Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: Comics, free comic book day, Marvel Studios, thor
The Saturday Morning News: Tracking Thor And #freecomicbookday
It's game day. Retailers and publishers have been training hard all season, and it's time to leave it all out on the field. People are camped out outside of shops, ready to check out some comics and then go see Thor. What are you doing on Free Comic Book Day? Grab a civilian friend and get to your local, and maybe let us know what's going on using #freecomicbookday or with a twitpic or two.
Meanwhile, the weekend is well underway as far as the box office is concerned. Thor earned $3.3 million domestically Thursday night, with a likely Friday tally in the $25-30 million range. The Hollywood Reporter is now predicting a $60 to $70 million opening weekend, with boxoffice.com putting it at $68 million. I'll be extremely interested to see how this plays in the trade news outlets, as there seemed to be some minor attempts at managing expectations after the film opened slightly soft in Australia. As it stands, they'd have to be happy with a $70 million opening, but it would not put the film in the top 5 of Marvel movie domestic debuts. The film seems to be hitting all the right notes with comic book fans, but of course, Thor is not the household name that Spider-Man and X-Men are, and Iron Man 2 rode in on the surprise success of the original.
So what does all this mean? I'm sure someone will have it figured out by the end of the day. In the meantime, get out there and pick up some free comics.
Here's some news from last night and this morning:
Blimey! It's another blog about comics!: Strip Magazine Issue Zero out next week
The 16 page preview gives readers a sample of the forthcoming strips such as Warpaint by Phil Hester and John McCrea, Black Ops Extreme by John Freeman and PJ Holden, and Age of Heroes by James Hudnall and John Ridgway. There's also a preview of forthcoming albums from the company.
Be Kind To Children and Buy Them the Correct Thor Video Game
As a result, we have shopping tips for all you well-meaning parents out there. If you can, skip the 360/PS3 versions and get the kids the DS or Wii ones. Consult this video for the reasons why.
Neil Gaiman: I got up this morning, checked my twitter on my way to morning cup of tea. And two or three people were sending me things saying "What do you think of the fact that you were called a pencil-necked weasel and a thief who I hate by the Republican leader of the House?"
Viz Media Celebrates 25th Anniversary – Headlines – Broken Frontier
VIZ Media, the largest distributor of anime and manga in the North America, will celebrate its 25th Anniversary on July 7th, 2011
'Thor' Earns $3.3 Million in Midnight Opening Friday – The Hollywood Reporter
Paramount and Marvel Studios' summer tentpole Thor grossed a $3.3 million in Thursday midnight runs
Green Lantern Launches Viral Sites | Superhero Hype
Three new websites have launched, tied to the release of Green Lantern on June 17th.
Ryan Standfest: BLACK EYE Anthology Confiscated at Canadian Border | The Comics Journal
… They took 'em. I tried to get them to just ship them back to me at home, but they said they were required to send it to Ottawa for review… if they found the material to be 'obscene' they would take 'further action.' I asked what 'further action' meant and he said they would just destroy them. Or there is a chance they might ship them back to me.
All three of the projects announced at WonderCon started after I left Marvel. Stephen Christy (Archaia Editor-In-Chief and Future Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirt model) and I were interns together at Marvel, and we'd talked for a while about me being involved with Archaia somehow, which turned into Storyteller and Immortals. With Pigs, Ben McCool and I knew we wanted to co-write something together, but we didn't put any real effort into it while I was editing him at Marvel.
A federal judge has revoked bail for one of the men charged in the death of a 78-year-old comic book collector, who had a heart attack hours after being robbed.
