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Thursday Runaround – Tron On Tron Action

Published Thu, 26 Aug 2010 01:00:46 -0500

Last updated Thu, 26 Aug 2010 06:29:14 -0500

KickWatch: Bleeding Cool has reported the collapse of Insomnia Publications at lengths. But what happens to the to-be-published works in limbo? The Sleepless Phoenix is a Kickstarter project to collect unpublished Insomnia short stories. 192 pages, $15 gets you the book, $20 gets you a signed copy with a printed message, $30 gets one with a personal message, $75 gets a limited edition print as well, $100 gets original artwork included, $150 gets an appearance in the book with the original art too. At $2400, they are two-thirds of the way to their $3600 target.

WizardWatch: Avatar's Mark Seifert talks Wizard World Chicago Comics Con… and Wizard.

Bringing this full circle, I'm a bit disappointed at the buzz propagating this year that Wizard no longer cares about comics, which I think is a little misguided. There has long been internet skuttlebutt about the rift between the Big Two and Wizard, and the apparent preemptive counter-programming regarding guests at NYCC that I saw from Marvel on twitter last week as Chicago was about to get underway would seem to serve as the latest reminder that Marvel and Wizard are on the outs. My personal opinion is that this is a lot less about one individual's lack of public advocacy for comics than it is about increasingly-gigantic media companies like Time-Warner and Disney exacting control over their increasingly-important geek culture images.

DomoWatch: Dark Horse's exclusive Domo figure for the New York Comic Con 2010.

TronWatch: The Kama Sutra – using Tron effects. Not Safe For Work If They're Really Strict.

FilmWatch: Shawn Levy of The Oregonian asks if Samuel Fuller was the first graphic novelist film maker.

Take a look at that portrait of Fuller above, with his pug face, frizzled hair, scowl, and trademark cigar. Imagine getting into a debate — much less a tussle — with him. That's what it's like to watch these films, with their bareknuckled, lurid, tireless energy, visual bluntness and audacity, slangy language, bruising action, and even more bruising romances.

"Kimono" and "Underworld" play like comic books devoted to action with only a few pages of chatter here and there to break them up. Both films begin with acts of disorienting violence: a stripper racing along a downtown LA street in her skimpy stage costume and being shot down in "Kimono," a kid getting slashed over his eye while scrapping over a stolen wallet and then watching four shadowy figures beat his father to death in an alley in "Underworld."

2000Watch: The Judge Dredd fanfilm teaser – Judge Minty.

BotWatch: Billy Martinez, publisher of Neko Press Comics, joins Alex Chiu and Dan Bois for a gallery of artwork that celebrates both skimpily dressed women and robots, Bots And Babes, at the San Diego Art Department in North Park until September 11th.