Comic Book Resources

Clark, get off the phone, get off the phone…

Seen in one of the DC Comics conference rooms, Clark Kent following a lead. I wonder of he’s trying to figure out how Blackest Night ends.

Lobbying Superman

If you ever get the chance to stop by the DC Comics offices in Manhattan, you’ll be greeted by an impressive Superman statue in the lobby. But that’s not the only place you’ll find Supes at DC. More tomorrow.

Ewoks go nuts on TODAY show

Live television can be very, very weird sometimes. Especially when Ewoks and Vodka are put together.

Kevin Smith at the Orpheum

Kevin Smith held court this past Saturday at the gorgeous Opheum Theater in Downtown Los Angeles. Great fun.

Bringing Love To Meltdown Comics

Jennifer Love Hewitt signs copies of her new IDW book “The Music Box” at Meltdown Comics.

Love Opens The Music Box

Jennifer Love Hewitt shows off issue #1 of “The Music Box” available now on iTunes and fine comic book stores everywhere.

Lindelof signs at Golden Apple

The q&a with Damon Lindelof went great and we should have that video on CBR soon. Here’s a shot of Damon signing for fans right now at Golden Apple, downstairs from CBR’s offices.

Allie & McGovern at GA

Dark Horse editor Scott Allie and EXURBIA artist Kevin McGovern signing at Golden Apple Comics right now!

Where Jay Really Gets His Stash

Jason Mewes (”Chasing Amy,” “Mallrats”) takes a break from picking up his comics and poses with Golden Apple’s own Ryan Liebowitz.

APE: Brandon Graham & Marian Churchland

BCC ‘09: The Harvey Awards!

Hey CBR Livers! CBR News is here bringing you all the updates on the winners, presenters and hi-jinks that is the 2009 Harvey Awards. The nominees and presenters are all set, having just eaten a lavish meal. The ceremony is set to start at 9:15 PM with master of ceremonies and hilarious creator of PvP Scott Kurtz ready to tickle everyone’s funnybone. Stay tuned to CBR Live and keep checking back for live updates as the awards progress!

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They Arrive …

This MASSIVE building sized billboard for the return of “V” to television (one of my favorite shows as a kid), seen on Highland traveling north in Hollywood, really pleased me. While some networks (AKA NBC) shy away from scripted drama, here’s a massive show of support from ABC for the new series. Impressive.

Waid actually answered …

… 56 questions in 50 minutes. Really fun panel. Best panel I’ve ever moderated.

Jim Lee’s Line at LBCC

The signing line for Jim Lee was quite impressive.

Mark Waid @ LBCC

At the beginning of the 50 questions in 50 minutes with Mark Waid panel, from the moderator’s (that’s me) perspective.

Found In The Closet – Marvel Mania Hollywood Menu!

More than ten years ago, the restaurant industry went nuts with themed restaurants.  The success and expansion of the Hard Rock Cafe franchise led to the launch of many more themed restaurants, most of which didn’t survive more than five years.  One of those theme restaurants was the Marvel Mania restaurant in Hollywood, California — well, actually, it was located in Universal City outside Universal Studios, which is a short drive over the Cahuenga pass from Hollywood into the San Fernando Valley.

The restaurant was a lot of fun, although the food wasn’t spectacular.  Truly the best part of the restaurant was the bar, which had a great selection of martinis.  Where the restaurant itself was geared towards families with super bright colors and massive murals featuring Marvel’s greatest heroes, the bar area was dimly lit mostly with black lights and the walls were covered with Marvel’s most dastardly villains.  The bar was truly a very cool place to visit if you were a comic fan and if I recall correctly, Los Angeles’ alt-weekly newspaper LA Weekly named it one of the Ten Best Bars in town the year it opened.  Or best bar for martinis.  It was the best of something, I know that much.  The “Monstrous Martini’s” had names like “Negative Zone,” “Asgard” and “Savage Land.”  There were also alcoholic beverages served under headings like “Curious Concotions” with drinks called “Journey Into Mystery” and “Dead of Night” or the “Web-Shooters” which were served in a small souvenir take-home beaker.  Drinks like “Clobberin’ Time,” “Gamma Slamma” or the “Dimension Distorter” could be ordered.

Recently I was going through my second room at home and found the menu for Marvel Mania Hollywood in a box.  Now, yes, clearly I’m a criminal — I snuck the menu out of the restaurant as a keep sake.  I’m certain I’m not the only one, but who could blame me?  It featured fantastic art from Mark Bagley, inked by Jesse Delperdang with colorists Paul Mounts and Bongotone.  Cross Grain Coneptual Design and fishbrain…graphic design pulled all that art together and created this fabulous menu.

Food items all had names that were similarly comic themed.  “Astonishing Appetizers” such as “Namor’s Calamari” or “Gambit’s Ragin’ Cajun Quesadillas” could be found on the menu, as well as salads with questionable names like “The Marvel House of Ideas Salad.”  There were plenty of “Super Hero Burgers” and “Stanwiches” to choose from, all served with “Fantastic Fries.”

But truly some of the best names for food were stuff like “Archangel Hair Pasta,” “Luke Cage Linguini with Mighty Meat Sauce,” “Mutants ‘N Cheese” which featured X-Men pasta, “Doc Ock’s Wok” stir fry and “Sub-Mariner’s Sesame Salmon.”

Then of course there was the “Stellar Sweets” deserts section which featured “The Galactus.”  Here’s the description:

“You’ll need to be the devourer of worlds to tackle this titan.  Twelve scoops of ice cream topped with marshmallow, hot fudge, raspberry and caramel sauce; nuts, cherries and whipped cream.  A titanic treat, perfect for any party or Super Hero family.”

“The Galactus” could have been yours for only $34.95.

Sadly, Marvel Mania Hollywood had a very short life span.  According to <a href=”http://www.thestudiotour.com/ush/attractions/food_marvelmania.shtml”>this site</a> it opened on February 18th, 1998 and closed up shop September 10th, 1999 for “financial reasons.”

In the mean time, enjoy these camera phone photos of the menu.  One day, if I can find an oversized scanner to borrow, I’ll prep proper scans of this menu.  It really is a beauty.

With the success of the Marvel brand in the mainstream today, you have to wonder if Marvel Mania restaurants could succeed today?  The food would have to be a lot better, but I think it’s a possibility.

Glen Brunswick @ Golden Apple

“Jersey Gods” writer Glen Brunswick talking with a fan at Golden Apple. When she introduced herself to Glen she began with, “I love you.” Can’t ask for a better first introduction.

Dean Trippe @CBR!

Behind The Scenes on the CBR Boat Show

I figured I’d share with you a handful of shots from our video production last week aboard the CBR Yacht, affectionately known as the CBR Boat Show.

While last year looked good, we had a number of upgrades this year over last. To begin with, we utilized a different yacht this year, one that gave us greater room on the top deck with which to film. Lincoln Morrison, our director, took care of it all — from running sound, video and lighting, arranging the set and even snapping the occasional pic. I’ve included a couple of neat shots of what it looked like up there, plus a couple of shots of some guests we had out to the yacht. Look for more video and more pics in the coming days.

This is where Lincoln spent most of his time, popping back and forth from camera to camera, running audio and lighting.  In this shot you can see we’ve blocked off a lot of the background light as the sun was hitting us in weird ways.

Here’s a shot from behind our “set.”  The crappy knock-off statues from Tijuana in the foreground, a three person set-up and then the cameras and lighting equipment.

Lincoln snapped this shot when legendary horror actor Robert Englund visited the yacht.  You can see the scrim in the background, which was used for most of the two-person interviews.

And below are just two of the many photos we took on the yacht.  First up is Zach Qunito and below that is DC Executive Editor Dan Didio.  More soon.

Inside CBRs Floating Newsroom

Stephen Gerding (editor), Seth Sherwood (video editor) (Top Photo), Andhrea Gapuany (Jonah’s assistant) and Kiel Phegley (staff writer) (bottom photo) working hard on the CBR yacht during Comic-Con.