Author: Glenn Hauman

Today’s the day we celebrate Charles Montgomery Plantagenet Schickelgruber Burns, the owner and manager of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Without this ancient billionaire, the Simpson family would simply be poor, instead of part of the working poor. So feel free to say “exxxcellent” all day long. And don’t forget to release the hounds.

Other people may tell you that this is actually the birthday of poet Robert Burns, and that you should celebrate by playing the bagpipes, eating haggis, drinking scotch, reciting poetry in a thick Scottish accent, and closing out the evening by singing Auld Lang Syne. But that just sounds frickin’ weird.

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• Think haggis is gross? Then look away now… the top 10 disgusting delicacies (mirror.co.uk)
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Originally published on ComicMix as Happy Burns Day!

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Sean Howe shows us proof that Marvel sold original artwork instead of returning it to the artists, or compensating them in any way.

Marvel began returning current pages to artists sometime in 1974, and eventually worked retroactively back a few months, to comics cover-dated from January 1974; among the earliest issues from which art was sent back were Avengers #119 and Amazing Spider-Man #128.

But a year earlier, Marvel sold the covers to these issues, cover-dated January 1973, to the Winnipeg Art Gallery . Seven covers, plus progressive proofs and color guides for each, for a total of $770.

Back in 1986, Irene Vartanoff (who began managing artwork return in 1975) told The Comics Journal that Marvel would occasionally send artwork to exhibits. But as far as I know, this is the only evidence that exists of Marvel actually accepting money for pages of original art.

It’s unclear if the gallery still possesses the pages; nothing comes up on their inventory database. But if Rich Buckler, Joe Sinnott, Barry Smith, John Romita, Sal Buscema, or Tom Palmer happens to read this, they may want to give them a call.

via MARVEL COMICS: THE UNTOLD STORY (Untold Stories: Marvel Sells Stash of Original Art…) .

It has been long suspected that lots of comic art went out the door. But this is the first documented proof I’ve seen that Marvel did so and profited from it.

A quick guess puts the value of all that original art at $35,000 today. We wonder if the artists are ever going to see any of it.

Originally published on ComicMix as Marvel’s Original Sin

Seen originally on

A sequel to the original sleeper hit movie Red , based on the DC Comics comic by Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer , Red 2 has come out with a new trailer today.

In Red 2, retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. To succeed, they’ll need to survive an army of relentless assassins, ruthless terrorists and power-crazed government officials, all eager to get their hands on the next-generation weapon. The mission takes Frank and his motley crew to Paris, London and Moscow. Outgunned and outmanned, they have only their cunning wits, their old-school skills, and each other to rely on as they try to save the world—and stay alive in the process.

The movie stars Bruce Willis as Frank Moses, John Malkovich as Marvin Boggs, Mary-Louise Parker as Sarah Ross, Brian Cox as Ivan Simonov, and Helen Mirren as Victoria. They’re joined this time around by Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Byung Hun Lee, and Neal McDonough. It’s being directed by Dean Parisot, and written by Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber, based on the comic by Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer.

Watch the new trailer now:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Originally published on ComicMix as Watch “Red 2″ new trailer

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This is seriously Smurfed up.

Proving that comics lead to juvenile deliquency, we have proof of the amazing things Smurfs will do to keep Smurfette in Smurfberries. And you thought Gargamel was in the wrong…

Four men dressed as Smurfs were arrested after attempting to steal a car and beating a man in Melbourne, Australia.

According to police reports, a 37-year-old man was walking out of a 7-Eleven just past midnight when he was approached by a man that looked like Papa Smurf, who asked for a cigarette. But the victim refused to light the cigarette before handing it over, and had to endure Papa Smurf’s wrath. He had also noticed that three other men, all similarly dressed as Smurfs, were attempting to simultaneously hotwire a car.

Australian police released the store’s surveillance video to find the four men responsible for the crimes. Three 19-year-olds and an 18-year-old came forward to admit to the crime and were promptly arrested.

via Australian Police Arrest Four Smurf Suspects for Crime Spree | TIME.com .

And it gets worse– Papa Smurf was arrested in New York .

Hat tip: Yog Sysop .

Originally published on ComicMix as Four Smurfs Arrested In Crime Spree

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We are incredibly fond of Go Get A Roomie! here at ComicMix. The comic won our May Mayhem NSFW Webcomics Tournament back in May, and their fans voted with their pocketbooks as well, raising hundreds of dollars for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund to put them way over the top.

And now, they’re putting it all down on paper.

Since its first page, the comic has been there to corrupt the world with fond smiles and happy sighs. If it can continue to do so through a new printed form, it would make a dream come true. Not only will the first book of Go Get a Roomie include all of chapters 1-12, but countless other extras as well! Bonus chapter, illustrations and sketches, redrawn comic strips, drinking game, kitties, a sneak peek at a secret project, and much more!

via Go Get A Roomie! Book One by Hiveworks Comics — Kickstarter .

They’ve already blown past their initial goal of $20,000 in the first day, so it’s going to be funded, but they have lots and lots of stretch goals… at $30,000 they’ll throw in some extra charms and stickers free for everyone ordering at least a book. At $50,000 they’ll throw in a bonus book only chapter on top of the mini chapter already being put into the book, and at $75,000 they’ll get Little one plushies made and add them to anyone getting at least a book. Lord only knows what they’ll do if they hit $100,000– but I think they better start planning for it.

Watch the video– then go get your own Roomie!

Originally published on ComicMix as “Go Get A Roomie!” gets a Kickstarter

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Entertainment Weekly, of all places, presents one of the most thoughtful essays on superhero films and how– similar they’re all becoming, and even worse, how many other movies are aping them to great financial success and overall boredom.

Superhero Movies have evolved to the point where three of the genre’s standard-bearers can embody radically different filmmaking styles – this is a good thing, right? Well, maybe. But the problem is, when you dig underneath the three films’ respective stylistic excesses – and they are excesses; few genres in film history are more fundamentally decadent than the Superhero Film, with the ever-expanding budgets and the swooping digital-effects-crane-shots and the ruined cityscapes and the supervillains planning to conquer/pillage/destroy every city/world/galaxy in sight – there is a depressing sameness to lurking within each movie’s basic DNA.

via The Superhero Delusion: How Superhero Movies created the Sad Perfect Badass Messiah, and what that says about America | PopWatch | EW.com .

Originally published on ComicMix as Superhero Movies and their Sad Perfect Badass Messiahs

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While we fully believe that you should help Peter David recover from his stroke by buying his e-books here at ComicMix , we also believe we should give equal time to opposing views.

In that spirit, we point you to The OutHousers and Ten Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Help Peter David .

Originally published on ComicMix as Haters Gonna Hate

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Spider-Man definitely has some unique tricks and abilities— super strength, wall-crawling, and a mysterious Spider-Sense— but do any of them stand up to scientific realities? The guys at ASAPScience take a look at how some of Spider-Man’s main attributes could legitimately happen, while others… not so much.

And we’re not even going to discuss how his brain can be taken over by an octopus.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Originally published on ComicMix as Saturday Morning Cartoons: The Science Of Spider-Man

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As you probably already know, Peter David suffered a stroke last week. Even though the Davids have health insurance, they also have co-pays and things that the insurance company just won’t cover. And many people have been asking how they can help.

Right now, the most direct way is to buy his e-books. Crazy 8 Press , a writing cooperative that Peter belongs to (disclosure: so do I) has agreed to make their books available for sale through ComicMix. You can get The Camelot Papers , Pulling Up Stakes parts 1 & 2 , and his Hidden Earth Chronicles novels Darkness of the Light and Heights of the Depths right now. All proceeds go directly to Peter.

Peter’s e-books are also available for sale via Amazon and Barnes & Noble . Royalties from those sales will take longer to get to Peter, and be slightly smaller. But one thing that you can do there that you can’t do here is give his books as gifts. Just go on the webpage for the book and click the “Buy As Gift” button and go through the process using the gift-ees e-mail address.

We’ll be keeping you posted on additional efforts to help Peter as hear of them.

Related articles

• Here is how YOU can Help Peter (peterdavid.net)
• Peter David has stroke (comicmix.com)

Originally published on ComicMix as Help Peter David by buying his e-books now!

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Sick of vampire books? Movies? TV shows?

Yeah. So are we.

Sick of the entire unlife of vampires?

Yeah. So is Vince Hammond.

In the thrilling conclusion to this twisted new take on the vampire tale, Vince’s investigation into the murder of Tracy and the assault on Amber leads him down paths that he could not possibly have expected, including not only a confrontation with the woman who turned him into a vampire, but also a secret that could upend the entirety of the Order of the Chevaliers.

And don’t forget to get Pulling Up Stakes, Part 1 !

Originally published on ComicMix as Pulling Up Stakes Part 2 EPUB

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