harry, has been adapted disastrously before (see sidebar). Now Marvel has the rights to the character back. But can a remorseless killer find a home at family-friendly Disney?

Luke Cage: A product of the Blaxploitation era of the 1970s -- i.e. Shaft -- Cage is a wrongly convicted prisoner who agrees to be experimented on, and as a result, becomes steel-skinned and super-strong. Like Black Panther, Cage has been circled by filmmakers for a number of years.

Nova: This character represents the cosmic, space-faring side of Marvel, but it's likely the studio will wait to see how Green Lantern - from rival DC Entertainment - performs this summer before committing to their own science-fiction opera.

Cloak and Dagger: Not quite ready for the big screen? No worries. Marvel has also launched its own television division. (And remember, Disney owns both Marvel and ABC). Among the characters bandied about for a small screen treatment is this duo: a pair of street kids with chemically enhanced abilities.

Who would you pick out of that selection to make a slash at box office? Write it down in your black book, or better still, write to Disney - Marvel, and give them your two cents. We're betting that a few of them will take off in box office, but Marvel Studios will do well to take calculated risks and make sure they get the market research right before committing large sums of money on a dark horse - unknown quantity.

As Marvel Entertainment legend Stan Lee says of the current crop of Marvel Studio flicks, games and other merchandise, Excelsior!

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Marvel Legend Stan Lee On 'Captain America' And 'Amazing Spider-Man' Cameos; No 'X-Men: First Class', by Greg Tingle - 19th May 2011

2011-05-19T02:44:00.001-07:00

It's hard not to love Marvel Comics and Marvel Entertainment icon, the living legend himself, Stan Lee - unless you're on the wrong end of a lawsuit from him.

From Sydney's Bondi Beach to Hollywood, the world loves Stan 'The Man'.

These days to super fans and insiders he's as well known for his cameos in comics-based movies as he is for his comics.

Media Man spies understand he was given the miss for a cameo in X-Men: First Class, but Lee recently let the cat out of the bag that he got the green light for "Captain America: The First Avenger" and "Amazing Spider-Man."

Reading between the lines "The Avengers" is looking good for Lee and his fans too.

Lee has been big on social media for a few years and his Twitter tweets remain some of the most popular in the universe.

"Warriors mine, grieve thee not that I have no cameo in X-Men 1st Class," Lee tweeted. "Tis just that the movie was filmed too far away for me to attend"

Lee did confirm his already filmed roles in the two above flicks however.

"But know ye t his, I have already completed my roles in Captain America and the new Spider-Man, so all is well in Cameo Land."

And while "X-Men: First Class" was a no-go, he's determined to get his cameo for "The Avengers."

"Next up--The Avengers," he wrote. "Unless they shoot it on the Moon nothing shall keep thy leader from making his awesome presence known! Excelsior!"

Since odds are "The Avengers" won't be shot on the moon, we are set to see the comics genius in that flick

As is said in comics heaven, Media Man and Marvel Universe land, when we love Marvel' efforts, Excelsior!

Stan Lee Cameo Trivia...

Has it written into his contract that he appears in any movie based upon a Marvel character that he is credited with. So far he has appeared as the Hot Dog Vendor in X-Men (2000), Man in Fair in Spider-Man (2002), Old Man at Crossing in Daredevil (2003), Security Guard in Hulk (2003), Man Dodging Debris in Spider-Man 2 (2004), Willie Lumpkin in Fantastic Four (2005), Waterhose Man in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Man in Times Square in Spider-Man 3 (2007), Rejected Wedding Guest in Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), the man whom Tony Stark mistakes for Hugh Hefner in Iron Man (2008) and an uncredited appearance as the man who drinks the soft drink contaminated with Bruce Banner's blood in The Incredible Hulk (2008). The only one he has not appeared in was X2 (2003).

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Captain America: The First Avenger, by Greg Tingle - 16th May 2011

2011-05-16T01:24:00.001-07:00

Marvel Entertainment and Media Man are feeling passionate and patriotic about this upcoming movie - the latest in a serious of Marvel Comics inspired movies.

After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America's ideals.

Captain America: The First Avenger comes to U.S theaters July 22nd, 2011 and stars Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Neal McDonough, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones. The film is directed by Joe Johnston.

Synopsis...

Based on the Marvel Comics character from World War II. A brave, yet mild-mannered young soldier named Steve Rogers, volunteers to undergo a series of experiments for a US army Super Soldier program. The military succeeds in transforming him into a human weapon, but quickly decide that their Super Soldier is far too expensive a creation to risk in combat. So, they decide to put him to use as an army celebrity and parade him across Europe to boost morale by performing in USO shows for American troops. He is even given a costume that bear the colors of Old Glory for the stage. Then, when a Nazi plot reveals itself Rogers must rise up and and become the First Avenger, in order to save his country. Steve Rogers becomes Captain America and he earns his way into the hearts and souls of every American, bringing hope and justice to a war-weary nation. Later, during a mission to Germany to stop his archenemy - The Red Skull, from launching rockets at the allies, Captain America sacrifices himself and winds up frozen in ice for almost six decades! Revived, Steve Rogers now must join forces with new heroes and become an Avenger of the modern age.

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Marvel Entertainment smashing movie records, by Greg Tingle - 15th May 2011

2011-05-14T19:57:00.001-07:00

Movie fans and insiders... did you know that first weekend in May is when Hollywood’s big money time commences. After months of pretty average flicks at the box office, studios start dreaming of $100 million dollar weekend paydays from May through to August. Marvel Entertainment, based on the foundations of Marvel Comics, has smashed it's way in this movie season headed up by legendary Thor.

This year’s Marvel entry is Thor, starring relative newcomer Chris Hemsworth, a likable Aussie actor, and Oscar-winner Natalie Portman. Experts tip Marvel Entertainment may be in for its biggest film season ever.

In 6 of the past 9 years, Marvel Studios has kicked off the box office money making season with a comic book blockbuster. Here's the proof movie fans and insiders...

Year Film Opening Weekend

2002 “Spider-Man” $114 million

2003 “X2: X-Men United” $85 million

2007 “Spider-Man 3″ $151 million

2008 “Iron Man” $98 million

2009 “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” $85 million

2010 “Iron Man 2″ $128 million

When other studios attempt to take that first weekend in May slot, they don’t do nearly as well. “Van Helsing” (2004, $51 mill), “Kingdom of Heaven” (2005, $19 mill), and “Mission Impossible III” (2006, $47 mill) all sluggish compared to the opening weekends of the Marvel comics franchise.

Marvel’s comic books usually come with built-in name recognition and an established audience of fanboys lining up to see them. Marvel has so many comic book entities that it can cement its future re the first weekend of May for years in advance. For example, “Iron Man 3″ is already slated for release on May 3 of 2013, even though the script isn’t even done yet. That's planning for you.

With a budget of roughly $150 mil, and Marvel’s history of May movies making close to $100 million their opening weekends, you’d think expectations would be massive for “Thor.” But “Thor’s” box office prospects aren’t up to typical comic book standards.

“Its not one of the better known comic-book properties,” says Box Office Guru's Gitesh Pandya. "I don’t think it will come close to the Spider-man or Iron Man numbers. If it gets to $70 million or even the high $60 millions, it would be a very good opening."

“Thor’s” primary audience is the typical comic book/action crowd of young males. But Pandya thinks “Thor” may be able to lure in the ladies also. Co-star Natalie Portman is a hot property coming off her Oscar for “Black Swan.” “And they made sure to let everyone know that Chris Hemsworth takes his shirt off in some scenes,” says Pandya. “That’s got to help with the ladies.”

“Thor” has gotten almost all good reviews, though the comic book/action crowd tends to largely ignore reviews when deciding where to spend their movie money.

Working against “Thor” is a high amount of competition. This year, “Fast Five” reved along by opening to surprisingly strong business ($86 million). Analysts expect “Fast Five” to make around another $35 million in the next week or two. Most of those dollars will likely come from punters who would otherwise be buying tickets to “Thor.”

“Thor’s” other problem is its setting and tone, geared for a pretty smart audience. The story and the characters feel like something out of Shakespeare, which may be why Kenneth Branagh was chosen to direct the film. Much of the film takes place off Earth, on planets of gods and giants. “It’s a different kind of superhero film,” says Pandya. “It’s more cerebral than Iron Man, Hulk, or X-men. I wonder if teenaged kids will get all the mythological references here.”

So, can this $150 million film with an equally large marketing budget make money if it only makes $65 – $70 million in ticket sales its opening weekend? Pandya says not to worry. "Thor is a more European character. He’s better known there than he is here. Lots of comic book movies skew so American that they don’t play well overseas. “Thor” should be the opposite."

That could well be the reason Paramount Pictures decided to open “Thor” overseas before its American debut. It launched in many markets first, such as Australia, and has already made more than $125 million internationally.

And, for Marvel, “Thor” is just one weapon in its arsenal. After “Thor’s” credits finish rolling, there is a bonus scene designed to help set the stage for Marvel’s most ambitious movie project yet… “The Avengers”...a movie featuring Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk, and other comic book heroes. “The Avengers” film will be also released in 2012. It debuts the first weekend of May.

In addition to films, Marvel also has plans for slot games, action figures, lunch boxes, t-shirts and a whole host of other Marvel super hero gear.

A Media Man insider said "The Marvel Entertainment movies are just the tip of the iceberg. There's the slot games, video games, shirts, DVDs, action figures and a whole lot more. Investors and fans should be very happy with what's in store this season".

As Marvel Entertainment icon Stan Lee would say, Excelsior!

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Arnold Schwarzenegger, wife Maria Shriver separate, by Greg Tingle - 10th May 2011

2011-05-10T20:29:00.001-07:00

Media Man and wires report former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his beautiful wife, Maria Shriver, announced on Monday that they were separating after modest hints were dropped in recent weeks.

The statement came four months after Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-born former bodybuilder turned Hollywood action star, left office in January after serving two terms as governor.

"This has been a time of great personal and professional transition for each of us," Schwarzenegger, 63, and Shriver, 55, said in the statement, which was issued jointly. "After a great deal of thought, reflection, discussion, and prayer, we came to this decision together."

The power couple, who met at a charity tennis tournament in 1977 and married in 1986, did not indicate whether they would seek a divorce, but said they were living separately "while we work on the future of our relationship."

"We are continuing to parent our four children together. They are the light and the center of both of our lives," they said in the statement. "We consider this a private matter, and neither we nor any of our friends or family will have further comment. We ask for compassion and respect from the media and the public."

The couple maintained their home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles during his two terms as governor, with Schwarzenegger traveling by jet to the state capitol in Sacramento.

Schwarzenegger said in February that he was ready to make motion pictures again and announced recently that he is developing a television show and comic book based on his political nickname "The Governator." Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee is associated with that project.

Leaks indicate that Schwarzenegger was likely to star in a new "Terminator" movie that would see the return of his most famous movie role as the virtually indestructible cyborg from the future.

Shriver, a writer, author and ex journalist for NBC, is active with a number of volunteer organizations.

Her mother was the sister of assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy and her father, Sargent Shriver, was the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1972. Sargent Shriver died in January at the age of 95.

Though a lifelong Democrat, Shriver campaigned for her Republican husband when he sought to recall and replace then-Governor Gray Davis, a Democrat, in 2003.

She took to campaigning again assist help Schwarzenegger win reelection in 2006.

Schwarzenegger is involved in a number of successful business ventures including gaming and property, and is looking to ramp up motion picture business, both on and off the screen.

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2011-04-20T19:24:00.001-07:00

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'Thor' movie set for 6th May 2011; Likely to take place of Spider-Man IV, - 7th January 2010

Marvel Entertainment acquisition by Disney approved - 5th January 2010

Thor goes into battle for the NT (ABC News) - 21st April 2011

Party boy Chris Hemsworth puts the hammer down - Herald Sun - 19th April 2011

'Thor': The Early Reviews Are In! - MTV News - 18th April 2011

You Thor, me Jane - Today Online - 21st April 2011

Thor: God of Thunder - Going Green - Marvel.com - 20th April 2011

Big Time Buzz: Thor - Marvel.com - 19th April 2011

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Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, LLC to Release "Thor" in IMAX(R) 3D

2011-04-20T17:06:00.001-07:00

LOS ANGELES, April 20, 2011 -- IMAX Corporation (NYSE:IMAX) (TSX:IMX), Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, LLC formally announced today that they have finalized an agreement to release the epic superhero adventure Thor in digital IMAX® theatres worldwide day-and-date on May 6, 2011. The release marks the continuation of the partnership between IMAX, Paramount and Marvel. The film, based on the well-known Marvel comic book, is directed by Kenneth Branagh, produced by Kevin Feige, and stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins. The screenplay is by Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz and Don Payne from a story by J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich.

Tim Connors, Chief Operating Officer, Marvel Studios, stated, "We're excited to continue our relationship with IMAX following the success we shared on Iron Man 2, and we look forward to fans experiencing the thrill of Thor in the immersive IMAX® 3D format."

"Bringing iconic characters to life is something that Marvel Entertainment and Paramount do very well, and we're confident that Thor will also come to life on the IMAX screen," said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond. "This highly-anticipated summer title is tailor-made for the IMAX audience."

"We're pleased to expand our relationship with Marvel and Paramount with Thor, which is a great addition to our summer tentpole slate," said Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. "We believe Thor will resonate with the IMAX audience by transporting them directly into the 3D world that Kenneth Branagh and the Marvel team have created for this epic film."

About Thor

Marvel Studios expands its film universe with a new type of superhero: Thor. This epic adventure spans the Marvel Universe; from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth. Kenneth Branagh directs this fantasy epic which stars Australian actor Chris Hemsworth as the god of thunder, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, a young woman who befriends Thor on Earth, Tom Hiddleston as Thor's evil brother Loki, and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Thor's father and king of Asgard. Expect to see agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., previously seen in Iron Man to make an appearance, further foreshadowing the coming of Marvel Studios' The Avengers! Thor's screenplay is by Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz and Don Payne from a story by J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich.

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing. For more information visit www.marvel.com. Super Hero(es) is a co-owned registered trademark.

About Paramount Pictures Corporation

Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE:VIA) (NYSE:VIA-B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Paramount Television & Digital Distribution.

About IMAX Corporation

IMAX Corporation is one of the world's leading entertainment and technology companies, specializing in the creation and delivery of premium, awe-inspiring entertainment experiences. With a growing suite of cutting-edge motion picture and sound technologies, and a globally recognized entertainment brand, IMAX is singularly situated at the convergence of the entertainment industry, innovation and the digital media world. The industry's top filmmakers and studios are utilizing IMAX theatres to connect with audiences in extraordinary ways, and as such, the IMAX network is among the most important and successful theatrical distribution platforms for major event films around the globe. The Company's new digital projection and sound systems - combined with a growing blockbuster film slate - are fueling the rapid expansion of the IMAX network in established markets such as North America, Western Europe, and Japan, as well as emerging markets such as China and Russia. IMAX theaters deliver the world's best cinematic presentations using proprietary IMAX, IMAX 3D, and IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-Mastering) technologies. IMAX DMR enables virtually any motion picture to be transformed into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience.

IMAX is headquartered in New York, Toronto and Los Angeles, with offices in London, Tokyo and Shanghai. As of December 31, 2010, there were 518 IMAX theatres (396 commercial, 122 institutional) operating in 46 countries.

IMAX®, IMAX® 3D, IMAX DMR®, Experience It In IMAX®, An IMAX 3D Experience® and The IMAX Experience® are trademarks of IMAX Corporation. More information about the Company can be found at www.imax.com. You may also connect with IMAX on Facebook (www.facebook.com/imax), Twitter (www.twitter.com/imax) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/imaxmovies).

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Banks to guide 'Governator' - 18th April 2011

2011-04-19T03:53:00.000-07:00

'SpongeBob' scribe drafted for Schwarzenegger-Lee toon

Former "SpongeBob Squarepants" head writer Steven Banks has been drafted for the Arnold Schwarzenegger-Stan Lee toon series "The Governator."

Banks will serve as a head writer for the A Squared Entertainment series that follows an animated Schwarzenegger who, after leaving office in California, takes on a secret identity as a crime-fighting superhero, with the help of an elite squad of teenagers.

The series was announced with much fanfare earlier this month at the Mip TV confab in Cannes. There's no word yet on a domestic outlet for "Governator."

In addition to his six-year run on "SpongeBob," Banks' toon credits include Nickelodeon's "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius."

"Throughout my career, whether it has been in body building, movies or politics, my philosophy has always been to bring together the best specialized talent to create projects that people will love," Schwarzenegger said. "Having Steven on board to head up the writing for 'The Governator' series is a fantastic next step."

Andy and Amy Heyward's A Squared banner is producing "Governator," which will have a comicbook offshoot published by Archie Comics under the newly created Stan Lee Comics label. Lee and his Pow Entertainment partner, Gill Champion, will oversee all creative development. (Credit: Variety, Wires)

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Comic-Con News: 'Thor' And 'Amaterasu' Tapped For 'Marvel Vs. Capcom 3'?

2010-07-26T05:59:00.001-07:00

'Thor' And 'Amaterasu' Tapped For 'Marvel Vs. Capcom 3'?

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Capcom seems to have neglected to mention a couple of gods when it announced Doctor Doom, Super-Skrull, Trish from "Devil May Cry" and Chun-Li as fighters in "Marvel vs. Capcom 3" Tuesday. New purported shots from the game bearing the Marvel.com watermark do not currently appear on the site's "Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds" images page, but a message board poster claims to have acquired them via a leak.

Screenshots clearly showing Marvel's God of Thunder and Amaterasu, the Shinto sun goddess incarnation from Capcom's "Ōkami," did appear on a NeoGAF thread, and if they're fakes, they are darn good ones.

With Marvel's "Thor" movie and Capcom's "Ōkamiden" for the Nintendo DS both getting released in the coming year, it would actually be quite a shocker if neither of these characters appeared in "MvC3." Furthermore, Thor's hammer those Three Wolf God Sun shirts are already hanging around the San Diego Convention Center this week, so getting the news out now makes perfect sense.

Given Amaterasu's height (or lack thereof) it's going to be fun to see how the wolf shape fits in with the gameplay. I don't know if squat-kicks and leg sweeps are going to be necessary for getting a blow to connect, but surely a trailer will reveal all soon. (Credit: MTV)

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Spider-Man Swings Into The iPad With New Marvel Comics App - April 2010

2010-04-03T03:56:00.000-07:00

Iron Man, Thor and Captain America aren't just coming to the big screen — they're also coming to the iPad courtesy of a new Marvel Comics application.

In a press release, Marvel Entertainment announced the launch of the Marvel Comics App for the iPad, which will be available to download for free on the App Store. Marvel is launching the App with over 500 comic book titles both classic and contemporary, with each digital title priced at $1.99 and new content planned every week.

Launch titles include Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's "Astonishing X-Men," Jonathan Hickman's ongoing "Fantastic Four" run and Jeph Loeb's introduction of the Red Hulk.

"We're excited to introduce an unparalleled digital comic experience to our fans with the Marvel Comics App for iPad," Marvel's Dan Buckley said in a statement. "The iPad is the first device that offers us a chance to present digital comics that are even close to replicating the experience of reading a print comic. This new world of digital comics distribution provides us great opportunities to reach new readers, allow consumers to sample our diverse stories and characters, and we believe it will drive these new fans into the App Store and local comic shops each week to find even more."

According to the press release, the Marvel Comics App was created in conjunction with digital distributor ComiXology. Readers can preview up to three pages for each available comic book before purchasing. Additionally, the Marvel Comics App includes a comic shop locator, allowing fans to track down local comic book retail outlets.

In a hands-on review of the Marvel Comics App on Boing Boing, Xeni Jardin wrote: "I like it. Scrolling is intuitive, brisk, and elegant. I'm amazed at how smooth. The store interface makes sense to anyone familiar with iTunes and App store. Flipping and reading, one luminous full-color page at a time, I do not miss paper."

Marvel's move towards the iPad comes just a few short months after the publisher started offering content on the iPhone via ComiXology, iVerse and Panelfly.

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PartyCasino Marvel Slots Online - Just don't wait for the movie, Play The Game, by Greg Tingle - 21st January 2010

2010-01-20T19:01:00.000-08:00

PartyCasino.com Marvel Slots Online - Just don't wait for the movie, Play The Game, by Greg Tingle

As we head towards the conclusion of the first month of 2010, PartyGaming continues to cement itself as the world's leading igaming company.

PartyGaming's PartyCasino.com keeps adding more games and features, and the powers that be at Party advise to expect "Avatar" type technologies in the near future.

The powers that be at PartyGaming and Marvel Entertainment (recently purchased by Disney) have developed amazing online game versions of an array of Marvel superheroes.

Marvel Icon Stan Lee's creations have really come to life at PartyCasino, and you can even play them for free or for money. There's even a Super Hero Jackpot and Marvel Hero Jackpot.

Check them out: The Incredible Hulk, Thor, The Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four.

The Media Man - Stan Lee connection advises that more Marvel themed movies and games are coming out this year and next, and that Marvel plan on developing characters that were released in Timely Comics and Marvel Comics decades ago.

PartyGaming is also adding more Marvel themed games to its Noble Casino brand including the red hot Iron-Man, the sequel soon to be hitting the big screen, and The Incredible Hulk.

iGaming industry developments may also see Wolverine, X-Men and The First Avenger, Captain America, arrive at PartyCasino.com, however that's just industry buzz at the moment.

PartyGaming have had contact with Australia's NextGen Gaming and its quite possible that pro wrestling themed games will arrive and the legendary Andre The Giant would likely be the first cab off the rank. Andre's battle with Hulk Hogan at WWE WrestleMania III is probably the most famous pro wrestling match in history. Marvel fans may be interested to know that Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan) purchased the rights from Marvel to use the name "Hulk" for the wrestling and entertainment business in the 1980's in a multi million dollar deal. Hulk Hogan's star was of course elevated by his appearance in Sylvester Stallone's Rocky III playing "Thunderlips" (a bad guy wrestler). Stallone went on to late play John Rambo in the Rambo movies, and incidentally a Rambo themed slot game is also available at PartyCasino. The WWF (now WWE) continued to use some super hero themes including with the late, great, Owen Hart "The Blue Blazer" and current superstar Gregory Shane Helms "The Hurricane", however they are not Marvel creations. Speaking of the Marvel - pro wrestling connection, Randy "Macho Man" Savage featured in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man as "Bone Saw McGraw" circa 2002, and the late news is that a Spider-Man IV will soon be going into production, however some delays of the film have been experienced, and Kenneth Branagh's 'Thor' adaption has been moved forward to a release date of 19th May 2011.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin, recently coming off "The Expendables" movie set (where he accidentally broke Stallone's neck) is said to be interested in appearing in a Marvel film and expending into igaming ventures, however that's a wait and see situation as of this writing. Certainly the fan base is there, but WWE's Vince McMahon may not be ready for Austin to be totally set free for movies and gaming quite yet, don't forget, McMahon is currently chasing Dwayne Johnson "The Rock" back to the WWE arena, a move that is likely to surge TV ratings (and sales of WWE Legends of WrestleMania game). Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka are said to be all interested in doing business with PartyGaming, including having their own game adaptions. Hogan currently has a "Hulkamania Experience" slot game available in some U.S. traditional casinos and Flair's recent promo with the North Carolina Education Lottery was extremely popular, so just imagine the interest for online games featuring these greats.

All the movie and Hollywood talk points to something... its all about entertainment. PartyGaming is in the entertainment (and igaming) industry, as is World Wrestling Entertainment and Marvel Entertainment (aka Marvel Comics).

It's for these reasons and more that when giants of the entertainment world such as PartyGaming and Marvel Entertainment get together, amazing game experiences can be enjoyed. In the words of Marvel icon and living legend, Excelsior! Don't just play the game, Feel It, at PartyCasino.com

*The writer has b2b dealings with Marvel Entertainment, PartyGaming and WWE, as they do with dozens of brands in the gaming, igaming and entertainment world.

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"Comic books incubate ideas for other revenue streams" - 22nd December 2009

2009-12-21T17:31:00.000-08:00

This is perhaps the first ace up the sleeve of Liquid Comics, formerly Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation, since Virgin Group pulled out of the deal in September, last year, reportedly due to liquidity (no pun intended) issues. As part of the change in strategy, Liquid Comics, founded by entrepreneurs, Gotham Chopra, Sharad Devarajan and Suresh Seetharaman is now focused on digital versions of its comic book characters that borrow heavily from Indian art and mythology. In a coincidence, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), too, has taken note of the characters developed in the Liquid Comics studios.

For the first time, LACMA is showcasing several of them in its exhibition Heroes and Villains: The Battle for Good in India’s Comics. The exhibition will remain on view through February 7, 2010 (Selections can be viewed online at http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/ mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=epage;id=502130; type=803) and features Liquid’s Devi and Ramayan 3392 A.D. series, besides other works by Liquid artists such as Jeevan J. Kang, Mukesh Singh and Saumin Patel.

In an email interview with FE’s Radhika Sachdev, Suresh Seetharaman, president, Liquid Comics, says that his company aims to use the medium of graphic novels to create digital properties based on Indian mythology for live action films, television, animation and games meant for a global audience. Liquid has to its credit works of a few well-known, international filmmakers such as John Woo, Shekhar Kapur, Deepak Chopra, Guy Ritchie, Dave Stewart, Jonathan Mostow, Edward Burns, Nicolas Cage among others. Edited excerpts:

Why did Virgin pull out of the deal?

It wasn’t a pull-out, it was a management buyout, as a result of which Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation is now Liquid Comics and Liquid Studios.

Who are the artists participating in LACMA show?

All artists are from India. There is Jeevan Kang, Mukesh Singh, Saumin Patel and Abhishek Singh. They have all worked with us in the past but it’s not a question of who is participating in this show. LACMA chose work based on their exhibit theme of Heroes and Villains. They wanted to showcase Indian comic book content in context to the South Asian development perspective.

When you say the popularity of Indian comic book characters has grown over the years, how do you gauge this popularity in terms of sales and revenue?

That’s a difficult guess to make as comic book sales are not the only revenue earner. (Credit: The Financial Express)

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Titan Publishing to launch WWE Comics - 3rd December 2009

2009-12-03T13:03:00.000-08:00

Titan Publishing has announced its partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment in the launch of WWE Comics. Over the course of the agreement, 20 issues will be produced and distributed to comic retailers and specialty stores in the U.S. and Canada. The comic’s flagship title will be WWE Heroes featuring WWE Superstars and Divas, with the first issue debuting on March 23, 2010.

The series will take the biggest WWE Superstars and Divas beyond the spotlight of the squared circle and into a brand new fictional universe.

“Each week more than 1.6 million teens watch WWE programming on television in the U.S. This is an important demographic for the comic book industry and vital for a successful launch in the industry,” stated Ned Hartley, editor, WWE Heroes. “We've got some truly amazing stories to tell - our first issue is going to blow you away! The 'in-your-face, no-holds-barred' attitude of WWE works so well as a comic, we just can't wait for people to see the great surprises that we've got in store."

WWE Heroes series features Superstars Triple H, Undertaker, Randy Orton, Batista, Shawn Michaels, Big Show, John Cena, CM Punk, Kane, Edge, Chris Jericho, Matt Hardy, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Carlito, Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler and Kelly Kelly. The WWE Heroes cycle is written by Keith Champagne, who has penned acclaimed comics such as Justice Society of America, Green Lantern Corps, World War III and Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters.

Issue No.1 reveals an eternal rivalry set against the backdrop of the history of WWE. Why is the ruthless Shadow King so obsessed with WWE? What is the reason for his eternal and supernatural war with the Firstborn? And could his ancient opponent really be a member of the WWE roster?

Artwork is provided by comics’ artist, Andy Smith, who has worked as a penciller for major comic publishers such as Marvel, DC, Image, Acclaim, and CrossGen Entertainment.

An alternate cover exclusive to comic stores of issue No.1 features a specially-commissioned cover by comics’ artist Liam Sharp, who has worked on titles including Hulk, X-Men, Spider-Man, Venom, Gears of War, Superman, Batman, and Spawn: The Dark Ages.

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3-D wins day at Comic-Con - Variety - 23rd July 2009

2009-07-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

SAN DIEGO -- Hollywood has essentially rolled out the red carpet for exhibitors around the world to get them to embrace 3-D. At Comic-Con on Thursday studios took the campaign to the masses.

To help sell the format, Comic-Con organizers outfitted Hall H with four silver screens to show the 3-D footage and handed out thousands of pairs of Dolby 3-D Digital Cinema glasses to attendees as they entered the room.

The format's biggest cheerleaders, Disney, Sony and Fox rolled out exclusive 3-D footage from the upcoming tentpoles "A Christmas Carol" from Robert Zemeckis, Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," "Tron Legacy," "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and James Cameron's "Avatar."

The purpose was not only to energize the crowd of more than 6,000 people that filled the massive Hall H in the San Diego Convention Center but also to entice them to pony up the extra coin to see the pics in 3-D once they're released in theaters.

Having on hand talent like Burton, who made his first appearance at the show as a presenter, and surprise guest Johnny Depp certainly helped amp up the excitement. The pair's "Alice" opens March 5.

But the focus was on the technology. As Zemeckis put it after a lengthy montage of "A Christmas Carol," in which Jim Carrey plays eight characters, "it's the future," calling 3-D technology a "tool that's been perfected.

"It's happening," Zemeckis said. "We're there."

Getting more studios interested in 3-D should encourage more exhibitors to build the additional silver screens needed to show pics in the format.

There are approximately 1,700 3-D locations as of now (some of those locations could have multiple 3-D screens).

Disney's 3-D "G-Force" is going out in 1,603 locations today.

In case exhibitors don't build the screens, Fox topper Tom Rothman wanted to remain cautious and let attendees know "the film is great in 2-D and will be shown in the format as well."

Participation was a major push for Dolby, considering it controls a tiny sliver -- an estimated 10% -- of the 3-D market compared with Real D, which Disney embraces.

Imax also made the trek to San Diego to show off its own technology in presentations downtown, away from the convention center.

The branding of the 3-D format was unavoidable, with Disney plastering the screens with the fact the footage was a "3-D Showcase" and the footage was being shown in Disney Digital 3-D and Imax 3-D.

Disney's early morning panel benefited from throngs of "Twilight" fans, many of whom camped out overnight to get a first-look at footage Summit screened Thursday afternoon.

The "Twihards" filled the main hall just to secure a seat for the panel that would take place hours later.

But Fox didn't need any extra help. After the "Twilight" contingent emptied Hall H, another crowd quickly filled the room again to see the mesmerizing 23 minutes of footage Cameron brought from "Avatar," which bows Dec. 18.

Crowds were wowed by the photo-realistic computer-generated visuals featured in the sci-fi epic that stars a cast of blue-skinned cat-like aliens who live in a world influenced by oceanic settings and creatures.

It was the same footage shown to exhibitors recently in Europe and Hollywood.

Cameron has spent the past four years producing the pic and spent 14 years developing the technology.

To push the pic, Cameron and Fox are taking over 3-D theaters globally on Aug. 21 for free screenings of 15 minutes of "Avatar" footage on what he's calling "Avatar Day." They'll also be previewing the videogame and toy line.

"This is the movie you've been waiting for," said Sigourney Weaver during a panel that followed. (Credit: Variety)

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Playtech Can Use Marvel Legends Too

2009-03-04T00:56:00.001-08:00

CryptoLogic's branded games will have some serious competition

March 3, 2009 (InfoPowa News) -- In a surprise move, online gambling software and games developer Playtech plc has signed a licensing agreement with Marvel Entertainment Inc. allowing it to include Marvel film properties such as The Incredible Hulk and the Fantastic Four in its branded games inventory.

The achievement means significant competition for fellow software developer CryptoLogic, which signed an agreement to use the same Marvel characters in its games last year.

The exclusive multi-year licensing agreement with Marvel Characters B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc., allows Playtech to use Marvel's motion picture brands, giving it the right to use iconic Marvel film brand legends such as "The Incredible Hulk", "Fantastic Four", "X-Men", "Iron Man" and "Blade", amongst others.

Playtech will be able to use these brands across all of its gaming products including casino, poker, bingo and on all of its platforms, online, mobile and T.V. platforms, as well as on server-based gaming terminals, via the Playtech subsidiary, Videobet.

Mor Weizer, Chief Executive Officer of Playtech, commented: "This agreement is a major stepping stone for Playtech, as it will greatly extend the commercial appeal and cross-selling opportunities of our products. Branded slots are a good way of diversifying our product and attracting new players.

"Our customers can now enjoy games with Playtech's market leading software featuring up-to-date Marvel film characters, which have a truly mass market appeal. The proven strength of these brands will allow our licensees to gain market share using the strength of our product. We look forward to working with such a globally renowned and respected company as Marvel to provide an exciting gaming experience for our customers and their players."

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Stan Lee and Marvel Are Sued for Profits, by Dave Itzkoff - The New York Times - 27th January 2009

2009-01-28T15:54:00.000-08:00

Stan Lee, the comics creator, and Marvel Entertainment were among the defendants named in a lawsuit filed on Monday in federal court in Manhattan by investors who say they are owed profits from films and other works that feature Marvel characters, The Associated Press reported. The plaintiffs are shareholders in Stan Lee Media Inc., which emerged from bankruptcy in 2006, and they say they are due profits from any properties based on characters that Mr. Lee helped create, including movies like “Spider-Man,” “X-Men” and “Iron Man.” Mr. Lee had previously sued Marvel for profits generated by his characters, and sued Stan Lee Media for copyright infringement and other claims. In that suit, Mr. Lee’s lawyers said he did not give Stan Lee Media any interests in characters he created for Marvel.

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Obama Appears in Spider-Man Comic, by Ryan Ball - Animation Magazine - 8th January 2009

2009-01-09T16:56:00.000-08:00

If you collected Spider-Man comics as a kid, being featured in an issue is probably one of the coolest things that could happen to you, even if you happen to be the President Elect of the United States. Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada told the Associated Press that the company wanted to pay tribute to Obama for publicly admitting to being a comic book fan. The former senator will appear in a bonus story in Marvel Comic's Amazing Spider-Man #583, available in comic book shops nationwide on Jan. 14. The issue is expected to sell out as half of the covers will prominently feature Obama.

“The commander in chief to be is actually a nerd in chief,” Quesada says in the article. “It was really, really cool to see that we had a geek in the White House. We're all thrilled with that.”

In the comic, Peter Parker is taking photographs at the inauguration when he notices that there are two identical Obamas. The young photojournalist springs into action as Spider-Man and uses basketball to identify the real Obama, then punches out the impostor. In return for his heroic deed, Spidey gets a fist bump from the President Elect.

Obama’s Senate website once featured a photo of him posing in front of a Superman statue. Other presidents have been featured in walk-on roles in Marvel Comics, but none have been given such a favorable treatment in ink. Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report has also been drawn into a Spider-Man issue, even making the cover. He used a copy signed by Stan Lee to entice Obama to be on his show. (Credit: Animation Magazine)

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2009-01-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

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Marvel's Sub-Mariner Headlines CryptoLogic's Newest Casino Game Pack

2008-12-13T21:44:00.001-08:00

E-gaming leader's newest line-up delivers more action, more entertainment-and more chances to win

10th July 2008

DUBLIN, IRELAND - Underwater adventure and intense blackjack action await online players with the introduction of the latest game pack from CryptoLogic Limited, a leading software developer to the global Internet gaming market. CryptoLogic's newest game pack features famed Marvel Super Hero Sub-Mariner and 4 Deck Multi Hand Video Blackjack, a patent-pending product developed exclusively by CryptoLogic.

Available today, these new games are offered through InterCasino (www.intercasino.com).

"At CryptoLogic, we know there are two critical elements to online gaming success: give players a compelling experience with a game or character they know, or design a fresh take on a familiar concept," said Brian Hadfield, CryptoLogic's President and CEO. "Our relationship with Marvel has enabled us to create and deliver some of the most memorable online slots today with some of the world's most recognized characters. Coupled with our patent-pending gaming innovations, CryptoLogic has aggressively positioned itself as a leader in this highly competitive space."

Sub-Mariner, one of the first Marvel Comics legends, makes his Internet casino debut with an action-packed 25 payline online slot game, joining other popular characters, including Spider-Man, The Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man and The X-Men. Watch as the game screen is flooded, leaving Sub-Mariner to swim through each level of reels. Sink submarines and destroy battleships to save the underwater world of Atlantis during rewarding and visually-stunning interactive bonus rounds for a chance to win 5000 times your line bet - all for as little as one cent!

Fans of blackjack are in for a real treat with the launch of the latest installment of CryptoLogic's proprietary Multi Hand Video Blackjack game: 4 Deck Multi Hand Video Blackjack. An incredible new twist enables players to play up to five hands at a time, against up to 50 dealer hands. With a single strong hand, you can beat the dealer up to 50 times in one round! Player friendly rules, including four decks per shoe, dealer standing on 17 and a tutorial feature, make this game a breeze - even for first-time players.

"Our innovative games make players want to come back for more, time and time again - making CryptoLogic the software of choice for players and licensees alike," said Justin Thouin, CryptoLogic's Vice President, Product Management and Business Development.

CryptoLogic has one of the most comprehensive casino gaming suites on the Internet. With more than 270 games available, including fan favourites Bejeweled®, Cubis®, Jewel Quest® and games featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes, the company has introduced some of the most popular games available on the Internet today.

CryptoLogic has earned top honours for its world-class Internet software, including Top Casino Software from Online Gambling Magazine for three consecutive years. The award, based on the votes of readers, players and website visitors, is widely considered the industry's top award.

About CryptoLogic® (www.cryptologic.com)

Focused on integrity and innovation, CryptoLogic Limited is a world-leading, blue-chip public developer and supplier of Internet gaming software. Its leadership in regulatory compliance makes it one of the very few companies with gaming software that is certified to strict standards similar to land-based gaming. WagerLogic® Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CryptoLogic, is responsible for the licensing of its gaming software and services to blue-chip customers who offer their games around the world to non-U.S. based players. For information on WagerLogic, visit www.wagerlogic.com.

CryptoLogic's common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ Global Select Market and the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange).

About Marvel Entertainment, Inc.

With a library of over 5,000 characters, Marvel Entertainment, Inc. is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies. Marvel's operations are focused on utilizing its character franchises in licensing, entertainment, publishing and toys. Areas of emphasis include feature films, DVD/home video, consumer products, video games, action figures and role-playing toys, television and promotions. Rooted in the creative success of over sixty years of comic book publishing, Marvel's strategy is to leverage its character franchises in a growing array of opportunities around the world. For more information, visit www.marvel.com.

MARVEL, and all related character names and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc., and are used with permission. Copyright (C) 2008 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved. www.marvel.com. Super Heroes is a co-owned registered trademark.

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Big draws for comic buffs - The Sydney Morning Herald - 7th October 2008

2008-12-07T17:30:00.000-08:00

Mark Juddery discovers the American museums dedicated to that country's inked cultural giants.

Writer Harlan Ellison once suggested that comic books are one of the five art forms (along with jazz, banjo music, Broadway-style musicals and detective stories) that are native to America. Other nations took comics in new directions, hence renowned museums such as the Belgian Centre of Comic Strip Art and Japan's Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum (part of a Disney-style theme park dedicated to Tezuka's work).

Meanwhile, the United States still provides most of the English-speaking world's favourite comics - and New York is the centre of comic-book publishing. America's top comic-book publishers, Marvel and DC, are based in the Big Apple, along with America's largest cluster of cartoonists.

The bulk of Marvel's superheroes, from Spider-Man to the X-Men, were fighting crime in Manhattan long before Rudy Giuliani took all the credit, while Metropolis (home of Superman) and Gotham City (Batman's stamping ground) are thinly disguised versions of the same city.

Even in Australia, art galleries have had successful exhibitions based on everything from early Australian comic books to the craft of Tezuka (whose work was exhibited last year at the Art Gallery of NSW). So you would think that New York, especially with its bounty of museums and art galleries, would have plenty to interest a comic-book lover.

Well, that depends. If you like superheroes, New York's TV and Movie Tours will happily take you on a tour that includes some familiar sights from the Spider-Man films. Serious connoisseurs, meanwhile, might prefer to visit the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, New York's only dedicated comic book gallery.

Started six years ago in the corner of a Starbucks, it has since grown. But not much. It now occupies a nondescript third-floor apartment in the super-cool Soho district, and it takes only a few minutes to see all of the original art work that hangs neatly in the gallery. The $5 entry fee is called a "donation", which is a good thing. The mostly volunteer staff have an obvious love and enthusiasm for the topic. After enough donations, it can hopefully live up to its potential.

One must-see New York space for lovers of comics is the Overlook Lounge (formerly Costello's), a 44th Street bar known for a mural of original art. In 1976, the greats of the cartoon world gathered to fill one wall with colourful drawings of their characters in action. Marvel's Stan Lee, better known as a writer and editor, revealed his artistic flair with a large drawing of Spider-Man. Dik Browne's Hagar The Horrible, Paul Fung's Dagwood ("Dagwood is here because Blondie isn't," Fung scribbled under the drawing) and many others appear on the wall.

When the bar was under new management in 2004, there were fears that the yellowing, smoke-stained mural would be torn down.

Instead, it was expanded to cover three more walls, on which the latest generation of cartoonists added their characters. So did a few artists who had contributed back in 1976, including 84-year-old Mort Walker, creator of Beetle Bailey. "When he entered the bar," says proprietor Jeff Perzan, "it was like royalty. Everyone worshipped him." The last pictures were added last year, and Perzan says that that's the end. For starters, there's no more wall space.

Secondly, patrons have been adding their less artistic graffiti. "They don't realise it's a piece of New York history."

Walker also opened the National Cartoon Museum in 1974. For years, it was based in a renovated castle in Rye Brook, New York, until the collection - which has grown to encompass countless items, including the largest collection of comic books in the world - became too unwieldy. It is currently looking for a new home, though a large part - including 250,000 orginal cartoons - can be perused by buffs at the Ohio State University's Cartoon Research Library in Columubs. For now, perhaps, the best place for aficionados might be a little further from New York, along the harbour in Baltimore.

Geppi's Entertainment Museum was founded by entrepreneur Steve Geppi. Geppi made part of his fortune through Diamond Comics, which has such a stranglehold on comic-book distribution that even Australian shops depend on it.

As he planned his museum, he even offered $1 million for a near-mint copy of Action Comics #1, the rare 1938 comic that introduced Superman to the world.

This treasure, the Penny Black of comic books, is now among thousands of comics in the museum, mostly from Geppi's private collection. For an aficionado like myself, heaven is a room full of rare, collectible comics. But Geppi's also has other rooms, full of American pop culture memorabilia from colonial-era marionettes to highly coveted Beatles merchandise from the '60s. This is the sort of museum I would have visited daily as a kid, gazing longingly at the numerous collectibles.

Across the continent, the Cartoon Art Museum, in San Francisco's Yerba Buena Gardens art centre, displays the arty rather than the populist side of cartoons and comic books: Jules Feiffer rather than Walt Disney, Krazy Kat rather than Garfield, acclaimed graphic novels on glossy paper rather than superhero comics on newsprint. It is not an overly intellectual place (special deals are available for schools and summer camps), but it suggests that comics are more than just kids' stuff. Indeed, it was started with an endowment from one of the most philosophical (and at the same time, wealthiest) cartoonists in history: the late Charles Schulz, creator of Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

Naturally, Schulz has his own museum in Santa Rosa, an hour's drive to the north. This impressive building includes educational exhibits, and tributes to Schulz's work from other artists. Of course, the gift shop has no shortage of merchandise.

It's surprising, in fact, that so few cartoonists have their own museums. America has museums saluting every author from Jack London to Edgar Allan Poe. But were any of London's creations as culturally significant (or as much fun) as Superman, Popeye or Flash Gordon? I think not.

Here's to the real cultural giants.

TRIP NOTES

* Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, 594 Broadway, see http://www.moccany.org.

* Overlook Lounge, 225 E 44th Street, phone +1 212-682-7266.

* On Location Tours, see http://www.screentours.com.

* National Cartoon Museum (Cartoon Research Library), The Ohio State University, 1858 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, see http://www.cartoon.org.

* Geppi's Entertainment Museum, 301 W. Camden Street, Baltimore, see http://www.geppismuseum.com.

* Art Museum, 655 Mission Street, San Francisco, see http://www.cartoonart.org.

* The Charles M. Schulz Museum, 2301 Hardies Lane, Santa Rosa, California, see www.schulzmuseum.org.

Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)

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Drawn from unreal life, by Geoff Boucher - The Sydney Morning Herald - 22nd March 2008

2008-12-07T15:23:00.001-08:00

Building a superhero from scratch is noisy and hazardous. "Let's find a place where it's quieter." The man shouting is Kevin Feige, the president of production for Marvel Studios, the Hollywood start-up that takes flight in May with its first film, Iron Man. Feige is walking, carefully, through one of the film's huge Playa Vista sets on the west side of Los Angeles where a whirling metal saw is kicking up a cascade of sparks.

Once in a quieter corridor, Feige gushes about its special effects, but then says the film's greatest asset is a hero with weakness hard-wired into his psyche. "That's what makes Marvel characters special: they are people who become heroes but also have flaws and they struggle with them," he says.

Launching a big movie production company seems a dicey venture. But the Marvel formula has been a spectacular success for other studios in the past eight years. The self-doubting Spider-Man, the bickering Fantastic Four, the misunderstood X-Men and all the other Marvel misfits have racked up $US5 billion ($5.5 billion) in worldwide box offices, most of that for Sony and Fox. Marvel now wants its own spot at the table.

After four years of planning and winning over Wall Street, Iron Man is the first step in the company's quest to go from intellectual-property fount to a stand-alone Hollywood player that can greenlight big-time popcorn movies.

Feige's boss and friend, David Maisel, the chairman of Marvel Studios, is pleased to be standing on the deck of a ship that can go in deep water. "We're the first since DreamWorks started 14 years ago that can greenlight its own $100 million movies. It doesn't happen very often."

True, though Marvel is not a studio in the traditional sense - it has fewer than three dozen employees, no lot, and it will turn to Paramount Pictures as its primary distribution pipeline.

It makes for an intriguing story arc for the Marvel brand name, which next year celebrates its 70th anniversary. The beginning was not an ambitious one. The year after Superman landed at the newsstands, the pulp-magazine publisher Martin Goodman decided to take a flier on this new "comic book" craze. The venture hardly looked like the stuff of history - the pragmatic Goodman had a fairly low opinion of his newsstand products. "Fans," Goodman once said, "are not interested in quality."

Still, that first issue produced two lasting characters, the Human Torch and Namor the Sub-Mariner, and they were soon followed by the patriotic World War II creation Captain America. But it was not until the 1960s that Marvel seized on an identity that really mattered in American pop culture. That is when Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and the other creators in the self-styled "House of Ideas" gave the world its first soapy superheroes, masked men who saved the world but somehow lost the girl, bounced their rent cheque and hid from the police. Kirby's art, meanwhile, was so kinetic and surreal that Superman, over at the rival DC Comics, instantly seemed like a caped Pat Boone, stiff and slow to understand the new rhythm.

The Beverly Hills office of Marvel Studios has been quite the scene in recent months. One afternoon you might see Robert Downey jnr, the star of Iron Man, another time it might be Edward Norton, who gets green in The Incredible Hulk in June. The Edge of U2 has dropped by too, working on the music for Julie Taymor's planned Broadway musical of Spider-Man.

The bright and tidy office has a gleaming statue of the Silver Surfer in its lobby, and in a rear room, behind a locked door, there is a giant "life-size" image of the new Hulk. Another wall at the Marvel office is covered with storyboards for the film, including an arctic fight scene between the unjolly green giant and a killer whale. That scene did not make it into the film, but maybe it can inspire the ride designers working on that $US1 billion Marvel theme park announced in the United Arab Emirates this month.

"All of this, it's a time of amazing confluence for us," says Maisel, a former protege of the uber-agent Michael Ovitz, who also made a career stop at Disney. Maisel came to Marvel in 2004. Feige, from the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television, had been there for four years by then and had worked on the X-Men and Spider-Man franchises.

The two aspire to take Marvel into the realm of Disney and Pixar as a film brand that speaks to audiences with instant clarity. "I believe," Maisel says, "we are doing something very special."

Perhaps, but Marvel Studios will have to do it without its biggest names: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and the X-Men. Fox also has the X-Men spinoff Wolverine (starring Hugh Jackman and now filming in Australia) and a possible second one in Magneto. Daredevil and Ghost Rider are other fan favourites that already have had their bite at the screen apple.

It is fair to wonder if Marvel has already rented out its best properties. That view is supported by the fact that the studio's second film will be a do-over of sorts - Ang Lee's dour Hulk was released by Universal in 2003 and did not energise audiences or critics (its second-week US box office plummeted 70 per cent). The studio has also announced that Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) will direct Ant-Man, a character that dates to 1962 but has gnat-sized name recognition with the public.

Rob Moore, the vice-chairman of Paramount Pictures, says that does not matter. Marvel has 5000 characters in its library, and history has shown they do not need to be household names to click - New Line Cinema, for example, made three successful Blade films based on an obscure Marvel character.

"Only Pixar has the sort of streak going that Marvel has right now … the stories, both the ones people know and the ones they will learn about, are fantastic," Moore says.

"There's an awareness when people see the name that, 'Oh, here comes another movie that I can enjoy as an adult and take my kids to."'

Marvel Studios also has the signature characters Captain America and Thor in active development. Black Panther, Dr Strange and the Avengers have been circled as other film candidates.

It was the former Marvel executive Avi Arad, once a toy designer in Israel, who came to town with the idea of making "serious" comic-book films and putting them in the hands of grown-up fans of 1960s Marvel, such as director Sam Raimi, who had a mural of Spider-Man on his bedroom wall as a kid. Now, the "serious" approach is standard; just look at Batman Begins, 300 and Sin City. Marvel is keeping pace - Iron Man may be about a guy with a red metal suit, but it stars three Oscar nominees (Downey, Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges) as well as one winner (Gwyneth Paltrow). A decade ago that would have been shocking; now it is barely noted.

The story is of Tony Stark, a narcissistic weapons tycoon who enjoys women, booze and the sound of lucrative explosions. But while in Afghanistan he is wounded, kidnapped and forced to design a weapon for the enemies of America. He makes a battle suit that not only helps him escape but is a life-support system for a coronary injury.

(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)

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Stan Lee's Iron Man longevity, by Scott Podmore - Sunday Mail - 18th October 2008

2008-12-07T02:10:00.000-08:00

Stan Lee, one of the creative geniuses behind Marvel Comics, has been thrilling his superhero-loving readers for almost 70 years, says.

Stan Lee's charisma walks into the room as briskly as his ageing, yet strong, frame.

"I'm good at anything except facts," he says, arms outstretched.

It's enough to calm the nerves of an Australian journalist introducing himself to the maker of his childhood comic-book superheroes.

"Loved your cameo in the Iron Man film, Mr Lee," I offer.

"Ah, yes, thank you. It (the cameo) made the movie, you know," he says, a glint in his eye.

Forget top-line actors and directors; this is Stan Lee, 84, creative force behind such historic Marvel comic-book heroes as Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and Fantastic Four. Just for a moment, guess how many children have opened their minds and hearts to these worlds he helped co-create in the past 50 years and you may begin to appreciate the magnitude of his influence.

Despite his age, Lee makes no secret of his youthful zeal to continue moving forward. He is owner of a new company, POW! Entertainment – driving new and exciting projects – and emeritus chairman of Marvel Media.

Most recently it was Iron Man, one of his "lesser known" superheroes, who was triumphantly brought to life on the big screen and which was released last week on DVD and Blu-ray. Another recent film version of one of his characters, The Incredible Hulk, also hits these formats this month.

As is the case with most of the films featuring Marvel superheroes he helped co-create, Lee is becoming as popular for his cameo appearances as he is for his part in creating the superheroes.

In Iron Man, Lee briefly appears as Hugh Hefner, fussed over by three young blondes on the red carpet as Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) swings past and says "hello". He was the hot dog vendor in X-Men, the man who drank the contaminated soft drink in The Incredible Hulk, Willie Lumpkin in Fantastic Four and the man at the fair in Spider-Man.

"I really love them all. I was disappointed with Iron Man because I had a line, but they cut it out," he says, with a hint of sarcasm. "Standing there with my arm around three attractive blondes was none-too-unpleasant. Originally, Tony Stark was meant to come up and tap me on the shoulder and say something like, `Sorry, I thought you were Hugh Hefner', and I was meant to say, `Oh, that's OK, I get that all the time'.

"But the movie came out and they had cut the line. Either the movie went too long or he might have thought the scene would get too big a laugh and steal the show.

"The funny thing about it was when I turned around to say something to Robert (Downey Jr), I had my pipe in my mouth and I hit one of the girls right in the face. So we had to do another take. It was fun."

Speaking of fun, Lee can't hide his smile when discussing his co-creations currently sparkling in Hollywood and across the world.

Audiences in their droves are embracing the superhero-blockbuster film genre, though Lee didn't always see it coming.

"Well, not all those years ago, anyway," he says. "After Superman came out and then the success of Batman and Spider-Man, we realised we were on to something.

"It's not so much that these stories are about superheroes as it is about the fact they're different.

"They're not what you would see in an average everyday movie – not your usual gangster movie, cops 'n' robbers, western or romance. The public loves anything different, providing it's well made, of course, and you never quite know what to expect. It's that element of excitement, of `What am I going to see?', and now with the special effects you can see men flying and people walking through walls, bursting into flames."

However, in the beginning, it wasn't easy bringing Marvel and its legion of comic-book characters to the table for mainstream entertainment media. Lee had to bang down doors and persist.

"We had a funny experience," he says, after a deep breath.

"The previous management of Marvel didn't want to do movies or TV. I had arranged for a network to meet about a TV series we had planned on a character we called the Black Widow, and in those days Bo Derek was a big star and we had her lined up.

"The network was excited, but the person running Marvel said, `No, I don't want to do it'. I asked why and they said, `If the series doesn't do well, it will hurt our character'.

"I couldn't understand that kind of logic because if you looked at it that way you would never do anything.

"So, we had the same trouble with the idea for Daredevil. I gave up at that point. Luckily, we had new management later on and they realised the value of TV and movies, especially movies. We were off and running."

Surprisingly, his most famous creation, Spider-Man, almost never saw a comics stand. But Lee continually challenged conformity and backed his own ideas until he emerged.

While writing for Marvel he pitched the Spider-Man concept to his publisher, only to be told it was "the worst idea he had ever heard".

"From his point of view, he was right because I wanted Spider-Man to be a teenager who had a million problems and my publisher said, `First of all, Stan, people hate spiders. And he can't be a teenager because teenagers can only be sidekicks, not heroes'," he says. "But it just happened that I found the right artist and apparently we handled it the right way and it caught on. Whether it's a superhero movie or a romance, the most important thing is you have to care about the characters. You have to understand the characters and you have to be interested in them."

So how has the comic-book guru managed to continually reinvent, while remaining faithful to his characters? "That's a tough one, because if I give away too much information, all our competitors will swoop," he says, laughing. "There's no secret; just do your best.

"You create a character and you know your character, and the story works, but the problem comes when you have to do the next story because it's a series. You've got to make it different from the first one – so people don't think they're reading the same thing over and over. Yet you've got to keep it true to the first one in that you have to keep the character in character. It's a balancing act you play.

"I don't know that there's a formula.

"You've just got to really think it out all the time. And I know that's why I don't have a bigger head of hair as I used to. When I had to do Spider-Man, the Hulk and the X-Men – and I had to do a new one every month – the problem was, `How do I make each one different yet the same?' If you're lucky and you think it out, the story comes.

"If not, you bang your head against a wall." Not only has Lee brought us diverse characters, he also pioneered the shared universe: the first time superheroes interacted in other stories, something being adopted in the big-budget movies today. Marvel Studios teased us in Iron Man when Samuel Jackson's Nick Fury, Marvel's agent of Shield, appears briefly at the end. "Well, it seems the most natural thing if you have superheroes who exist in the same world and you're doing movies on them," he explains.

"The most difficult thing is some of the characters at Marvel are under contract at different studios.

Spider-Man at Sony, Iron Man at Paramount and so forth. So they've got to take characters they can control, so to speak.

"In the comics it happened accidentally. I had written every story separately, but then it occurred to me that if they all live in New York, why couldn't they meet? So it became fun to get them in the one story and that's how it happened."

Iron Man is out now on DVD and Blu-ray. The Incredible Hulk DVD and Blu-ray are released on Thursday.

(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)

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2008-12-04T13:18:00.000-08:00

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2008-12-02T02:09:00.000-08:00

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IESB News Confirmed: George Miller is Off JUSTICE LEAGUE

2008-12-02T02:03:00.000-08:00

Written by Stephanie Sanchez

Monday, 01 December 2008

George Miller officially admitting to moving on from the WB Justice League film on a morning talk show based out of Sydney Australia.

The news came via DarkHorizons,

"...filmmaker George Miller confirmed he's no longer involved in the "Justice League" in any capacity.

According to scooper 'Steve' he says that Miller indicated that if the project does get going again, he expects that it'll be recast as 'the studios seem to want bigger stars in their superhero movies now.'"

Yeah, sorry George, Armie Hammer and Megan Gale aren't gonna cut it as part of one of the most powerful superhero teams ever, second only to Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew!

The news confirms IESB's post earlier this year that Miller had been taken off the project that read,

"We have been advised from various sources that the truth is that George Miller has been pulled off the project. We have contacted all parties involved including Kennedy/Miller and other producers but they have declined to comment at this time." IESB August 13, 2008. (Credit: IESB)

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Marvel's Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man and X-Men via Media Man Australia

2008-11-28T14:39:00.001-08:00

Super Hero Themed Casino Games Strengthen Media Man

Sydney, Australia, 27th November 2008

Today an exciting new lineup of cash-wager games for Media Man Australia and Casino News Media featuring Hulk, Spider-Man, X-Men and other Super Heroes from Marvel Entertainment, Inc.'s world famous universe of action characters.

Over 40 new games will join the Media Man Australia and Casino News Media suite, with rollout expected over the coming months.

"These exciting entertainment industry icon branded games are a fantastic addition for our casino platform," stated Greg Tingle, founder and director of Media Man Australia and Casino News Media.

The Marvel offering will include a broad array of slots and video poker in both downloadable and Adobe Flash software versions. Games will be available in multiple languages across the Media Man Australia and Casino News Media gaming platform.

The expansion of Media Man Australia's gaming's platform to include branded games results from a new partnership with CryptoLogic Inc., a leading developer and supplier of Internet gaming software.

About Media Man Australia
A Sydney based media and publicity company specialising in entertainment, lifestyle, gaming, technology and community. The Media Man Australia website portal has been a Hitwise Australia top ten finalist for five consecutive years and attracts one million hits per month on average. Media Man Australia has conceptualised and executed some of Australia's most successful media and publicity campaigns. For additional information, visit http://www.mediaman.com.au

About Casino News Media
Casino News Media is the casino, online casino and gaming arm of Media Man Australia. Casino News Media reports on casino and gaming news in addition to having a range of strategic partnerships with leading casino and gaming operators. For additional information, visit http://www.casinonewsmedia.com

About Marvel Entertainment
Marvel Entertainment, Inc. is a leading global character-based entertainment company that has developed and owns a library of more than 5,000 characters, which have entertained generations around the world for over 60 years. Marvel's operations are focused in entertainment and consumer product licensing and comic book publishing. Marvel Studios supports the development of feature films, DVD/video products and TV series. Marvel's creative team also supports the creation of video games and toy lines based on its characters as well as for a broad and growing range of consumer products and services including apparel, collectibles, foods and promotions. Marvel's comic book division is a leading publisher in the global marketplace while also serving as an invaluable source of intellectual property. Marvel's Toy Biz division is a recognized creative force and leader in toy design, sales and marketing, developing and overseeing both licensee and in-house toy lines. For additional information, visit http://www.marvel.com

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Marvel Slot Games

Marvel Super Heroes

Marvel Comics

PartyCasino.com

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Cartoonist in coma after balcony fall - The Daily Telegraph - 20th October 2008

2008-10-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

Award-winning cartoonist Bill Leak was in an induced coma last night after falling from a balcony at the home of ad man John Singleton.

It is understood that Leak, 52, was among a group of friends who were feeding parrots at dusk on Saturday when the accident happened.

Leak, a renowned artist and cartoonist for The Australian newspaper, was in a serious condition, having undergone brain surgery at Royal North Shore Hospital.

He slipped and fell more than 7m on to grass from a balcony at Mr Singleton's Strawberry Hill Stud at Mount White, New South Wales.

A spokeswoman for Royal North Shore Hospital said Leak, who lives at Hardys Bay on the Central Coast, arrived at the hospital with serious head injuries, The Daily Telegraph reports.

He was undergoing tests, including a CAT scan to check for spinal problems and other internal injuries.

In a statement last night, John Hartigan, chairman and chief executive of News Limited, publisher of The Daily Telegraph and news.com.au, said: "Bill's many friends and colleagues are shocked by this accident and our thoughts and prayers are with him, his partner Lo and Bill's family.

"Bill is as good as they get in our industry. He is a much loved and admired member of the News family and the wider world of media, art and publishing."

Leak is the winner of eight Walkley Awards and 19 Stanley Awards from the Australian Cartoonists Association, including eight as Artist of the Year.

Media Man Australia Profiles

Cartoons

New Marvel Online Casino Slots From Cryptologic, by Devon Chappell - 10th December 2007

2008-10-15T18:26:00.000-07:00

Cryptologic is gearing up for another new casino game release, and this time around it's none other than the wildly popular Spider Man and the Fantastic Four. The online casino and poker room software developer published a preliminary press release announcing the developmental progress of the new games, which they promise to be the most advanced of their ever increasing lot of Marvel series video slots.

After getting their exclusive license renewed with Marvel Comics, it seems like Cryptologic and their software developer subsidiary, Wagerlogic, have been on a non-stop quest to turn every Marvel superhero into a slot machine. Now with over ten different slots, including Thor, X-Men, Daredevil, The Hulk, Blade, Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider, The Punisher, Iron Man and Elektra, the addition of The Fantastic Four and Spider Man certainly makes Cryptologic's lineup of Marvel slots an impressive one.

The release of Spider Man could not have been better timed considering just how popular this superhero has become over the years. The last Spiderman movie alone grossed over $336 million on the big screens, which doesn't even count the tremendous amount of DVD, video game and merchandise sales still going strong. There is no doubt that online casino gamblers will be tempted to give the Spider Man slot a spin simply because of the novelty and entertainment value. Such was the case when the X-Men slots and The Hulk came out, both of whom enjoyed considerable success at the box offices as well.

An exact release date has not been given just yet, but Cryptologic says it is right around the corner. According to the recent press release, the new games will incorporate a story-line into the gambling action, other wise known as interactive slots. Considering the sharp graphics of Cryptologic's current online casino platform, the new games should be a treat for both the players and fans of Spider Man and the Fantastic Four.

Media Man Australia Profiles

Marvel Comics

888.com launches three CryptoLogic games, and licenses 10 more

2008-10-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and Bejeweled are now thrilling 888's players around the world

October 7, 2008 (Dublin, IRELAND) – CryptoLogic Limited, a leading software developer to the global Internet gaming market, announced today that three of its most popular Internet casino games are now available at 888.com, operated by 888 Holdings plc ("888"), one of the world's most popular online gaming entertainment companies.

The launch of the games follows a three-year licensing contract signed with 888 in May 2008 covering an initial three games. This contract has now been broadened, enabling 888 to expand its total suite of CryptoLogic titles to 13.

"It's exciting to see one of the world's premier gaming brands recognize that CryptoLogic delivers a gaming experience that's truly innovative by deepening its relationship with us," said Brian Hadfield, CryptoLogic's President and CEO. "We expect CryptoLogic's new games on 888.com and other planned sites to be highly popular among players — and profitable for our business."

Players can now enjoy the stunning visuals, high-powered action, and super-sized jackpots of Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, and Bejeweled at 888's sites -- all powered by CryptoLogic software.

Boasting more than 200 games, CryptoLogic has one of the most comprehensive casino suites on the Internet today. From popular casual games including Sudoku, Cubis, and Bejeweled, to multi-bonus and multi-jackpot games featuring some of the world's most famous action and entertainment characters, CryptoLogic has earned rave reviews from industry peers and players alike. In 2008, CryptoLogic earned Gambling Online Magazine’s Top Casino Software award for the third consecutive year. Based on the votes of players everywhere, it is widely considered to be the industry's top honor.

888 Holdings plc is the world's leading online gaming entertainment company. 888 owns and operates various world-renowned websites, including www.888.com, www.Casino-on-Net.com, www.pacificpoker.com, www.888ladies.com, and www.888sport.com.

"CryptoLogic's industry-leading games and 888's reputation and marketing strength are a perfect combination," said Justin Thouin, Vice President of Product Management and Business Development at CryptoLogic. "We are thrilled to have built a great relationship with one of the world's true household names in i-gaming."

About CryptoLogic(R) (www.cryptologic.com)
Focused on integrity and innovation, CryptoLogic Limited is a world-leading, blue-chip public developer and supplier of Internet gaming software. Its leadership in regulatory compliance makes it one of the very few companies with gaming software that is certified to strict standards similar to land-based gaming.

WagerLogic(R) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of CryptoLogic, is responsible for the licensing of its gaming software and services to blue-chip customers who offer their games around the world to non-U.S. based players. For information on WagerLogic, visit www.wagerlogic.com.

CryptoLogic's common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (CRY, CXY), the NASDAQ Global Select Market (CRYP), and the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (CRP).

MARVEL, and all related character names and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries and are used with permission. Copyright (c) 2008 Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. www.marvel.com. Super Heroes is a co-owned registered trademark.

###

For more information, please contact:
Melissa Ross
Lyceum Media for CryptoLogic
melissa@lyceummedia.com
+44 (0) 207 976 6469

CRYPTOLOGIC FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT DISCLAIMER:
Statements in this press release, which are not historical are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, risks associated with the Company’s financial condition and prospects, legal risks associated with Internet gaming and risks of governmental legislation and regulation, risks associated with market acceptance and technological changes, risks associated with dependence on licensees and key licensees, risks relating to international operations, risks associated with competition and other risks detailed in the Company’s filings with securities regulatory authorities. These risks may cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

Media Man Australia Profiles

Marvel Entertainment

888.com

Marvel Studios Enters Into New Worldwide Distribution Agreement With Paramount

2008-09-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

Projected Slate to include 'Iron Man 2,' 'Thor,' 'Captain America' and 'The Avengers'

29th September 2008

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Sept 29, 2008 -- Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom, Inc. and Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc.

Marvel today announced an agreement under which Paramount will distribute Marvel's next five self-produced feature films on a worldwide basis. The deal, an extension of the original agreement made by Brad Grey when he arrived as CEO and Chairman of Paramount Pictures, includes theatrical distribution in foreign territories previously serviced by Marvel through local distribution entities (Japan, Germany, France, Spain and Australia/New Zealand). The distribution pact capitalizes on Marvel and Paramount's successful efforts with "Iron Man," which has grossed $574 million worldwide for Marvel.

The highly anticipated live action releases include "Iron Man 2" (May 7, 2010)*, "Thor" (July 16, 2010), "The First Avenger: Captain America" (May 6, 2011), and "The Avengers" (July 15, 2011). The distribution agreement also includes "Iron Man 3."

"Coming off of Iron Man's incredible success this summer, we could not be more excited about extending our relationship with Marvel," said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures. "Marvel's iconic brand, its popular characters and its proven ability to create compelling and visually spellbinding films complement Paramount's great history of filmmaking. We look forward to a long and successful run together."

"Paramount is an excellent partner and an outstanding global distributor," said David Maisel, Chairman of Marvel Studios. "Through our experience on Iron Man, Paramount has demonstrated a passion and ability to release Marvel properties theatrically, allowing us to focus on making great movies for the largest audience possible."

Marvel's "Iron Man," starring Robert Downey Jr. and directed by Jon Favreau, was distributed by Paramount earlier this year and was one of the top films of 2008.

The DVD, including a version in Blu-ray, will be released on September 30, 2008.

About Marvel
Marvel Entertainment, Inc. is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 5,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in licensing, entertainment (via Marvel Studios and Marvel Animation) and publishing (via Marvel Comics). Marvel's strategy is to leverage its franchises in a growing array of opportunities around the world, including feature films, consumer products, toys, video games, animated television, direct-to-DVD and online.

For more information visit http://www.marvel.com.

About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom.

Viacom, a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies and DreamWorks Studios. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.

* Iron Man 2 will be distributed in Germany by Telemunchen, pursuant to a
previous agreement it had with Marvel.

Except for any historical information that they contain, the statements in this news release regarding Marvel's plans are forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements: (i) Marvel Studios' potential inability to attract and retain creative talent, (ii) the potential lack of popularity of Marvel's films, (iii) the expense associated with producing films, (iv) union activity or other events which could interrupt film production, including strikes by Hollywood writers, directors and actors, (v) changes or disruptions in the way films are distributed, including a decline in the profitability of the DVD market, (vi) piracy of films and related products, (vii) that Marvel will depend on Paramount Pictures for the implementation of internal controls related to the accounting of film-distribution activities, (viii) Marvel's potential inability to meet the conditions necessary for an initial funding of a film under its $525 million film slate borrowing facility, (x) Marvel's potential inability to obtain financing to make more than four films if certain tests related to the economic performance of the borrowing facility are not satisfied (specifically, an interim asset test and a foreign pre-sales test) and (xi) fluctuations in reported income or loss related to the accounting of film-production activities.

These and other risks and uncertainties are described in Marvel's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Marvel's Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Marvel assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Contact:
Patti Rockenwagner / Paramount Pictures
323-956-5011 or patricia_rockenwagner@paramount.com

Melissa Zukerman / Marvel Studios
323-658-1555 or melissa@pcommgroup.com

Paul Pflug / Marvel Studios
323-658-1555 or paul@pcommgroup.com

SOURCE Paramount Pictures; Marvel Studios

Media Man Australia Profiles

Marvel

Super Hero Icon Stan Lee to Give Away Signed Copy of Amazing Spider-Man #1 on Election Day!

2008-09-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

Press Release
27th September 2008

Valuable comic book collectible is top prize in contest to promote Lee’s new book, “Election Daze.”

Barack Obama and John McCain better watch their backs on Election Day because they’ve got super-powered competition!

Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee will swoop into the spotlight on November 4 when he picks the winner of the “Amazing ‘Election Daze’ Lottery.”

The winner will receive the holy grail of prizes for comic book collectors---a copy of “Amazing Spider-Man #1” signed by none other than Stan Lee himself! A personal phone call from Stan Lee is another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity included among twenty prizes.

A purchase of Stan’s new book, “Election Daze,” direct from the Filsinger Publishing automatically results in being entered in the contest. The contest runs until November 3. The winners will be announced at the “Election Daze” MySpace page on November 4.

“This promotion is a win-win situation for Stan Lee fans and comic book fans,” said publisher Tom Filsinger. “‘Election Daze’ is a hilarious book and a person can win one of the most prized comic books of all time!”

“Election Daze” has been a hit for Filsinger Publishing since its release in April with sales of over 10,000 copies and ranking as high as #2 on the list of “Hot New Releases” at amazon.com. The book is available at Barnes & Noble and bookstores everywhere.

Filsinger Publishing has followed up on these successes by releasing “Election Daze” as an eBook and has also teamed up with Genus to release the book on the iPhone and iPod Touch through iTunes App Store. Both of the new formats feature bonus material with new photos and jokes by Stan Lee.

“Election Daze” features Stan Lee’s irrepressible, wildly funny dialogue balloons which accompany eye-catching photos by Capitol Hill photographer, Lauren Victoria Burke.

The subjects of the photos range from Barack Obama, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and President Bush, to political celebrities such as George Clooney, Chuck Norris, and Stephen Colbert among others. Comedian Dennis Miller has called the book, “Absolutely hysterical.”

“I’ve always gotten a kick out of combining far-out captions with serious pictures,” says Lee. “It’s a great change of pace from writing fantasy tales, although sometimes politics seems more like fantasy than my own stories.”

For more information about the “Election Daze” contest go to the official MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/electiondaze or to the Filsinger Publishing Web site at http://www.filsingerpublishing.com.

Contacts
Filsinger Publishing
Tom Filsinger, 716-483-5756
tom@filsingerpublishing.com
http://www.filsingerpublishing.com
POW! Entertainment
Gill Champion, 310-275-9933
gchampion@powentertainment.com

About Filsinger Publishing
Filsinger Publishing was founded by Tom Filsinger and features titles such as Stan Lee’s “Election Daze” as well as “Countdown to the Big Day” calendars including Countdown to Our Wedding Day and Countdown to Baby’s Due Date. Tom Filsinger is also the founder of Filsinger Games and the creator of role-playing games such as Champions of the Galaxy.

About Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment
POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment Inc., an advanced media and entertainment company, was founded by world-famous comic book and motion picture icon Stan Lee, together with award-winning producer Gill Champion and intellectual property specialist Arthur Lieberman, Esq. POW!’s principals have extensive backgrounds in the entertainment industry encompassing the creation, production and licensing of original intellectual properties, including some of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time. POW!, capitalizing on this combined expertise, specializes in franchises for the entertainment industry, including animation and live-action feature films, plus television, DVDs, video games, merchandising and related ancillary markets, all of which contribute to global expansion. POW! partners with other individuals and entities of entertainment’s top echelon, including studios and networks, in the creation, licensing and distribution of new POW! character franchises.

Election Daze MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/electiondaze

Title: Stan Lee's Election Daze
Subtitle: What Are They Really Saying?
ISBN: 978-0-9702631-5-5
Price: $9.95
96 pages
Order online at: http://www.filsingerpublishing.com

Media Man Australia Profiles

Marvel Comics

Liquid absorbs Virgin Comics - Reuters - 26th September 2008

2008-09-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI (Hollywood Reporter) - New York-based Liquid Comics on Thursday completed a management buyout of Bangalore, India-based Virgin Comics, the company launched in 2005 by Richard Branson, director Shekhar Kapur and author Deepak Chopra.

Liquid Comics, led by Virgin Comics' founding management team of Gotham Chopra, Sharad Devarajan and Suresh Seetharaman, did not reveal financial details of the deal.

Liquid will continue to develop digital content, films, animation and gaming projects based on its original characters and stories, including such titles as Kapur's "Devi," John Woo's "Seven Brothers" and Guy Ritchie's "Gamekeeper," all of which first launched as comic books.

Since its 2005 launch, Virgin Comics inked Hollywood partnerships with Warner Bros., New Regency, Sony Online Entertainment and the Sci Fi Channel and with leading Indian media players such as Studio 18 and UTV.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kapur said he will no longer be associated with the company, except as a minority shareholder. "The company is in the process of being restructured, and I continue as a founder-shareholder," he said.

Liquid's management plans to proceed with a number of projects previously announced by Virgin and said it soon would announce project launch dates.

But it was not clear whether Virgin-associated talent such as actor Nicolas Cage, porn actress and entrepreneur Jenna Jameson and U.K. musician Dave Stewart would work with Liquid.

Ongoing projects include "Virulents," a feature based on a Virgin graphic novel to be directed by John Moore ("Behind Enemy Lines").

Media Man Australia Profiles

Virgin Comics

Virgin Comics Shut Down, by Calvin Reid - Publishers Weekly - 26th August 2008

2008-08-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

Virgin Comics, the high-profile 2006 international joint venture between Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and the India-based comics publisher Gotham Entertainment, has been shut down. The company’s New York office and publishing unit has been closed and the eight people that staff it have been laid off.

Sources confirm that the venture has been closed. However, in a statement released by Virgin Comics CEO Sharad Devarajan (who is also president of Gotham Entertainment), he also confirmed that the company has closed the New York City office. Devarajan said that the company is “restructuring” and will relocate to new and as yet unspecified offices in Los Angeles.

In the statement Devarajan said that the company would release more information “in the next few weeks” and said, “the decision to scale down the New York operations and concentrate on core activities is due to the current macro-economic downturn.” The closing appears to effect only Virgin Comics’ U.S. publishing operations in New York City and does not effect the operations of Gotham Entertainment, the Bangalore, India-based partner in the venture that produces comics targeted at the South Asian consumer market.

The company produced about 17 different comics series in addition to publishing about 18 trade paperback collections and 3 hardcover titles. It is unclear what will happen to the rights to these properties.

Virgin Comics was launched in early 2006 with an ambitious program to create a list of high profile superhero and adventure print comics inspired by Indian/Hindu mythology that could also be licensed as potential film and merchandise properties to a global audience of pop culture consumers. The high profile venture not only included financing by Branson but also included bestselling author Deepak Chopra, who is chairman of Virgin Comics and wrote a comics biography of Buddha for the house. In addition, his son, Gotham Chopra, is chief creative officer and editor-in-chief of Virgin Comics/Virgin Animation.

The company produced a series of periodical comics based on Gotham Entertainment’s Shakti line of comics. The venture also included the Director’s Cut line, which feaured comics series created by such Hollywood figures as director Ed Burns (Dock Walloper), director Guy Ritchie (Gamekeeper) and director John Woo (Seven Brothers) that the company hoped would morph into blockbuster films. The company’s Voices line of comics emphasized projects created by actors and musicians including Nicholas Cage (Voodoo Child); porn star Jenna Jamison (Shadow Hunter) and British musician Dave Stewart (Zombie Broadway).

Media Man Australia Profiles

Virgin Comics

Richard Branson

Cage Will Kick-Ass, by Ryan Ball - Animation Magazine - 22nd August 2008

2008-08-23T02:58:00.000-07:00

Mark Millar’s bloody comic book Kick-Ass is headed to the big screen with actor Nicolas Cage attached to the cast, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film is being directed by Matthew Vaughn, who made a star of Daniel Craig with his debut feature, Layer Cake, and went on to adapt the Neil Gaiman novel Stardust for the screen last year.

Young Brit Aaron Johnson (The Thief Lord) will play the lead role, a high school dweeb who decides to become a superhero despite lacking super powers or any kind of athletic ability. He becomes a YouTube sensation when his rescue of a mugging victim is captured by a cell phone, and sets up a MySpace page where people in need can enlist his services. He eventually crosses paths with Cage’s character, an ex-cop who has trained his daughter (Chloe Moretz) to be a lethal weapon and help him take down a ruthless druglord. Lyndsy Fonseca (Desperate Housewives) has been cast as the young hero’s long-time crush, who thinks he’s gay. Christopher Mintz-Plasse, whom audiences know best as Mc Lovin’ in Superbad, has also committed to appear in the film.

Illustrated by John Romita Jr., the Kick-Ass comic is published by Marvel Comics' Icon imprint. The launch was promoted with a YouTube video of Kick-Ass in costume stopping a mugging, as well as a real MySpace page for the character.

Filming is set to begin this fall in London and Toronto. Produced by Vaughn and his Marv Films partner, Kris Thykier, along with David Reed. is being financed independently as many studios balked at the bloody nature of the project. David Reed is also producing.

Cage, a big comic-book fan who derived his stage name from the Marvel character Luke Cage, starred in the 2006 movie based on Marvel’s Ghost Rider. He also created the Virgin Comics series Voodoo Child with his son, Weston. The actor next appears in the Pang brothers’ action thriller Bangkok Dangerous.

Virgin territory for Stan Lee, By Ethan Sacks - New York Daily News - 26th April 2008

2008-08-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

It took God six days to make the universe. Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee is trying to create his own in two.

The 85-year-old comic legend, who also co-created such characters as the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, among others, when he ran Marvel Comics, has been hired by Virgin Comics to build the fledgling publisher a collection of new superheroes - to be unveiled next year. Virgin territory for Lee Legendary comic books creator set to conjure new marvels.

Lee told The News at last weekend's New York Comic Con that he planned to cancel all his appointments for two days - an eternity for the mercurial Lee - to think up his superteam. No matter what he comes up with, the signing is big news in an industry dominated by two companies: Marvel Entertainment and DC Comics accounted for a combined 72% of sales last year, according to Diamond Comics, the largest comic distributor in the country.

"They're giving me carte blanche to create a whole new group of characters, to hire any artist I want, any writer I want," said Lee. "They say, it's no big deal, we'll fly them out to the [West] Coast for you to interview them.

"I had never had that privilege when I worked at Marvel; we couldn't afford subway fare for the guys to come across town."

It's an A-Rod-size free-agent signing by an upstart company that already has assembled a Murderers' Row of Hollywood heavy hitters. Only last month, Virgin Comics announced that actor Hugh Jackman was co-writing a sci-fi comic, "Nowhere Man," that will debut in October. Also in the fold are directors John Woo and Guy Ritchie, ex-porn star Jenna Jameson, pop group Duran Duran and actors Nicolas Cage and Ed Burns.

Then again, Virgin Comics isn't a start-up operation operating out of an unknown artist's garage. It's funded by the deep pockets of billionaire Richard Branson and spearheaded by the Indian brain trust of editor-in-chief Gotham Chopra, Deepak Chopra and "Elizabeth" director Shekhar Kapur. Kapur's Hollywood connections have helped the company rise like one of Branson's venturous hot air balloons.

"We've gone to filmmakers and said, 'What's that story you've always wanted to make, but you don't want to spend two months in development hell?' said Virgin's CEO, Sharad Devarajan. "Comics are like a movie with an unlimited budget."

One of those filmmakers who bought the pitch was Burns. The 40-year-old actor/director's comic, Dock Walloper, about a brawler with a gigantic fist in the 1920s, was the result of his youthful fascination in Woodside, Queens, with the Irish mob during Prohibition.

"I wrote a script years ago and tried to get that film made, and couldn't do it because it was too expensive," said Burns.

However, after seeing "Sin City," Burns said he told himself: "'Well, why not take a slightly more exaggerated approach to those characters?'"

Like most of those pitching story lines to Virgin, Burns is eying a movie deal. Ritchie is already set to direct a film version of his own comic, "The Gamekeeper," for Warner Bros. But according to Vito Delsante, a manager at Jim Hanley's Universe comic book store in midtown, fickle comic book fans won't be as easy to win over as Hollywood executives.

"I think it's more of a wait-and-see attitude," said Delsante.

Lee, though, is sure that if he builds it, fans will come.

"Just as I once did the Marvel Universe, I'm now gonna do my best to create a 'Virginverse' - except I'll try to find a cleverer name for it."

Media Man Australia Profiles

Virgin Comics

Hugh Jackman

Virgin

Animation

Cartoons and Animation

HUGH JACKMAN TO CREATE COMIC BOOK SERIES NOWHERE MAN WITH VIRGIN COMICS

2008-08-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

Wolverine actor teams with Wolverine author Marc Guggenheim for Sci Fi thriller

New York, March 25, 2008---Superstar actor Hugh Jackman, already portraying a comic book character in 20th Century Fox's upcoming Wolverine, is now teaming with Hollywood scribe Marc Guggenheim and publisher Virgin Comics to create the original comic series Nowhere Man. Story details are being kept under wraps but Virgin officials describe the story as a Sci Fi odyssey set in a groundbreaking vision of the future in which mankind has traded privacy for safety. “I’ve had so much fun in the graphic novel world with the X-MEN franchise that I wanted to get even more involved,” said Jackman about the project. “I am so excited to work with Virgin and Marc and create a compelling character and story that hopefully will also make it to the big screen." Virgin will team with Seed Productions, Jackman’s production company with producer John Palermo, to create the comic series and then take it into film and other areas. Added Palermo: “Seed is thrilled to be in business with Virgin Comics and Marc Guggenheim on this innovative project. From working on the X-MEN films, we have studied the thought and artistry that go into every issue of a graphic novel series and cannot wait to dive in ourselves.”

Marc Guggenheim, who will pen the original series, is no stranger to comics. He has previously authored comics on Marvel’s Wolverine series as well as the best-selling Amazing Spider-Man. Guggenheim has also most recently seen his creative work succeed on the small screen. His Eli Stone is currently running on ABC television to strong reviews.

“Virgin Comics is focused on pairing the best comic book talents with icons in the entertainment industry to develop original stories,” said Sharad Devarajan, Virgin Comics CEO. "Hugh Jackman and Marc Guggenheim working together on Nowhere Man is a perfect combination that promises a great story for everyone.”

Added Gotham Chopra, Virgin Comics Chief Creative Officer who will oversee the development of the series with Amanda Schweitzer of Jackman’s Seed Productions: “we’re already up and running on the creative side of things and having a lot of fun. We believe that our new partnership with the team at Seed on Nowhere Man is the start of something big.”

About Virgin Comics
Virgin Comics is a character entertainment company creating original stories and epic myths for worldwide audiences. The company was founded in November 2005 by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Enterprises Ltd., alongside author Deepak Chopra, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan, Gotham Chopra and Suresh Seetharaman. Virgin is developing new stories with acclaimed filmmakers, actors and musicians including John Woo, Guy Ritchie, Terry Gilliam, Dave Stewart, Ed Burns, Nicolas Cage, Duran Duran, Sachin Tendulkar and others. Feature films based on Virgin Comics’ characters are also in the works, including an animated feature The Secrets of the Seven Sounds, Guy Ritchie's Gamekeeper (with Warner Bros and producer Joel Silver) and Virulents with FOX, directed by John Moore (The Omen, Max Payne). Virgin Comics also formed a joint venture with NBC-Universal to create new science fiction properties for graphic novels and television with the SCIFI Channel. The first title in this series, The Stranded, premiered in January 2008.

About Seed Productions
Seed Productions - the company founded and run by Hugh Jackman, Deborra-lee Furness, and John Palermo - is a film, television, and theater production company with offices in Los Angeles and Sydney. Seed's first film, DECEPTION, will be released by Fox on April 25. Seed is currently in production on WOLVERINE, a spin-off of the popular X-MEN film series. Seed's television show AN AUSSIE GOES BARMY has been a major hit in Australia and spawned two subsequent series - AN AUSSIE GOES BOLLY and AN AUSSIE GOES CALYPSO. Seed has numerous projects in development in both the US and Australia.

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Is Hollywood overestimating the clout of the geek?, By Steven Zeitchik - The Hollywood Report - 31st July 2008

2008-08-01T00:33:00.000-07:00

Everywhere you go these days, Hollywood is heralding the hard-core fan.

Michael Bay producing partner Brad Fuller told a Comic-Con audience last weekend that filmmakers were "terrified" about how the franchise's superfans might feel about their upcoming "Friday the 13th" reboot.

Paramount was nervous enough about geek reaction to its "Star Trek" prequel that it didn't even show footage at Comic-Con out of concern that it wasn't yet ready for discerning eyes.

Reaching the most devoted segments of entertainment consumers months or even years before a film or series debuts was once a luxury; now it's a priority. The hard-core fans are so powerful, the thinking goes, that they not only should be targeted but also allowed into the process, their voices shaping marketing campaigns and even creative directions.

But what if fan reaction bears only so much on a project's ultimate performance? And even if reaching fans can significantly move the needle, what if reaching them in the right ways is so elusive and inefficient that it's not even worth trying?

"I think some studios go to something like Comic-Con mainly because they're afraid that if they don't go, and their movies don't work, someone above them will say, 'Why didn't you go to Comic-Con?' " says one producer who's had movies with large fan campaigns.

Studios also have had a tough time figuring out what the prize is even if their campaigns are clearly laid out and completely successful.

"Our marketing strategy with fall release 'Choke' is to get all the Chuck Palahniuk fans in," says Fox Searchlight publicity chief Michelle Hooper, referring to the author of the book on which the movie is based. "The problem is there's no real way to measure how big that base is."

Marketing to the grassroots wasn't always this important. For years there were two tiers of marketing, usually arranged in a clear hierarchy. There were the traditional elements -- media, trailers, promos, teasers, sampling, reviews, television appearances and all the things studios have always done -- aimed at parts or all of the general public. Then there was the more niche art of appealing to the hard-core -- the well-placed insider reference, the early footage, the surprise guest appearance at fan gatherings. Where most marketing went broad, the second type trafficked in details; where mass-media marketing tried to stoke enthusiasm, this kind assumed it and cultivated it.

Most important, it spoke mainly to the people already inclined to like a product. (For all these common traits, it should be noted that the group referred to as the hard-core fan is hardly a monolith: The thirtysomething men that turned up for the "Office" panel last weekend were a far cry from the screaming teenage girls at the "Twilight" event.)

But a few years ago, some time after showrunners started quietly checking out catty TV blog TelevisionWithoutPity.com and some time before Comic-Con became the calendar's biggest corporate marketing destination, a funny thing happened: The second approach became primary.

On its face, this shouldn't be the case. A brand's cult following isn't a very large number, and it's also a group already inclined to like and spend money on a product, which by most marketing logic is exactly the group you should spend the fewest resources on.

The thinking, though, grew out of a crucial tastemaker argument -- the idea that the movie and television business functions as a series of concentric circles, with the tastes of a relatively small group on the inside radiating to the larger -- and more lucrative -- circles outside it.

But a few years of experience have yielded enough anecdotes and data to suggest that the nerd-herd strategy might not matter as much as the hype has suggested.

For starters, the science of these tastemakers is a soft one; there's just no simple way of knowing when and how it might work.

"Sometimes that small group can be loyally fanatical and will never grow to the point of critical mass," says NBC marketing chief John Miller, noting his own network's fan favorite "Journeyman" and CBS' "Jericho." "There are some shows you're never going to find profitability with no matter how much a fan base loves it."

And if the tastemaker effect doesn't happen, the strategy loses its teeth. One director who's had repeated visits to Comic-Con noted just before he went to this year's convention that "the total number of people in the blog world is probably only a few hundred thousand, and as much as they might hate to hear it, for most movies that's not going to make the difference between a success and a failure."

Possibly even more problematic is that in tracking the effects of fan campaigns, there's a tendency to emphasize success. Pundits tout how the warm Comic-Con reception to "Iron Man" last summer served as prelude to the hot blast of boxoffice that followed. But for every movie or TV show with encouraging early indications among the fancore, there are examples of movies that caught on with the grassroots and went no further. Think "Snakes on a Plane" or "Grindhouse," which was the toast of Comic-Con 2006 before becoming the fiasco of 2007. The Wachowskis' footage from "Speed Racer" was cheered last year before sputtering at the boxoffice this summer.

Even the happy endings are hardly cut-and-dry.

"Iron Man" is now regarded as a smash in large part because of the shrewd choice to cast Robert Downey Jr. -- but Downey Jr., like many a superhero casting, was initially questioned by many rabid fans.

For fans to impact the bottom line, the movie or show increasingly has to be niche-y enough that a small group can affect the numbers. That means big network series and studio tentpoles stand to benefit the least.

"Jericho" was canceled and revived based on fan protests, but when it returned -- after execs made a point of noting to fans the network's responsiveness to their pleas -- its ratings actually decreased significantly. The fan group simply wasn't large or influential enough (though that hasn't stopped them from trying again recently, with stunts like shipping large boxes of peanuts to media outlets).

On the movie side, "The Dark Knight" drew a quarter of its audience on opening weekend (or about $40 million in boxoffice, the difference between a strong opening and a spectacular one) from women over 25 -- not exactly the core Comic-Con audience.

Ironically, though, it's the tentpoles that studios often try hardest to push to the fans, as Warner Bros.' "Terminator Salvation," Disney's "Bolt" and other presentations showed last week.

It might be that the fan revolution is being driven not so much by compelling data or a clear strategy but a more intangible psychological factor. In the echo chamber of a fan campaign, it's hard for execs and creators not to get caught up in the hype.

"You sit there and think 'Six thousand people are cheering for us; we must be doing something right,' " one Comic-Con presenter says. In the end, though, the market might be less generous.

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Wolverine Surprises Fans at Comic Con - SlashFilm - 24th July 2008

2008-07-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

In an entirely unprecedented move, Hugh Jackman burst onto the scene at Comic Con after having flown straight from Australia, with filming on Wolverine literally finishing up just this past week. He announced that he just had to reveal to the real fans (without whom he claims he “wouldn’t have a career”) what the movie would be like, offering up the first ever seen trailer/footage.

Naturally, this caused an onslaught of applause from audience members.

The trailer kicks off with Wolverine and Sabertooth in a prison cell. They get taken outside, strapped to posts, and shot to hell by a firing squad. “What did that feel like?” a man asks. Wolverine responds: “It tickled.”

Cut to a shot of Wolverine strutting cheesily to the camera as a truck explodes behind him. Marvel logo fades onscreen.

Then Major William Stryker announces himself to both Sabertooth and Wolverine, discussing the prospect of putting a special team together. Interspersed between this are shots of them running through the woods with full-fledged animal ferocity, being surrounded by a group of soldiers in a circle while amping up to kick some ass, and then the clincher, a shot of Deadpool posing for the camera with his two samurai swords.

Wolverine tells Sabertooth that this wasn’t the program he signed up for. We see him being hooked into place inside the adamantium-injecting machine and thrashing about in the water. He bursts out of it in a blaze of anger and roars at the camera, his claws bursting out of his hands while he does it. Bodies drop as Wolverine slashes in every direction.

A handful of cards are tossed toward the screen, and the camera pans to reveal none other than Gambit holding his electrically-enhanced staff.

More quick shots: a child Wolverine (?) screams with his claws burst out of his hands, Sabertooth lunges across the ground like an animal and attacks Wolverine in what looks like a small snippet of a much larger battle, Wolverine gets clobbered in a boxing ring by the massive Blob, Wolverine goes one-on-one with Gambit, and a mysterious girl begins to have electricity sparkle all throughout her body.

Before you can even begin to recognize all the quick shots of your favorite comic book characters, a final set of clips shows off a very cool-looking set piece with Wolverine facing off on his motorcycle against a truck, and eventually climaxes with him launching thirty feet in the air onto a helicopter.

The title shoots on screen: X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Finishing off the footage, Wolverine looks at Saberooth and quips, “I’m gonna cut your goddamn head off; see if that works.”

Out of the clips shown, there appears to be a lot going for and against this movie. Towards the beginning of the footage, the cheese factor was through the roof, feeling more on par with Ratner’s X-Men than Singer’s. Later on though, the mere presence of characters like Gambit and Deadpool immediately picked up the excitement factor several notches. What we got to see from the action sequences only furthered this excitement, confirming that even if the film doesn’t offer much in terms of emotional/dramatic tension or strong storytelling, it will at least amount to a whole lot of action-packed fun.

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Comic Con: Guy Ritchie on Sherlock Holmes - Los Angeles Times - 26th July 2008

2008-07-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

Guy Ritchie came to Comic-Con International to promote his crackling London crime film "RocknRolla" (which, he told me, reflects the shifting cultural definitions in the U.K. these days and "the changing meaning in just the past five years of what it means to be British), but I really wanted to hear about his Sherlock Holmes project, which will star Robert Downey Jr. as Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic sleuth.

"I'm very excited about it, Robert is brilliant," Ritchie said. "I came to the character through the books when I was young and what the film will reflect is the intelligence on the page and also the action. There's quite a lot of intense action sequences in the stories; sometimes that hasn't been reflected in the movies. it's been a relatively long time since there's been a film version that people embraced. I want to make a very contemporary film as far as the tone and texture. It's exciting for me to do a period piece, that's a departure."

Ritchie said his Holmes will be a man of adventure in a gritty world, not a prim thinker in staid parlor play. "There's a darkness to the movie we want to make," said Ritchie, who will be adapting Lionel Wigram's upcoming comic book tale about Holmes as opposed to the classic canon.

And what about "The Gamekeeper," Ritchie's foray into comic books? "I still plan to make that a film but, well, I'm quite busy right now."

I interviewed the filmmaker last year about "The Gamekeeper." You can find that after the jump.

-- Geoff Boucher

Photo: Basil Rathbone left, as Sherlock Holmes, and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson in 1939's "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." (Los Angeles Times archival photo)

Lock, stock and `Gamekeeper’
By Geoff Boucher
May 15, 2007

Two years ago, filmmaker Guy Ritchie went to see “Sin City” – and he’s still talking about it. “I was very jealous. That,” he said, “was the only movie in about six years that I wished I had something to do with.”

To Ritchie, “Sin City” showed the true potential of the graphic novel-as-cinema, and it has changed his own approach to his art.

That’s why the man who memorably energized the British film scene with “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch” is now putting his name on “Guy Ritchie’s Gamekeeper,” a comic series from Virgin Comics, a company that was launched in 2005 by Richard Branson and Deepak Chopra, among others.

Ritchie said Monday that the endeavor is no lark; it’s the first step in a career plan to use comics to shape and launch his films.

“Just like with ‘Sin City’ or ‘300,’ the comic is it, it’s the storyboard for the film,” Ritchie said. He added that this approach is already paying off: He said a deal to adapt “Gamekeeper” to the screen was close to being final after a flurry of interest even before the series launched in late March.

“The irony is there has been more interest in this from movie studios than anything I ever did before,” Ritchie said with a chuckle.

“Gamekeeper” is the story of a brooding Chechen hunter named Brock who stumbles upon Russian agents torturing a foreigner. Brock’s intervention leads directly to the violent death of his own son and, as the series begins, the haunted father is the gamekeeper on a vast estate in Scotland where he culls the deer, wards off poachers and protects an employer with a secret tied to that earlier bloodshed in the Caucasus Mountains.

Ritchie said his rough-hewn, survivalist character recalled Rambo -– “There are some similarities to ‘First Blood,’ but it’s a more sophisticated story” -– but he is also imprinted with the real-life gamekeeper employed by Ritchie and his wife, Madonna, on their estate in Dorset, in rural southwest England.

“His family have been the gamekeepers on this estate for 300 years,” Ritchie said. “There are not a lot of jobs that last 300 years.”

Ritchie’s gamekeeper has a thick country accent but he also “reads encyclopedias” and has an intuitive understanding of nature that the filmmaker said carried an almost mystical allure to anyone immersed in modern urban life.

“Natural mysteries speak to us,” Ritchie said. “They are hard-wired into all of us but most of us haven’t tapped into it because they hold no currency in the world we live in.”

One thing that has increasing currency in pop culture today is comics. Ritchie is not the only one noticing. Novelist Stephen King, BET President Reginald Hudlin, “Clerks” director Kevin Smith, Joss Whedon of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fame and bestselling author Brad Meltzer are just some of the recent creative minds to experiment with stories in the comics sector.

Some of these projects have comics fans wondering how much the famous name is really involved beyond lending his celebrity. Ritchie said that in his case, the collaboration with writer Andy Diggle and artist Mukesh Singh has been much like his work in the past with screenwriters, cinematographers and others who help realize the final vision of a film.

The big difference between the two mediums?

“After making films, comics are dramatically speedy and extremely pleasant,” said Ritchie, whose recent films have not been as well-received as his 1998 breakthrough with “Lock, Stock."

“Gamekeeper” was originally planned as a five-issue story arc (a digital version of the series so far can be viewed and downloaded at www.virgincomics.com) but Ritchie made it clear Monday that the tale will go on past that.

“As it’s evolved as a story and as my knowledge of this has evolved,” he said, “I can say there’s more to come.”

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I love what Richard Branson and Deepak Chopra with Virgin Comics. They are building an army. By pooling resources... financial, creativity, stars, brand leverage, visibility and a media machine et al, they have got the comic and animation industry to a whole new level. Guy Ritchie, Huge Jackman, Stan Lee (comic legend in case anyone missed), and need I say it, Jenn Jameson (just to make sure they stay in the news and keep getting massive web traffic). It all has some shades to the WWE deal with their WWE Films which recently became WWE Studios. It's turning in a production line (with quality), and they have the resources, talent and desire to make it to the very top of the industry. It's a battle for eyeballs, headlines and the entertainment dollar, and with Branson and Chopra leading the charge, whose to stop them.

Posted by: Greg Tingle

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Stan Lee to make a cameo in new 'X-Men' movie, by Sandy Cohen - 26th July 2008

2008-07-26T03:20:00.000-07:00

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The creator of "X-Men" bumped into Wolverine at Comic-Con.

After happy introductions between Stan Lee and Hugh Jackman, the actor announced that Lee would make a cameo in the upcoming 20th Century Fox movie "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," due out next May.

"Don't tell anyone," Jackman joked about the accidental announcement. "It's always a big shock when people see him."

"I promise not to try and overshadow you," Lee said.

Jackman, who made an unannounced appearance Thursday at the convention to tout "Wolverine," later said that he and Lee had met before, at the opening of the first "X-Men" movie in 2000.

"I don't know if he remembers," said Jackman, who went on to praise the 85-year-old comic-book king.

"Around here this guy is like a god," Jackman said. "Around here, people see this guy, they faint. Their whole livelihood and everything they're interested in came out of his mind."

One character Lee didn't create, Jackman added, was Wolverine.

But there is always room for more superheroes on screen, Lee said. The success of superhero flicks will continue to inspire new and better big-screen stories, he said.

"You could tell having seen 'Iron Man,' having seen `Batman,' the writers and producers and directors now know how to treat these movies," he said. "They're not just silly stories of people wearing capes hitting a bad guy. They have more dimension to them."

" ... It's like gangster movies," he said. "There will never be an end to crime stories. There will never be an end, I think, to superhero stories. They'll just evolve, they'll be done in different ways and I think they'll keep getting better and better."

Associated Press Television producer Ryan Pearson contributed to this report.

20th Century Fox is owned by News Corp.
On the Net:

* http://www.comic-con.org

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Hello Hugh - Hugh Jackman's looking buff at a comic convention - news.com.au

2008-07-26T03:08:00.000-07:00

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Virgin Comics, Perspective Studios Introduce Grant Morrison's MBX At Comic-Con - 24th July 2008

2008-07-24T18:40:00.001-07:00

Virgin Comics and Perspective Studios will collaborate with acclaimed comics scribe Grant Morrison on MBX, a new intellectual property and animation franchise based on India's iconic myth The Mahabharata.

Morrison's re-imagining of the epic tale of two families at war and the fate of the universe that hangs in the balance features an ancient world fused with incredible technology and super beings. At San Diego Comic-Con 2008, animation for the project will get its first public look.

MBX is a flagship title in a Virgin Comics and Perspective Studios ongoing joint venture formed in November to co-produce a diverse range of original animation and publishing properties. The companies expect to announce several animated MBX projects in the coming months, including feature film and video game adaptations.

"Right from our initial meeting, it was clear that Virgin Comics and Grant shared a passion for Eastern mythologies," said Gotham Chopra, Virgin Comics' Chief Creative Officer. "Of course, since Grant did not simply want to retell the same original story, we knew we needed to partner with Perspective Studios and their innovative artists and animators to truly capture Grant's vision."

"This is not a strictly accurate historical portrayal of events, but a poetic, fantastic interpretation of the original text," added Morrison. "The world of MBX is a place of incredible art and technology. This kingdom of sages, warriors, noble men and women is stronger, faster, fitter and smarter than we are, but still prey to the same emotional foibles that lead us all into disaster."

"Obviously, Perspective Studios was thrilled to have the opportunity to help realize Grant's conception for this breakthrough project," Steven Lerhoff, CEO of Perspective Studios, remarked. "We look forward to working with our partners at Virgin Comics to bring the world of MBX to a wide and enthusiastic audience."

At this year's San Diego Comic-Con, both companies as well as Morrison will be on hand to debut an exclusive MBX trailer created by Perspective Studios together with a limited-edition sketchbook. Grant Morrison's MBX Sketchbook, a limited-edition print (1,000 copies only) featuring mind-bending insight from Grant Morrison, beautiful concept art from Mukesh Singh (Jenna Jameson's SHADOW HUNTER, Guy Ritchie's GAMEKEEPER), script excerpts and more, will be sold exclusively at the Con.

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2008-06-18T22:18:00.000-07:00

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Stan Lee to oversee Virgin Comics' superheroes, by Geoff Boucher - Los Angeles Times - 19th April 2008

2008-04-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

Stan Lee, who will oversee Virgin Comics' new line of superheroes, says he has 'some exciting things in mind.'

Does Stan Lee have any more heroics in him? Richard Branson hopes so.

The British tycoon is going into business with the 85-year-old Lee, the co-creator of Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Iron Man, Daredevil and dozens of other signature characters made famous by Marvel Comics.

Branson's upstart Virgin Comics will formally announce the deal with Lee at this weekend's New York Comic Con, where Lee is being honored as "a living legend" and is scheduled to receive the inaugural New York Comics Legend Award at an event at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square.

The new venture will have Lee as the editor overseeing a line of superhero comics that will launch next year with a tentpole title he is writing himself. That project -- the title of which remains under wraps -- will center on a superhero team that sounds similar to his classic work on the Avengers at Marvel. (Lee ended his exclusive relationship with Marvel in the 1990s but still has ties to the company and even has cameo roles in the upcoming Marvel films "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk.")

"It will be a team of 10 heroes and they will be dealing with personality conflicts, personal problems and chemistry within the team," Lee said in an interview this week. "I'm going to get started working on it right away and I'm very excited about doing something that will be fresh and breaking new ground. I can't give away the details or the names yet, but I have some exciting things in mind."

Virgin has had a number of big-name creators writing comics under its banner, among them filmmakers Guy Ritchie, Terry Gilliam and John Woo, actor Nicolas Cage and musician Dave Stewart.

The company has largely steered clear of traditional superheroes. While Lee has an esteemed background in that sector, his most vital work was in the 1960s and 1970s, and his most recent work, with its bombastic dialogue, is not in sync with the tone of today's elite comics writers.

Sharad Devarajan, chief executive of Virgin Comics, dismissed any notion that Lee may be out of step with the times, however, noting that, especially as an editor, Lee will be a magnet for Virgin.

"We could not be more excited about creating a whole new universe with Stan Lee," he said. "His presence and the tremendous respect people have for him will be a call to action for writers and artists."

Lee's name certainly carries cachet in various corners of the entertainment business. This week, Rainmaker Entertainment Inc. announced a deal with Lee's Pow! Entertainment to create a franchise called "Legion of 5" that will reach the public as a feature-length animated film, toys, video games and comics. Last summer, Walt Disney Pictures signed a three-film, first-look deal with Lee's company. Lee also has been host and a producer of the Sci Fi Channel show "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?"

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Guggenheim is Going “Nowhere Man”, by Jeffrey Renaud - Comic Book Resources - 4th April 2008

2008-04-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Marc Guggenheim (“Wolverine,” “The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive”) hates to turn down a project, be it a comic, film or television show. As a result, he is not only one of the busiest writers working today, but one of the most heavily sought after too. The former lawyer and “Law & Order” staffer told CBR News, “I don’t know when I will cool off. I keep waiting for people to say, ‘Dude, you are a total hack.’ I keep waiting for all of this to catch up with me.”

Known for both impeccable comic timing and spot-on action pacing, Guggenheim offers his unique brand of storytelling on “Amazing Spider-Man” as a member of Marvel’s bullpen of writers working on the top-selling weekly comic. He is also set to launch his own X-book this week with “Young X-Men” #1. Add to the mix that Guggenheim is the co-creator of ABC breakout hit “Eli Stone” and is also penning a script for the highly anticipated Green Lantern film for Warner Bros. with pals Greg Berlanti (“Eli Stone”) and Michael Green (“Heroes”).

You’d think he would call it a day and be going nowhere, man.

And that’s exactly right.

Guggenheim is teaming with superstar actor Hugh Jackman (“X-Men” trilogy, “The Prestige”) to write “Nowhere Man” for Virgin Comics. The publisher is joining with Jackman’s Seed Productions to create a new comic series that if successful, will be launched as a movie franchise too.

The Virgin release announcing the title was light on details, saying only the story is a “Sci Fi odyssey set in a groundbreaking vision of the future in which mankind has traded privacy for safety.”

The always candid Guggenheim said the secrecy surrounding the project is very much by design, but did shed a little more light on the book’s direction. “It’s basically a science fiction book, set in the far future and it deals, essentially, with the Patriot Act on steroids, but in a totally surprising way. It’s one thing to say ‘the Patriot Act on steroids,’ but you have to know the kind of steroids we are talking about here.

“They really completely upend any notion of personal privacy that you might have. One of things we all initially talked about was how the best science fiction had things to say about today. By telling stories about the future, we are telling stories about the here and now. And obviously, in the wake of 9/11, we all, as Americans, have a choice to make, in terms of our security versus our personal privacy and where do you strike that balance. It’s obviously something a lot of politicians, and judges and lawyers and citizens and patriots have debated. Not just after 9/11 but before 9/11. I think we have a chance to say something interesting and new about the topic. Plus we have a really cool, very kick-ass science fiction story to tell.”

Guggenheim continued, “It’s actually a very human-oriented book. That’s what’s really great about it. There are different kinds of science fiction. There is science fiction like ‘Alien,’ like ‘Star Wars,’ where aliens and extraterrestrials or paranormal stuff co-exists with the world and then there’s stuff like ‘Firefly’ and ‘Blade Runner’ where the concept is more, even though it’s science fiction, it’s more grounded in the human drama. And this is very much a human drama. I won’t promise a complete lack of cool science fiction sensibilities, but it’s always going to be channeled through real human, flesh and blood characters. Not aliens and robots and such.”

Guggenheim said Jackman’s Nowhere Man is obviously the main character, but stopped short of calling him the ‘Good Guy.’ “He’s a **protagonist.** I don’t want to say that he is the good guy because part of what the character is going to have to deal with in the story is, is he on the right side or not? Is he doing the right thing or not?” said Guggenheim. “But he is the protagonist, in the sense that he’s the character, who we follow, he’s the character, who we are rooting for but even the villain is the hero of their own movie. And as far as the type of guy he is, I think one of things that is cool about this concept is that the character is very much a man apart. He’s very isolated. It’s not unlike Will Smith’s character in ‘I am Legend.’ The difference being, and this is all due to the strength of the high concept of the story, even though he is this solitary, unique figure, the only person on the planet like Will Smith in ‘I am Legend,’ he’s populating a world that is full of people. So unlike ‘I am Legend,’ where Will Smith had no one to interact with except for the zombies, the Hugh character will get a chance to interact with people.”

Asked if “Nowhere Man” was a Robin Hood-type of character, Guggenheim responded, “He is basically a character, who is doing exactly what he was told to do, but the question is has he been told the right thing. Robin Hood knew he was violating the law. Robin Hood believed, and never questioned, that he was doing the right thing. We are going to put Hugh’s character into the position where he has to question whether he is doing the right thing. It’s a much more morally complex type of story.”

Guggenheim said Jackman’s character has a name beyond “Nowhere Man,” but couldn’t quite share it just yet. “We haven’t finalized all the legalities,” said Guggenheim. “We haven’t completed all the trademark searches. I haven’t dotted all the ‘i’s and crossed all the ‘t’s just yet. So no, I can’t say who the name is. I could get in trouble.”
Guggenheim said the book will likely be released as a miniseries, but don’t hold him to it. “Right now, and I totally reserve the right to change it as the story dictates, but right now it’s conceived as a five-issue miniseries,” said the writer. “It ends very much with a beginning so there’s a door left wide open for either another miniseries or an ongoing series. This is very much the first chapter.”

As witnessed by Virgin’s series “Stranded” -- a joint project with SciFi written by Michael Carey that has already been optioned for television -- the publisher builds it books with multimedia in mind. Virgin is also developing comics with Hollywood heavyweights like John Woo, Guy Ritchie, Terry Gilliam, Dave Ed Burns, Nicolas Cage and Jon Mostow.

Guggenheim characterizes the Virgin Comics model as developing a new way of making movies and TV shows.“It’s coming from a place of intellectual property as opposed to the medium,” explained Guggenheim. “What I like about it is the cart is no longer dragging the horse, in so far as, instead of thinking of things in terms of well, this is a movie or this is a video game or this is a novel or this is a comic book or this is whatever, we -- creators, writers, producers -- now get to think of things in terms of here’s the concept, here are the characters, here’s the situation and know that once that idea is fully fleshed out and developed, there are plenty of different avenues to pursue the idea.

“But it’s kind of nice the way the entertainment industry has shifted. Now you are coming from the concept, the core essence of the idea versus what medium is the idea going to be materialized. And I think that’s the proper order of things. It’s great to be able to approach like, OK, this is a pure character. If we make it into a movie, we know we have a great actor to play that character. All the pieces are already in place.”

Guggenheim added that a big picture, high-concept story like “Nowhere Man” is a perfect fit for multiple platforms. “There are certain concepts that are very insular and they really lend themselves to one short story and then there are other concepts that are bigger and suggest almost an entire world of stories and this certainly falls into that second category. “That’s what so great about it. It’s a concept that is big enough to spin-off different characters. You can go down different routes. There are lots of forks in the road. So you may be able to do a video game with a completely different character than the one that is in the book from exactly the same world. And play around and see the world from that perspective. And that’s a lot fun. The potential is really exciting.”

Media Man Australia Profiles

Virgin Comics

Cartoons

Animation

Cartoons and Animation, Virgin Comics - news and website update

2008-04-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

The Media Man Australia Cartoons and Animation profile has been updated, in addition the Virgin Comics profile.

Can men talk and draw at the same time? ABC Illawarra - 7th November 2007

2007-11-10T23:58:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, the Stanleys were held in Wollongong. What's that? Well, it's the annual awards night for Australian cartoonists, and the award is named after Stan Cross, who wrote and drew the classic Australian cartoon titled "For gorsake stop laughing - this is serious". A Stanley award features a bronze version of the two men hanging from the girder, and the awards are highly sought-after by the cartooning community.

On the eve of the Stanleys, Nick invited two cartoonists into the studio for a bit of a chat, but as all good cartoonists, they brought their pads and textas, and proceeded to do caricatures of Nick as they were being interviewed.

Who said men can't do two things at once?

In the studio were Tony Rafty and Steve Panozzo. Tony is 92, and started his career as a war artist, before making a speciality of sports caricaturing. Even though Tony retired in 1980, he still claims to have sketched every major athlete at Commonwealth and Olympic games up to 2004! Tony is also well known as a man with a bottomless well of anecdotes, and as a mentor to several generations of cartoonists.

One of those budding pencillers was Steve Panozzo, who went from being Tony's awed apprentice, to a career in newspapers, then, when the deadlines were wearing him down, to a freelance artist-for-hire.

The two men both produced a caricature, which they presented to an overwhelmed Nick Rheinberger. And you can see the results below, along with a picture of Nick in the studio. Tell us what you think on our Message board.

Media Man Australia Profile

Tony Rafty

Tony Rafty Profile Updated

2007-03-04T04:57:00.000-08:00

Tony Rafty Profile

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Greg Tingle
Director
Media Man Australia

Cartoonists, Caricaturists and Animation

2006-05-02T04:50:00.000-07:00

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Amination

2006-03-03T02:21:00.000-08:00

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2005-11-23T00:15:00.000-08:00

For updates please visit the Media Man Australia official website

Article - Tony Rafty: Caricaturist and Australian National Treasure

2004-10-07T03:23:00.000-07:00

Tony Rafty is getting prepared to make the trip to his parents’ birthplace, Greece, to pay homage to his remaining relatives from both sides of this family, while covering the 2004 Olympic Games, to be held in Athens.

This great Australia, Tony Rafty was born in Paddington, Sydney on the 12th October, 1915, and now resides at Little Bay in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Tony got his start drawing caricatures while he caddied in his native Australia as a teenager, trying to help his family through the Depression.

He can rightfully boast that he is the only artist in the world to have recorded the Olympians and sketches of the Olympic Games from 1948 (London) to 1996 (Atlanta).

What is even more noteworthy is the fact that 95% of his drawings also have their subject’s autographs, making his collection unique and invaluable.

Tony specialises in caricatures of media types, entertainers, politicians, golfers, boxers, and cricketers, and has been described by industry experts and practitioners as “without peer”, in terms of the number of drawings and caricatures autographed, ever assembled in one artist’s lifetime.

Just a few of the notable politicians Tony has drawn in caricature include William McMahon, Gough Whitlam, Graham Richardson, Michael Photios and Tom Uren. Tony has also met and drawn many international political figures including U.S Presidents, Harold McMillan and Mrs Indira Ghandi.

"The Great Entertainers" is another work of art with the most famous piece being the signed caricature of The Beatles when they visited Australia in 1964. John, Paul, George and Ringo all signed the drawing and it is said to be the only one of its kind in the world. The rest of the collection includes over 150 signed drawings of such luminaries as Louis Armstrong, Sammy Davis Jnr., Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Betty Davis, Alfred Hitchcock, Tony Bennett, Danny Kaye, Paul Robeson and even Mr. Lips himself, Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones.

Not surprisingly, Tony’s work has been showcased at art exhibitions around Australia, and he in currently in negations with Museums and art houses in Los Angeles.

One of the most prestigious exhibitions of Tony’s work, was at the Greek Ambassador’s residence in Canberra, which commemorated the anniversary of the Battle of Crete.

Tony Rafty has proved his talents over several decades and has been employed by highly reputed newspapers in the mainstream press.

Over the years more than 15.000 of his drawings have graced the pages of newspapers and magazines, as well as the walls of exhibition centres around the globe.

During World War II Tony proved to be a most talented war artist, and journalist, while serving in the Australian Army in New Guinea, Borneo and Singapore, and a few years later he covered the Indonesian War of Independence. His considerably works from that era are housed in the National Library and the Australian War Museum in Canberra.

Tony sketched the surrender of the Japanese in Singapore and the War Museum in Canberra has over 200 of his works during this time. He covered the release of the POWs from prison camps and completed many sketches of war action including a memorable one of Lord Mountbatten. He also experienced the Indonesian War of Independence and befriended President Suekarno of Indonesia.

“The Olympians” exhibitions at the Myers Emporium in Melbourne, (opened by Sir William Dargie) in 1959, three years after the Victorian capital staged the Olympic Games; at the Canberra National Press Club, (opened by Sir Robert Menzies) in 1965; the Adelaide Festival in 1966; Vathy (capital of Ithaca) in 1972; Manila Peninsula Hotel, Philippines (opened by Ambassador Richard Wollcott) in 1981.

In 1984 Tony Rafty has one exhibition at Squire House in Hong Kong while that same year examples of his court reportage were displayed at the Blaxland Galleries, in Sydney (and opened by Judge Cross); in 1987 his works were on show at the Sydney Town Hall as part of the City of Sydney Festival; in 1989 he exhibited at the David Jones store in Canberra and in 1993 his “Olympians in Caricature” exhibition was mounted at the Sydney Town Hall.

It must be noted that in 1981 Tony became the world’s first caricaturist to have subjects appear on national stamps for Australian Post. To jog your memories, gracing that series of stamps were the caricatures of cricketer Victor Trumper, billiards champion Walter Lindrum, tennis star Sir Norman Brooks and jockey Darby Munroe. Tony also undertook the first day cover designs of the same for Fleetway in the United States.

Not content with stamps, Tony forged another milestone by being the first artist commissioned to provide courtroom drawings for the Channel Seven News. His sketches were televised across the country and he still has a small collection of famous cases.

The cartoonist-caricaturist is also proud of the fact that he is one of the founding members of the Black and White Artists Club (having served as President); for 23 years he was on the Board of Directors of the Sydney Journalists Club (holding the position of President) and served the Australian War Correspondents’ Association. Tony still leads the Anzac Day march at the head of the Australian War Correspondents Society.

Sir William Dargie, one of Australia’s great artists, winner of a number of Archibald Prizes and war artist with Rafty in WW11 says, “Tony Rafty is simply splendid. He not only brings an intellectual quality to his work, but he does it so well within a social context that he creates subjects which have a life of their own.”

In 1985 Tony was awarded the Gold Cross of Mount Athos, one of Greece’s highest honours, and in 1991 Tony was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for services to the media. Tony acknowledged that he dedicated the Gold Cross to his parents.

Speaking to Media Man Australia, Tony explained his approach to his work, “I try to notice clothes, shoes, the way people stand,” he said. “If you look at my drawings, I hope to capture the spirit. A caricature is meant to be exaggerated to a certain extent, but if it’s too much, you lose the likeness. It all has to do with seeing the person.”

Tony’s artistic style flows from life itself, with quick first impressions committed to paper in bold outlines and later filled in with detail. “I like to capture a personality when they are talking and moving about. A person’s face doesn’t come alive until they are mobile, talking or laughing. I like to do two or three drawings at different angles then leave it until later when I can get a photograph to remember the small details that I may have forgotten”.

While his works could sell for millions around the world, what are they worth to Tony Rafty?

“Just to be near them and talk to them in the mornings is great”, he says. “I remember little conversations I had with them (the subjects), and that is what’s so special to me”.

Tony Rafty is a true national treasure at 88 years of age and his caricatures trace a course in history. They will leave a visual image of the famous, and not so famous, people who came and went over his lifetime.

This extraordinary man’s ambition to go to Greece next year will surely be realised, as a man of such talent and passion wouldn’t have it any other way.

Website Links

2004-10-07T03:14:00.000-07:00

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Welcome to Cartoonists Blog

2004-10-07T03:06:00.000-07:00

Cartoonists Blog is a creation of Media Man Australia.

This blog compliments the MMA coverage of Australia's, and indeed the world's, greatest cartoonists and caricaturists.

Thank you for visiting.

Greg Tingle
Director, Broadcaster & Promoter
Media Man Australia
e: greg@mediaman.com.au
w: www.mediaman.com.au