Neilalien : A Doctor Strange Fansite : A Comic Book Weblog  

Dr. Strange by Colleen Doran Elegant Doctor Strange commission by Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil)

And a Doctor Strange vs. Doctor Doom commission by Doran [A Distant Soil]

Doran: "Doctor Strange always makes me feel better... I'd like to draw that comic someday." Once you see her art, you'll say it with Neilalien: From her weblog to Marvel's ears!

[A Distant Soil: About Page] [A Distant Soil: Webcomic] [Amazon store (or support your LCS)]

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Interview with Paul Tobin, who's writing of Doctor Strange last year earned two Neilalien Awards [Marvel.com]

Interview with Paul Cornell, writer of current Neilalien fave Captain Britain and MI13 with much Marvel Universe magic and vampires [Comic Book Resources]

Black characters in comics: better than ever, but still need more equality, research, variety and respect [4th Letter] [4th Letter Black History Month 02009 entire series of posts]

Interview with Tim Leong on the end of hip mag Comic Foundry [Comic Book Resources]

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Retailer Brian Hibbs' annual/02008 analysis of BookScan bookstore sales numbers [Tilting At Windmills at Comic Book Resources]

But crappy under-reported BookScan bookstore numbers once again probably make the Direct Market look too good and bookstores look too poorly in the competition/comparison to sell art/alt comics- this year with even more kerfuffle!

Bring a salt-lick-sized grain of salt re: the numbers; new markets are additional markets, not replacement markets; DM specialists are needed [Comics Reporter]

Peggy Burns On Those Bookscan Numbers; What They're Good For And What They're Not; Hibbs accused of hatin' on art comix [Comics Reporter]

Update: Last word on Direct Market vs. Bookstores arguing [Comics Reporter]
We need them both, especially right now; each market has its advantages and challenges.

Posted 27 February 02009 - Permalink

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Seven Reasons Marvel Should Make A Dr. Strange Movie Sooner Rather Than Later [Comics Reporter]
A post for Neilalien's Blogiversary- and a damn good one too, listing many of the meta things that make Doctor Strange slightly different than the next superhero and worthy of being one's favorite character. Thanks so much, CR! Excelsior!

Updated: More thanks and raised shotglasses to: [Sanctum Sanctorum Comix] [Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat] [Progressive Ruin] [Johnny Bacardi Show] [Pop Culture Gadabout (celebrating seven years himself!)]

Posted 26 February 02009 - Permalink

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Nine years blogging! Time to party!

Let's party!

[current image snagged from 4chan]

Posted 25 February 02009 - Permalink

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Who is the next Sorcerer Supreme? Bendis and Brevoort chat re: a list of candidates [Comic Book Resources]

"I was scared and a little bummed that this storyline about who Stephen Strange is now, what he's doing now that he's not the Sorcerer Supreme, and who the new Sorcerer Supreme is since there has to be one, would disappear or lose some of the oomph it had," Bendis told CBR. "So I said, 'If no one is going to do anything about this, then when I'm done with 'Secret Invasion' I'll take it back. I waited until the last minute and no one got anything going, so I gleefully grabbed it back because I was really dying to do this story. I was just trying to not horde all the toys. I didn't want to be the guy who says, 'Don't touch Doctor Strange till I get back.' I don't like to do that. I also thought this would be a great arc for the character."

Posted 23 February 02009 - Permalink

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Doctor Strange Props to artist Kevin Nowlan; plenty of Doctor Strange included in the gallery, naturally [Scans_Daily, Part 2] [Nowlan Wikipedia page] [thanks Fiffe!]

Is Doctor Strange Ronald Colman? [You're Only As Good As Your Last Picture]
Related Redux by same author: Doctor Strange At The Movies [linked]

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Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company in NYC has a great new action-packed play out: Soul Samurai: lesbians, vampires and blaxploitation, oh my! [Vampire Cowboys] [comic book prequel]
Neilalien saw it this week and gives it a big three-tentacles up out of a possible three. He hasn't seen a bad or unhilarious Vampire Cowboys production yet.

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Midtown Comics in NYC is having a 40%-off everything with a spine sale this President's Week (yay timely blogging! well, you have only two more days). As Neilalien was thus consulting a gargantuan memo in his PDA of all the comic books that have ever crossed his radar but remain un-checked-out or unbought, the question became: Was that critically-acclaimed indie mini-series Living In Infamy about the town of supervillains in the Witness Protection Program (a concept that more evokes the wonderful Incognito nowadays) from a while back ever collected into a trade? Apparently, there was a TPB... in Spain. But research revealed that the full series is available to read online for free at Wowio! (You'll need a Wowio account but it's one of those two-second things.) [Comic Book Resources] [Living In Infamy at Wowio]

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Mark Waid: (via ADDTF)

[H]ate and vitriol should be reserved for people who deliberately try to do you harm, not people who try and sometimes fail to entertain you.

Posted 21 February 02009 - Permalink

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Doctor Strange by Fred Hembeck Marvel solicits for May 02009 include Doctor Strange in New Avengers #53, with his fellow Defenders in Hulk #12, Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #3 [Comic Book Resources] [Sanctum with complete rundown]

Great new Fred Hembeck commission: Dr. Strange a la 01983 The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones house ad [Hembeck.com] [17 February blogpost with more info]
With both day and night color versions. For that crazy collector Gerry Turnbull.

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Thorough chronology of Doctor Strange's lovelife [Sanctum Sanctorum Comix]

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Burn down this evil racket controlled cafe! Burn down this evil racket controlled cafe! Lovenote to Ditko Mr. A comics [Thunderin' [Deity], do ye think I'm dead?]

In NYC, you can only get Ditko Continued..., Steve Ditko's new comic, off the shelf at Jim Hanley's Universe [JHU Blog]

Is The Current Comic Book Audience Too Old For Superhero Comics? [comics retailer essay at Sequential Tart]

Marvel's Ultimate line to be relaunched; Jeph Loeb "finally admits" Ultimate continuity got bogged down in eight short years [Myriad Issues]
The call of continuity and shared universe is irresistible.

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Lifetime Movie Title Generator [via MemeMachineGo]

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Doctor Strange New Sorcerer Supreme 02009 House Ad

Marvel house ad, as seen in Captain Britain and MI13 #10

It feels like this is the first Strange-oriented Marvel house ad since maybe Frank Miller 01981- and all it evokes in this fan is what Thor fans must have felt when Beta Ray Bill appeared: Who's this other dude with Mjolnir? But we shall not prejudge. The Sorcerer Supreme title is a bit more mutable and unrequirable than being a Son of Odin. If a baddie gets the mantle and then Doc takes it back, that could be a good story (it's been done). But knowing Bendis' track record of tearing down yet never building back up, can you blame us for dreading that some blob like Wiccan is going to be Sorcerer Supreme for the next 50 years?

Sanctum already went hog-wild on this image two months ago, which is also the cover to New Avengers #51. Shown from top right: Scarlet Witch, Clea, The Hood, Dr. Doom, Ghost Rider (WTF?), Magik (Illyana), Dormammu (the new look from the recent Defenders miniseries), Hellfire (who? Phantom Rider's grandson with an ignitable chain, duh!), Brother Voodoo.

Posted 18 February 02009 - Permalink

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Comics murals in Brussels: A serious devotion to comics on display [Boston Globe: Travel section]

Brussels: City of Cartoons [ErasmusPC] [good pics and maps]

Tourism Brussels page of the murals [many pics but small]

Other decent Brussels comics mural pic galleries Neilalien found [PBase] [Comic Book Art in Brussels]

Brussels 02009 BD Comics Strip: "The different authorities in Brussels have decided to dedicate the tourist year [0]2009 to the theme of the comic strip." [Tour with all mural locations, PDF too, but no pics and no maps of Google Maps type detail]

Brussels: The Comic Capital of the World; A Comical History of Brussels [Literary Traveler]

Posted 16 February 02009 - Permalink

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History recap of Doctor Strange masked [Giant Size Marvel Comics]

Note to self: Check out Jeff Parker's Mysterius the Unfathomable [positive reviews of recent #1 collected by Parker]
The Mysterium: Library Arcane of Mysterius the Great

The Top Star Wars Lines Improved By Replacing A Word With "Pants" [Keepers of Lists] [via Kottke]
"I find your lack of pants disturbing."

Posted 15 February 02009 - Permalink

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St. Valentine's Day is Link Love Day

I ~heart~ you It's that fun time of year again, when Neilalien gazes into the Orb of Navelmotto and breaks taboos and runs his annual February-to-February website traffic stats report, to see who has sent the most link-love to his website- and in gratitude tries to send some eyeballs in return. So let's pour out the Valentine's paper bag that's been taped to his school desk and see who Choo-Choo-Chose him.

Top 20 Referrers to Neilalien Over The Past Year (1 February 02008-02009) (give these fine sites a visit!):

  1. Google searches
  2. MSN/Live searches
  3. Progressive Ruin
  4. Dave's Long Box (the RIP website that keeps on giving!)
  5. Google Reader (RSS reader) (new*)
  6. Yahoo searches
  7. BeaucoupKevin
  8. Polite Dissent
  9. LinkMachineGo
  10. Sanctum Sanctorum Comix (new)
  11. Comics Should Be Good
  12. StumbleUpon
  13. Unqualified Offerings
  14. Bloglines (RSS reader)
  15. Fred Hembeck's Links Page
  16. Comics Reporter
  17. Fortress of Fortitude
  18. Postmodernbarney
  19. Comics Weblog Update-A-Tron (aggregator) (new)
  20. Occasional Superheroine (new)

A big thanks to everyone who links to Neilalien! And props to this year's top personal website, the awesome Progressive Ruin.

(* Due to brainfart, Google Reader was not separated out from the Googleplex of web/image searches in previous St. Valentine's Day posts, and may have even medalled as its own Top 20 item in previous posts. However, Neilalien's data still tells the story well enough anyway: Bloglines was the dominant RSS reader, and now Google Reader is (example link: Destruction Of Bloglines Now Complete; Founder Prepares To Switch To Google Reader [TechCrunch 10/08]).

Posted 14 February 02009 - Permalink

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Blue Hat Man Three horror stories by Ditko posted online [Hairy Green Eyeball] [and three more]
"The Midnight Caller", Journey Into Mystery #90, March 01963, 5 pages; "Frederick Fenton's Future", Journey Into Mystery #96, September 01963, 5 pages; "A Monster Waits Outside", Tales to Astonish #12, October 01960, 5 pages. "I Know The Secret Of The Poltergeist", Tales to Astonish #1, January 01959, 6 pages; "I Dared To Defy Merlin's... Black Magic", Strange Tales #71, October 01959, 5 pages; "The Frog Man", Strange Tales #104, January 01963, 5 pages.

Blake Bell teases that he's working on another secret Steve Ditko project!; new Spider-Man Marvel Masterworks TPB includes Library of Congress original art, Bell essay [Ditko Looked Up, 4 February post]

Steve Gerber's Headmen/Nebulon Defenders arc trumps the meme that Grant Morrison heads the "mad ideas" school of comics [Precocious Curmudgeon from a while back, in response to the next-below link]

Morrison's Final Crisis is the apotheosis and death knell of the "mad ideas" school [Permanent Damage]

Interesting item from NYCC Cup o' Joe: Marvel Publisher Buckley on 16 pages for $3.99: "That was wrong. We fully admit it. You will not see that again." [Comic Book Resources]
The offending book was Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes.

Posted 13 February 02009 - Permalink

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Doctor Strange Brian K. Vaughan, in The Comics Journal #295, interviewed by Sean T. Collins:

[I]t was very easy to write Doctor Strange, who is a complete asshole, sort of an asshole to begin with, and his fatal flaw was arrogance, and so he worked really hard to get over being arrogant, and now he goes around calling himself "master of the mystic arts," like, oh wait, you're just as arrogant as you used to be.

LOL. Thanks so much, Sean! The career-spanning interview, while a great read, apparently went long and sadly didn't get to reach The Oath. [Interview excerpt at TCJ.com]

New Doctor Strange Super Hero Squad figure? Looks like a "Secret Invasion Begins" 4-Pack with Skrull Soldier, Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic and clear blue astral-form Dr. Strange was being sold at the New York Comic-Con [photo at MarvelousNews.com]
Neilalien's Google-Fu has found nothing else about this, from the current Wikipedia on down. Email info if you have it. The photo's not great, but it looks like the astral form includes the Cloak- grrr. Found via this therumorbuster.com post hitting the scanners.
Redux: Dr. Strange and Ant-Man Wave 5 2-Pack [Hasbro]

The Wastebasket is back tackling The True History of the Original Marvel Universe
The Wastebasket: Ancient Marvel History #1 (w/vampire origin item)
The Wastebasket: Ancient Marvel History #2 (w/Book of the Vishanti item)
The Wastebasket: Ancient Marvel History #3 (w/early Ancient One items)
Redux:
The Wastebasket: Doctor Strange Year One, Year Two, Year Three
The Wastebasket: History of the Darkhold

Posted 12 February 02009 - Permalink

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Steve Ditko has been contacted to contribute to new Creepy ongoing anthology series? [Newsarama NYCC Panel coverage] [thanks Pmpknface!]

Doctor Strange's "By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth!" on list of top ten catchphrases in need of replacement [International Society of Supervillains]

Where is Bill Jemas now? He who once wrote Marville is now writing a new Bible translation [NJ.com] [via The Beat]

Four pieces of Neilalien fave movie Unbreakable [Chicago Sun-Times Scanners Blog; video clips, lively comments]

Posted 11 February 02009 - Permalink

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Brave and Bold Fangs Steve Ditko on list of 12 Famous Living Recluses [A.V. Club]
(A missed-it item from 02007, so, er, they were all living at the time.)

Ditko-esque dimensions, Fangs of Farralah appear in Dr. Fate intro to recent J.M. DeMatteis-written episode of Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoon "The Eyes of Despero" [Sanctum Sanctorum Comix]

Tom Brevoort's first all-new project that became a comic book was Grant Morrison and Mark Millar's Skrull Kill Krew [Brevoort's Blah Blah Blog at Marvel.com]

Cool, haunting, surreal manipulations of celebrity photos into fembots [Flickr] [via Fimoculous]

Posted 9 February 02009 - Permalink

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Stan Lee Media shareholders file sweeping $750 million lawsuit against Stan Lee, Marvel, etc. [Variety]

Stan Lee Media Versus Stan Lee and a Lot of Other People [Film Esq.]

What Rights Did Stan Lee Actually Give Away? [Film Esq.]

Posted 9 February 02009 - Permalink

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NYCC: Doctor Strange basically not mentioned at all at New York Comic-Con 02009 or in Con news reports
Sigh. Tough to be a Doc fan. Neilalien had an awesome time otherwise!

Success: 77,000 unique attendees at NYCC smash last year's record with over 15% growth [ICv2]

Quotable Quotes from the ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference at NYCC [Kiel Phegley's Four Color Forum]

Posted 9 February 02009 - Permalink

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New York Comic-Con Weekend!
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund party tonight in NYC [CBLDF]

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Thorough examination of the 01970's Dr. Strange TV movie [Sanctum Sanctorum Comix: Part I: Promos, Design Art and Swag] [Part II: The Movie] [Part III: In Defense of Cheese]
Your weekend reading/viewing assignment if you can't be at the big Con. Otherwise you'll read it next week.

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Dave Gibbons' design talent created the innovative and fresh Watchmen logo/cover [Todd Klein]

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Lux Interior, punk icon, lead singer of the Cramps, has died [New York Times obituary] (link updated)
"Garbageman" and "Mystery Plane" are two Neilalien website faves.

Posted 5 February 02009 - Permalink

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Diamond's new order minimums increase is the beginning of the end for the Direct Market; Diamond is pushing content out of the DM that will find other ways to sell itself elsewhere [Comics212.net]

Franklin Harris delurks with comment (chopped up here):

The direct market was a life raft after the newsstand market sank, and it's amazing it has held up this long... Diamond is now down to amputating limbs... When you get a monopoly like Diamond, it's almost always because that company just happens to be the last company standing in a market that is dying.

"This is the end of Diamond, not the end of alternative comic books." [Comic Book Galaxy]

Update: Diamond should be pimping the next Bone ("paradigm of slow-build-to-significance item"), if only its purchasing department had any aesthetic judgment to find it [Brian Hibbs at Savage Critics]

Update: Of order minimums and the charts [ComiChron]
You do have to go way down the list to reach books below the new cutoff (all Top 300 of 02008 make it), which sounds like equal-time relief to the above, until you consider that there's so much Marvel and DC coming out that they're pushing more indies off that 300 list entirely.

Update/Must-Read: Why Diamond's New Minimums Policy Is Wrong, & What They Should Do About It [Comics Reporter]

Update: Selling Grows Rougher for Small Comics Publishers [New York Times]

Update: Essentially, Diamond is chopping off their "long tail"

Posted 4 February 02009 - Permalink

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The unique grammatical and aesthetic traditions of comic book lettering [Nate Piekos at Blambot] [via MetaFilter]

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Huge message board thread still going strong at Collectors Society to post comicbook covers numbered with that day of 02009 (e.g., February 3rd being the 34th day of the year, issue #34's are being posted today); most interesting are the old and special-edition numberless and #0 comic covers posted at the beginning of the thread prior to January 1st when the #1's start [Collectors Society Message Board] [thanks Howard!]

Posted 3 February 02009 - Permalink

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Comics-inker-gone-Hollywood Arne Starr says Patrick "McDreamy" Dempsey was considered by Marvel for Dr. Strange movie role [Arne Starr Online] [ComicMix]
But Marvel's too busy with other movies right now.

Classic Doctor Strange T-shirt now in white long-sleeve form [StylinOnline.com]

How fantasy novelist S.C. Butler met Stan Lee and Steve Ditko [SF Novelists]

Posted 2 February 02009 - Permalink

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New York Comic-Con this upcoming weekend!
See you there!

Great analysis of Jeff Smith's handling of action in Bone [Consequentialart's Sequential Art Class] [via Comics Reporter]

Posted 1 February 02009 - Permalink

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