Neilalien : A Doctor Strange Fansite : A Comic Book Weblog  

Fearless readers are writing in, reminding Neilalien to get his butt to a comic book store. On sale now: Paradise X: Xen, a stand-alone issue focusing on Doctor Strange and Clea, and Amazing Spider-Man #41. Let's go check these Doc appearances out!

Steroids boost Spidey's senses [ESPN.com via Newsarama]

Posted 31 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Popcorn Park [NYTimes Review of Books via Electrolite]
The Spider-Man movie, and Marvel Comics in general, get a great treatment in a prestigious forum.

Superhero Nation [Time Magazine]
"Says Jeff Ayers, manager of New York City's Forbidden Planet comics store: 'Batman's a millionaire, Superman's an alien, and Wonder Woman's an Amazon goddess. Most superheroes are foreign to us, but Spider-Man is normal and flawed.'" Which is why Marvel will always be better than DC. Nuff said.

Here's the info if you want to write Marvel and try to save The Defenders [Defenders Message Board]

Neilalien is wildly enjoying Monkey Town [Scott McCloud's Morning Improv]

Posted 30 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Doctor Strange is in The Library of Congress! Excelsior! Here's the item [EBay, Amazon]

Enter Marvel's Infinity Abyss [Silver Bullet]

Comic books are a serious business [Mercury News]

Hong Kong Bank Registers To Buy 750K Shares of Marvel [Splash]

Ever notice how slow and bloated and image-laden and ugly all the comic book news sites are?

Posted 28 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Comics: a vast universe to explore
Got plot? Complex thoughts? Imagination?
The Boston Globe takes on the great point-counterpoint of our time: Are comic books cool or dumb? [good Metafilter discussion too]

Neilalien has found that only people with Intelligence scores under 8 take pot shots at comic book readers and Dungeons & Dragons players.

Posted 27 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

If Kevin Smith is writing it, and this is the art, then Neilalien might just have to check out Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do starting in June.

Marvel Handbook Becomes New Encyclopedia [Newsarama]
For a moment, Neilalien thought that Doc fans were snubbed once again- but the Alex Ross cover of Marvel icons includes the Sorcerer Supreme. Alright, then. The question now is, a pricey Marvel Handbook "rethought and redesigned" and a mere 200 pages sounds pretty bad.

Posted 25 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Art item from Order #5 [Defenders Message Board]

What Spider-Man Can (and Can't) Do for Marvel [Slate via a fearless reader on the Neilalien Message Board]

Posted 24 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Marvel not raising prices [today's press conference on Newsarama]

Comic Wars is getting some movie nibbles [today's Neal Travis column at NYPost.com via Splash]
Neilalien is sure Perelman will buy the rights and bury it.

Posted 23 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Review of Order #4 [Silver Bullet]

Back to the Drawing Board: Once-Banned Comic Books Now a Teaching Tool [Washington Post via Newsarama]

Ron Perelman, looter of Marvel, has apparently all but destroyed Revlon now [NY Post via Splash]

Great All the Rage this week [Authority, Millar, Jemas and JoeQ fixing Marvel's broken contracts with talent, etc.]

Joe Quesada trash-talks a web to save Marvel Comics [New York Observer via the above Rage]

Ralph Nader Joins Fight to Save LPC Group [Comic Wire]

Posted 20 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Doctor Strange got a movie nibble yesterday [Comics2Film]
Are there really people at Dimension Films who go to work every day to work on Dr. Strange? Neilalien highly doubts it.

Joe Quesada Rewrites Marvel's Submission Guide [Silver Bullet]
Sounds much more open for new talent to break into the business. Excelsior!

Posted 17 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Big Apple Not Ready For Prime Time Con? [Splash]
The greatest city in the world, and our comic book conventions are held in a cramped church basement.

Splash also has a bead on one of those great mysteries of capitalism: Marvel starts making money, so the insiders dump the stock and inhale the profits.

Posted 15 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

The Chromatic Queen: Interview with Marie Severin [Sequential Tart]
"Then [Steve] Ditko quit, and there I am on Dr. Strange. I was like, 'Whaaaat?'"

Excellent fan art of the female Defenders [Defenders Message Board]

Posted 13 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Announcements

#1: July's The Order #6 (Defenders #18) will be the final issue of the series. [Marvel Universe panel at Wizard World East, as reported by Newsarama]
That's all folks! What a disappointment.

#2: "As writer John Romita Jr. revealed in his recent interview with Newsarama, it was reiterated that Dr. Strange will be appearing in an upcoming issue of Amazing Spider-Man. While going light on the details, editor Tom Brevoort said that there are plans for the character in the upcoming future." [same link as above]
Plans? For Doc? Really? Is that good?

#3: John Romita Jr. has raised over $10,000 for his niece! [NY1.com]

Posted 12 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Forgot to mention, there's a webcam up of JRJr's fund-raising and world record bid [Saving Baby Jordan; just got reminded by Parallax View]

Peter David has started something bloggish [PeterDavid.net]

Holy physics! Superheroes in classroom [MyInKy via Fark]

Wildstorm Launches Thundercats Mini In August [Newsarama]
80's nostalgia keeps going on strong.

Pic of Stan Lee giving you the finger! [All The Rage]

Posted 11 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Phew. It's 2 am. After a night out of dinner, drinks and dancing at some art show party held in a rented-out strip club of all places, Neilalien found himself near Times Square with his trusty girlfriend-sidekick. So he headed on over to Bar Code and got #199 of John Romita Jr.'s Spider-Man sketches. It was good to go late at night because things were busy during the day. JRJr is the nicest guy! Neilalien was just about to offer to donate more money for a Dr. Strange sketch, but what kind of damn tacky bargaining would that be, while the guy's trying to raise funds for his niece's brain cancer treatment. Turns out the world record requires only the same Spidey sketch over and over anyway. Romita did say that Doctor Strange will be in Amazing Spider-Man over the next two or three issues- get #40 that just came out because that's the start of his story arc. Neilalien is off to his regeneration pod. Good night, America!

Posted 11 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

A Primer on the Hibbs/Marvel Issue [Newsarama]

Retailers Discuss Hibbs v. Marvel [Newsarama]

Marvel Sues Buena Vista Over Spider-Man Art [Newsarama]

Marvel takeover whispers again [Splash]

Stan Lee on TechTV [Continuum]

Dreamwave keeps double and triple printing Transformers and they keep selling out [Newsarama]

Remember New Yorkers: Romita Spidey sketches in Times Square this weekend!

Posted 10 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Review of The Order #4 (Spoilers)

This book was weak. Not even worth Neilalien's usual review format. Too many boring pages devoted to getting the Professor Hulk. Too many boring pages at the Parrington's. Too many boring pages to get to Ardina. What, no Haley art again? And then on the letters page: "The truth is, at the time of this writing, no official decisions have been made as to the fate of this title." On all fronts- story, art, and meta- this plodding issue kills all building momentum from the solid #1-3. Weak!

Posted 9 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Will the Spider-Man movie and Free Comic Book Day have any effect on the comic book industry?
Quesada and Jemas speak [Newsarama]
Steven Grant speaks [Master of the Obvious column]

Stan Lee To Sell Items From Personal Collection [Silver Bullet Comics]

Item: Ditko's Captain Atom [Brevoort's History of Comics]

Posted 9 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Trash of the Titans [Entertainment Weekly via Newsarama]
Kevin Smith on the differences between Marvel and DC.

Posted 8 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

A kind and fearless reader has original Tom Sutton Doctor Strange artwork (inked by P. Craig Russell) online from his personal collection. Thanks so much for sharing! Mr. Sutton died at his drawing board.

Retailers File Class Action Suit Against Marvel [Newsarama]
Are late books bad or okay? Is this an evil retailer cashing in on Marvel's success? Is a retailer crazy to return hot Marvel product in any situation?- Where's the debate? If a late book bothers a retailer, that retailer has a right to return the product. Marvel is flouting its contractual obligations, and thus it's getting sued.

Quesada Responds To Lawsuit [Newsarama]
In other words: "Waah! I'm trying to use $100 bills to light my cigars and this guy's cramping my style!" Mark Millar has a good comment in the discussion though.

Tom Tomorrow takes on the NY Times comic-book store robbery piece [This Modern World]
Tom's curmudgeonly eye caught the "condescending tone" re: comic books in The Media. Neilalien's curmudgeonly eye must be too accustomed to seeing it (and to NYC life) to catch it anymore.

Taking Comics Back to the Drawing Board [FOXNews.com via Oliver Willis]
Neilalien hasn't read newspaper comic strips since Calvin and Hobbes ended. Actually, Neilalien's barely read a newspaper since the Internet emerged.

Posted 7 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Tom Sutton found dead [Splash]
The legendary comic book artist drew some Doctor Strange issues in his career.

Is Marvel's lateness with product getting it into legal hot water? [All The Rage]

Comics On The Cusp? [Splash]

A Job for Spider-Man, but He's in a Thief's Clutches [NYTimes.com (reg req'd) via Splash]
Neilalien has shopped at Action Comics. Hope they catch the bastard.

The Order #4, Black Panther #44, Transformers G1 #2, Amazing Spider-Man #40, Marvel Mangaverse #2... Looks like Neilalien will be eating a lot of pasta this week to save up the cash!

Posted 6 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Neilalien gives the Spider-Man movie a big big thumbs up!

Last week Neilalien went to The Museum of Modern Art and caught the Laylah Ali book, which Neilalien is told uses a comic book aesthetic to portray a disarming, meticulous, ambiguous, myth-imploding postmodern non-narrative of rage and oppression. Well now, Neilalien's not that dumb, he's pretty open-minded and a lover of funky art. Then again, he reads comic books and just praised the Spider-Man movie, so maybe the hoity-toity art is way over his head. But Ali's work is an overrated pile. It's South Park for rich white art snobs. Still, Neilalien can't resist supporting that comic-book aesthetic, and the Greenheads are just so cute and twisted- so he bought Ali's two-dollar book. Probably should have bought an issue of Eightball instead.
Quick surf of Laylah Ali [artbook.com; VAP Digital Archive; 303gallery.com; The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; Maverick Arts (great criticism)]

Posted 5 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Spidey movie today! Yay!

Free Comic Book Day is tomorrow! Yay!

First Look at The Order #4 [Continuum]
Major spoilers, including Silver Surfer's female counterpart. That doesn't look like Nova.

That's My Spidey [NYTimes.com (reg req'd)]
Stan Lee explains Spider-Man's enduring popularity. The Man is on the New York Times editorial page!

The man behind 'Spider-Man' [AP story: MSNBC; Nando Times]

Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters and Marvels coming out 14 May [PR on DigitallyObsessed.com]

The Stan Lee Solution [Yourish.com via Blogdex]
Hulk smash any political problem you might perceive.

Working-class (super)hero [Salon via Barbelith Underground]
About Spidey and the Romitas.

Will the Web Save Comics? [Technology Review via Memo To Myself]

The Worst Ten Transformers of All Time [UGO.com via Fark]

Posted 3 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Didn't miss this line by John Romita Jr. [Newsarama]

"...right now I'm working on Dr. Strange in an issue of Amazing, and I love Dr. Strange, so I'm happy."

What? JMS and JRJr have Dr. Strange appearing in an upcoming issue of Amazing Spider-Man? Rock on! This is the first Neilalien has heard about it.

Almost missed this line by Bendis about Doctor Strange [Newsarama (great discussion too)]

"Thing is," Bendis said, "Everyone has a Dr. Strange pitch and has tossed it to Marvel, and every four years, one gets picked up, and no one buys it. I'm convinced that only creators actually buy the Dr. Strange stories Marvel puts out, and then they figure out how theirs would be better, and pitch again."

Posted 2 May 02002 - Permalink

- -

Stan Lee's Spidey Guide [E! Online via Usenet]
Some glaring errors.

Feds have visited Peter Paul in his Brazilian jail cell twice; Stan Lee Media owned Spidey rights!? [NYPost.com via Splash]

Paul contacts Splash directly, sets record straight on Spidey 'ownership', expands charges against Bill Clinton [Splash]

Bank set to hit LPC again [CounterPunch via Splash]

An analysis of a real-life manifestation of Thor, the Spider-Man movie (anti-organic-webshooters) and Marvels [(LILEKS) James]

Posted 1 May 02002 - Permalink

- -