Due 01/10/09

Batman Widening Gyre #2 (Of 6)
Blackest Night Titans #2 (Of 3)
Green Lantern #46 Blackest Night
Last Days Of Animal Man #5 (Of 6)

Batman Giant

sweet.

Standing Order 24th September

Quiet this week:

Detective Comics #857
Blackest Night Superman #2 (Of 3)
Spider-Woman #1
Wednesday Comics #12 (Of 12)

Outstanding Standing Order!

3rd September(4th due to Bank Holiday)

Batman #690
Justice League Cry For Justice #3 (Of 7)
Wednesday Comics #9 (Of 12)


10th September

Blackest Night Batman #2 (Of 3)
Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men Exodus DAX
Green Lantern Corps #40 (Blackest Night)
Marvels Project #2 (Of 8)
Red Robin #4
Ultimate Comics Avengers #2
Wednesday Comics #10 (Of 12)


17th September

Dark Avengers #9
Batgirl #2
Batman And Robin #4
Batman Streets Of Gotham #4
Blackest Night #3 (Of 8)
Captain America Reborn #3 (Of 5)
Wednesday Comics #11 (Of 12)

Apple - Yawn!

I have been meaning to write about this for some time and following a number of recent conversations with friends, I think I am good to go.

Apple products are undoubtedly wonderful to look at. They have been for some time and with the advent of the ipod, Apple have really launched themselves as a technology developer worthy of battling Microsoft. Before I go any further, I want it to be clear that apart from a short stint as a journalist after leaving University, I have never worked on a Mac. Yes I have played on them in store and mucked about with them, but I have never owned one. I have always been a PC man and still am.

A number of years ago I was having a conversation with a good friend about technology (we were both technology lawyers at the time), so it did make sense. Anyway I was talking about the wonders of my first mp3 player, a Rio. I loved it. It was 32MB (yes MB). If you wanted you could upgrade it to 64MB (I never did). Well I loved that little machine. It held an album (just). If it was 12 tracks on the album then I had to reduce the quality, otherwise 10 tracks at decent quality would do. I would plug it into my PC in the morning before going to work and select the essential tracks for the day. It was amazing. No carrying around CD's or cassettes (although I did love cassettes). Well back to the conversation with my friend. He started to tell me about his new Apple mp3 player. It was called an ipod. It was 10GB. I laughed and used wholly inappropriate language. He was clearly lying to me. Either that or someone had slipped a dodgy drug into his beer (or mine). No matter he was telling the truth of course. A large white encased hard drive with a grey scale screen. A socket at the top for your headphones and 10GB's worth of your tunes. Sounded amazing. And of course my little Rio was never the same again, although I did continue using it for some time. At that stage I couldn't get an ipod. It only worked with Apple computers and I wasn't going to change just for that.

So my little Rio made do until Apple announced that they were releasing an ipod that could be used with a PC. Shock horror. Hardcore apple fans were not happy. PC fans were wondering what all the fuss was about and then there were people like me who were very exited. By this point they had already moved on considerably from the 10GB 1st generation my friend had. I purchased a white 3rd generation 20GB (they only did them in white). I remember when it first arrived – the excitement. The possibilities. It went everywhere with me. It had buttons on the fascia that back-lit.I still have it. It still works, although it is a bit bashed up. I remember becoming a statesman for ipods. I got strange looks from friends and colleagues. But they were jealous. They had heard rumblings of ipods. Is that an mp3 player? Anyway, Apple attempted to do what Microsoft had with their Windows operating system – an ipod in every home. And most people I know have one now – different colours, shapes, sizes.

But here is the crunch, Apple are considered a future contender to Microsoft for personal computing – not true! It will never happen. Apple know this. They admitted defeat the minute they allowed the ipod to work on a PC. It was a choice. And to be fair it has worked in so far as the mp3 market is wrapped up. Occasionally someone will turn their back on PC's and buy a mac. But the war was lost.

A good friend of mine (tweet davidvonce) has just purchased a new Mac Book Pro (and subsequently an iphone - which is a different story) and is clearly in love with it - the Mac Book Pro (slightly wrong). A big song and dance was made about Boot Camp and how you could run Windows on your Mac. Yet again, Apple seem to be admitting defeat and doing enough to encourage you to convert but still encouraging you to use Windows. Is this because you are limited on a Mac? Is it because you can't play decent games on a Mac? is it because the majority of programmes for Mac are made by Mac and not third parties?

Don't get me wrong, I like the look of the products, but I like the option to change my PC. I can change the hardware to my 'personal' needs. I can change the software to my 'personal' needs. My desktop looks like a Mac, icons and layout – but happily it isn't. If Apple hadn't made ipods available to PC's, I might now be an apple user and wouldn't be writing this on the brilliant ASUS EEE – but that's another blog for another time.

iTunes 'wish list'

I got all excited about the wish list function in iTunes (hadn't noticed it before) and found that for TV series/programmes that are still airing, wish list doesn't work. How annoying is that? rubbish.

iTunes wish list

Very quickly:

Spotify - Has got to be worth having mobile. £10 subscription - pretty much any music you want, there and then. I am going to trial it, if nothing else.

Nuclear O'reilly Album - First album to be made all on the iphone.

Tim Buckley - Live at Folklore Centre NYC - small 1967 live session - enough said.

Tru Blood - I have missed this, but have heard and read rave reviews - £21.99 for season pass - download released episodes, get the new ones automatically - yes please.

Westbang - not dodgy pron - shoot em up game - cool little graphics. I shot the Sheriff!

DC Entertainment created

WARNER BROS. CREATES DC ENTERTAINMENT
September 9, 2009

WARNER BROS. CREATES DC ENTERTAINMENT

Diane Nelson to Serve as President, DC Entertainment

Paul Levitz to Segue from President & Publisher of DC Comics

To Writer, Contributing Editor and Overall Consultant to DC Entertainment

(Dateline - Burbank, CA) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI) has created DC Entertainment Inc., a new company founded to fully realize the power and value of the DC Comics brand and characters across all media and platforms, to be run by Diane Nelson, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, and Alan Horn, President & COO, Warner Bros.

DC Entertainment, a separate division of WBEI, will be charged with strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses.DC Entertainment, which will work with each of the Warner Bros. divisions, will also tap into the tremendous expertise the Studio has in building and sustaining franchises and prioritize DC properties as key titles and growth drivers across all of the Studio, including feature films, television, interactive entertainment, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products.The DC Comics publishing business will remain the cornerstone of DC Entertainment, releasing approximately 90 comic books through its various imprints and 30 graphic novels a month and continuing to build on its creative leadership in the comic book industry.

In her new role, Nelson will report to Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, in order to best capitalize on DC Entertainment's theatrical development and production activities and their importance to drive its overall business with each of the divisions of Warner Bros.

Nelson will bring her expertise and more than 20 years' experience in creative brand management, strategic marketing and content development and production to ensuring DC Entertainment's dual mission of marshalling Warner Bros.' resources to maximize the potential of the DC brand while remaining respectful of and collaborative with creators, talent, fans and source material.Additionally, Nelson will continue to oversee the franchise management of the Harry Potter property, which she has done since 2000, and also continue to represent the Studio's interests with the author of the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling. Nelson will segue from her post as President, Warner Premiere but maintain oversight responsibilities of that division.(An executive succession plan for Warner Premiere will be announced shortly.)

Paul Levitz, who has served as President & Publisher of DC Comics since 2002, will segue from that role to return to his roots as a writer for DC and become a contributing editor and overall consultant to DCE.This transition will take place as expeditiously as possible without disrupting DC's business operations.

In his new role, Levitz will be called upon for his deep knowledge and more than three-decade history with DC Comics, both as a comic creator and an executive.Besides serving as a writer on a number of DC Comics titles, he will be a contributing editor and consultant to DC Entertainment on projects in various media.Additionally, he will consult as needed on the transition and integration of the DC Comics organization into DC Entertainment and will utilize his unique experience, knowledge and relationships with the comics industry's creative community to help achieve DC Entertainment's goal of maximizing the value of DC properties.Further, Levitz will advise DC Entertainment on creative and rights-holder relationships, in particular regarding the legacy relationships that have been a part of DC Comics for decades.

Widely recognized and respected for his support of writers, artists and creators in the comics industry, Levitz is best known creatively for his work with DC Comics, having written most of the classic DC characters, including Batman, Wonder Woman and the Superman newspaper strip. At Comicon International in 2008, Levitz was awarded the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award as part of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the only industry executive ever so honored.

"DC Comics and its super hero characters are truly touchstones of popular culture, and the formation of DC Entertainment is a major step in our company's efforts to realize the full potential of this incredible wellspring of creative properties," said Meyer."Diane knows our studio as a creative executive, a marketer and a senior manager, and this varied background will help her effectively and creatively integrate the DC brand and properties across all our businesses. We're also thrilled that Paul will remain involved with DC and we'll be able to tap his expertise to help us reach our goals for this new business."

"It's no secret that DC has myriad rich and untapped possibilities from its deep library of iconic and lesser-known characters," said Horn."While we've had great success in films and television, the formation of DC Entertainment will help us to bring more DC properties across additional platforms to fans around the world, while maintaining brand integrity and authenticity. Diane is a terrific choice to lead DC Entertainment, and with Paul in his new role as a valued consultant and contributing editor, both our company and comic fans win."

"Based on the great success we've had working with DC Comics to create some of the most popular and successful super hero films of all time, I've long believed that there was much more we could do across all of Warner Bros.' businesses with this great body of characters and stories," said Robinov."The prioritization of DC and the creation of DC Entertainment is a great opportunity that reaches far beyond the film group.There are endless creative possibilities to build upon the many significant successes already achieved by my colleagues Kevin Tsujihara and the Home Entertainment Group in the videogame, home video and direct-to-platform arenas and Bruce Rosenblum and the Television Group in live-action, animated and digital series.Collectively, we have the ability to grow a body of properties highlighting the iconic characters and the diversity of the creative output of DC Comics."

"The founding of DC Entertainment fully recognizes our desire to provide both the DC properties and fans the type of content that is only possible through a concerted cross-company, multi-platform effort," said Nelson."DC Entertainment will help us to formally take the great working relationships between DC Comics and various Warner Bros. businesses to the next level in order to maximize every opportunity to bring DC's unrivalled collection of titles and characters to life."

"After so many roles at DC, it's exciting to look forward to focusing on my writing and being able to remain a part of the company I love as it grows into its next stage," said Levitz. "It's a new golden age for comics and DC's great characters, and I hope my new position will allow me to contribute to that magic time."

DC Comics will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2010 (NEW FUN COMICS #1, the first DC comic, began publishing in 1935), at which time more explicit details regarding DC Entertainment's corporate and management structure, film and content release slate, creative roster and business objectives will be unveiled at a multi-faceted anniversary celebration and press conference in the first quarter of the year.

Current DC properties in development and/or production at Warner Bros. Entertainment include:

–"HumanTarget" is being produced by Warner Bros. Television for a mid-season debut on Fox.

– "Midnight Mass" is in series development at Warner Bros. Television for consideration for the 2010-11 season.

– "Jonah Hex," Warner Bros. Pictures' supernatural Western starring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox and John Malkovich, recently wrapped production in Louisiana.

– "The Losers," Dark Castle/Warner Bros. Pictures' action-adventure drama starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans, began principal photography mid-July in Puerto Rico.

– "The Green Lantern," Warner Bros. Pictures' next big superhero tentpole release, recently cast Ryan Reynolds as the titular character. The film has a projected second quarter 2011 release date.

– "Lobo," based on the DC Comics anti-hero, has Guy Ritchie attached as a director; Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona are producing for Silver Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.

– Warner Premiere's direct-to-platform DVD animated release of "Green Lantern: First Flight" debuted July 28.

– Warner Bros. Animation currently produces "Batman: The Brave and the Bold," which airs on Cartoon Network.

– Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released "Batman: Arkham Asylum" on August 25, a dark, action packed videogame adventure for Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and Games for Windows.

Prior to being named President, DC Entertainment, Nelson most recently served as President, Warner Premiere since its founding in 2006.Warner Premiere is a Studio-based production company which develops and produces high-quality, direct-to-DVD and short-form digital content, including the highly successful line of DC Universe animated DVD titles, and also pioneered the development of the motion comics category.Under Nelson's leadership, Warner Premiere functions as a full-service production entity with its own resources and release schedule, furthering the Studio's mandate of being a destination for both established and up-and-coming talent to create stand-alone properties as well as experiment in new media.

Before that, Nelson served as Executive Vice President, Global Brand Management, Warner Bros. Entertainment, with the primary responsibility of working cross-divisionally and throughout Time Warner to maximize and optimize all the various windows and outlets available to the Studio's signature franchises, brands and event properties on a global basis.In this post, Nelson's primary focus was the management of the Harry Potter brand, which she has overseen since the brand's launch at the Studio in 1999. These efforts have helped drive the success of the brand to become the most successful film franchise of all time, as well as a respected consumer property that has generated billions of dollars for the Studio.

At Global Brand Management, Nelson and her team of more than 15 employees worked in all media and platforms to support a number of other key franchise properties, including "The Matrix Reloaded," "The Matrix Revolutions," "Batman Begins," "The Dark Knight," "Happy Feet," "Polar Express" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," among others.

Prior to overseeing Global Brand Management, Nelson had served as Executive Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures. Nelson rose quickly through the ranks, having also served as Senior Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures and prior to that, Senior Vice President, Family Entertainment, Warner Bros. Corporate Worldwide Marketing and Planning. She was also Vice President, Worldwide Corporate Promotions, a post to which she was promoted in March 1998, after joining the Studio in September 1996 as Director of Worldwide Corporate Promotions.

Nelson came to theStudiofrom Walt Disney Records, where she served as Director of National Promotions. She is a graduate of Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Communications.

Scotland rant!

I'm just going to come out and say it - Burley must go! absolute sh*te! Salmond should make an executive decision for the greater good of Scotland and fire that muppet.

itunes 9

A few updates on itunes following the return of Steve Jobs yesterday. One in particular has got me quite excited - itunes LP. It adds a handful of digital pack-ins to purchased albums such as liner notes, photos, videos, lyrics, and links to online resources. One thing I do miss the information often provided when you used to buy vinyl (showing my age) and CD's. You don't really get that with digital purchases and yes you can google the particular album and get all the info you need, but it isn't quite the same. Hopefully this new feature will give a little extra.

Google and World Domination

I was reading an interesting article yesterday by Bill Thompson on the BBC website regarding Google's plans to get hold of as many hard copy books as possible and scan them and 'digitise' them. All these books would then be made available in some form of database to customers like you and me. Would they be free? Unlikely. How would authors and publishers be remunerated? That is unclear. What is clear is that some people are convinced it is anti-competitive and some see it as breach of various copyrights. The US courts will decide and it is more than likely that we will see Google take the mantle of the worlds librarian.

Google have done a great job of creating sites and applications that harness other peoples content (yours and mine). We load up 'our' documents to GoogleDocuments. We can't save them with passwords. Interesting. This blog I am writing is all linked to Google. Gmail is packed full of documents sent by and to the user. Google Calendar lists where the user is going and where they have been. GoogleFriends? I haven't used this yet, but I will be shortly to link everyone to this blog. If you start to think about it, Google have access to a HUGE amount of user content and it goes so much further – private data. Do you trust them? Will they use the content wrongly? What would constitute wrongful use? I am drafting my thoughts.

Will this be a good run?

Not a bad start. Some people are expecting a lot from this title. Others are less convinced. I am not sure which camp I fell into. After the Oracle mini, I was open to suggestions. Anyway, I enjoyed it, but felt a little let down by Cassandra making an appearance that lasted one page. The art was good, not brilliant. The story could be pants. This might be one that comes to a close after a short run. Who knows.

Watchmen - The movie

I finally got around to watching Watchman and I have to say, 'awesome'. It got a lot of stick when it came out, fom both hardcore fans of the original graphic novel ('novel') and indeed those who were simply watching the film having never read the source material. I had intended to watch it when it was on at the cinema but various things prevented it, much to the jokes of my work colleagues 'uh, call yourself a comic fan?' etc etc. Anyway I found a suitable free period to watch it and I had my well read copy of the novel to hand – I wanted to compare and contrast. Now, I don't think that it was perfect, but then I didn't think the novel was either. But, overall, I loved it. I need to gather my thoughts and probably watch it again, so that I can do a full review. Should be done within a few weeks.

Widening Gyre!

Read this last night and am a bit undecided whether I liked it or not - strange! I was disappointed with Kevin Smith's previous effort (Cacophony) and wrote a review on it on Comicvine (I will transfer over to here at some point), but there were flickers of Smith's Green Arrow run 'genius' in Cacophony and I hoped that maybe said 'genius' would appear in Widening Gyre. Walter Flanagan is on art duties and for the most part I like his work (accompanied by the two Arts). It does seem to work with Smiths lengthy script.

What I liked (4 things):

1. I know that some hardcore fans will disagree, but I mostly enjoyed the dialogue between Batman and Nightwing. At first I wasn't convinced as Batman, specifically Bruce Wayne, is painted as someone with the character of a Gnat. However, after some nice writing, the 'disappearing move' that Nightwing pulls is sweet and you feel Batman becoming more comfortable between the pages.

2. The range of characters. Smith does seem to bring past characters into his stories or certainly makes reference to them and in some cases parodies past styles (i.e. the opening Batman and Robin scenes smack of classic 60's style comics). You get Poison Ivy, Demon, Killer Croc, the Joker and a few others. It works, bringing these faces into the backdrop.

3. Poison Ivy- not a character I am massively keen on, (although I did enjoy the two opening issues of Gotham City Sirens) is drawn with a fair bit of seduction and attraction. The character definitely intrigues. The question is, what her part will be going forward - you get the feeling there is more of her to come.

4. The mix of fantasy and horror. There are a couple of scenes that would definitely fall into the horror/violent category and you are not really expecting them, which I liked. I hope this remains a theme throughout. It gave the story a matter of importance.


What I didn't like:

1. The ending. I know it runs for 6 parts, but you need that hook at the end to make you want to read the next issue, and issue one had a hook of sorts, but I felt a little cheated I guess.

2. The name. Just don't like it. What is a Gyre? A round shape formed by a series of concentric circles (as formed by leaves or flower petals) or a spiral oceanic surface current driven primarily by the global wind system?

So more in favour than not. I think however, Smith has a fair bit left to do to prove himself. I hope he nails it.