Comics/Graphic Novels

Off-Panel: October 7, 2014

Paul Montgomery

Staff Writer

In addition to comics, Paul thrills to Frank Capra and kaiju movies, crime fiction, TV dramas, professional wrestling, and whatever the Muppets are doing at any given time (hopefully in combination with those other things). He tweets as @fuzzytypewriter

It’s time again for our daily dalliance with the larger comics internet. Here’s some news and notes from the best and brightest.

“There’s been a bunch of scuttlebutt going on around APE, the Alternative Press Expo now unfolding in San Francisco, and it is being announced today that CCI, which runs APE, the San Diego Comic-Con and WonderCon is returning ownership of the show to founder Dan Vado starting next year. Vado founded the show in his home base of San Jose in 1994 as part of the then-burgeoning scene of indie comics events that included the Small Press Expo in Bethesda and SPACE in Columbus. CCI took it over in 1995, eventually moving it to San Francisco. Vado has been mostly uninvolved with the show in recent years, while expanding SLG, his comics company, to a storefront and event space. And of course, CAFs have blown up everywhere, with TCAF, SPX, MoCCA, CAB, MeCAF, Thought Bubble, Short Run and many more showcasing the indie comics side of today’s comics world.”

The Beat reports on the altered state of the Alternative Press Expo, from CCI to its original owner and founder Dan Vado. Seems only appropriate that the premiere indie show retire its monkey suit and return to its grass roots. All the best to APE moving forward!

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“However small the characters may be, it’s fair to guess that they would live in the same universe as Bryan Singer’s X-Men. If Fox went down this path, it would be their first steps towards a media-hopping, shared universe, much like Marvel is doing with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and DC is doing with Flash and Arrow. Going beyond shared universes, comic book television shows have reached a fever pitch with more than half a dozen programs either airing or in development.”

The ever-churning comic book movie rumor mill posits that Fox is allegedly at work on a live-action X-Men television series.

For no particular reason, here is a promo image of the Mutant X (2001) cast. Remind me to tell you about the time my mother met John Shea on the set of Stealing Home. Actually that’s the whole story, come to think of it.

mutantx

Onward.

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“First off, let me just say that we screwed up, and everyone here knows it,” read part of the apology, issued by Kimberley Pierce, VP, Marketing Communications at Wonder Forge. “It’s an internal regret for our team that we did not include female super heroes in the game. And it’s a personal regret because so many of us are parents of daughters, who understand firsthand the importance of developing playthings that are inclusive and convey to girls a sense that they can do or be anything… It has inspired good internal dialogue on the subject and a renewed commitment to featuring female characters in our super hero games.”

Games-maker Wonder Forge issues an apology for neglecting to include a single female character in their strategy game, following similar objections to the insulting gender politics in DC-licensed children’s apparel.

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“Nearly 400 people wore Spiderman costumes together in London, setting a new Guinness World Record.

“[Event organizer] Escapade held a similar event last year to set a world record for Largest Gathering of People Dressed as Superman. This year the company chose Spiderman to reflect real life heroes since Peter Parker started out as a regular guy.”

Marvel’s “Spider-Verse” event has its work cut out for it if it hopes to catch up with the real world and its record-breaking cabal of 398 inebriated Spider-People.