Rare copy of Spider-Man's debut comic book on sale in Western Pa. — for $35,000
Jan 18, 2024
and here's the original story that led to the sale:
Showing posts with label Amazing Spider-Man. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazing Spider-Man. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Loudoun County copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 moves to Pittsburgh
Rare copy of Spider-Man's debut comic book on sale in Western Pa. — for $35,000
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Washington Post's Nationals section illustration quotes Amazing Spider-Man 50
Bryce Harper is leaving the Nationals for the Phillys and "Butcher Billy," a Brazilian penciller for Dynamite, drew an homage to him and the Stan Lee / John Romita splash page showing Peter Parker quitting being Spider-Man.
As far as I can tell, the image is only in the newspaper today and not online.
Additionally the Spider-Man comic strip, carried by the Post, will go into re-runs after this week.
Monday, July 31, 2017
Bob Batchelor on the birth of Spider-Man echoed in local 'King Kirby' play currently running
Coincidentally, a press release from Bob Batchelor came through today that ties in strongly with the play King Kirby which is currently running in Greenbelt. The paragraph where Goodman asks for more Westerns (or whatever is selling) is a recurring episode in the play, as is this characterization of Stan Lee. In his upcoming biography of Stan Lee, Batchelor writes about the creation of Marvel's first superhero character, and Jack Kirby's role in it. With his permission, here's info on his book and the excerpt (which, if you think it gives Lee too much credit, bring it up with Bob please).
Fifty-five years ago the Amazing Spider-Man debuted in a comic book series that faced cancellation for low sales. If it weren’t for a stream of fan letters and readers gobbling up the book, one of the world’s most iconic superheroes would have died an untimely death.
The story behind Spider-Man’s creation and appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 is a tale filled with intrigue, and more importantly, Stan Lee’s calculated risk. The famed editor and writer deliberately ignored his boss – publisher Martin Goodman – who rejected the character, because “people hate spiders.” Unable to get Spider-Man out of his head, Lee had an origin story printed in AF #15. The overwhelming response and extraordinary sales would transform Marvel from a publishing also-ran to the hippest, hottest publisher on the planet.
Below is a 1,500-word excerpt on Spider-Man’s creation by noted biographer and cultural historian Bob Batchelor, which is excerpted from his new book Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel (published September 15, 2017).
Batchelor, who teaches at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, is the author of more than 25 books, including Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel (Rowman & Littlefield, September 2017, adult trade, retail $22.95). Amazon: http://amzn.to/2q4lNYe
A lifelong comic book fan and noted media resource, he has been an editorial consultant for numerous outlets and been quoted in or on BBC Radio World Service, Today.com, Columbus Dispatch, msnbc.com, The Miami Herald, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Dallas Morning News, Taiwan News, Associated Press, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.
Spidey Saves the Day!
By Bob Batchelor
All lean muscles and tautness, a new superhero bursts from the page. Swinging right into the reader’s lap, the hero is masked, only alien-like curved eyes reveal human features, no mouth or nose is visible. His power is alarming: casually holding a ghoulish-looking criminal in one hand, while simultaneously swinging from a hair-thin cord high above the city streets. In the background, tiny figures stand on rooftops, looking on and pointing in what can only be considered outright astonishment.
The superhero is off-center, frozen in a moment, as if a panicked photographer snapped a series of frames. The image captures the speed, almost like flight, with the wind at his back. The hero’s deltoid ripples and leg muscles flex. Some mysterious webbing extends from his elbow to waist. Is this a man or creature from another world?
The answer is actually neither. Looking at the bright yellow dialogue boxes running down the left side of the page, the reader learns the shocking truth. This isn’t a grown man, older and hardened, like Batman or Superman, one an existential nightmare and the other a do-gooder alien. No, this hero is just a self-professed “timid teenager” named Peter Parker. The world, he exclaims, mocks the teen under the mask, but will “marvel” at his newfound “awesome might.”
It is August 1962. Spider-Man is born.
Spider-Man’s debut in a dying comic book called Amazing Fantasy happened because Stan Lee took a calculated risk. He trusted his instincts. Rolling the dice on a new character meant potentially wasting precious hours writing, penciling, and inking a title that might not sell. The business side of the industry constantly clashed with the creative, forcing fast scripting and artwork to go hand-in-hand.
In more than two decades toiling as a writer and editor, Lee watched genres spring to life, and then almost as quickly, readers would turn to something else. War stories gave way to romance titles, which might then ride a wave until monster comics became popular. In an era when a small group of publishers controlled the industry, they kept close watch over each other’s products in hopes of mimicking sales of hot titles or genres.
Lee calls Marvel’s publisher Martin Goodman, “One of the great imitators of all time.” Goodman dictated what Lee wrote after ferreting out tips and leads from golf matches and long lunches with other publishers. If he heard that westerns were selling for a competitor, Goodman would visit Lee, bellowing, “Stan, come up with some Westerns.”[1]
This versatility had been Lee’s strength, swiftly writing and plotting many different titles. He often used gimmicks and wordplay, like recycling the gunslinger Rawhide Kid in 1960 and making him into an outlaw or using alliteration, as in Millie the Model.
A conservative executive, Goodman rarely wanted change, which irked Lee. The writer bristled at his boss’s belittling beliefs, explaining, “He felt comics were really only read by very, very young children or stupid adults,” which meant “he didn’t want me to use words of more than two syllables if I could help it…Don’t play up characterization, don’t have too much dialogue, just have a lot of action.” Given the precarious state of publishing companies, which frequently went belly-up, and his long history with Goodman, Lee admits, “It was a job; I had to do what he told me.”[2]
Despite being distant relatives and longtime coworkers, the publisher and editor maintained a cool relationship. From Lee’s perspective, “Martin was good at what he did and made a lot of money, but he wasn’t ambitious. He wanted things to stay the way they were.”
Riding the wave of critical success and extraordinary sales of The Fantastic Four, Goodman gave Lee a simple directive: “Come up with some other superheroes.”[3] The Fantastic Four, however, subtly shifted the relationship. Lee wielded greater authority. He used some of the profit to pay writers and editors more money, which then offloaded some of the pressure.
Launching Spider-Man, however, Lee did more than divert the energy of his staff. He actually defied Goodman.
For months, Lee grappled with the idea of a new superhero with realistic challenges that someone with superpowers would face living in the modern world. The new character would be “a teenager, with all the problems, hang-ups, and angst of any teenager.” Lee came up with the colorful “Spider-Man” name and envisioned a “hard-luck kid” both blessed and cursed by acquiring superhuman strength and the ability to cling to walls, just like a real-life spider.[4]
Lee recalls pitching Goodman, embellishing the story of Spider-Man’s origin by claiming that he got the idea “watching a fly on the wall while I had been typing.”[5] He laid the character out in full: teen, orphan, angst, poor, intelligent, and other traits. Lee thought Spider-Man was a no-brainer, but to his surprise, Goodman hated it and forbade him from offering it as a standalone book.[6]
The publisher had three complaints: “people hate spiders, so you can’t call a hero ‘Spider-Man’”; no teenager could be a hero “but only be a sidekick”; and a hero had to be heroic, not a pimply, unpopular kid. Irritated, Goodman asked Lee, “Didn’t [he] realize that people hate spiders?”[7] Given the litany of criticisms, Lee recalled, “Martin just wouldn’t let me do the book.”[8]
Realizing that he could not completely circumvent his boss, Lee made the executive decision to put Spider-Man on the cover of a series that had previously bombed, called Amazing Fantasy. Readers didn’t like AF, which featured thriller/fantasy stories by Lee and surreal art by Steve Ditko, Marvel’s go-to artist for styling the macabre, surreal, or Dali-esque. It seemed as if there were already two strikes against the teen wonder.
Despite these odds and his boss’s directive, Lee says that he couldn’t let the nerdy superhero go: “I couldn’t get Spider-Man out of my mind.”[9] He worked up a Spider-Man plot and handed it over to Marvel’s top artist, Jack Kirby. Lee figured that no one would care (or maybe even notice) a new character in the last issue of a series that would soon be discontinued.
With Spider-Man, however, Kirby missed the mark. His early sketches turned the teen bookworm into a mini-Superman with all-American good looks, like a budding astronaut or football star. Lee put Ditko on the title. His style was more suited for drawing an offbeat hero.
Ditko nailed Spider-Man, but not the cover art, forcing Lee to commission Kirby for the task, with Ditko inking. Lee could not have been happier with Ditko. He explained: “Steve did a totally brilliant job of bringing my new little arachnid hero to life.”[10] They finished the two-part story and ran it as the lead in AF #15. Revealing both the busy, all-hands state of the company and their low expectations, Lee recalled, “Then, we more or less forgot about him.”[11] As happy as Lee and Ditko were with the collaboration and outcome, there is no way they could have imagined that they were about to spin the comic book world onto a different axis.
The fateful day sales figures finally arrived. Goodman stormed into Lee’s office, as always awash in art boards, drawings, mockups, yellow legal pads, and memos littering the desk.
Goodman beamed, “Stan, remember that Spider-Man idea of yours that I liked so much? Why don’t we turn it into a series?”[12]
If that wasn’t enough to knock Lee off-kilter, then came the real kicker: Spider-Man was not just a hit, the issue was in fact the fastest-selling comic book of the year, and maybe that decade. Lee recalls that AF skyrocketed to number one.[13]
The new character would be the keystone of Marvel’s superhero-based lineup. More importantly, the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man transformed Marvel from a company run by imitating trends into a hot commodity. In March 1963, The Amazing Spider-Man #1 burst onto newsstands.
Fans could not get enough of the teen hero, so Lee and Marvel pushed the limits. Spider-Man appeared in Strange Tales Annual #2 (September 1963), a 72-page crossover between him and the Human Torch. And in Tales to Astonish, which had moved from odd, macabre stories to superheroes, Spidey guest-starred in #57 (July 1964), which focused on Giant-Man and Wasp. When The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 appeared in 1964, with Lee dubbing himself and Ditko “the most talked about team in comics today,” it featured appearances by every Marvel hero, including Thor, Dr. Strange, Captain America, and the X-Men.
Spider-Man now stood at the center of a comic book empire. Stan Lee could not have written a better outcome, even if given the chance.
All this from a risky run in a dying comic book!
______________________________
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
[
Fifty-five years ago the Amazing Spider-Man debuted in a comic book series that faced cancellation for low sales. If it weren’t for a stream of fan letters and readers gobbling up the book, one of the world’s most iconic superheroes would have died an untimely death.
The story behind Spider-Man’s creation and appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 is a tale filled with intrigue, and more importantly, Stan Lee’s calculated risk. The famed editor and writer deliberately ignored his boss – publisher Martin Goodman – who rejected the character, because “people hate spiders.” Unable to get Spider-Man out of his head, Lee had an origin story printed in AF #15. The overwhelming response and extraordinary sales would transform Marvel from a publishing also-ran to the hippest, hottest publisher on the planet.
Below is a 1,500-word excerpt on Spider-Man’s creation by noted biographer and cultural historian Bob Batchelor, which is excerpted from his new book Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel (published September 15, 2017).
Batchelor, who teaches at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, is the author of more than 25 books, including Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel (Rowman & Littlefield, September 2017, adult trade, retail $22.95). Amazon: http://amzn.to/2q4lNYe
A lifelong comic book fan and noted media resource, he has been an editorial consultant for numerous outlets and been quoted in or on BBC Radio World Service, Today.com, Columbus Dispatch, msnbc.com, The Miami Herald, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Dallas Morning News, Taiwan News, Associated Press, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.
Spidey Saves the Day!
By Bob Batchelor
All lean muscles and tautness, a new superhero bursts from the page. Swinging right into the reader’s lap, the hero is masked, only alien-like curved eyes reveal human features, no mouth or nose is visible. His power is alarming: casually holding a ghoulish-looking criminal in one hand, while simultaneously swinging from a hair-thin cord high above the city streets. In the background, tiny figures stand on rooftops, looking on and pointing in what can only be considered outright astonishment.
The superhero is off-center, frozen in a moment, as if a panicked photographer snapped a series of frames. The image captures the speed, almost like flight, with the wind at his back. The hero’s deltoid ripples and leg muscles flex. Some mysterious webbing extends from his elbow to waist. Is this a man or creature from another world?
The answer is actually neither. Looking at the bright yellow dialogue boxes running down the left side of the page, the reader learns the shocking truth. This isn’t a grown man, older and hardened, like Batman or Superman, one an existential nightmare and the other a do-gooder alien. No, this hero is just a self-professed “timid teenager” named Peter Parker. The world, he exclaims, mocks the teen under the mask, but will “marvel” at his newfound “awesome might.”
It is August 1962. Spider-Man is born.
Spider-Man’s debut in a dying comic book called Amazing Fantasy happened because Stan Lee took a calculated risk. He trusted his instincts. Rolling the dice on a new character meant potentially wasting precious hours writing, penciling, and inking a title that might not sell. The business side of the industry constantly clashed with the creative, forcing fast scripting and artwork to go hand-in-hand.
In more than two decades toiling as a writer and editor, Lee watched genres spring to life, and then almost as quickly, readers would turn to something else. War stories gave way to romance titles, which might then ride a wave until monster comics became popular. In an era when a small group of publishers controlled the industry, they kept close watch over each other’s products in hopes of mimicking sales of hot titles or genres.
Lee calls Marvel’s publisher Martin Goodman, “One of the great imitators of all time.” Goodman dictated what Lee wrote after ferreting out tips and leads from golf matches and long lunches with other publishers. If he heard that westerns were selling for a competitor, Goodman would visit Lee, bellowing, “Stan, come up with some Westerns.”[1]
This versatility had been Lee’s strength, swiftly writing and plotting many different titles. He often used gimmicks and wordplay, like recycling the gunslinger Rawhide Kid in 1960 and making him into an outlaw or using alliteration, as in Millie the Model.
A conservative executive, Goodman rarely wanted change, which irked Lee. The writer bristled at his boss’s belittling beliefs, explaining, “He felt comics were really only read by very, very young children or stupid adults,” which meant “he didn’t want me to use words of more than two syllables if I could help it…Don’t play up characterization, don’t have too much dialogue, just have a lot of action.” Given the precarious state of publishing companies, which frequently went belly-up, and his long history with Goodman, Lee admits, “It was a job; I had to do what he told me.”[2]
Despite being distant relatives and longtime coworkers, the publisher and editor maintained a cool relationship. From Lee’s perspective, “Martin was good at what he did and made a lot of money, but he wasn’t ambitious. He wanted things to stay the way they were.”
Riding the wave of critical success and extraordinary sales of The Fantastic Four, Goodman gave Lee a simple directive: “Come up with some other superheroes.”[3] The Fantastic Four, however, subtly shifted the relationship. Lee wielded greater authority. He used some of the profit to pay writers and editors more money, which then offloaded some of the pressure.
Launching Spider-Man, however, Lee did more than divert the energy of his staff. He actually defied Goodman.
For months, Lee grappled with the idea of a new superhero with realistic challenges that someone with superpowers would face living in the modern world. The new character would be “a teenager, with all the problems, hang-ups, and angst of any teenager.” Lee came up with the colorful “Spider-Man” name and envisioned a “hard-luck kid” both blessed and cursed by acquiring superhuman strength and the ability to cling to walls, just like a real-life spider.[4]
Lee recalls pitching Goodman, embellishing the story of Spider-Man’s origin by claiming that he got the idea “watching a fly on the wall while I had been typing.”[5] He laid the character out in full: teen, orphan, angst, poor, intelligent, and other traits. Lee thought Spider-Man was a no-brainer, but to his surprise, Goodman hated it and forbade him from offering it as a standalone book.[6]
The publisher had three complaints: “people hate spiders, so you can’t call a hero ‘Spider-Man’”; no teenager could be a hero “but only be a sidekick”; and a hero had to be heroic, not a pimply, unpopular kid. Irritated, Goodman asked Lee, “Didn’t [he] realize that people hate spiders?”[7] Given the litany of criticisms, Lee recalled, “Martin just wouldn’t let me do the book.”[8]
Realizing that he could not completely circumvent his boss, Lee made the executive decision to put Spider-Man on the cover of a series that had previously bombed, called Amazing Fantasy. Readers didn’t like AF, which featured thriller/fantasy stories by Lee and surreal art by Steve Ditko, Marvel’s go-to artist for styling the macabre, surreal, or Dali-esque. It seemed as if there were already two strikes against the teen wonder.
Despite these odds and his boss’s directive, Lee says that he couldn’t let the nerdy superhero go: “I couldn’t get Spider-Man out of my mind.”[9] He worked up a Spider-Man plot and handed it over to Marvel’s top artist, Jack Kirby. Lee figured that no one would care (or maybe even notice) a new character in the last issue of a series that would soon be discontinued.
With Spider-Man, however, Kirby missed the mark. His early sketches turned the teen bookworm into a mini-Superman with all-American good looks, like a budding astronaut or football star. Lee put Ditko on the title. His style was more suited for drawing an offbeat hero.
Ditko nailed Spider-Man, but not the cover art, forcing Lee to commission Kirby for the task, with Ditko inking. Lee could not have been happier with Ditko. He explained: “Steve did a totally brilliant job of bringing my new little arachnid hero to life.”[10] They finished the two-part story and ran it as the lead in AF #15. Revealing both the busy, all-hands state of the company and their low expectations, Lee recalled, “Then, we more or less forgot about him.”[11] As happy as Lee and Ditko were with the collaboration and outcome, there is no way they could have imagined that they were about to spin the comic book world onto a different axis.
The fateful day sales figures finally arrived. Goodman stormed into Lee’s office, as always awash in art boards, drawings, mockups, yellow legal pads, and memos littering the desk.
Goodman beamed, “Stan, remember that Spider-Man idea of yours that I liked so much? Why don’t we turn it into a series?”[12]
If that wasn’t enough to knock Lee off-kilter, then came the real kicker: Spider-Man was not just a hit, the issue was in fact the fastest-selling comic book of the year, and maybe that decade. Lee recalls that AF skyrocketed to number one.[13]
The new character would be the keystone of Marvel’s superhero-based lineup. More importantly, the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man transformed Marvel from a company run by imitating trends into a hot commodity. In March 1963, The Amazing Spider-Man #1 burst onto newsstands.
Fans could not get enough of the teen hero, so Lee and Marvel pushed the limits. Spider-Man appeared in Strange Tales Annual #2 (September 1963), a 72-page crossover between him and the Human Torch. And in Tales to Astonish, which had moved from odd, macabre stories to superheroes, Spidey guest-starred in #57 (July 1964), which focused on Giant-Man and Wasp. When The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 appeared in 1964, with Lee dubbing himself and Ditko “the most talked about team in comics today,” it featured appearances by every Marvel hero, including Thor, Dr. Strange, Captain America, and the X-Men.
Spider-Man now stood at the center of a comic book empire. Stan Lee could not have written a better outcome, even if given the chance.
All this from a risky run in a dying comic book!
______________________________
[
1
] Mark Lacter, “Stan Lee Marvel Comics Always Searching for a New Story,” Inc., November 2009, 96.[
2
] Don Thrasher, “Stan Lee’s Secret to Success: A Marvel-ous Imagination,” Dayton Daily News, January 21, 2006, sec. E.[
3
] Quoted in ibid.[
4
] Stan Lee and George Mair, Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2002), 126–27.[
5
] Ibid., 126.[
6
] Roy Thomas, “Stan the Man and Roy the Boy: A Conversation between Stan Lee and Roy Thomas,” in Stan Lee Conversations, ed. Jeff McLaughlin (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007), 141.[
7
] Lee and Mair, Excelsior!, 127.[
8
] Thomas, “Stan the Man,” 141.[
9
] Lee and Mair, Excelsior!, 127.[
10
] Ibid., 128.[
11
] Ibid., 128.[
12
] Ibid., 128.[
13
] Stan Lee, Peter David, and Colleen Doran, Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir (New York: Touchstone, 2015), n.p.Friday, November 13, 2015
Professional-quality Spider-Man "fan film" made in Falls Church
by Mike Rhode
Spider-Man Lives: A Miles Morales Story is a new short film from Bard Tales Productions, LLC a Falls Church, VA-based firm which specializes in "bringing broadcast level quality productions at competitive pricepoints." Yesterday they contacted me about their new film and said, "A bunch of comic fans in the Washington, DC area thought Marvel should make a Miles Morales film. Since that wasn’t going to happen any time soon, they decided to make their own Miles Morales short." (For non-Spider-Man readers, Marvel Comics introduced a separate "Ultimate" universe a few years, ago, and when Peter Parker was killed, Miles Morales took over his role as Spider-Man.) As of this morning, the film has been online for two days and already has over 100,000 views on Youtube.
The film was impressive enough that I decided to ask producer Chad Horn a few questions about how it was made.
MR: There's obviously some money and a lot of time invested in this. Your site makes it clear that you aren't a bunch of students doing this as a school project. You had enough Ultimate Spider-Man readers in the office to make a fan film?
CH: To really hone our craft we try to do stuff that is way outside of our comfort area every year. Last year we set a girl on fire for a Hunger Games parody, and we had to top it this year. Ivan, the director, was closely watching the Miles Morales story and the potential that he might join the Marvel Cinematic Universe – so when it started to look like that didn’t happen he pitched me on the film. Knowing Jeff Wilhelm (the stunt coordinator who set our Katniss on fire last year) I knew it was something we could try to pull it off even though none of us had any fight scene experience. Our professional line of work being video (television, corporate, political, association, etc.) we knew exactly who to beg, borrow, and steal from to get all of the equipment and personnel to come out to help. All of the pieces kind of fell together at that point and tons of people worked ridiculously hard to pull it off.
We knew we had a lot of introduction to do – Peter Parker is dead, the city is in chaos, Spider-Man is missed greatly – but we also knew we had to get it done as fast as possible to get the audience into the fight scene before we lost their attention.
MR: It looks like you had help from a local tv station?
CH: Francis Abbey, who directed our short film last year, works in the promotions department of WUSA9 and he asked Mike Hydeck if he’d be happy reading our newscast, which he did one morning immediately after their morning newscast. It was just awesome.
CH: Kangaroo was the first villain Miles fought in the comics (Ultimate Comics Fallout #4, a little bit before they started to publish the Ultimate Comics Spider-Man), so we felt that was a fitting villain for Miles on screen. Our super-powered thief who got in over her head was Lana Baumgartner, aka Bombshell, who would go on to team up with Miles for a bit later in the series. It was great to get a subscription to Marvel and write it off as a business expense!
Mr. Horn also answered some questions on Youtube, and I've included one of his answers here.
Hammad Imtiaz asked about the budget.
CH: Budget is a tough thing - we spent only a few thousand dollars (minimum wage for the SAG stunt team, got everyone food, paid a few people minor stipends for their work, spent some money on props and wardrobe). Most of the labor, the locations, equipment were donated by local professionals we have regular working relationships with.
Here's the film, and below that are some more photos from the production. Be sure to watch the film through the well-done animated credits to catch the obligatory Marvel post-credit scene.
Here's some behind the scenes shots:
And some stills from the movie:
Spider-Man Lives: A Miles Morales Story is a new short film from Bard Tales Productions, LLC a Falls Church, VA-based firm which specializes in "bringing broadcast level quality productions at competitive pricepoints." Yesterday they contacted me about their new film and said, "A bunch of comic fans in the Washington, DC area thought Marvel should make a Miles Morales film. Since that wasn’t going to happen any time soon, they decided to make their own Miles Morales short." (For non-Spider-Man readers, Marvel Comics introduced a separate "Ultimate" universe a few years, ago, and when Peter Parker was killed, Miles Morales took over his role as Spider-Man.) As of this morning, the film has been online for two days and already has over 100,000 views on Youtube.The film was impressive enough that I decided to ask producer Chad Horn a few questions about how it was made.
MR: There's obviously some money and a lot of time invested in this. Your site makes it clear that you aren't a bunch of students doing this as a school project. You had enough Ultimate Spider-Man readers in the office to make a fan film?
CH: To really hone our craft we try to do stuff that is way outside of our comfort area every year. Last year we set a girl on fire for a Hunger Games parody, and we had to top it this year. Ivan, the director, was closely watching the Miles Morales story and the potential that he might join the Marvel Cinematic Universe – so when it started to look like that didn’t happen he pitched me on the film. Knowing Jeff Wilhelm (the stunt coordinator who set our Katniss on fire last year) I knew it was something we could try to pull it off even though none of us had any fight scene experience. Our professional line of work being video (television, corporate, political, association, etc.) we knew exactly who to beg, borrow, and steal from to get all of the equipment and personnel to come out to help. All of the pieces kind of fell together at that point and tons of people worked ridiculously hard to pull it off.
We knew we had a lot of introduction to do – Peter Parker is dead, the city is in chaos, Spider-Man is missed greatly – but we also knew we had to get it done as fast as possible to get the audience into the fight scene before we lost their attention.
MR: It looks like you had help from a local tv station?
CH: Francis Abbey, who directed our short film last year, works in the promotions department of WUSA9 and he asked Mike Hydeck if he’d be happy reading our newscast, which he did one morning immediately after their morning newscast. It was just awesome.
MR: I didn't read too much of the Ultimate Universe after the violence of the first few issues of both the X-Men and the Ultimates (an alternate version of the Avengers) turned me off it. I assume this is the ultimate version of the Kangaroo from the 1970s Spider-Man comic? And who's the girl with the glowing hand?
CH: Kangaroo was the first villain Miles fought in the comics (Ultimate Comics Fallout #4, a little bit before they started to publish the Ultimate Comics Spider-Man), so we felt that was a fitting villain for Miles on screen. Our super-powered thief who got in over her head was Lana Baumgartner, aka Bombshell, who would go on to team up with Miles for a bit later in the series. It was great to get a subscription to Marvel and write it off as a business expense!
Mr. Horn also answered some questions on Youtube, and I've included one of his answers here.
Hammad Imtiaz asked about the budget.
CH: Budget is a tough thing - we spent only a few thousand dollars (minimum wage for the SAG stunt team, got everyone food, paid a few people minor stipends for their work, spent some money on props and wardrobe). Most of the labor, the locations, equipment were donated by local professionals we have regular working relationships with.
Here's the film, and below that are some more photos from the production. Be sure to watch the film through the well-done animated credits to catch the obligatory Marvel post-credit scene.
Here's some behind the scenes shots:
And some stills from the movie:
Sunday, August 05, 2012
Summer in the 'burbs
This ice cream truck was parked for a couple of days in Arlington, VA. I think the grafitti-influenced paintings are pretty eye-catching.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Truitt on Spider-Man clones, DC Comics launches, and Blade anime
A study in 'Scarlet': Spider-Man clone stars in new series
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY January 11 2012
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2012-01-11/Scarlet-Spider-comic-series/52496322/1
DC Comics explores new worlds, old favorites with six titles
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY January 12 2012
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2012-01-12/dc-comics-unveils-six-new-series/52504982/1
Seven things to know about DC Comics' new wave of books
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY January 12 2012
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2012-01-12/Seven-facts-about-six-new-DC-Comics-series/52510592/1
Harold Perrineau bites into G4's 'Blade' anime series
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY January 12 2012
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2012-01-12/Harold-Perrineau-stars-in-Blade-anime-series/52519544/1
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY January 11 2012
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2012-01-11/Scarlet-Spider-comic-series/52496322/1
DC Comics explores new worlds, old favorites with six titles
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY January 12 2012
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2012-01-12/dc-comics-unveils-six-new-series/52504982/1
Seven things to know about DC Comics' new wave of books
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY January 12 2012
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2012-01-12/Seven-facts-about-six-new-DC-Comics-series/52510592/1
Harold Perrineau bites into G4's 'Blade' anime series
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY January 12 2012
http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2012-01-12/Harold-Perrineau-stars-in-Blade-anime-series/52519544/1
Saturday, November 27, 2010
PR: Spider Man - The Musical - A First Look on 60 Minutes
Tomorrow night, 60 Minutes will have a segment on the upcoming Spider-Man musical. I must say I'm somewhat interested in whether or not the producers pull this off.
Their press release follows. Note there's additional content on the web.
Their press release follows. Note there's additional content on the web.
November 23, 2010
U2'S BONO AND THE EDGE SAY WORKING ON
"SPIDER-MAN" WAS THE SOME OF MOST FUN
THEY'VE EVER HAD – "60 MINUTES" SUNDAY
Lesley Stahl Gets the First Look at "Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark"and its Aerial Effects and Also Talks to Director Julie Taymor as She Works to Complete the Most Expensive Musical Ever
U2 band-mates Bono and The Edge have been having fun helping to create what will be the most ambitious and expensive musical ever staged on Broadway. Lesley Stahl and 60 MINUTES cameras have been following the production for more than a year and a half and will offer the first look at the much vaunted aerial effects and the U2 stars' music sessions on 60 MINUTES, Sunday, Nov. 28 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
"It has been one of the funest (sic), more joyful rides of our artistic life, for sure," says Bono. "We've moved out of the rock 'n' roll idiom in places, into some very new territory for us," he tells Stahl. "There's big show tunes and dance songs." The Edge said working with Julie Taymor was "like being a student in a master class of musical theater and opera." Watch a clip.
"Julie Taymor is definitely a magician. I think that's what you call a person, who, even though they put the rabbit in the hat, is really surprised when it comes out," Bono tells Stahl.
The show's first preview is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 28, after delays due to money woes, the complicated staging and flying effects that injured two actors. The show cost more than $60 million to make, and critics wondered if it would ever open. But Taymor, with a string of stage and film successes, tells Lesley Stahl danger and risk make for a creative success. "I love it when people say 'What a horrible, lousy idea.' I think that's great," Taymor says with a laugh. "I hate the comfort zone…I don't think that anything that's really creative can be done without danger and risk," says the two-time Tony winner, whose spectacular staging of "Lion King" is still playing in theaters after 13 years.
On Sunday, 60MinutesOvertime.com will feature a special, in-depth look at how Bono and The Edge collaborated with Taymor to write and play the music that defines the show's villains and heroes and drives its stunning special effects.
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Original Spider-Man art visits Cumberland, MD
...or more accurately, it appears a reasonable facsimile of it did.
Area residents get small taste of what Library of Congress holds
Kristin Harty Barkley
Cumberland Times-News October 1, 2010
Area residents get small taste of what Library of Congress holds
Kristin Harty Barkley
Cumberland Times-News October 1, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Truitt on Spider-Man video game
'Spider-Man' scribe talks 'Shattered Dimensions'
By Brian Truitt
USA Today's Game Hunters blog Sep 14, 2010
It's an interview of Dan Slott.
By Brian Truitt
USA Today's Game Hunters blog Sep 14, 2010
It's an interview of Dan Slott.
Friday, September 03, 2010
John K Snyder III and Matt Wagner visit Library of Congress
John K Snyder III and Matt Wagner visited the Library of Congress to see the original Spider-Man pages last week, before attending the Baltimore Comic-Con. Scoop has the story. You can see friend of ComicsDC, librarian Sara Duke, in the 2nd picture behind Matt.
Friday, July 09, 2010
Superheroes Who Are Super at the Capital Fring Festival beginning tonight
Save the Day Productions is presenting its live readings of comic books, "Superheroes Who Are Super" at the Capital Fringe Festival beginning tonight
Times
Friday, July 9 @ 8pm
Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man and Wonder Woman #1
Saturday, July 10 @ 10pm
Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man and Wonder Woman #1
Wednesday, July 14 @ 9:45pm
Batman Adventures: Mad Love
Friday, July 16 @ 10:15pm
The Uncanny X-Men #127-128
Sunday, July 18 @ 3:30pm
The Uncanny X-Men #127-128
Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man and Wonder Woman #1
Saturday, July 10 @ 10pm
Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man and Wonder Woman #1
Wednesday, July 14 @ 9:45pm
Batman Adventures: Mad Love
Friday, July 16 @ 10:15pm
The Uncanny X-Men #127-128
Sunday, July 18 @ 3:30pm
The Uncanny X-Men #127-128
Location
The Apothecary
1013 7th Street, NW
Washington, DC
Tickets: $15
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Brian Truitt reviews Spider-Man comic
Spidey's the prey in 'Grim Hunt' saga
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY June 17 2010
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY June 17 2010
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Spider-Man at the Library of Congress now online video
Sara Duke says, "Last year I was filmed for history.com about the Library's acquisition of the original drawings for Amazing Fantasy #15 - the film clip is here: http://www.history.com/content/hiddentreasures/a-legend-is-born. (Burning through my 15 minutes of fame, one sound bite at a time.)
And yes, you may make an appointment with me to see the original drawings for Amazing Fantasy, or other cartoon art in our collection ... I'm generally available Mondays through Fridays, 8:30 am - 3:00 pm for appointments. (You can't see all 128,000 works of cartoon art on paper from your computer, but visit http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html to see a selection.)"
And yes, you may make an appointment with me to see the original drawings for Amazing Fantasy, or other cartoon art in our collection ... I'm generally available Mondays through Fridays, 8:30 am - 3:00 pm for appointments. (You can't see all 128,000 works of cartoon art on paper from your computer, but visit http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html to see a selection.)"
Saturday, May 23, 2009
OT: Saturday Night Live writes Spider-man
Many, many years ago, Marvel Team-Up was a fun book that matched Spider-Man with another hero. Once that was the original cast of Saturday Night Live, and I bought that sucker when it was new. Now a couple of SNL writers are returning the favor - "Live From New York, Writers for Spider-Man," By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES, New York Times May 23, 2009.
Friday, April 17, 2009
April 25: Sal Buscema Spider-Man drawing auctioned
The bit of interest to us is "we also have an original 11 x 17 black and white drawing of "Spiderman" drawn for us and donated by Mr. Sal Buscema, artist and inker for Marvel Comics since the late 1960s."
Spring Auction at Northern Virginia Christian Academy
On Friday, April 24 from 7 - 10 p.m. the Northern Virginia Christian Academy, 11000 Berry St., Fairfax, is holding a Silent and Live Auction. Sports, vacation, day excursion, and children's party packages available for bids. Admission is $10 per person. Call 703-273-0803 or visit www.nvchristianacademy.org.
Spring Auction at Northern Virginia Christian Academy
On Friday, April 24 from 7 - 10 p.m. the Northern Virginia Christian Academy, 11000 Berry St., Fairfax, is holding a Silent and Live Auction. Sports, vacation, day excursion, and children's party packages available for bids. Admission is $10 per person. Call 703-273-0803 or visit www.nvchristianacademy.org.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Rosenberg spoils Spider-Man
Our old buddy, former-Examiner-and-Express-columnist-gone-big-city-boy-reporter, Scott Rosenberg's got a story in AM NY that reveals so much you don't actually have to buy the comic book. Take it away, Scott - "Marvel Comics shocker: Bloomberg out, Spider-Man's nemesis in as city's new mayor," by Scott A. Rosenberg on April 15, 2009.
Monday, April 06, 2009
On finally seeing the first Spider-Man
After breaking the news almost exactly a year ago, I finally got around to seeing the first Spider-Man original art by Steve Ditko in Amazing Fantasy #15.
The art was lovely, but it was somewhat anti-climactic since I'd read the story literally hundreds of times. Foolish, I know. There's a small bit of new information to be gleaned from the artwork, where Stan Lee asked for changes, but Ditko followed his pencils very closely so there's not a lot of underlying drawing.
The entire comic book art is there, so there are three other stories with Ditko art that aren't seen nearly as often.
I really can't think of any better home for this than the Library. Lee and Ditko's creation has become an American icon over almost 50 years now. More pictures are here.
The art was lovely, but it was somewhat anti-climactic since I'd read the story literally hundreds of times. Foolish, I know. There's a small bit of new information to be gleaned from the artwork, where Stan Lee asked for changes, but Ditko followed his pencils very closely so there's not a lot of underlying drawing.
The entire comic book art is there, so there are three other stories with Ditko art that aren't seen nearly as often.
I really can't think of any better home for this than the Library. Lee and Ditko's creation has become an American icon over almost 50 years now. More pictures are here.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Spider-Man on WAMU on Friday
Listen to "Spidey at the Library of Congress" on WAMU's Metro Connection tomorrow.
Last year, an anonymous donor gave the Library of Congress original drawings of the first comic book appearance of Spider-Man. The pen and ink illustrations made by creator Steve Ditko in 1962 are available for Spidey-scholars to peruse - and the acquisition was an instant hit. Sara Duke is Curator of the graphic arts division of the Library. Back in May of last year, Stephanie Kaye spoke with Duke, as she opened the long, flat archive boxes these Spider-Man images now call home.
I'm not sure why it took them 9 months to get the story on the air though - Sara doesn't usually need that much editing.
Last year, an anonymous donor gave the Library of Congress original drawings of the first comic book appearance of Spider-Man. The pen and ink illustrations made by creator Steve Ditko in 1962 are available for Spidey-scholars to peruse - and the acquisition was an instant hit. Sara Duke is Curator of the graphic arts division of the Library. Back in May of last year, Stephanie Kaye spoke with Duke, as she opened the long, flat archive boxes these Spider-Man images now call home.
I'm not sure why it took them 9 months to get the story on the air though - Sara doesn't usually need that much editing.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
OT: Marvel Digital adds 4 pages to Spider-Man - Obama story
Here's the PR. I'm not sure how collectible the electrons will be:
MARVEL CELEBRATES PRESIDENT'S DAY AND PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S BICENTENNIAL WITH EXCLUSIVE ONLINE CONTENT OF PRESIDENTIAL PROPORTIONS
Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited celebrates President Lincoln's 200th birthday with President's Day release of exclusive free digital comic featuring Spider-Man and Captain America at the historic Gettysburg Address
Site will also offer free online access to hugely popular Spidey Meets the President! storyline featured in Amazing Spider-Man #583 along with exclusive new content for online release
NEW YORK - To honor President's Day and President Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday, Marvel Comics will be celebrating all weekend long with the launch of two major exclusive events at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited that will put both Presidents Lincoln and Obama in the Marvel Universe spotlight. The Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited destination can be accessed through www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/presidents.
In honor of President Lincoln's 200th birthday this month, Marvel will release Gettysburg Distress, an exclusive 6-page free digital comic featuring Spider-Man and Captain America as they witness Lincoln's historic Gettysburg Address. A tribute to the Bicentennial of the 16th President, the storyline - which is being written by Matt Fraction with art by Andy MacDonald - will be available online beginning President's Day, Monday, February 16, 2009.
Additionally, following the milestone 5th printing and unprecedented continued demand for Spidey Meets the President, in which President Obama joins Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #583, Marvel will kick off President's Day weekend by offering the special storyline - along with added never-before-seen bonus content - for free on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited. Four all-new, exclusive prologue pages have been added to the storyline -- created by the same team behind the original blockbuster (written by Zeb Wells and art by Todd Nauck and Frank D'Armata). The book will be available beginning Friday afternoon, February 13, 2009 at www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/presidents. All five variant covers created for each printing of the Amazing Spider-Man #583 issue featuring the Spidey Meets the President storyline will also be available to view at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
"We were completely blown away by the overwhelming response to the Spidey Meets the President storyline. Comic book shops have not been able to keep it on shelves, so we thought it would a fitting way to celebrate President's Day by offering free online access to all fans to view and read the storyline - including some exclusive new content - only at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited," says Dan Buckley, President of Marvel Publishing. "And in celebration of President Lincoln's historic Bicentennial, we could think of no better tribute in the Marvel Universe than to have Spider-Man and Cap honoring one of his enduring legacies, the Gettysburg Address."
Both comics can be viewed for free at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, Marvel's innovative online subscription service, accessible at www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/presidents.
Curated by Marvel editors, Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited is the ultimate digital comic Internet destination that allows unparalleled access to more than 5,500 comic books from Marvel's illustrious archives, along with exclusive content only available online. With subscription rates as low as $4.99/month, Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited is affordable to both new readers and longtime fans.
The comics aren't downloadable however.
MARVEL CELEBRATES PRESIDENT'S DAY AND PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S BICENTENNIAL WITH EXCLUSIVE ONLINE CONTENT OF PRESIDENTIAL PROPORTIONS
Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited celebrates President Lincoln's 200th birthday with President's Day release of exclusive free digital comic featuring Spider-Man and Captain America at the historic Gettysburg Address
Site will also offer free online access to hugely popular Spidey Meets the President! storyline featured in Amazing Spider-Man #583 along with exclusive new content for online release
NEW YORK - To honor President's Day and President Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday, Marvel Comics will be celebrating all weekend long with the launch of two major exclusive events at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited that will put both Presidents Lincoln and Obama in the Marvel Universe spotlight. The Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited destination can be accessed through www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/presidents.
In honor of President Lincoln's 200th birthday this month, Marvel will release Gettysburg Distress, an exclusive 6-page free digital comic featuring Spider-Man and Captain America as they witness Lincoln's historic Gettysburg Address. A tribute to the Bicentennial of the 16th President, the storyline - which is being written by Matt Fraction with art by Andy MacDonald - will be available online beginning President's Day, Monday, February 16, 2009.
Additionally, following the milestone 5th printing and unprecedented continued demand for Spidey Meets the President, in which President Obama joins Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #583, Marvel will kick off President's Day weekend by offering the special storyline - along with added never-before-seen bonus content - for free on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited. Four all-new, exclusive prologue pages have been added to the storyline -- created by the same team behind the original blockbuster (written by Zeb Wells and art by Todd Nauck and Frank D'Armata). The book will be available beginning Friday afternoon, February 13, 2009 at www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/presidents. All five variant covers created for each printing of the Amazing Spider-Man #583 issue featuring the Spidey Meets the President storyline will also be available to view at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
"We were completely blown away by the overwhelming response to the Spidey Meets the President storyline. Comic book shops have not been able to keep it on shelves, so we thought it would a fitting way to celebrate President's Day by offering free online access to all fans to view and read the storyline - including some exclusive new content - only at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited," says Dan Buckley, President of Marvel Publishing. "And in celebration of President Lincoln's historic Bicentennial, we could think of no better tribute in the Marvel Universe than to have Spider-Man and Cap honoring one of his enduring legacies, the Gettysburg Address."
Both comics can be viewed for free at Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, Marvel's innovative online subscription service, accessible at www.marvel.com/digitalcomics/presidents.
Curated by Marvel editors, Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited is the ultimate digital comic Internet destination that allows unparalleled access to more than 5,500 comic books from Marvel's illustrious archives, along with exclusive content only available online. With subscription rates as low as $4.99/month, Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited is affordable to both new readers and longtime fans.
The comics aren't downloadable however.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Spider-Man Obama comic still ridiculous over-popular and over-priced
See "Spider-Man, Obama comic a hot sell at Bowie comic book store: Web-slinging superhero prevents villain from disrupting inauguration," by Andrea Noble | Staff Writer, Maryland Gazette February 5 2009.
So this store was selling the first printing for $40. That'll have a good effect on the customers who bought it for that when they're told in 6 months that it's worth a dollar, won't it?
So this store was selling the first printing for $40. That'll have a good effect on the customers who bought it for that when they're told in 6 months that it's worth a dollar, won't it?
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