Neilalien : A Doctor Strange Fansite : A Comic Book Weblog  

Massachusetts Institute of Technology stole a Radix comic book character to obtain $50 million Army grant and outfit 'the soldier of the future!' [Boston Globe via Newsarama; Radix home page]
Incredible!

Warren Ellis has cranked up Blogger [Die Puny Humans via his Bad Signal mailing list]

Diamond From The Racks to The Stacks [Newsarama]

Stan Lee interview [Yesterdayland via Spider-Man Hype]

Neilalien's Related Links are now back online. If you have a weblog, a fun website, independent comic or online comic, feel free to post a link.

Posted 29 August 02002 - Permalink

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Review: Infinity Abyss #6 (Spoilers)

The mini-series ended a little stronger than expected, due to the appearance of an interesting Galactu-Thanos adversary and a well-paced and thought-out battle. As usual, the cosmic fight approached a boring energy-blast extravaganza, but Doc got in some interesting interdimensional snares. Overall, Infinity Abyss was a fast and loose summertime yarn that should please anyone into Marvel cosmic stuff and the whole Adam Warlock-Thanos schtick.

And with that, no more monthly Dr. Strange appearances after a year-and-a-half. Sigh. When will we see him next? What will Neilalien do now?

CUNY offers 'Superheroes in the 60's: Comics & Counterculture' lecture series in October [Splash]
Neilalien posted more information here. He will probably attend.

Right now in your neighborhood shop, there is a comic book for 9 cents! It's Fantastic Four #60, and it's actually pretty good. Maybe a little too "kiddie" for Neilalien, but good. Consider buying 11 with a one-dollar bill and leaving them in public places.

Lots of hype and good word-of-mouth for Y: The Last Man [TheFourthRail]
A comic about what happens after all the Earth's males die except one. Too bad Neilalien's allergic to Vertigo.

Hibbs v. Marvel Update [Newsarama]

Comic book color item [Master of the Obvious]
"So it seems to me that if artists and publishers are going to play the new comics economy smartly, a new aesthetic is called for: art drawn specifically to stand on its own in black and white, yet which allows for color. So two editions can be published, one for each market [bookstore and comic shop], if desired."

Posted 28 August 02002 - Permalink

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Name your baby Turok for a year and get $10,000 [Acclaim press release via Splash]

More on The Authority: Scorched Earth [Newsarama]

Master of Kung Fu returning in the MAX line [Pulse]

Richard Starkings' 5 Favorite Silver Age Letterers [Pulse]

Posted 27 August 02002 - Permalink

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24 Hours @ Ninth Art [via BugPowder]
Warren Ellis mentioned this on his mailing list too. Creating comics in 24 hours. Go see the results.

Stan Lee and John Romita Jr. will tell the last Fantastic Four story [this week's Rage]

Get The Blues [Sequential Tart]
Interview with Myatt Murphy, one of the Fade From Blue creators.

A Hot Cup of MOCCA: The 2002 MOCCA Arts Festival [this week's Savant essay]
"Perhaps the best bit of email that's popped up in my inbox recently was one stating that the MOCCA Art Festival will return in 2003. This was especially welcome news because June 2002's MOCCA-Fest was not only overwhelmingly successful, it was met with near-unanimous praise from its attendees, with many noting that it was the best show they had ever been to." It was a great festival. Can't wait for next year!

Also from Savant this week: A list of books they consider essential
Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment makes the list.

This is why we don't have superheroes! [Cult of the Dead Cow]

Interested in creating your very own fan site or downloads for Monk? [USA Network via Raelity Bites]
Neilalien wants to see the television show now based solely on their rational approach to fan websites.

Enormous "What Was The Best Comic Book Ever?" thread [Fark.com, slow load, large images]

Comic Relief [Empire Online via Triptych Cryptic]
A light rundown of the comics that are currently being made into movies. Dr. Strange not mentioned.

Solid Kurt Busiek Gerber-Defenders reality pill [Defenders Message Board]

Editing a Hate Crime [Pulse]
Still more about Green Lantern- this time an interview with Editor Bob Schreck.

Posted 26 August 02002 - Permalink

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Current CBLDF button  OR  Neilalien's CBLDF button

Neilalien's wanted to put up a Comic Book Legal Defense Fund ad for a long time now, and show his support [webmasters go here]. But why hasn't he? The nature of his resistance: he doesn't want that ugly thing (the one on the left) up on his site! The small font looks crappy, the grey image in the background obscures (what is it anyway?), and having a phone number on an 88x31 internet button makes little sense. So Neilalien made his own, the one on the right. Just doing the initials is more obscure, but a good alt or title tag helps that. Neilalien thinks his looks and catches the eye a lot better, so let's fling it on the wall and see if it sticks.

Posted 25 August 02002 - Permalink

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Charlton Comics return [Pulse]
Neat! They have an uphill battle though, as mentioned in the discussion. The current marketplace is tough, and very different from Charlton's old days. DC sucked up all their decent characters. But it would be nice to see some other genres. Tales of Forbidden Worlds sounds interesting.

Fox nabs Creature Tech film rights [Newsarama]
All Neilalien has to say is that a book is on his radar, and look how hot the property becomes! Still waiting to check this comic out (slated for release next week)!

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon comic on the way [CBR]

SpongeBob leaves fans all wet [Boston Herald via Splash]
"It was like he was Elvis." Police and mall security helped him escape the angry mob.

Alan David Doane, editor-in-chief of Comic Book Galaxy, has a weblog!

Comic Book Depot will return as "more like a 'weblog' for comics."

SpinnerRack.com under redevelopment too!?

Posted 24 August 02002 - Permalink

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Why New Marvel Sucks Ass! [Millar column on CBR]
Funny stuff. Marvel is much better now. But maybe a little too much praise here. Just because things have been modernized doesn't automatically make them good. And anything's going to look awesome when compared to late-90's Marvel.

Free Comic Book Day 2 blurb [Newsarama]

Posted 23 August 02002 - Permalink

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TokyoPop "Rising Stars of Manga" Talent Competition [Newsarama]

Looking Back: Scott McCloud's Destroy!! [Newsarama]

Neilalien missed this blurb re: The Authority: Scorched Earth [Newsarama]

Future Comics hampered by self-distribution, spamming retailers? [Pulse]

Posted 22 August 02002 - Permalink

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The Day I Jack Kirbied My Neighbour's Jemas [Millar's Column at CBR]

Journey Into Comics: Peter David's Captain Marvel wins U-Decide [Newsarama]

Still more: Judd Winick on Green Lantern #154 [Newsarama]

Posted 21 August 02002 - Permalink

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Anyone see any "icons for the 21st century" in Image's new superhero line? [CBR]
Didn't think so. Neilalien might check out Invincible though.

Bawdy Work [Entertainment Weekly via Fark]
Neilalien blogs Stan Lee. So he gets to blog Stripperella! Woo hoo!

Posted 20 August 02002 - Permalink

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Comic Book Censorship [Banned Books Project via/at A Small Victory]

Yoiks! Since the Eatonweb Portal's Edit Your Weblog Listing Drive started, the Comic Book category has ballooned.

Posted 19 August 02002 - Permalink

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'Fade From Blue,' The Little Indie That Could [Comic Book Resources]
A major press hit for an excellent comic.

Chaos! Comics bankrupt [Comic Book Resources]

Spidey gives people gas in Thailand [Splash]

Tons of comics news sites listed here [Pulse]
Hey, what can Neilalien say? If you want the best and most comprehensive list of comic book sites and links on the web, it's Neilalien. And if you don't have time to check out all those sites, let Neilalien filter the news for you in his weblog!

"Help! I'm in love with a comics-lover!" [Usenet thread (Google Groups)]

Mighty Straczynski post about art and continuity [Usenet (Google Groups)]
Someone get this guy on Dr. Strange!

The Jewish Thing [WNYC Radio Transcript via Usenet]
With Tom Brevoort and Stan Lee. Wow, that story got so much press coverage, didn't it? The guy's a Golem, duh!

High praise for Transmetropolitan [Boing Boing]

Transcript of Judd Winick on Donahue [MSNBC via Pulse]
Re: the new gay character in Green Lantern. More here [Green Lantern fights gay-bashing (Salon) via Ghost in the Machine; A Comic Book Gets Serious on Gay Issues (NYTimes.com (reg req'd)) via a totally useless Silver Bullet piece without a link- real solid comics journalism, boys!]

Too-long Joe Q interview of current hypes and defenses [Newsarama]

Thanks to The Vibe.org weblog for its recent link to Neilalien. The number of non-U.S. emails and links Neilalien gets always floors him. Now can someone translate this for him so he can find out what nice things they said (err, hopefully they're nice things).

Epilogue: More Davezilla vs. Godzilla links here and here. Neilalien is interested in this topic because (a) his minor brush with potential history re: Mozilla noted previously, (b) he runs a fansite, and fansites can get cease-and-desist letters too, and (c) all netizens should be interested in this topic. Looks like Dave has added a "This site is not affiliated" footer. "Yet another call to arms." And a voice-of-reason post about trademarks at Pushing Rectangles- except for the "chuckleheads" crack.

Neilalien doesn't think a strong reaction to a cease-and-desist letter is chuckleheaded. First, action has followed these letters often enough. Neilalien has seen a lot of fansites forced to close shop. Hopefully and probably, nothing more is in store for Davezilla. Second, there is an indignity in this. This particular indiginity isn't the entertainment-company-biting-the-fansites-that-feed-it scenario but another sort. Davezilla and his dragon image aren't confusing anyone about Godzilla. They are only "Godzilla trademark usages" in the most idiotic, greedy corporate mind. They are peeing on Dave's leg and telling him they own the rain. Third, it's just plain scary. We're all pretty attached to our websites. If it's for a stack of papers to prove they've policed their trademarks, then why make it threatening? Why not a letter like, "We're aware of you; because of current trademark law, we have to send this letter to you; we don't want to interfere in any way, but we ask nicely for a disclaimer, a footer, a logo tweak, etc." Catch more flies that way, right? Oh well. Neilalien isn't a lawyer either. This site only exists due to Marvel's good graces so far.

Posted 18 August 02002 - Permalink

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Infinity Abyss #5 Review (Spoilers)

Neilalien has been picking up Thanos: Infinity Abyss because of Doc's starring role. It's a straightforward and moderately enjoyable action/cosmic-quest yarn. Can't really recommend it unless you care about the characters involved (since the excellent Infinity Guantlet, Neilalien hasn't cared all that much, and he's never understood Warlock or Pip's appeal).

The series has been good for Doc- especially the battle with Moondragon in a great sequence. Unfortunately, that changes in #5. Doc dispatches the Mystical Thanos Clone well enough- but then Doc gets knocked out fairly easily- again. How many times is this in the past year real-time? Three? Defenders #6 (by the Hulk, although that was palatable), Defenders #10, and now this. What a colossal disappointment. Doc's just not that vulnerable with his senses, Seraphimic Shields and Sorcerer-Supreme-ness and all. There are tons of ways to defeat Doc or otherwise remove him from the picture for a little while if the story requires it- but all that writers seem to imagine lately is a muscle-bound thug sneaking up on him and bonking his head. As if Doc would have made it out of the Ancient One's training program if it were that easy. Grrr. Neilalien detests Incompetent Doc.

Not sure if Neilalien's buying this whole mortal-sits-out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-undefended-securing-Actuality's-proper-place-within-the-Cosmic-Vortex thing either, but that's a rant for another time.

Posted 15 August 02002 - Permalink

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Neilalien's Minor Brush With Potential History

As everyone on the web scene already knows, Davezilla received a cease-and-desist letter from the Godzilla folks [more here].

We're all rallying to Davezilla's side against this act of stupidity, and rightly so. Neilalien is in total support of Davezilla! Don't mess with webloggers and true netizens! Before you can say "bad press," cease-and-desisters, spammers, clueless linking policiers, and Google-diddling religions are crushed beneath our boot.

The next breath from everyone's mouth is, "Is Mozilla next?" [examples: comments on Davezilla; Metafilter; GrepLaw; The Register; Techdirt; CNet]

Here's where the minor brush comes in. Neilalien was a colleague of a wonderful designer who's done a lot with Mozilla's giant lizard. Sat one cubicle over as she drew the Mozdev.org site. How's about that.

Posted by Neilalienzilla 14 August 02002 - Permalink

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Sweet upcoming Stormwatch vs. Authority story line! [Newsarama]

The New York City Comic Book Museum is involved in many good things [Pulse]

Retailers taking control of their inventory online at ComicsMover.com! Excelsior! [Comic Book Resources]

Short news article encouraging comics for investment [posted to Usenet (Google Groups)]

Marvel Encyclopedia Preview [Newsarama]
Neilalien won't get all negative about the product. Frankly, it's not for people who are already fans.

Wish You Were There? A report from the San Diego Comic-Con 02002 [Ninth Art]

Friday's Steve Ditko panel, focusing on someone whose contribution to the world of comics is frequently shoved aside in favour of his immediate contemporaries, showed that comics has a history beyond Silver Age superheroes. Blake Bell moderated a panel consisting of John Romita Sr, Gary Groth (whose anti-superhero tirades were contained to referring to a particular IRON MAN story as "brainless"), Paul Smith and Batton Lash. Todd McFarlane had begged off to attend a baseball-related event, and his "imminent" arrival didn't occur at any point during the panel's 90-minute tenure. Dealing with everything from Ditko's horror books to his fascination with Ayn Rand, it was a fascinating look at a largely unsung hero of the form.

Posted 13 August 02002 - Permalink

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Road to Perdition gets a big thumbs up [official movie site, all Flash]
A straightforward old-school gangster movie- but it wraps a moving fathers-and-sons theme. Neilalien will try to catch the original comic [Amazon].

Neilalien's finally started reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay [Amazon]

Extremely high praise for Alan Moore [Moore Morality by Dylan Horrocks on Ultrazine via LinkMachineGo]

Fans keeping the Malibu Comics Ultraverse fires burning [Newsarama]

Neilalien was having some drunken late-night fun with his website, PHP and cookies over the weekend. You are invited to personalize your Neilalien Website ExperienceTM with a name and choose a style sheet. It ain't much, but he's proud of it. Let's call it a "beta." Please email Neilalien feedback, bug reports, feature requests, etc.

Posted 11 August 02002 - Permalink

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The Neilalien Website ExperienceTM can now be personalized for your complete internet pleasure.

Behind The Doors of Creature Tech [Newsarama]
Excellent interview, neat images. This book is now on Neilalien's radar.

Comic Book Confidential! [Millar's Column on CBR]
More fun dirt on the comics biz.

The post-LPC book distribution landscape [Pulse]
Diamond is the distributor of the little guy at this point.

More on Marvel's second quarter profit [press release at Yahoo Finance via Splash]
Plus: A Dr. Strange movie is again mentioned as in the pipeline.

Posted 9 August 02002 - Permalink

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UK Comic Books for Drug Addicts Come Under Fire [CBR; Splash]

Strong publishing numbers, Spider-Man movie give Marvel bouyant Q2 [Newsarama #1; #2]

Censorship of The Authority [Darius Notes via Boing Boing]
Neilalien enjoyed this item a lot. It's nice to see all the material collected in one place. But two minor gripes: (1) The author should credit All The Rage a lot more prominently for the images and info. (2) It's not totally black-and-white, but as sternly mentioned in the Boing Boing discussion- there's a difference between being censored and having an editor.

Follow-up: Stan Lee's file copy of Strange Tales #110 went for $862.50 [Heritage Comics]

Posted 8 August 02002 - Permalink

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Nick Cage selling his $2 million comic book collection [Newsarama]

Here come the letters and signatures, Marvel Comics! [Defenders Message Board petition to get the Defenders back!]

More superhero and comic book dating memeness [In Sequence]
Neilalien forgot about Veronica. Meow.

Image announces new superhero line [Newsarama]
Superhero genre dead as a doornail? Punching men in technicolor tights suffocating the comic book? Nah.

Pow! Crunch! Bam! Zowie! Gay! [Wired News]
Article picks up on the Apollo-Midnighter marriage with a quick overview of homosexuality in the comics.

Hey, cool! Neilalien wasn't expecting his Blogstreet Neighborhood to be so big.

Well, that was interesting. This site experienced a major (and distressing! ;) ) decrease in a traffic for a half-week last week- but now you're all back. Should Neilalien flatter himself to think that he has a lot of comic-savvy readers who attended the San Diego Comic-Con International?

Posted 7 August 02002 - Permalink

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"Spider-Man" can alter Times Square [CNet via Splash]
The Spidey movie digitally altered Times Square's billboards, for its own product placement and to remove ads that would date the movie. Times Square advertisers didn't like that. Judge threw it out.

Newsarama vs. Comicon.com; Busiek understandably removes 'Kick Me' sign from his back re: Ultimates; a superheroine breast item; and more people burst gaskets on comic book message boards (what is it about the internet?) [this week's Gutters]

Marvel Writers Talk Writing [CBR]

Todd MacFarlane vs. Peter David [CBR]

Full list of Newsarama's 2002 San Diego Comic-Con International coverage.

Full list of Comic Book Resources' 2002 San Diego Comic-Con International coverage.

The Comic Con sounded like a huge success, overflowing with people and activity. Cheers to all.

Posted 6 August 02002 - Permalink

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NY Post Honors Quesada for 'Heroes' Effort [NY Post via Splash]

Meanwhile, Howard Stern might get Joey's job?! [this week's Rage]
Highly doubtful. But Viacom buying Marvel is less doubtful.

Neilalien checked the Blogosphere this morning for more postings re: that superhero dating rating meme. Looks like a dead flash in the pan now. Only one quick negative mention of Dr. Strange (which was about the only outcome expected). However, Neilalien did find some great Brooklyn Haiku on Making Light that moved him to smile and nod knowingly.

Blogtree is one of the better blogging bandwagons. Neilalien listed here. This site was inspired by Firda. Also added a nod to Robot Wisdom which has obviously influenced Neilalien's blogging style.

Posted 5 August 02002 - Permalink

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How to Sell Comic-Strips and Become a Zillionaire! by Mark Millar [Comic Book Resources]

When Comics and Law Collide [Wired]

Reminiscing With Herb Trimpe [Comic Book Resources]

Posted 3 August 02002 - Permalink

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Saw Signs tonight. (Spoilers next.) M. Night Shyamalan is popular around here because of the fine "comic book" movie Unbreakable (Sixth Sense was awesome too). Signs is a good movie, at M's usual meticulous pace, with some fun scares, humor, effective child actors and deeper themes. Unfortunately, including both the "macro" and the "micro" of the alien invasion didn't work for Neilalien. Either show tech-savvy aliens in ships looming over cities in large-scale futuristic combat, or show a small-town family getting terrorized by long-fingered claws held back by wooden doors in a scary yet isolated probing (no pun intended) incident. Doing both made each scenario less powerful. And water? Puh-leeze. This planet is covered in mostly water, the atmosphere is filled with it, the humans are filled with it. At least in Alien Nation it was sea water. Maybe the drinking water was really tainted with something that the little girl tasted, and it was the taint that was toxic to the aliens?

Comic-Con International in San Diego dominates comics news [Comic Book Resources; Pulse; Comics Continuum]
No Dr. Strange mentioned in the reporting yet.

Update: Spider-Man Panel: In terms of other Marvel characters, Straczynski said he's interested in writing Doctor Strange (a "weird" story), Iron Man and Captain America. [Newsarama; Comics Continuum]

Why are Marvel's covers so bloody boring? [Usenet thread in Google Groups]
Neilalien totally agrees. All these generic pin-ups are boring. What happened to action and word balloons and indicating events within the book? More interesting items in this thread: past covers done first and the story inside made to match, and past feats to get product out on time (never see that anymore either).

There's a Stan Lee interview in the debut issue of Write Now! [via Mermaniac]
"The magazine about writing for comics, animation and science fiction!"

Haven't been back to HeroRealm in a while, since that whole Bendis/journalism blowout. Missed some decent content about accessibility, late books, regurgitating the 80's and high praise for Spider-Man in the 80's (a little too high, methinks).

More superhero dating memeness [Beers Across America; Silk Velvet Asylum; Making Light; Yourish.com again and again]
Neilalien gives five stars for Clea and the original Black Cat (before her recent T&A-ification). Must.. resist... don't... mention... reveal... Mangaverse Tigra... or Fathom... ;)

Posted 2 August 02002 - Permalink

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Neilalien is slightly confused again- but today, Newsarama became Newsarama.com and the old Newsarama at Comicon.com is replaced by Pulse. Right?

Why Writers Are Scum [Peter David via Boing Boing]

Superhero dating ratings update [Yourish.com]

Notes on League of Extraordinary Gentlemen v2 #1 [via LinkMachineGo]
Wow. Ever get the sense that you're behind in your reading by about a million books? Wow.

Posted 1 August 02002 - Permalink

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