Would you give up all forms of sexual relations for the rest of your life if you were granted two superpowers, the ability to fly and the ability to read peoples minds. Keep in mind you are not bulletproof and we cannot guarantee a long life. What would you do?Would you give up all forms of sexual relations for the rest of your life if you were... more
Marvel is suing the family of the late artist Jack Kirby in a bid to retain copyright to some of the company's best-loved comic book characters.
Legal action, filed in New York, sought to invalidate 45 notices sent by his heirs, claiming rights to characters would revert to Kirby's estate in 2014.
Marvel maintains Kirby's illustrations, published between 1958-1963, were "for hire" making the heirs' claims invalid.
Kirby's family vowed to "vigorously defend" their case.
Among the titles cited in the notices, apparently authored or co-authored by Kirby, were Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, the Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk and The X-Men.
Marvel Entertainment, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, sought a judge's order that the Kirby notices have no effect.
'Compensation'
Marvel lawyer John Turitzin said, in a statement, that the heirs were trying "to rewrite the history of Kirby's relationship with Marvel".
He added: "Everything about Kirby's relationship with Marvel shows that his contributions were works made for hire and that all the copyright interests in them belong to Marvel."
"It is a standard claim predictably made by comic book companies to deprive artists, writers, and other talent of all rights in their work," said Kirby's lawyer, Marc Toberoff, in a statement responding to Marvel's action.
"The Kirby children intend to vigorously defend against Marvel's claims in the hope of finally vindicating their father's work.
"Sadly, Jack died without proper compensation, credit or recognition for his lasting creative contributions.Marvel is suing the family of the late artist Jack Kirby in a bid to retain copyright... more
Superhero, Zombie, Western Hero, Cyberwarrior, Barbarian, Transexual-Vampire-Homemaker,......Steampunkazon,.............................
HeroMachine is a free flash application drawn up by Jeff Hebert that allows people that can't draw to save their lives (Like me) to create characters. Mainly used by Roleplayers and DnD gamers to show a profile of their created persona more clearly to the other players. I just use it when I get bored. Been using HM for about over two years now. For more information about the program, Jeff himself or to try and download the application yourself.-----~sirusthemaddj
A GREAT GRAPHIC AID---- by a talented man.
LINK-to his BLOG and TOY http://www.heromachine.com/Superhero, Zombie, Western Hero, Cyberwarrior, Barbarian,... more
Howard Hallis has been drawing pop culture icons, historical figures, and just about anything he can think of since 1997. He's hasn't stopped drawing since that year because what he's working on is The Picture of Everything.
Over the years, Hallis has been making this picture in sections, and in some of these selections you can sorta see parts where those sections appear to have been combined (though it could be just a fold in the paper)
You can find the whole picture on Hallis' site, complete with a key to who's who and what's what, but I warn you: Odds are that you'll be like me and have your mind blown by the sheer size of this "work in progress."
Jorge Carreon blogs that the Holiday 2009 film season is far from over, but fans are already casting an eye to what promises to be an action-packed Summer 2010. Leading the list of blockbusters-to-be? How about "Iron Man 2," which finds the superhero rocking a new suit!
Web TV channel KoldCast (which has web series 'Chick' and 'Johnny Raikou' on their site), have recently posted a graphic of bar graphs and charts of the evolution of Superhero movies. Charted from 1978 (where the first Superman movie was release) to today (with "Watchmen" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine").
The site 'Queer Sighted' has compiled the top ten list of Gay Superheroes (not joking here) and it was inspired by this Halloween costume and the new teen drama "Misfits" (which is showing on E4 at the moment). Those in the list includes: Union Jack II, Northstar, the Watchmen and Anole.
Everyone needs a superhero in their likeness. Now you can waste your afternoon making one! Behold the The Ultimate Fantasy Entertainment Hero Machine Generator!Everyone needs a superhero in their likeness. Now you can waste your afternoon making... more
If you’ve been reading Blog@ for the past couple of days, you’ve seen that we’ve spoken to both Captain America and Hulk about their perceptions of Halloween costumes based on their images. Today, we had to invest a little more time. Newsarama sent me to an alternate Earth that was about to celebrate Halloween in 1985. There we talked to a loose confederation of mystery men and women that the media calls “Watchmen”. Present were Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl II, Silk Spectre II, and Rorschach. This is what they had to say.If you’ve been reading Blog@ for the past couple of days, you’ve seen that... more
The Marvel Heroes have come and gone over the past few years; some have successfully had multiple movies, while others were finished after their first.
Here is the ultimate face-off between heroes, as reviewed by Total Film.
This is kind of a cheap post, but I always like to include this when I blog. You’re looking at a world map presented in Jack Kirby’s Kamandi. It’s the kind of thing that as a reader, going back into the troves of past generations, I can’t get enough of. It’s a great tie in for me as a gamer, too. But really, at the end of the day, it’s a plug for my favorite comic podcast, Funnybook Babylon. I’ll let them take it from here.
--------Its been Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay tooooooo long for me to remember,...but this is still the D.C. universe,.......but something "REALLY BAD" happened to poor ol' Gea,...the eco system has dun gone "STRANGE"......"Damn filthy apes!" are the LEAST of the problems.This is kind of a cheap post, but I always like to include this when I blog.... more
You may not find these heroes in the pages of Marvel of DC, but Captain Condor and Miss America, featured in Fighting Owl Films' short film "Not-So SuperFriends", are a loving homage to the ever popular characters and genre that have thrilled fans for decades. The 10 minute film is free to watch on the group's website (www.fightingowlfilms.com).
The low-budget short film follows the misadventures of Mega City's inept heroes as they fight the forces of evil. Captain Condor and Miss America are two of Mega City’s most famous crime fighters. Trusted by the people to put an end to evil and villainy, these two superheroes somehow manage to get the job done time and again. When called into action to stop the scheming Mega Brain, Condor and America are forced to work together for the greater good. But no one said these superheroes were super friends.
"SuperFriends” features actors Erin Lilley and Khristian Fulmer; with music by Soren Odom. The film was written and directed by Thomas Smith.
Fighting Owl Films’ past work includes the internet hit “The Night Shift”, which was featured in genre magazine Fangoria’s online edition earlier this year. The filmmakers are in pre-production on their first feature film which is based on their short “The Night Shift”. Filming is to commence in summer 2010. For more on Fighting Owl Films, to view the film, and support their feature film efforts visit www.fightingowlfilms.com .You may not find these heroes in the pages of Marvel of DC, but Captain Condor and... more
Over 50 men dressed as their favourite superheroes on a pub crawl on Saturday, and it was all for a good cause.
The people are members of 'Heroes Alliance UK' (which is a non-profit organisation, more about it here: http://current.com/107me4c). Their first official appearance was at 19:00 at the pub named 'Shoosh' where there were superhero-themed drinks on sale. They also stopped at other places in Norwich.Over 50 men dressed as their favourite superheroes on a pub crawl on Saturday, and it... more
A student has been suspended from school in America for coming to class dressed as a pirate. But the disciplinary action has provoked controversy – because the student says that the ban violates his rights, as the pirate costume is part of his religion.
Bryan Killian says that he follows the Pastafarian religion, and that as a crucial part of his faith, he must wear ‘full pirate regalia’ as prescribed in the holy texts of Pastafarianism.
The school, however, say that his pirate garb was disruptive.
Pastafarians follow the Flying Spaghetti Monster (pictured), and believe that the world was created by the touch of his noodly appendage. Furthermore, they acknowledge pirates as being ‘absolute divine beings’, and stress that the worldwide decline in the number of pirates has directly led to global warming.A student has been suspended from school in America for coming to class dressed as a... more
"You’d be hard-pressed to find a recent comic book that didn’t have the stylish scrawl of the artists somewhere on the cover, but that was not the case when Jack Kirby was making pop culture history back in the 1960s with his wildly kinetic drawings of the X-Men, Hulk and the Fantastic Four. “I think I have a highly unique and unusual style, and that’s the reason I never sign my drawings,” the proud Kirby told an interviewer in 1987, seven years before his death. “Everybody could tell any of my covers a mile away on the newsstand, and that satisfied me.”
The satisfaction was fleeting. The artist may be reverently referred to as “King” Kirby by the pop scholars and younger artists who celebrate his genre-defining work but Kirby is, in some ways, an overlooked figure in the broader view of American culture. He didn’t live to see his creations fly across the movie screen over the last decade and his four children made nothing from those lucrative films, although they are now pursuing legal action to claim some of the future Hollywood wealth. “There is,” daughter Lisa Kirby says, “a bittersweet legacy to my father’s work.”
On a recent afternoon, in Beverly Hills, a different man was autographing a giant lithograph reproducing one of Kirby’s classic Fantastic Four covers. It was Stan Lee, the writer who was Kirby’s most famous collaborator until they became estranged over creative credit, artwork custody and money. An art dealer had brought stacks of limited-edition lithos, some to be priced at $850, to Lee’s Santa Monica Boulevard office along with a check in his pocket to pay the 86-year-old Lee for his autographs.
Lee had written the stories for the classic comics, of course, but considering all the history, it was still odd to see his name etched on the cosmic Kirby tableau from 1966.
“Yes, there was a time when there was some hard feeling on his part ... but he got over that and we were friends,” Lee said. “It really is sad that he didn’t get to see all the big movies. None of us could predict that we would get to this point with the films. I don’t dwell on it too much because I’m always so busy doing what I am doing today. Unfortunately the guys back in the day did not make as much as they do today. Years ago also you had artists doing these comics who, well, there was nothing else they could have done. Their style wasn’t right for advertising or magazines like Saturday Evening Post or Collier’s. And as for us writers, well, we weren’t qualified to write for the New Yorker. Comic book writers were considered hacks, and artists weren’t really thought of as much beyond that.”
Lee studied one of the other art pieces, a dazzling revisiting of a Kirby cover for Captain America. "Wow, look at this one." The pieces are being sold by the Santa Monica gallery called Every Picture Tells a Story as part of a new licensing deal with Marvel to create high-end wall art from illustrations that were, in their day, the most gaudy and disposable entertainment imaginable. “As far as I’m concerned,” Lee said with his endless zeal, “it is fine art."
The story of two “hacks,” as Lee would frame it, will be scrutinized much more considering recent events. Last month, the Walt Disney Co. paid $4 billion to scoop up Marvel Entertainment and its vault of florid characters who over the last decade have become Hollywood box-office heroes. Many of the most valuable properties in that vault were created by the wildly prolific tandem of Lee and Kirby in the 1960s; there are two big-budget movies now in the pipeline for Marvel Studios that are based on Lee-Kirby creations (“The Mighty Thor" and “The Avengers”) and a third (“First Avenger: Captain America”) based on the work of Kirby and writer Joe Simon. The Kirby brood watched the Disney deal happen and within days were conferring with new attorneys."
Cinematical has an exclusive memo about some upcoming changes to several Marvel titles and their film adaptations! Here are the most important:
1. The Avengers will no longer be called The Avengers. This name suggests vengeance or revenge, which does not represent a healthy Disney attitude. The new name will be "The Befrienders."
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9. The Fantastic Four will be disbanded to gently distract from how closely they actually resemble The Incredibles. And, let's face it. The Incredibles was a much better movie than either of the Fantastic Four movies.
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Shocking(ly funny. It's a joke, people)Cinematical has an exclusive memo about some upcoming changes to several Marvel titles... more
