Mark Millar is made MBE

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Tweet Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar has been added to the ranks of UK comics writer awarded the MBE, or Member of the British Empire. The normally controversial Scotsman told the Herald Scotland that he was unfazed by being an insider now. “That is the worry, part of the thing of being a writer is that [...]

Injustice: Gods Among Us writer Tom Taylor finally gets a regular DC gig: Earth 2

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Tweet DC is releasing a ton of news today, including best-selling writer Tom Taylor will be taking over Earth 2 after writer James Robinson left the book under mysterious circumstances. MTV Geek has the news that Taylor will take over starting with October’s issue #17. Nicola Scott stays on as artist. “I’ve had so much [...]

How did you like your CAKE?

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Tweet This past weekend saw the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo roll out, a much anticipated foray into the CAF circuit for one of the biggest markets in the US. If you look at the debuts,l the comics were vibrant and exciting. Last year’s show was good but had room to grow, so we’re eager for [...]

MAN OF STEEL Wrap up: It’s a hit! So what next?

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Tweet Well, now we know! MAN OF STEEL was the biggest June opening ever—$113 million domestically for the three-day weekend and another $12 million from Thursday’s mysterious Walmart screenings. Worldwide it’s made $197.7 million. More importantly, the CinemaScore ratings—which polls people who have actually seen the movies—stood at A-, a very high rating which indicates [...]

Beat Friday Giveaway: Win a Nokia Lumia 920 and a Zod mask!

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When we bravely went to the MAN OF STEEL World Premiere and star-studded after party earlier this week, sponsored by Nokia, it wasn’t just to bring you on the scene coverage, oh no. It was so we could offer Beat Readers a free smart phone. PLUS A ZOD MASK. We all know you are desperate to win a Zod mask, so please keep reading.

This weekend: EternalCon on Long Island

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Tweet If you’re near Garden City, Long Island this weekend you might wish to check out the first ever EternalCon—it’s a one-day show at a fantastic location: the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, LI. Admission to the con also gets you admission to the museum’s displays of planes and other vehicles. As befits [...]

Review: Man of Steel Destroys Tall Buildings With a Single Bound

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TweetI have no questions about MAN OF STEEL as I have with previous movies because I saw it twice in two nights and the second viewing answered most of my questions regarding just what Zod was up to and why Superman had to use a Kotex to save Krypton Earth. Anyway. I enjoyed MAN OF [...]

Disney announces two mystery Marvel films for ’16 and ’17

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Tweet While some of us reading this will be chewing gruel in a rest home by then, Disney has just announced two as-yet-unnamed Marvel films for the future: UNTITLED MARVEL FILMS We’ve also announced dates for two UNTITLED MARVEL films (5/6/16 and 5/5/17), in line with Marvel’s successful tradition of opening films in early May, [...]

Alan Moore talks Superman in Occupy Comics: “The seamy and disreputable practices of comics past”

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Tweet  The second issue of Occupy Comics is coming, they’ve sent out an lengthy excerpt of a lengthier essay by Moore on Superman, comics Original Sin and more.   Excerpts from BUSTER BROWN AT THE BARRICADES by Alan Moore [excerpt from Part 3] Cover of “Spicy Mystery Stories.” December 1935. With the end of Prohibition during 1933, [...]

Comic book movies aren’t dying either

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TweetAt the movie theater the other night, one couldn’t sneeze without hitting a standee for a comic based film. Red 2 here, Smurf 2 there. Here’s a list of upcoming comics movies: Jun 14 Man of Steel Jul 19 Red 2 R.I.P.D. Jul 26 The Wolverine Jul 31 The Smurfs 2 Aug 2 2 Guns [...]

Kibbles ‘n’ Bits: What’s going on in the world

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TweetI’ve been tied up on another project so this is a free association gathering of bookmarks. § Gabrielle Bell has been ‘tooning a trip to Oslo. § It turns out Vertigo Comics is not dead! Not if executive editor Shelly Bond has anything to say about it! “That’s always been my (method of operation) ever [...]

Preview: AVENGERS ENDLESS WARTIME

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Tweet Marvel has released some preview pages for October’s AVENGERS: ENDLESS WARTIME, the first original graphic novel from Marvel in many years. Writer Warren Ellis, Marvel eic Axel Alonso and executive editor Tom Brevoort participated in a press call for the project. The book is intended for both new and existing readers and features an [...]

Breaking news: the comics industry is not dying

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Tweet If there’s one phrase that frosts my scuppers these days it’s variations on the “comics are a dying industry” or “failing medium” or some other rote expression of gloom. This attitude goes back to the historic low self-esteem which many comics industry creators and professionals hold. It’s one of those deeply held beliefs that [...]

Appeals court revives Gary Friedrich’s Ghost Rider lawsuit

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Tweet When last we saw comics writer Gary Friedrich, he was badly losing a law suit to gain control of the character Ghost Rider and Marvel was telling him to pay back $17,000 in royalties for unauthorized Ghost Rider merchandise he was selling at cons. It was a dark day for creators, and everyone chalked [...]

On the Scene: Man of Steel World Premiere and After Party

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Tweet I’ve been calling Man of Steel “the most important superhero movie of all times” but if you had told me that I would be attending the world premiere and after party, I would have laughed at you. But thanks to Nokia, at the very last minutes (like 2 pm) I was sponsored to go [...]

New trailer for THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG debuts

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Tweet Hot dwarves + hot elves + hot dragon flame = HOT HOT HOT. Mid-Atlantic Evangeline LIlly! The return of Orlando Bloom! Barrels! Based on this trailer and my knowledge of the book, absolutely NOTHING is going to happen in this film from the book except the company getting stuck in some barrels. The remainder [...]