NYCC: ‘Marvel Contest of Champions’: Gameplay and New Character Reveal

This year at New York Comic Con we stopped by the Kabam booth to try our hands at the latest from Contest of Champions. The mobile game features Marvel characters in head to head fighting action and has the distinction of adding new heroes and villains into the Marvel Universe. Have you been following the adventures of Venompool, Civil Warrior and Guillotine?

No, you, haven’t because these are brand new properties introduced exclusively for Contest of Champions.

We spoke with Contest of Champions design director Tim Molyneux on the New York Comic Con floor and he talked us through his job and what we can expect from the future, including the introduction of mystic character Morningstar and other new characters soon to be unlocked on a tablet or phone near you.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

5 MORE QUESTIONS WITH GUSTER AT PARADISE ROCK CLUB - DO617

5 or so More Questions with Ryan Miller of Guster​ at Do617​. We headed to a VIP celebration of both Paradise Rock Club​ and Guster last night. Our interviewer really needs a tripod and a microphone but his arm remained (mostly) steady to hear Ryan talk about coffee, Boston and the music industry! Thanks, Ryan for coming correct!

FOG! Chats With DC Comics’ Team Arrow, Benjamin Percy, Juan Ferreyra & Nate Piekos at FORCES OF GEEK

With CW’s Arrow going into it’s fifth season and 100 episodes (how did that happen?) spawning a superhero revolution on TV with the Arrowverse, a new spike has been given to the Emerald Archer’s popularity.

DC’s Comics recent Rebirth initiative made comic stores great again and writer Benjamin Percy was able to give Ollie back his goatee and reunites castaway with Black Canary along with selling a ton of Green Arrow Rebirth #1s.

We talked pre-Rebirth and post-Rebirth with Ben and Rebirth #1 cover artist and co-writer Juan Ferreyra at the DC Comics booth at New York Comic Con last week as Mr. Queen and Black Canary face the Island Of Scars.

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FOG!: Hey guys, it’s an honor to talk with you, I’m a big Green Arrow fan, and I’ve been reading what you’ve been doing since before Rebirth. My first question is, did you feel like Rebirth was a good opportunity to revisit some things, or did you feel like you weren’t done telling part of your (New 52) story?

Ben Percy: When I jumped into the New 52, and first pitched Green Arrow, I wanted to write Black Canary into it, I was told, “You can’t do that”. I said, “He’s gotta have a goatee,” and I couldn’t do that.

I was also trying to do the novelist thing, which is playing the long game, which you should never do in comics! Because, I could have been kicked out after a few issues. But early on, I was keeping Ollie away from his costume, away from his bow and arrow in an effort to really get to know him as a person. It felt kid of schizophrenic prior to that in the New 52.

I really wanted to build up the character, and I had in my mind a Rebirth revitalization of the character, anyway. I was going to move towards that moment when he truly became Green Arrow. It just got sped up a bit for me.

I did have another storyline involving The Outsiders that I was working towards. There were a lot of hints in there, about that, but its fine. We got rid of that, we just jumped right into the new era.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

BATMAN: BAD BLOOD (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Batman: Bad Blood is the latest DC Universe Animated Original Movie and is quite possibly the best Bat-family animation since 2010’s Batman: Under the Red Hood. The animated franchise rebooted itself to align with the New 52 in 2012 withJustice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, and Batman himself, along with Damian Wayne and Nightwing, Alfred and the rest have their own continuity to follow now starting with 2103’s Batman: Son of Batman and the Court of Owls storyline in 2014’s Batman vs. Robin. 

With a dynamic screenplay from comic book industry veteran J.M. DeMatteis (Justice League International, Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt), Batman: Bad Blood borrows heavily from New 52 storylines featured Grant Morrison’s Batman, Batman Incorporated, Batman and Robin and Batwing as well as Batwoman from Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III. 

The stripped down Batman: Incorporated story in Batman: Bad Blood definitely works, with dynamic action, great character work and introduction and nods to the spanning comic stories that preceded this feature.

Batman: Bad Blood introduces some key members of the family, while piggybacking on Batman: Son of Batman andBatman vs. Robin. Batwoman (Yvonne Strahovski) appears early on as an uneasy ally to Bruce Wayne (Jason O’Mara) before Batman disappears from Gotham City.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

Murdock St. Fire Coverage

Thanks for your support in our crowdfunding.

I’m OK. 

Moving my office and living space (with Stacey) to a loft in Charlestown after the fire that made us homeless on August 21.

Read more here.

VANYALAND

DIGBOSTON

YOUCARING (donation site)

I’m at a loss for words about how much this means to me. Wishing Kyle (and Cajun) and Michelle (and Bronson) and my Neighbors at 105 Christian, Max, Colin and Rose can find a place to live soon.

I love you all.

XO

Clay

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COMICS IN FOCUS: CHRIS CLAREMONT’S X-MEN (REVIEW) AT FORCES OF GEEK

“To me, it’s all one story. Because life is a single story” 

— Chris Claremont

To prepare for the cross-time caper that is Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, we were treated to a preview of Comics in Focus: Chris Claremont’s X-Men. The documentary produced by Patrick Meaney forRespect! Films and the Sequart Research & Literacy Organization includes  interviews with Chris Claremont, and other instrumental professionals involved in the Claremont Era of X-Men including Len Wein, Louise Simonson, Ann Nocenti and Jim Shooter. 

After Stan and Jack’s X-Men run, Roy Thomas and Neal Adams attempted to revive the book before it devolved into reprints and remained a essentially a third tier book.  May 1975’s Giant Size X-Men #1 was the shot in the arm the series needed to continue to prosper.

Written by Len Wein and drawn by Dave Cockrum, the success of the book prompted a renewal of sorts with former Marvel intern Chris Claremont starting writing chores on the book in August of 1975.

The new international team of mutants would have their life stories told by Claremont, Cockrum, John Byrne and Terry Austin for years to come. 

[READ MORE at FORCES OF GEEK]

KING OF COMICS: A TRIBUTE TO ILLUSTRATOR RALF KÖNIG (REVIEW) at FORCES OF GEEK

Germany has it’s own King of Comics, and that man is Ralf König.

The 2012 documentary of König’s life is now streaming on digital platforms and is a wonderful exploration of cartooning dealing with sexuality, censorship, religion and König’s rise to popularity and his life today as a treasured hero to both the comic book and homosexual communities.

Filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim (The Einstein of Sex, I Am My Own Woman, Rent Boys) invades Ralf’s loft for some heartfelt interviews as well as connects with the important people in Ralf’s life.

König’s most infamous comic, The Most Desired Man, was made into a film in 1994 starring Til Schweiger. Der bewegte Mann (International title: The Most Desired Man, U.S. title: he Most Desired Man) is a highly regarded cult film in which König makes an appearance as a drag queen.

The 53 year-old Ralf König came to prominence after coming out in the early 80s by producing humorous cartoons about the gay lifestyle, dating, drag queens and gay fantasies.

In the past couple of decades, König has taken on religiosity, live-in relationships and even the radical Islam.

Many German homosexuals credit König for the bravery to come out, via his humorous and matter-of-fact take on gay stereotypes in his early comics. Of course König’s comics deal with 80s AIDS fear as well, encouraging safe sex and dealing with the death of his friends from the disease as well.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

EARTH PRIME TIME: ‘SUPER KNOCKED UP’ WEB SERIES SEASON 2 WITH JEFF BURNS

Last year we spoke with creator Jeff Burns of the webseries Super Knocked Up about super villain Darkstar bringing a child into the world after a one night stand with super hero Captain Amazing. Season 2 is a big hit and winning awards, so we check in with Jeff and the stars of the show as everyone ramps up for San Diego Comic-Con.

DIGBOSTON: Thanks for taking the time today, Jeff! First off congratulations on The Geekie Awards for Most Original Web Series. Things are going well?
JEFF BURNS: Things are going amazingly well!  We just won The Geekie Award for Most Original Web Series and swept all four categories in last week’s We Love Soaps poll (week of June 16—22).  We won Favorite Web Series, Favorite Couple for Jessica and Michael (Darkstar and Captain Amazing, Favorite Actress for Jourdan Gibson, and Favorite Actor for Mark Pezzula.

Super Knocked Up also screened at LA WebFest, where we won a Visual Effects Award for the awesome work of our Visual Effects Artists Daniel DeFabio and Christopher Vincelette. And we’re official selections at Marseille WebFest and Melbourne Web Fest.

Creator Jeff Burns and Jourdan Gibson (Jessica James/Darkstar) of Super Knocked Up

The most exciting news of all is that Jourdan and I got invited to be on a web series panel at San Diego Comic Con.  I’ve always wanted to go and to get to be on a panel there is a dream come true! It’s called Web Series Creators Assemble! and will take place Thurs. July 18 at 7:30 p.m. in Room 24ABC.  Katrina Hill and Alex Langely (Geeks and Gamers Anonymous) did an amazing job organizing the panel and they’ll be on it with us along with Jane Espenson (Buffy, Once Upon a Time, Husbands), Brad Bell (Husbands), Sandeep Parikh (Save the Supers, The Guild), and Tara Platt and Stephanie Thorpe (Shelf Life).

Besides YouTube, obviously, where else are you able to screen the show?
Outside of our own YouTube Channel, Super Knocked up is part of the online networks atKoldCast.tv and JTS.tv.  And we can be seen on the very popular MovieManiacs YouTube Channel.

There’s been a casting change for Darkstar – Jourdan Gibson now in the starring role as the new Mom. Were there any fan reactions to the switch?
I’ve been thrilled to see that the fan reaction to Jourdan taking over as Darkstar has been overwhelmingly positive. They really love her in the role and love the amazing chemistry she and Mark have together on screen. But we did a few things to really help the fans accept her and introduce her to them. I had her do VLOGs called Super Jourdy! after she was first cast to show her super-goofy and fun personality to the fans. And a couple of months before Season 2 premiered we started doing live Google Hangout shows called Super Geeked Up where Jourdan, Mark, and I talk about geeky stuff, answer fan questions, and have a guest from the web series world on each week. These live shows really let the fans see how amazing and personable Jourdan is and I think many of them fell in love with her before they even saw her in Season 2. And then even more so when they actually go to see her kick ass in the episodes. So doing all this stuff and gradually introducing the fans to Jourdan over time I think was really key.

It was much more effective than if we had just said, “Hey everyone here’s Season 2 and oh by the way here’s a new actress playing Darkstar.”

That would have been a lot harder to sell. So I’m really proud of the way we handled it. But a huge factor is just that Jourdan knocked it out of the park with her performance. She kicks ass as Darkstar!

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

Season 1 interview here!

EARTH PRIME TIME: MARVEL & DC VIDEO GAMES

Everyone that was at PAX EAST this weekend is still resting up, especially if they were out late at one of the many awesome after-parties around town. Comic fans can throw on their headphones on and get back to coding while they wait for some of the most anticipated video games in the industry where you get to control your favorite hero, even if that hero is Deadpool.

 
It is argued that as far as comic book characters are concerned, the real way a company like Disney or Warner can make money is by licensing the properties out to merchandise; the real money comes from video games, and of course, by selling movie tickets. I don’t think that’s wrong, and it is always a tickle in the back of the mind that hopefully the success of films like Dark Knight Rises orAvengers can prop up the floppy or digital comic book industry for years to come.

Both of The Big Two have announced some awesome games recently that we’re excited about, to keep our thumbs busy when not flipping pages.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

EARTH PRIME TIME: BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS – PARTS 1 & 2

Frank Miller’s 1986 genre defining and milestone graphic novel, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns has been adapted in the latest installments of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. The extended storyline demanded that the story—initially broken into four chapters—be broken up into two parts. The highly anticipated last chapter was made available on Blu-Ray, DVD or Download on January 29th. The Dark Knight Returns as a comic defined the look and tone of Bruce Wayne’s alter-ego for a generation, twisting both tropes of the comic book page and the media’s 24/7 news cycle down to their aging knees while all the while inexplicably breathing new life and reflection on both. We’re hard pressed to find fault with DC attempting to share the story with a new audience in a new medium, and aside from dyed in the wool fanboy nit picks, we’ve gone in depth comparing and contrasting the original art form with the movies to be mostly satisfied with the result. Peter Weller (Robocop, Star Trek: Into Darkness) stars as the aging Batman, eventually facing the maniacal Joker voiced by Michael Emerson (Ben Linus onLost, Person of Interest).

Both the movie and the book start out with a moustachioed and retired Bruce Wayne (Earth-31) totaling his racecar over the finish line in the Ferris 6000 motor race. After cheating death, Bruce meets up with outgoing Commissioner Jim Gordon for more than a few drinks and then a solo stroll through Crime Alley. He is confronted by some of the Mutant gang and scares the boys away. A restless night and a trip to Batcave after the encounter with Gotham’s new string of baddies motivates Batman back into the cowl, to the chagrin of our faithful Alfred Pennyworth. Sound familiar?

Christopher Nolan (and Tim Burton, for that matter) have a lot to owe this book for characterization and major plot points.

Another animated property, Batman Beyond owes it’s entire existence and frequently nods at this touchstone of future Bat-legacy.

[READ MORE at DIGBOSTON.COM]

11/9 MC FRONTALOT, Brandon Patton @MidEastClub Upstairs! #Nerdcore

Wed 11/9 - Middle East Upstairs LeaguePodcast.com & Rock On! Present: MC Frontalot, Brandon Patton 18+ $10 Advance / $12 Day Of Show TIX - Facebook Event Just Announced show at Middle East Upstairs! MC Frontalot - Bizarro Genius Baby Happy Wednesday! Enjoy! MP3s here. Video here. ******************** BRANDON PATTON

Welcome to the new Clay N Ferno . com! - "In the Business of Fun Since 2001"

Hey Guys-

I’ve moved to this great squarespace platform for my new blog. I hope you enjoy!
This month is the 6th Anniversary of me being on the Boston Phoenix as the ‘Most Popular Guy in Boston’.
I’m no longer a whiskey drinker or stoner…though most of this is all true to this day!

Article here:

Lost in MySpace - Camille Dodero, Boston Phoenix, July 22, 2006

Oh MySpace, how things have changed!
Can you save us, J.T.?

—
Clay, July 9, 2011