Me Geek, You Geek

Today's Daily Rant can also be heard by using the audio player at the end of this post, downloading the audio file to your computer or subscribing through iTunes.

I ran across an article today in IBD that I want to share.  It has absolutely nothing to do with comics, but it was intriguing none the less.  Apparently Belgian researchers have been able to make tiny robots that act like cockroaches and can actually become integrated and accepted into cockroach society.  The robots can actually teach the cockroaches to walk into bug traps or into well lit areas instead of dark areas, which is of course counter instinctual.  Sounds kinda like what might be happening in the Marvel Universe with the Skrull infiltration.

See...I can always bring it back around to comics.

A story at Ain't It Cool News has all but confirmed that Wonder Woman has been cast for the Justice League of America movie.  Who is it you might ask?

Yeah.  No way was I shrinking that image down. 

Anyway, this lovely Amazon woman is Megan Gale.  Google her once with your search filters off.  No seriously, go ahead, I'll wait.  There's nothing I can really say that is newsworthy following that picture.

"Hulk" director Louis Leterrier had the following quote about Ang Lee's dorky, sappy, Hulk movie over at WizardUniverse:

“It’s a fresh start because I saw there is a real fan base for Ang Lee’s movie. I didn’t want to offend [those fans] in any way, and also I like the movie. It was very interesting. [But] it was weaker ground to build a big franchise upon so we decided to scrap it and establish it from bases that are more comic book-based and TV show-based.”

And...

“Obviously, General Ross is the villain, so he had to be in it.  But the Abomination, Emil Blonsky, was who Marvel wanted to put in this chapter—the first chapter of our new saga—because he’s the most famous. He’s an enemy that can actually threaten the Hulk. It’s very important for me that there is a danger. When Bruce Banner is Hulk, I didn’t feel in Ang Lee’s ‘Hulk’ that there was any threat. He was invincible. So with Abomination there’s actually a monster that can, you know, kill him when he’s in the Hulk form.”

I like that first quote which basically says he doesn't want to offend fans of Lee's Hulk movie, but says they scrapped it all since it was so weak.  I think this guy's gonna do Hulk right.

And as for the new Joker pic of Heath Ledger that is running on a Wizard cover?  It's not that I needed more proof that this isn't the direction they should have went with the Joker, but here it is:

Just more ammo for us cranky fans who are never happy. Although that's not entirely true.  Just scroll up the page to see what makes me happy.  See?  Wasn't that easy?

In Marvel news the Fantastic Four books are going to have a new layout.  I will keep my opinion to myself (I don't like it) and see what Bart has to say since FF is his baby.  Here's a look at it.  To me it looks more like a magazine, which I guess is what they were going for.  I think it's better than the current logo they were using though.  I definitely like the art work by Bryan Hitch.  Speaking of his slow drawing ass, Tom Brevoort reports that Bryan already has 6 issues of FF in the can.  Here's to hoping.

Alright, the rant is over, you have your fix. As always feel free to send in your ideas for the Daily Rant topics or let me know it you want to be a guest on the show. And of course make sure to subscribe to our feed.

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Posted by Jon at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Let's all thank Tronman for this video. This is a fantastic little piece on the Joker, my favorite villain in all of comics (after Zom of course).

Creepy.

Labels: Movies

Posted by Jon at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Today's Daily Rant can also be heard by using the audio player at the end of this post, downloading the audio file to your computer or subscribing through iTunes.

So I've been waiting for everything to clear over at Z-Cult before going nuts on my ranting about it (read my previous thoughts here, here, here and here....sheesh I'm long winded.)

Now I have a bunch of news to get out of the way regarding Z-Cult, DCP-ing comics, and the state of the downloadable comic book.

Most of this takes place before Thanksgiving when Z-Cult site operator Serj reported to his members that DC and Marvel had sent him letters asking for him to pull the trackers to their illegally scanned and uploaded comics.  Serj responded with his site's methods of removing the trackers, which is basically confirm the comics are yours and we'll pull them, and waited for Marvel and DC to respond.

In the meantime Serg reported that SLG Publishing had contacted him and removed a previous ban placed on Z-Cult regarding tracking SLG books.  Things were looking up...maybe some publishers were interested in the marketability of Z-Cult.  But stop the presses.  Dan Vado, president of SLG, wrote a letter to the Z-Cult members denouncing the letter regarding the release of the tracking ban on Z-Cult.  Besides stating "...nor did anyone associated with my company in an official capacity, write the letter..." Dan also went on to say he was disgusted with the "poor excuse(s) for journalism", "News sites, and I use that term loosely since these fan-run, ad supported blogs are far from legitimate sources of news...", and "lame excuse for comics journalism sites". Well, I guess that includes this humble little blog.  Sniff.

Here's a portion of  Dan's letter as posted on Z-Cult (the typos are his not mine):

Hello to everyone on Z-Cult,

This is Dan Vado, president/publisher/owner of SLG Publishing. I am writing this to address the letter of support for Z-Cult which is circulating around and being attributed to SLG. While I am generally sympathetic to Z-Cult, I did not, nor did anyone associated with my company in an official capacity, write the letter that is being quoted very freely here and across the internet.

I honestly didn't know anything about this situation until late last night when, after a couple of ays of not checking email over the holiday, I noticed a couple of strange emails thanking me for my support. Most disturbing is that I am now being quoted in the lame excuse for comics journalism sites as having written this letter.

(portion of the letter removed for brevity)

I am disgusted, yes DISGUSTED, for the poor excuse for journalism that exists in the comic book industry. "News" sites, and I use that term loosely since these fan-run, ad supported blogs are far from legitimate sources of news, are openly quoting this letter of support on my part and only one (Comics Worth Reading) bothered to contact me about it, and only then to have me clarifiy my alleged comments and not to ask if I really wrote the note.

I am posting this mainly to set the record straight on the post being attributed to me and not to comment on this sites current beef with Marvel or DC. I noticed that a few people have gone to our site and made purchases and traffic at Eyemelt has gone up quite a bit in the last couple of days, so maybe this can serve as example of how supporting a site like Z-cult can lead to positive results. However I do not like the idea of people spending money under false-pretenses. You can use this letter as my admission to the positive value of exposure on this site, but please do not feel the need to go to Eyemelt or SLGCOMIC and buy things you do not want just because you want to thank us for our support.

However, I am really angry about the lack of of due diligence on the part of the sites operator in regards to the posting. It casts everything being done here under a negative light.

Dan Vado, SLG Publishing

Dan states that the "poor excuses" didn't even attempt to get the facts straight before reporting on the story. Dan, most of us where giving you kudos for thinking outside the box on this.  It definitely made me take notice of your company. 

To make a long story longer, apparently someone at SLG, a freelance writer, took it upon himself to give Serj the first letter without Dan's permission.  So Dan, with "a load of egg" on his face had to admit that the letter came from someone he has "done a lot of business with over the years", that he shouldn't have been that quick to jump the gun, and that he was sorry for his comments about "lame excuse(s) for comic journalism sites."  Here's an exact quote from Dan as seen on his blog:

"I made some pretty harsh comments about the quality of comics journalism. While nobody covering comics is ever going to win a pulitzer, in this case I have to take responsibility for being out of line."

That's the poorest excuse for an apology I've ever heard. 

Now let me read again what Dan stated in this article:

"I noticed that a few people have gone to our site and made purchases and traffic at Eyemelt has gone up quite a bit in the last couple of days, so maybe this can serve as example of how supporting a site like Z-cult can lead to positive results."

Hmmm....ya think?  But he's still upset up the "lack of due diligence" he attached to Z-Cult.

So that clears up the Z-Cult/SLG mess.

Now on to more news on Z-Cult. 

In a letter dated November 27, 2007, DC axed Z-Cult as well.  Reading through the letter it is clear that DC is protecting it's bottom line, as it should.  They politely and respectfully requested the removal of DC trackers from Z-Cult and said they would be open to discussing the removal timeline since it's a big project.  Everything sounds good, DC is doing what they must, in a classy way, and learned from previous publishers mistakes.  What interested me however was this line in the letter:

"In the event DC Comics' position on this matter should materially change in the near future, I will let you know."

Whoa!  What is that?!  Now, you may be thinking, "Don't read too much in to that statement", but you have to.  The entire letter is written as matter of fact.  And then at the end they drop this line?  "Near future"?  "I'll let you know"?  Does DC have something up their sleeve and are keeping this door open?  Are they thinking about following something akin to my 9 Criteria for Distributing E-Comics?  Well let me contact DC about it.  (And no, not about if they are following my criteria, just if they are thinking about online options.  I'm not that arrogant.)

Top Cow also got into the act and requested their comics be pulled.  However, in a slick move they also stated they will provide Z-Cult with preview issues of some of their comics.  See....these smart publishers are figuring it out.  The more people that see the comics, the more people that collect them.  Have I ever though about picking up an issue of Madame Mirage?  No.  And not cause I think it would be a bad book, but because I have a limited budget for comics. But if I was able to read some issue and enjoyed it?  Would I start to collect it?  Why yeah.  Top Cow also stated they have their books available for download at Direct2Drive.  But the books are old comics, such as the original series of Witchblade and The Darkness.  And the downloads are $1.99 a piece!  I could go to the quarter bins and get better deals then that for the actual print comic.  So I'm not too excited about Direct2Drive.

So this long story comes to a close...for now.  Say what you will about Serj and Z-Cult, but I think there's a case to be made that Serg and Shawn Fanning have a lot in common in regards to shaking up their respective industry and moving it (revolutionizing it even) in the right direction.  Who is Shawn Fanning you may be wondering?  The founder of Napster.  Yeah.

Alright, the rant is over, you have your fix. As always feel free to send in your ideas for the Daily Rant topics or let me know it you want to be a guest on the show. And of course make sure to subscribe to our feed.

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Labels: Daily Rant

Posted by Jon at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Today's Daily Rant can also be heard by using the audio player at the end of this post, downloading the audio file to your computer or subscribing through iTunes.

So there are even more changes happening to the Daily Rant you've all come to love so much. One, I realized to make it in this cut throat business of blogging (ahem) my titles needed to be more than then "Daily Rant" and then the date. So the titles will do more to reflect the contents off the ranting.

Two, I'm excited to be promoting Mailordercomics.com! Short little audio commercials will now be running at the end of the podcast, so if you want to hear more about MOC (like I like to call them) make sure to listen up to the end of the rant each day. And you should want to hear more because I just ordered Teen Titans: Year One #1 for 74 pennies. Amazing. That means I saved $2.24 and can spend that cash on another comic. More savings from them means more comics for me.

BRUBAKER ON DAREDEVIL

Now let me remind you, in case you forgot, Daredevil is my boy. And while I've dug his book over the last several years through the Bendis/Brubaker run, there's a piece of me that longs for some old fashion DD tales. The fact that old characters like the Gladiator (the Gladiator Bowen mini bust is at the top of my list for Christmas), Mr Fear, and Turk are resurfacing to reclaim their roles I'm digging the book more and more. In a recent interview with CBR, Ed Brubaker talked Daredevil. Here are some interesting quotes Ed had that I want to share.

"It's sort of an extension of the rage he felt in prison. Now that he's out and tried to rebuild his life he's found the people he cares about are even bigger targets. Mister Fear goes after his wife but he doesn't just try to kill her; he wants to torture Matt by making him watch her go insane and get arrested."

I like this take on coming after Matt. The book needed a break from everyone coming after him time after time with the whole secret identity storyline. But Mister Fear better be careful, cause like Wilson Fisk found after destroying everything in Matt's world many moons ago, "A man without hope, is a man without fear."

"Now that 'Frontline' is over I'm trying to find a way to bring Ben Urich back into the book."

Amen to that. Ben always makes the book more enjoyable. That long history between Matt and Ben is rich. Speaking of rich history. How about bringing back DD's powers with the resurgence of his old foes? We haven't seen a good radar sense panel in a long time.

GREEN HULK, GRAY HULK, RED HULK

IGN recently sat down with Jeff Loeb to talk about why the Hulk now looks like a giant hemroid. When asked if the Hulk will have any changes to powers, strength, etc, Loeb sad this:

All you'll know is that Red is different. And not in a good way for the rest of the world."

Now I know Loeb didn't write World War Hulk, so I don't fault him for it. But Jeff, let's back this statement up with a kick ass, take no names, pissed off Hulk. Let's not have a Hulk title that pits him against the rest of the world and then have him go all passive in the final hour.

But this is Loeb and he treats the characters well so I'm along for the ride.

In other good news, Seth Rogen, the writer for the Green Hornet movie had this to say during an MTV interview:

'It's not using any of the normal superhero movie formats. It's not an origin story. It's more like a regular action movie."

I know that many comic book geeks are ticked off at this pick for writer, but I think it's refreshing to have someone have the guts to make a superhero movie without the first one having to be the origin movie. I'm actually quite tired of the origin movies.

Alright, the rant is over, you have your fix. As always feel free to send in your ideas for the Daily Rant topics or let me know it you want to be a guest on the show. And of course make sure to subscribe to our feed.

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Labels: Daily Rant

Posted by Jon at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Welcome to another episode of our show! Skypecasting all the way. I took some time working on this one so it is being uploaded in the wee hours of the morning on the 28th...the slacker I am. So here it is...

The shows topics include:

• Batman and the Outsiders #1 Review
• New Avengers #36 Review
• Captain Marvel #1 Review
• Green Arrow and Black Canary #2 Review

As always feel free to send in your ideas for the Daily Rant topics and make sure to subscribe to our feed.

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Labels: Internet Talk Show (MP3)

Posted by Jon at 1:01 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

So here is the first real image of Heath Ledger as the Joker for the upcoming Batman film.  I'm telling you, I haven't been excited about him playing the Joker at all, and now that I get to look at him in full costume I'm still not excited. 

The costume is cool, it looks very Joker-ish.  And if I ran into him walking home at 11 PM it would freak the piss out of me.  But beyond that it really doesn't do anything for me.

God...why am I being so stubborn?

And what's with the skin colored hands?

Now here's the classic Joker:

Whoa!

Labels: The Dark Knight

Posted by Jon at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Today's Daily Rant can also be heard by using the audio player at the end of this post, downloading the audio file to your computer or subscribing through iTunes.

I ran across a pretty cool article about a week or so ago about Andy Schmidt and his Comics Experience course.  Andy used to hold the title of editor at Marvel Comics and worked on such books as X-Men, Secret War, Alias, and many more.  After six years at Marvel though he decided to go off on his own and get back to his teaching roots.  And so began his creation of a comic book company that teaches folks how to make comics. 

It's pretty amazing to me that he took the leap from a Marvel gig and created his own company. I give the guy a lot of credit and wish him the best of success.  Check out his Comics Experience site if you're serious about becoming a comic book professional.

In other news my Celtics (yes, my Celtics) are 11-1.  I am stating this for no other reason than to run the following picture:

Okay, back to comics.

Who is this funny little fellow you may be asking? Asterix of course.  Now my only exposure to Asterix was when my wife, before she was my wife, went on a trip to France.  Why did she go to France?  I have no clue.  But anyway.  I told her to bring me back some French comics, which to my glee, she brought back an Asterix comics and a Daredevil comic that had been translated into French.  That DD comic is still one of my favorite DD comics in my possession.

Now, at the time I looked through the Asterix comic and thought it was pretty cool, but I couldn't read a lick of it since I can't read a lick of French.  Which I'm proud to proclaim.

But I just ran across a trailer for a movie about Asterix which is coming out, well coming out in France.  This apparently is not the only Asterix live action film that's come out in France either.  It appears there have been quite a number of Asterix animation and live action shows and movies.  He's France's Mickey Mouse apparently.  And I'm being serious here, because Asterix has been around since 1959.  Pretty wild.

One thing that is funny is the description of Asterix at Wikipedia reads: "Asterix is a very small but fearless and cunning warrior, ever eager for any new adventure".  Hmmmm.  I guess I don't think of the French as cunning warriors.  Which isn't entirely fair because their new leader Nicolas Sarkozy has been kicking butt since being elected.

But anyway, even though this new movie is all in French (French is what they speak in France for those of you who are Rob Liefeld fans) it's still pretty humorous.  So with powers granted to me by the gods of YouTube here it is:

Also, Jeff Bridges told the fine people over at Moviehole.net about his role in the upcoming Iron Man movie as Obadiah Stane, IM's mentor.  His quote reads:

"...this one's going to have a different spin than your normal super-hero. We've got Robert Downey Jr who's playing Iron Man and you've got Jon Favreau, who's a wonderful writer-director-actor at the helm. He created a really different kind of tone and the special effects are going to be there which are going to be really amazing. But the tone I think is going to be a lot of fun."

Let me remind you all that I've put my pride on the line and predicted this will be the best comic book movie ever.  Jeff also did himself a favor by saying he read the comic book material before shooting so that he made the fans happy.  Good boy Jeff.

Alright, the rants over and you have your fix.  As always feel free to send in your ideas for the Daily Rant topics or let me know it you want to be a guest on the show. And of course make sure to subscribe to our feed.

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Labels: Daily Rant

Posted by Jon at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Things are heating up in the downloadable comic debate.

I have to admit, even though I'm a huge advocate of getting comics into the digital era (see here and here and here) I can sit back and understand exactly why Marvel and DC don't want us stealing their comic books over broadband.  I get it. 

But, for some reason, watching this all play out, I start cheering for the underdog trackers.  I don't know if that's because they're the underdog.  I don't know if it's because the big two aren't getting it right and this is a start of a revolution.  I don't know.  But I think this is important news to report based on my interest on the subject.

The main comic book torrent tracker is Z-Cult FM.  In fairness to Z-Cult FM, they're not just a tracking site, they also do forums, etc.  And in fairness to Marvel/DC, they also do tracking of torrents.

In recent news (on this site right here) the owner of the Z-Cult FM site reported that Marvel and DC sent threatening letters.  Now, although I would like to think the threatening letters involved the Kingpin busting up some Z-Cult knees or the Joker squirting some acid from his lapel, I'm sure in reality the letters were simply from some Marvel/DC lawyers who lack quality imagination.  Ho hum.

But on a serious note, this stuff is getting serious.  Which tells me that Marvel and DC are really looking to move their business model online. (Hey Marvel and DC big wigs.  Read my post on the nine criteria of successful online publishing and marketing before making any decisions!)

So now the leader of the Z-Cult FM site has responded to Marvel and DC.  Click here to read it or listen to the audio version of this Daily Rant to hear my beautiful voice read it for you.

Very interesting response?  The one thing that caught my attention is if Z-Cult FM is not US based, will Marvel and DC give up on them and come after their fans who are downloading the comics?  Hmmmm.  Someone go get Metallica on the phone.

As always feel free to send in your ideas for the Daily Rant topics or let me know if you want to be a guest on the show.  And of course make sure to subscribe to our feed.

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Labels: Daily Rant

Posted by Jon at 6:52 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Downloadable Comics...As It Should Be.

So I wrote/spoke in yesterday's Daily Rant about the importance of publishing companies moving in to digital realms of downloadable comics and then after decided to find a publishing company, any publishing company, which resembled my 9 criteria for successful online distribution of downloadable, DRM free, ad supported comic books.

And I think I found a company that closely resembles my criteria.

Engine Comics is an online comic publisher with many of my criteria in mind, admittedly they came before my rant so they should get all the credit.   They hit all of the nine criteria (except the part about having the comics be ad supported for increased revenue).  Since they are a smaller publishing house the amount per book is more expensive with it being $2 per book.  But my criteria are directed towards the big comic publishers since ad departments, media relations, etc. are already set up and in place for those criteria to be met.

All I had to do was preview the comic I wanted, select that I wanted to purchase it, purchase the book (cbr format) and upon receiving the receipt page it even showed me some other books I may be interested in buying.  Perfect execution. 

Could you imagine getting Superman comics like this?  I'd actually follow the Superman line if I could do it this easily.  However, as I stated before, DC would need to decrease their price per book, at least 75% of the printed cover price.  These aren't books I'm reading anyway, you might as well get something out of me and it increases the likelihood that I start picking up the titles in print. 

On another note, I would not stop buying Daredevil comics in print, but I'd  likely buy the downloaded version too, which is increasing their sales.  Especially if the comics were cheap.  Remember, ads would be supporting the downloadable comics.  I always walk away from iTunes thinking, "Damn, how much did I just spend?" because they make it so simple and impulsive to buy songs.  They have your credit card on file and they have a previous agreement that you will use that credit card for purchases.  So basically when you are purchasing your songs you don't have to get out your credit card or checkbook, you don't actually have to think about what you are doing.  That is indeed the intended purpose.  It feels like you are getting the tunes for free, until a day or two later they show up on your bank statement.  Doh!

I also found some other downloadable comic book sites.  But again, nothing is going to take off unless a bunch of publishers come together to start an iTunes-like community for downloadable comics, or DC or Marvel make a move in this direction, which is the right move to make.

Another problem with the Marvel comics is do we really want kids/newbies having their first experience with comic books being a Stan Lee penned Spider-Man.  I mean the man is great, but for his time.  Kids would most likely not appreciate this kind of writing and would be turned off.

Here are some other samples of downloadable comics I found:

• Heroicpub.com:  They are giving away free comics of the Flare series with ads, or selling them for $1 without ads.  They use WOWIO (see previous post) for the free version and DriveThruComics for the paid versions.  Here's a list of the free Flare downloadable comics.
• DriveThruComics: They claim to be the first comic book download shop.
• ElectroComics: Golden Age comics for a price (nice).
• GoldenAgeComics: Golden Age comics for free (even better).
• EyeMelt Comics
• Interview with Viz's Dan Marks on downloading manga (and anime) in the present and future.
• Interview with Baz Renshaw about why comics need to move into the download era.

Check these links out, write Marvel and DC, tell them what we want.  If I would have told you in 1988 that someday you would be going into Borders to buy a six issue TPB of a Superman comic you would've laughed me out of the store.  But look what's happened.  Yes my friends, things change.  I just wish DC or Marvel would have the balls enough to step up and take some risks.  Be leaders!

In my next rant I will be reading a legal response from a major comic book torrent tracker to Marvel and DC for pulling out the big guns!  And then I promise I will get back to talking comics.  Maybe.

As always feel free to send in your ideas for the Daily Rant topics or let me know if you want to be a guest on the show.  And of course make sure to subscribe to our feed.

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Labels: Daily Rant

Posted by Jon at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Over the last couple of days I have received a couple of e-mails telling me that the Me Geek, You Geek site should not be considered a blog at all, but rather should be considered an audio blog or podcast.  And they are right.  So point taken.  If you look over the site there is actually very little new text information to read except for the occasional blog post that doesn't fit into the Daily Rant audio podcast. 

I've taken this point to heart.  I know I'm a prolific reader of blogs and would be devastated (well maybe that's an exaggeration) if I couldn't read them on my Treo, read them in my Thunderbird, or in my Google Reader.

However, I have two podcasts each day that I listen to regularly and would be devastated (again, an exaggeration) if they went exclusively to print.

So what is a geeky blogger to do?

Both.

Yep, from this day forward I will be writing out the Daily Rants first so I can post them as a written blog as well.  Kinda the best of both worlds.  People who choose to listen to the podcast will most likely get more of my terrific insights (more exaggeration) as I will most likely go "off script" if an idea pops in my head, but overall I will try to keep tight to the blog post.  The topics will definitely be the same though.

As I type this first Daily Rant I am realizing how much this will really organize my thoughts, which is an added bonus.  However, it will also take away a bit of the element of "ranting" off the top of my head, but hell, it's a good move to make anyway.

Another note: Bart and I will continue to do our weekly talk show (Tuesdays at 9PM-ish Central) on Skype and it will be completely unscripted.

So without further ado, here I go into my first written Daily Rant.

DIGITAL COMICS and ONLINE DISTRIBUTION OF COMICS:

I know I must sound like a broken record by now, but somebody has to be saying it.   Yesterday I reported that Marvel and DC are combining their efforts to take down some of the torrent sites who host their comic books.  Okay, fine.  I agree with that decision since it is copyright infringement.  But, and this is a big BUT, lets learn from the music and movie industry.  Why are people stealing comics online?  Because they are horrible, rotten scoundrels?  No.  They are stealing it because they have a desire to have it stored on their computers and there is no other way to get it there.  We just want a new distribution method for comics.  And here's a little secret.  Not only does reading comics online keep us interested in comics and buying the print versions, but it also turns us on to new comics we may have missed (for an example of this ask Bart who is still looking for a #1 issue of the kick ass title Atomic Robo).

"But Marvel is now streaming comics to their site for our viewing pleasure Jon!" you are probably thinking.  And to boot, they broke their site since the demand was so high.  This is going to be bad news for us in the long run as this will make them confident that streaming comics will be successful.  But again I challenge Marvel.  How much of that traffic was from guys like me and Bart who wanted to check it out and read the 250 free comics but have no intention of signing up and paying a monthly or yearly fee?  Only time will tell.

So this morning I was researching more about this and came across a site entitled WOWIO.

WOWIO is a free (and legal) site which allows you to download three comics/books a day.  I don't know why there is a limit other than it keeps you coming back to the site, but their implementation plan is pretty solid.  Browse the site, look for comics or books that interest you, add them to your Queue (a la Netflix) and download them at your leisure.

So I get to downloading my first comic; Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters #1.  After the download I open up the PDF file and I am struck with the first page.  It's an ad from Verizon Wireless with their logos and the words "Verizon Wireless is proud to sponsor this ebook for Jon" (insert your name here since I am assuming Verizon isn't only sponsoring the book for me).  But isn't that amazing, the PDF pulls your information from your WOWIO account and will feed you ads that are specific to your interests. The second page is another ad from Verizon with an embedded video that you can choose to play if you want more information.  Both pages of advertisement are a direct link to Verizon's site.  Then there's the entire comic book story, uninterrupted, and then a closing ad by Verizon.

Wow.

No, wowio.

This is exactly how I envision the future of comic books.

Now for kicks and giggles lets look at how DC could do this (Marvel already missed out).  Because to me it makes perfect sense to base their online comic distribution off of the standard magazine subscription model. The following is my bulleted list of criteria which would make this model work:

1. E-comics would be available on the Wednesdays their print counterparts are released.  No waiting 6 months (Marvel!) to read the stories.  Marvel says they are concerned about the retail stores.  But I say phooey to that.  The only guys in my store are the guys that have been in my store for the last 15 years.  They will continue to come to my store and will continue to collect printed comics.  These are the guys the industry is worried about losing, but this shouldn't be the case. Have you ever heard the sports phrase, "If you play not to lose, you'll end up losing"?  This applies to this issue as the comic execs are too worried about us old guys who have, and will continue to, buy comics at our shops. For us it's not only the story that is interesting, but also the collectability of comics.  We'll continue to collect.  For kids or people coming to comics based on seeing the movies, these e-comics would allow them in to our world without having to take on the daunting task of going to a comic book store.  It would allow them to get sucked into the rich history of the comics.  And there should be many advertisements from DC itself, pushing people into book and comic book stores for the sheer purpose of collecting.  Play that aspect of comics up.  People will collect.  We're pack rats.  And we are completists by nature.
2. No streaming comics.  Complete, unfettered downloadable comics.  To be read on the client side with a free downloadable comic book reader that supports jpg, pdf, gif, cbr, zip, and cbz.  DC wouldn't even have to build it, they could just use ComicRack.
3. Have the comics cost something, but very minimal.  Look at iTunes. Copying iTunes = Success. Do $0.25 an issue or a subscription basis for unlimited e-comics a month.  Again, the money making is not going to come from the cover price of the e-comic.  If somebody wants to spend money they'll buy the print version.  Basically give the e-comics away so as many people can see them as possible.  Look at the  e-book market.  E-books should have taken off a long time ago.  People say e-books haven't taken off because their isn't an inexpensive reader, or that people still want to sit down with a good old book on their couch (I agree with this too), but I think it's because their e-books are usually just as expensive as the hard covers.  Screw that!  No printing, no distribution, no electricity charges for the store front or cost of employees.  And you're still gonna charge me the same amount for a small file (if text only) for the book?  I say thee again.  Screw that.  But, if there was a nice, inexpensive ($200 or less) e-book reader that could store a bunch of books and I could buy them for $5-$10 bucks?  Sign me up.  Same with comics.  Get an e-comics reader, with a ton of internal storage, and go nuts!
4. Encourage trading! Encourage readers to share with friends.  The majority of people just want access to these comics.  So if DC told me I could read all of their comics for $9.99 a month, I'd do it (as long as these criteria are met). Most of us would.  Again, look at iTunes.  Do people still steal music through torrent sites? Sure.  But the vast majority of people want it easier than having to go to torrent sites, worry about viruses, being illegal.  So we are willing to shell out $1 a song for the convenience.  CONVENIENCE.  Now, we can share these songs with our friends as many times as we want through burning to a CD and then ripping the song back off of the CD.  Fine.  No big deal.  Apple doesn't worry about that.  And iTunes is huge!  We're just looking for convenience of getting our comics.  Now I wouldn't go as far as creating a website that allows and encourage trading to take place, but if I want to send a comic to my buddy via e-mail, so what? So what?  Marvel can't be worried about this as their streaming comics are only password protected.  So if I give all of you my username and password to their site, you can all read e-comics for free too.  And Marvel isn't currently being supported by ads, so they aren't even increasing ad revenue from the increased readership if I gave out my username and password. Duh.
5. Have the e-comics be supported by ads. Readers won't care.  I went through a DC comic while preparing for this Rant and 11 of the pages are ads.  Half of those 11 pages are for other DC products.  Go through any Marvel comic and you'll see that most of their ads are from companies that license Marvel characters for their products (lunch boxes, undies, etc.).  So it's like cross promoting over top of themselves over and over.  Links to other e-comics would work great too!  So I just got done reading a Batman e-comic?  The last page should link me to the e-comics of Robin, Nightwing, Birds of Prey, and all other Batman related e-comics.
6. In regard to the ads in the e-comics make sure to go the magazine publishing route.  If you have 10,000 subscribers to an e-comic and you can honestly say (and I am sure they could even get actual numbers out of these downloads if there's tracking code to see how many people share) the e-comics are being seen by 4-5 people after the the person who made the initial purchase, then you inflate that 10K to a possible 50K of impressions.  Maybe this number is higher, maybe it's lower.  But I guarantee advertisers would be interested.  Especially with the interactive component that a computer brings to ads (links to site, video, audio, roll overs, etc.)
7. Don't come up with some stupid name (like Zuda or Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited), just call them DC e-comics and move on.
8. This is a maybe that I am still thinking through.  But pull comics after 6 months of them being released.  Why?  To encourage purchasing TPBs and other collections.  The e-comics are still out there, but not to be purchased, which leads people to buy the e-comics upon release (think Disney's "vault' policy).
9. Pay the creators from these e-comics sales and ad sales, unlike what Marvel appears to be doing at the moment.  For shame!

This idea is win win.  A win for fans.  A win for comic publishers. You'll still sell as many comics to us collectors.  Still sell as many trades of past comics. You will open up stories for a wider (and younger) audience who may go to a comic book store after reading e-comics.  You get increased ad revenue.  Increased website traffic.  Increased sales through the e-comics.  Where's the problem here?  C'mon DC.  Step up.

As always feel free to send in your ideas for the Daily Rant topics and make sure to subscribe to our feed.

Posted by Jon at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

November 22nd, 2007: The Me Geek, You Geek Daily Rant is in the can and uploaded for your listening pleasure.

Today's Daily Rant includes the following topics:

• Happy Thanksgiving!  Give thanks to comics for entertaining your sorry ass.
• Jack Black this close to starring in a Green Lantern movie.  As GL!
• The New Frontier to be released on DVD, very cool.  Check out the box art below.
• Marvel and DC unite to take on the bad guys. And by bad guys I mean people who promote torrents of their comic books online.  Now while I agree they need to do something to stop this from happening (it just makes poor business sense not to) how about they get their heads out of their butts and figure out a way to deliver the goods to us themselves?  And no, I'm not satisfied with streaming comics, or whatever crap Marvel is trying right now.  I mean downloadable comics with ad sponsors and a goal to achieve more peers than ever before.  I mean come on.  Al Gore created the internet back in the 90's!  We've had all this time to figure it out.  Oh, and also, remember this dirty little secret.  Marvel, who broke their site for two days due to the interest in online comics, is not giving any subscription royalties to the creators of the comics at this time.  Blah.  There will be a revolution for comics being delivered online....listen to me, trust me.

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Labels: Daily Rant

Posted by Jon at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

November 21st, 2007: The Me Geek, You Geek Daily Rant is in the can and uploaded for your listening pleasure.

Today's Daily Rant includes the following topics:

• Custom made action figures! (see below)
• WWH Aftersmash minis.  Oh boy.  I. Am. So. Excited. Yawn.
• More on the MDCU (which for you who are out of the loop stands for Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.

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Labels: Daily Rant

Posted by Jon at 9:49 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

November 19th, 2007: The Me Geek, You Geek Daily Rant is in the can and uploaded for your listening pleasure.

Today's Daily Rant includes the following topics:

• E-reading comics?  Try the Amazon Kindle reader...
• War Machine in Iron Man movie?
• Val Kilmer says us comic book geeks can kiss his ass.  Jackass!
• India comics on economics..

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Posted by Jon at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

So I am late coming to the wedding of GA and Black Canary.  So what. It was an entertaining read though.  For instance, check out this spread of some of the DC attendees:

(Click to see the full size image)

Look at Supes up front looking down at Lois as if to say, "No honey, I'm not looking at the 'leggy and busty Amazon princess with knee high boots, cleavage I could dive in to and an ass that doesn't quit' that's standing right next to me" If you're a man and are married or otherwise taken, and have gone to a wedding with the woman then you can appreciate what Supes is going through.

Then check out Guy on the left doing a Wedding Crashers impersonation.  Classic.

The Alan Scott grab at Gar to stop looking up at what Power Girl is pouring out for all to see.

And there are others.

And the issue ends with quite a shocker which I won't ruin in case you haven't read it yet.  But the biggest surprise is that DC let this get through the approval board...

Whoa!  Black Canary!  Who would have thought?  Well, I guess everyone would have, what with her running around in fishnets all the time.

And while we're on the subject.  God bless Amanda Connors.  For being able to draw women like this, and more importantly, being willing to draw women like this.

And back to Power Girl.  Check this video out.  And I thought I wasted time making up weird crap.

Labels: Comics

Posted by Jon at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

November 18th, 2007: The Me Geek, You Geek Daily Rant is in the can and uploaded for your listening pleasure.

Today's Daily Rant includes the following topics:

• The way comics should move into the digital future: Comic Rack reader.  (Take that Marvel!)
• Free original comics to read in Comic Rack brought to you by FlashBackUniverse.com.
• Free golden age comics which have expired copyrights to read in Comic Rack, brought to you by GoldenAgeComics.co.uk
• Cheap, downloadable new comics to read in Comic Rack (take that Marvel!), brought to you by PullBoxOnline.
• Crazy stuff you have to look at from SuperDickery.com.  Check this site out if you want some laughs.  Here are some previews from SuperDickery.com...

Speaks for itself.

"Expose myself"?  Dammit Bats!  Stop telling young boys to do that stuff.

For having a squirrels sharp-clawed-mitt up his backside, Casper sure does seem happy.  I guess that's why they call him the friendly ghost.

This one needs no commentary.

That's just terrifying.  Ouch.

I, of course, have also been known to doctor panels for self amusement purposes.  To see my attempts go here, here and here.

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Labels: Daily Rant

Posted by Jon at 8:54 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

November 17th, 2007: The Me Geek, You Geek Daily Rant is in the can and uploaded for your listening pleasure.

Today's Daily Rant includes the following topics:

• New Avengers #35 review.  More action, less talking please.
• The Comic Book Fan's Bill of Rights
• Jake Tinsley (13 year old writer!) and his book "Two-Fisted Adventures" #1. (See a webcomic from the serious below.  He's 13!)
• The Darkness video trailer for the upcoming relaunch.

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Labels: Daily Rant

Posted by Jon at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

November 16th, 2007: The Me Geek, You Geek Daily Rant is in the can and uploaded for your listening pleasure.

Today's Daily Rant includes the following topics:

• Marvel's Digital Comics Unlimited: I predict this round won't be successful.

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Labels: Daily Rant

Posted by Jon at 1:22 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

November 15th, 2007: The Me Geek, You Geek Daily Rant is in the can and uploaded for your listening pleasure.

Today's Daily Rant includes the following topics:

• He-Man movie news!  Woo hoo.  Or something.
• Got a comic book script?  Send it to Red 5 Comics son.
• Ant to be made into animation and live action film.

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Labels: Daily Rant

Posted by Jon at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Me Geek, You Geek has entered the alley at podcastalley.com.  Woot.

Posted by Jon at 7:41 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Here is a preview for the upcoming Justice League: A New Frontier animated movie making it's way to DVD in early 2008.  I liked the TPB's so I am looking forward to watching.  Especially since they are claiming this has been adapted directly from the TPB.

I especially like the choice for Batman's voice, Jeremy Sisto.

Check out the preview below.

Also, make sure to read the Darwyn Cooke interview.

Posted by Jon at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Man can you imagine my delight when looking around for some Monster stuff I came upon the anime...all online...for free!  It looks just like the book...wow.  I wish there was a way to download these and put them on DVD.  Check this out.  Bart, that means you.

Posted by Jon at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Do you need anymore proof? 

IGN gives Monster a 9.5 out of 10. 

I think that's stupid...it should obviously be a 10 out of 10.  All of you should be picking this up. 

You too Bart.

Labels: Comic Book Reviews, Comics

Posted by Jon at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

November 14th, 2007: The Me Geek, You Geek Daily Rant is in the can and uploaded for your listening pleasure.

Today's Daily Rant includes the following topics:

• Ghostbusters are back busting...well...ghosts.
• Next Superman movie to have more action?  Duh.
• Celtics 6-0!
• Marvel site down for the count today.
• Rob Liefeld is better that Kirby.

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Labels: Daily Rant

Posted by Jon at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Episode 10 of the Me Geek, You Geek Talk Show has been recorded and is ready for download or stream. 

And yes, I sort of got knocked off my daily routine here...but as any stand up man would do I'll blame someone else.  It takes a big man to admit when he's wrong...I am not a big man (classic Chevy Chase line).  The show was actually recorded last night, but the server was done so uploading was an option.  I thought tonight was going to be a bust too but it just came back up.

In this show Bart and I talk about Marvel's online comic book plans, World War Hulk #5 that is about to hit stores concluding the mini-series, debate if Captain America should carry a piece (and continue to discuss Bart's insane, but possible, theory that Steve Rogers will be brought back from the dead and it will be explained that he still has some werewolf blood in him from the Cap Wolf days.  Are you listening Brubaker?

We also talk about the importance of continuity, actually I talk about the lack of importance. Bart disagreed but due to my superior debating skills he came around to my side by the end of the conversation. 

Okay, I'll shut up and let you listen.  I have to get recording Wednesday's show...

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Labels: Daily Rant, Internet Talk Show (MP3)

Posted by Jon at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

November 12th, 2007: The Me Geek, You Geek Daily Rant is in the can and uploaded for your listening pleasure.

Today's Daily Rant includes the following topics:

• Hulk vs. Sentry: World Small Island Hulk.  Issue #5 hits this Wednesday. Yawn.
• Sam the Man on the possibility of Spidey 4.
• Marvel digitizes their comics.  Finally.  But maybe not what we want.  We'll find out when they release them tomorrow...

As always feel free to send in your ideas for the Daily Rant topics and make sure to subscribe to our feed.

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Labels: Daily Rant

Posted by Jon at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

November 11th, 2007: The Me Geek, You Geek Daily Rant is in the can and uploaded for your listening pleasure.

Today's Daily Rant includes the following topics:

• Review of The Scrapyard Detectives comic book series, issues 1-3 and the collected trade paperback.  These books rate better than most of the comics we pick up at the shop on a weekly basis and they teach good lessons to kids.  Very cool. Keep up the good work guys.

(PS - Sorry about the "pops" in the recording that happen every once in a while.  I was slacking on monitoring while recording.)

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Posted by Jon at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post