Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Working and Coughing

I'm still battling the deluge of work that I mentioned yesterday, but in addition I have also come down with a rather nasty bug of some sort. Good times! I am taking it easy today, but in case you missed them yesterday I wanted to share some of the cool Fox Atomic / New York Comic Con wrap-up reports:

VIDEOS FROM THE SHOW – FOX ATOMIC

FOX ATOMIC COMICS PANEL REPORT – COMICS CONTINUUM

FOX ATOMIC COMICS PANEL – COMIC BOOK RESOURCES

STEVE NILES INTERVIEW AT THE PANEL – IGN.com

Later

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

NYCC: The Aftermath - Part Deux

So I’m back in LA; I finally got more than three hours of uninterrupted sleep last night so I feel somewhat like myself (somewhat). However, the work which went neglected while I was away in NY had somehow all banded together against me, so the majority of this week shall be spent battling that Hydra, Clash of the Titans-style.

I'm about to draw my sword and charge headlong into the fray, so as I do battle please enjoy some Fox Atomic / New York Comic Con wrap-up reports:

VIDEOS FROM THE SHOW – FOX ATOMIC

FOX ATOMIC COMICS PANEL REPORT – COMICS CONTINUUM

FOX ATOMIC COMICS PANEL – COMIC BOOK RESOURCES

STEVE NILES INTERVIEW AT THE PANEL – IGN.com

Later

Monday, February 26, 2007

NYCC: The Aftermath

So the New York Comic Con is behind us, and what a show it was! The crowds were huge, everyone dug what we had to show, and the entire Fox Atomic crew had an incredible time (yes, even though I was hit by that bloody truck, although I do enjoy all the 'Unbreakable' refs that people are throwing my way).

Today's update will be short and sweet since we're all traveling back from NY to LA, but more updates and news links to follow. To bide the time check out all the cool videos we captured at the show RIGHT HERE!

Later

Sunday, February 25, 2007

NYCC - Day 2

It's Day 2 at the New York Comic Con; the booth is rocking, and all is going great. Wes Craven did his Hills Have Eyes 2 panel and signed at the booth, and I did my first panel ever with Jimmy Palmiotti, Steve Niles, Justin Gray, Heidi Macdonald, and Dennis Calero. I can't tell you how much it fills my geek heart with pride to have done a panel at a comic book convention.

If you're coming by the show be sure to stop by our booth (#553)!

Friday, February 23, 2007

NYCC - Day 1 - good times

Friday is in full swing at the New York Comic-Con! Nice crowd on the floor so far, and a nice steady stream of people stopping by the Fox Atomic booth. We've got a great show planned for the weekend, with signings, panels, and more. Plus, I'm finally off my pain meds after being run over by a truck so I feel like my old self again.

Here's some VIDEO FROM THE SHOW

Wanted to share some Fox Atomic shout-outs as well:

IGN.com posted some nice Fox Atomic love in their pre-show round-up:
Fox Atomic Explodes
Fox's new genre film label Fox Atomic has a significant presence planned at the show this year, including its Fox Atomic Comics (which will be releasing the comic book tie-ins 28 Days Later: The Aftermath and The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning), The Hills Have Eyes 2 appearances by cast and crew (including Wes Craven), a "15 Gigs of Fear" user-submitted music video contest for Hills, and more.

And the Fox Atomic Comics profile is on the MYSPACE HOMEPAGE

Later

NYCC - Day 1

We're here! More to follow! Come on down!

Thursday, February 22, 2007

NYCC - It begins

Today is our primary set-up day for the New York Comic Con; keep watching this space, because I plan on posting some live blogs directly from the show floor chronicling our set-up adventures. Believe you me – life around Fox Atomic is never dull. Take yesterday for example, when I was run over by a truck whilst crossing the street and was rushed to the hospital. The doctors were amazed because I came out (relatively) unscathed given the severity of how I was hit… but more on that later. We’re off to the show floor! Not even being run over by a truck can keep me away from a comic convention.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The blog from 30,000 feet

I just off the red eye flight from LA to New York – my travel agent must love me, because she gave me a seat that had an infant in the row behind me. An infant that had a scream that could wake the dead. And scream it did… The. Entire. Flight. As such, given that I got all of 2.34 minutes of uninterrupted sleep, I have made the seemingly foolhardy decision to not indulge in daytime sleep but rather power through another day of New York Comic Con preparation. Hey, when duty calls (especially comics-related duty), you better believe that I answer.

In keeping with this week’s theme of all things Comic Con, I wanted to share the overall Fox Atomic / New York Comic Con panel and signing schedule (below). Bear in mind that the schedule below lists just timed events; all throughout the show at the Fox Atomic booth we’ll have all sorts of wackiness going on – exclusive giveaways, a prize wheel, mutant ‘make-overs’, the lovely Fox Atomic Ladies, computers for you to enter the 15 Gigs of Fear promo or check your MySpace profile (we ARE the official MySpace meet-up point ;), a petting zoo (ok, maybe not), and more!

Keep checking this spot, because I do have a little surprise to announce later this week... Again, if you’re headed to the show, please be sure to stop by and say hi!

The schedule is as follows. Note that all signings take place at the Fox Atomic booth (#553):

Friday
• 6:30 – 7:30 – Steve Niles signing at the Fox Atomic booth

Saturday

• 10:30 – 11:30: Jimmy Palmiotti / Justin Gray signing at the Fox Atomic booth

• 12:00 – 1:00PM: Steve Niles signing at the Fox Atomic booth

• 2:00 – 3:00 PM: The Hills Have Eyes 2 panel: be the first to catch an exclusive sneak peek at 2007’s hotly anticipated horror film, The Hills Have Eyes 2! Join horror master Wes Craven, co-writer Jonathan Craven, and cast members from The Hills Have Eyes 2 as they talk about the film and debut an exclusive clip. You don’t want to miss this panel!

• 3:30 – 4:30: Wes Craven, Jonathan Craven, and Hills Have Eyes 2 stars Jessica Stroup and Daniella Alonso signing at the Fox Atomic booth

• 6:00 – 7:00 PM: Fox Atomic Comics panel: check out what’s coming up in 2007 from Fox Atomic Comics, the publishing arm of the Fox Atomic movie studio! Catch exclusive previews of the upcoming graphic novels 28 Days Later: The Aftermath, The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning, and horror anthology The Nightmare Factory. Jimmy Palmiotti (co-writer of The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning), Steve Niles (writer of 28 Days Later: The Aftermath), editor Heidi Macdonald and Fox Atomic Comics E-I-C R. Eric Lieb all be on-hand to discuss and cause a ruckus.

Sunday
• 12:00 – 1:30 PM: Steve Niles and Jimmy Palmiotti signing at the Fox Atomic booth

Later

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

We Need Comic Con(s)

In honor of the New York Comic Con this weekend (which Fox Atomic Comics is attending), I have decided to devote this week’s series of blogs to all things Comic Con. If you know me, then you know how much I LOVE comic conventions. Aside from the obvious reasons (an entire weekend of geeking out, naturally), they’re a great time to meet new artists, connect with friends old and new, and spend way too much money on items that I really do not need (animation cells, anyone?).

I’m happy too because the convention season is starting to get into full swing once again; for some reason there is a dearth of major cons in December and January. San Diego is the obvious king of the hill (and my favorite week of every year by far), but this year I’ll also be heading to the New York con, WonderCon, the Wizard shows, and others.

More info on our New York Comic Con plans tomorrow; I will be posting from NYC later this week. Let me know if you’re planning to go.

Later

PS – Starbuck, that headline is for you

Monday, February 19, 2007

Holiday Reading

Presidents Day is an official holiday for the Fox Atomic Comics crew, so I’m putting that free time to good use by catching up on some of my reading. I’m currently getting caught up on 52 (man, you really have to have an encyclopedic knowledge of DC continuity to keep up with it all), as well as my current fav, Brian Wood’s DMZ (which, if you haven’t read, I highly recommend). Also getting ready for the New York Comic Con this weekend! Let me know if you’re planning to go.

Later

Friday, February 16, 2007

New Movie Friday

So Ghost Rider comes out today… any of you going to check it out this weekend? I’ll definitely be there, although I’m looking forward to seeing 300 and Spidey 3 much more. Ghost Rider as a character is one that has never really piqued my interest, but it always cracks me up that his head is a flaming skull. I’d be scared crapless if some dude with his head on fire rolled up my way on a bike with flaming tires, that’s for sure.

What comic adaptation movies are ya’ll looking forward to seeing? Let me know; leave a comment below.

Later

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Fox Atomic Comics on MySpace

If you’re on MySpace (and if you’re not, step into the new century you bloody Luddite), be sure to friend our new FOX ATOMIC COMICS PROFILE. Check it out for news, links to a few of the creator’s profiles, pages not shown on this site, and all other sorts of goodness.

Also, MySpace recently re-launched their Comics profile, and it looks great! CHECK IT OUT HERE.

Later

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

I Love Wednesday

Happy Singles Awareness Day (or, as the Hallmark Corporation insists upon calling it, “Valentine’s Day”). Not even the horrifying specter of that devil Cupid could taint what is consistently my favorite day of the week: new comics day! No matter what, come Hell or forced holiday, I always look forward to Wednesday.

If you happen to be hanging around Hi-De-Ho comics in Santa Monica tonight, stop by and say hi as I collect the following new books:

52 (Week #41)
Batman #663
Friday the 13th #3
Gen 13 #5
Green Arrow #71
Green Lantern Corps #9
Sandman Mystery Theatre Sleep Of Reason #3
Y: The Last Man #54
Battlestar Galactica (whatever the title; I’m such a BSG nut it’s not even funny)
Casanova #7
Astonishing X-Men #20
Exiles #91
Nextwave #12 (I LOVE Nextwave)

What books are you looking forward to? Let me know; leave a comment below.

Later

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

The Lay of the Land

Back to a bit of business - to give you a sense of how things work around here at Fox Atomic Comics, our main focus is on producing high-quality, original graphic novels. The novels we produce will either tie into our theatrical films in order to expand the 'mythology' of that title (28 Days Later), provide a back-story (The Hills Have Eyes), or will be an entirely original story or adaptation (The Nightmare Factory). We produce all creative in-house, and on every title we're very fortunate to be working with some incredible writing and illustrating talent. Our publishing partner is HarperCollins, definitely someone great to have in your corner so that the books hit not only in your local comics shop but in the book mega-store down the street as well.

If you haven't yet, please have a look around our newly-redesigned comics section. Check out each title on the left to learn more about the writers, artists, and to see a few sample pages. I would love to know what you think about the site, the novels, life, love, and all that nonsense.

Let me know; leave a comment below.

Later

Currently reading: Frank Miller's Robocop

Monday, February 12, 2007

The Black Costume

Although I could prattle on about the subject for days, this section will not be devoted exclusively to musings about Fox Atomic Comics. Nope, all things near and dear to my geeky heart are fair game, including comics (naturally), video games, baseball, heavy weaponry (I am a Texan, after all), as well as a host of other topics. To kick things off I thought I’d start with something that has piqued my interest as of late: Spider-Man’s new costume.

As you may have heard (well, if you’re a comics fan anyway), Spider-Man has switched back to the black and white costume that he wore for a brief period in the 80s. I, for one, am very stoked that Spidey has gone back to the black costume. Why? Quite simply, I think it’s the cleanest, most elegant outfit that has ever been designed for a super-hero (and that’s including my all-time favorite character, Batman). The outfit also makes sense, since Spider-Man spends most of his time out at night anyway. Plus it just looks damn cool.

Rumor has it that the costume was well liked by artists at the time because it made their jobs a lot easier. I can see why; I sure as hell wouldn’t want to have to draw all of those webs on Spidey’s costume in every single panel. Then again, my rendition of Spider-Man would probably look like a badly-drawn stick figure anyway.

It’s also interesting to note is that this summer’s Spider-Man 3 also shows Spidey donning the black costume. Coincidence that Spidey’s also switched duds in the comics series too? Nah…

What do you think? Agree/disagree/don’t really care either way? Let me know; leave a comment below.


Later

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray Interview!

Head on over to NEWSARAMA for an exclusive interview with the co-writers of The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning graphic novel, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray! Be sure to check out some of the amazing rough pages from the Hills novel while you're there.

One of my favorite quotes from the interview (and, in fact, high in the running for my favorite quote ever) is Jimmy's summation of the plot: "...the army running off the town people. The people striking back and waging war. The first mutant birth. Murder while having sex. Tanks blowing up tanks. A town of mutants on a killing spree. Life , death, sex, murder, betrayal, insanity, mutation…so many wonderful reasons to pick up the book". Folks, it doesn't get much better than that.

Later

PS - the NEW YORK COMICCON will soon be upon us, and Fox Atomic will be there in full force. Let me know if you're planning to attend the show!

Friday, February 9, 2007

Exclusive Hills Have Eyes Pages!

IGN.com has POSTED an exclusive 'first look' at interior pages from the Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning graphic novel! Check 'em out; they are mainly just inked pages (one color page), but I personally love looking at inked pages because you can really see the detail that an artist like Higgins puts into each panel. The Hills art is looking amazing, I hope you enjoy!

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Welcome to Fox Atomic Comics!

Welcome to the new online home of Fox Atomic Comics! My name’s Eric (what the ‘R’ stands for is a state secret, by the by), and I will be your intrepid guide to the world of Fox Atomic Comics and beyond. At Fox Atomic Comics my job is to work with our incredibly talented teams of writers and artists to develop all of the lovely stories and pretty pictures that you see within the books around the site, so please have a look around and definitely leave lots of comments to let me know what you think!

Keep checking back every day for new content and to read my daily musings on the world of comics, videogames, and all the other geeky stuff that I love and know that you do too. If you poke around the Blender videos on foxatomic.com you may even see videos of me engaging in lightsaber duels or other nefarious activities. The fun’s just starting!