JMS NO LONGER EXCLUSIVE WITH MARVEL

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In the last decade or so of Marvel history, it’s tough to argue against the idea that the signing of writer and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski to an exclusive contract wasn’t a decisive move that helped the publisher push forward in many ways.
Straczynski, (better known in fan circles as "JMS") took the reigns on Amazing Spider-Man with issue #471 (or Volume 2 #30) and guided Marvel’s flagship title to new (and admittedly, controversial) heights, wrote an acclaimed run on Fantastic Four, reinvigorated the Squadron Supreme franchise, and, through editorial summits, contributed ideas to the larger Marvel Universe through to its current post-Civil War status quo.
Now, as the writer explains below, that relationship with Marvel is changing. Newsarama received the following from JMS:
I’ve opted to no longer be exclusive at Marvel.

I came to Marvel almost eight years ago, and have been under exclusive contract for nearly all of that time. It was a remarkable and fertile period and a tremendous opportunity to play in the Marvel universe exclusively. At the same time, that’s an awfully long time to be under any one roof, however much you may like the decor. There’s also something to be said for cross-pollination, for embracing a variety of universes and creative opportunities. As the ultimate geek fanboy, over the last eight years, I would look out onto the comics landscape of cool characters at other companies and think, "Wouldn’t it be fun to play with…"
There’s a comfort factor in staying with one universe for eight years, and there’s a lot to say for that. At the same time, I’ve always been wary of getting too comfortable. I think we need to challenge ourselves from time to time by stepping beyond the safe boundaries of one playground into another.
About eighteen months ago, I opted not to pursue another multi-year contract with Marvel, instead remaining exclusive on a month to month basis. During that time, I began the process of scaling back the number of monthly titles I was writing for Marvel to Amazing Spider-Man and Thor, alongside limited-run special projects such as The Twelve, Bullet Points and Silver Surfer: Requiem, projects outside continuity where I felt I could do my best work. I continued to pull back until I finally reached a point of having just one monthly title, Thor, and the maxi-series The Twelve, which felt about right, which is why I announced about six months ago that I would not be taking on any new monthly titles outside of Thor, only special projects. I felt that this way, should I decide to opt out of exclusivity; I would leave the smallest possible footprint on Marvel’s publishing schedule. If I were doing three or four books per month for Marvel, and took on outside responsibilities, those titles would suffer from lack of full attention, and that would be a disservice to both Marvel and the readers.
So I’m now in a comfortable place to opt out of exclusivity. Consequently, a few weeks ago, I contacted Joe Quesada and Dan Buckley to let them know that I would no longer be exclusive after the first of February, 2008. They were gracious and understanding and I have nothing but praise for both individuals. That Joe and I have disagreed over stuff from time to time, as will happen in any working relationship, that has no impact on how I perceive him as an editor and a stand-up guy. Stuff is just stuff; it has nothing to do with the person. Ditto and then some for Dan Buckley, who has always been an absolute mensch. They understood the importance of being able to grow by working in different universes, and have been completely supportive in this decision.
So what’s next? I will continue to write Thor, finish up The Twelve, and as time permits, take on occasional limited-series special projects for Marvel. I’m not leaving Marvel, only opting to widen the creative horizons a bit to include some of the other amazing comics universes out there.
To that end, I will have several substantial comics-related announcements to make at WonderCon in San Francisco this weekend. It is my hope that the cross-pollination of working for several major companies will help me continue to grow as a writer, and will create opportunities for fun stories with characters I’ve wanted to write for my whole life. It is also my hope that those readers who have enjoyed my work over the years (all three of you) will come along for the ride. We have much coolness ahead of us.
So stand by, for as we say in television…there is more to come.
jms

JMS NO LONGER EXCLUSIVE WITH MARVEL - NEWSARAMA

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TOLKIEN ESTATE SUES NEW LINE - NEWSARAMA

TOLKIEN ESTATE SUES NEW LINE

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ALEX VEIGA
AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) The estate of “Lord of the Rings” creator J.R.R.
Tolkien is suing the film studio that released the trilogy based on his
books, claiming the company failed to pay a cut of gross profits for
the blockbuster films.

The writer’s estate, a British charity dubbed The Tolkien Trust, and
original “Lord of the Rings” publisher HarperCollins filed the
lawsuit against New Line Cinema on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The lawsuit claims New Line was required to pay 7.5 percent of gross
receipts from the films to Tolkien’s estate and the other plaintiffs. A
call to a spokesman for New Line, a unit of Time Warner Inc., was not
immediately returned.

The films - 2001’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Ring,” 2002’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” and 2003’s
“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” - have reaped nearly
$6 billion combined worldwide, according to the complaint.

The plaintiffs seek more than $150 million in compensatory damages,
unspecified punitive damages and a court order giving the Tolkien
estate the right to terminate any rights New Line may have to make
films based on other works by the author, including “The Hobbit.”

Such an order would scuttle plans New Line has in the works to make a two-film prequel based on “The Hobbit.”

“Rings” trilogy director Peter Jackson has already signed on to serve
as executive producer on the project, which is tentatively slated to
begin production next year, with releases planned for 2010 and 2011.

“The Tolkien trustees do not file lawsuits lightly, and have tried
unsuccessfully to resolve their claims out of court,” Steven Maier, an
attorney for the Tolkien estate based in Britain, said in a statement.
“New Line has not paid the plaintiffs even one penny of its
contractual share of gross receipts despite the billions of dollars of
gross revenue generated by these wildly successful motion pictures.”

Maier also claims the film studio has blocked the Tolkien estate and
the other plaintiffs from auditing the receipts of the last two films.

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COMICS FANDOM UNITES TO SAVE J’ONN J’ONZZ
Comics web sites and forums show resounding support for the campaign,
covered at The Beat, Blog@Newsarama, Comics Should Be Good, Comics
Related… and more.

AROUND THE WORLD FOR THE MARTIAN MANHUNTER
Websites and forums from across the globe are placing banners, links
and raising support for the campaign to save the Martian Manhunter.
Some reactions from Spain, Germany, France, Costa Rica, Philippines,
Mexico, Canada… and more.

SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE THE MARTIAN MANHUNTER
Stop by and sign the growing petition… and help make a difference!

http://www.michaelnetzer.com
MICHAEL NETZER ONLINE

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I sent my entry in a few weeks ago, wish me luck!!

FINAL CALL FOR WHO WANTS TO CREATE A SUPER-HEROINE SHADOWLINE CONTEST

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From Jim Valentino

With less than two weeks left to go (final warning, there’s still time to send yours in!), we’ve received hundreds of submissions. Of those, some were marked as potential semi-finalists, some were starred as runners-up, the rest were deleted and all were responded to with a confirmation of receipt.

There were tons of Pandora’s, Greek (and other pantheon) Gods, celebrity heroes, sibling heroes, teams, government conspiracies and agencies, aliens, dysfunctional families, lesbians (down boys), pregnant, widowed, unwed mom heroines and second-generation heroes. We saw a lot of duplicate names, origins, powers, etc.including many names of pre-existing characters. More than even we anticipated. So if anyone sees a winning entry that looks similar to yours, you can chalk it up to syncronicity. Similarities abounded.

The synopses of the potential semi-finalists (no more than 50) will all be sent to Jim blind–that is, without the name of the creator attached–and from those he’ll select ten. Only the names of the ten (10) semi-finalists will be listed at Newsarama on February 4, not the names of their super-heroine. Semi-finalists will be warned that if they reveal the name of their entry to the public, they will be immediately disqualified.

The ten semi-finalists will then be asked to send in a script for the FIRST five pages of their story. From these scripts, Shadowline will choose five finalists. Decisions made by Shadowline are final, and not debatable.

The five finalists will each have their original synopsis posted at Kristen Simon’s forum on the "Who Wants to Create a Super-Heroine" message board ( www.kris-korner.com/forum) on March 10 where they can be reviewed by anyone interested in voting. A link will also be provided in the next announcement from Newsarama. You will need to register to vote. One vote per IP address will be allowed (to discourage ballot box stuffing). All synopses will be posted sans creator names and again, any finalist that reveals their
identity will be immediately disqualified. Polls will close on April 4 at noon, Central Standard Time.

The winning entry will be announced at Newsarama on April 28, along with Franchesco’s initial concept art. Thereafter we will be posting progress reports and pages on a regular basis at the message board.

Click here for the original announcement and contest details.

This contest is fully run and administered by Shadowline. Newsarama in no way influences the outcome or plays any role in the decision process.

FINAL CALL FOR WHO WANTS TO CREATE A SUPER-HEROINE SHADOWLINE CONTEST - NEWSARAMA

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Read the rest of this post at the link below

50 Tools and Resources to Help You Start a Webcomic

By Laura Milligan

Creating your own comic strip is now easier than ever, thanks to online resources like Web hosting systems, webcomic communities and support networks and collections of design tools and tutorials. To help you get started, we’ve organized 50 of the best resources on the Web. Read below for inspiring examples, sites that offer free fonts, design tips and more.

Useful Guides

To get an overview of the typical webcomic start up process, read these useful guides that provide tips on starting your own online series.

1. Create Your Own Webcomic: This article provides readers with ideas for coming up with plot lines, characters, design themes and more.

2. How I Make a Webcomic: This “investigative report” explores the different strategies webcomic artist Jonathan Requesens uses to create his comic OshKosh and Josh.

3. How to Make Your Own Webcomic in 3 Steps: This simple post on the Megatokyo Forums gives tips on drawing, editing, uploading and more.

4. How to Make Webcomics: The artists behind Player Vs. Player strongly recommend checking out this book, which includes “a guided tour of everything you need to know to make, post and profit from your own online comics.”

5. Fleen: This popular webcomics blog posts articles about industry news, tips on making your webcomic a money-making machine and lots more.

6. Hyatt Art Webcomic Forums: Participate in the chats on Hyatt Art to share tips with other artists and learn what’s new in the webcomics world.

7. Manga Punk: Even if your webcomic won’t be in the style of manga or anime, this site has lots of valuable tutorials for drawing people, eyes and more.

8. A Guide for the Novice Webcomic Artist: From plot to production, Ghastly’s Ghastly Journal offers up great tips for beginner webcomic designers.

9. The gURL Guide to Making a Comic: This guide to making comics is completely accessible even for beginners. Get tips on coming up with a story line and choosing your style, read about the history of comics and more.

10. Mega Online Comic Manual: Create, Share and Profit from Webcomics: Posted by Danogo.com, this tutorial provides a detailed introduction to starting your own webcomics and links to sites that make designing, managing and hosting much easier.

Virtual Hosting Blog » 50 Tools and Resources to Help You Start a Webcomic

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I just got my ComicBase 12 CD in the mail for my birthday and I was having trouble installing it on my Vista laptop.

Everything would go fine until I hit next to start the install right before (I would find out) is the accept the license agreement screen. The install would just error out and close. I looked in the Application Log and found this:

Log Name:      Application
Source:        MsiInstaller
Date:          1/11/2008 6:28:41 PM
Event ID:      1033
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:      Classic
User:          HANFORDMAN\Chris
Computer:      HanfordMan
Description:
Windows Installer installed the product. Product Name: ComicBase 12. Product Version: 12.0.3. Product Language: 1033. Installation success or error status: 1603.

After doing some research, I found that this is a common thing with Vista and has happened with other products.

With out getting to techinical, you can fix things by running this command at a command line:

regsvr32 %SystemRoot%\system32\vbscript.dll

After you do that, everything works fine.

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