The current situation has impacted events all over and that extends to the military. The USO is going virtual with its Military Virtual Programming Con which takes place on October 6-8. Headling the event is Captain America and Black Widow, aka actors Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson.
Other guests for the event include Norman Reedus (Darryl from “The Walking Dead” and star of AMC’s “Ride With Norman Reedus”), Gerard Way (lead singer of the band My Chemical Romance and creator of the Netflix series “The Umbrella Academy”) and Jon Bernthal (Marvel’s “The Punisher”) also highlight the event.
Much like you’d find at any other virtual fan convention, the USO’s event features panels that will be broadcast online. Panels include ones from the National Cartoonists Society Panel, MAD Magazine, DC FanDome, and more.
Unlike other events, this is meant for the military. For each Zoom event you’ll need to vouch that you’re a Department of Defense ID holder or dependent of one, but it’s the honor system. You will be asked to provide your installation, service branch and rank for yourself or your family member.
The weekend is almost here! What geeky things are you all doing? Sound off in the comments below. While you wait for the weekday to end and the weekend to begin, here’s some news and reviews from around the web in our morning roundup.
(W) Usual Gang of Idiots (A/CA) Usual Gang of Idiots In Shops: Apr 22, 2020 SRP: $5.99
Don’t blow your whole wad on Coachella tickets this year-Mad #13 is making (fun of) music for $5.99 (cheap)! Laugh at acts you’d never pay to see…from the comfort of your own toilet (no porta potties necessary)! Sure, we may not have the sad crooning of Thom Yorke, but we could have a hilarious cartoon of him! Enjoy classic Mad music spoofs, plus an all-new Spy vs. Spy, “A Mad Look at…”, and more!
(W) Usual Gang of Idiots (A/CA) Usual Gang of Idiots In Shops: Feb 19, 2020 SRP: $5.99
America’s longest-running humor magazine continues to skewer everything pop culture! February’s TV-themed issue is packed with new, original content and a wide variety of vintage MAD favorites (because so many boobs have been on the tube)! Featuring a new “MAD Look at…” by Sergio Aragonés, Spy vs. Spy, and more, MAD will surely make the whole family laugh…while still managing to piss off some folks.
The weekend is almost here and we’re sure you’re spending it seeing Spider-Man: Far From Home! We know we are (again). Sound off what geeky things you all will be doing. While you wait for the workday to end and the weekend to officially begin, here’s some comic news and reviews from around the web.
Numerous rumors have been swirling regarding the future of MAD Magazine in the last 24 hours with some claiming that the influential magazine was ending and others claiming they’re still making new material. As usual, the truth is somewhere in between.
While DC, the magazine’s publisher, hasn’t released an official statement, we’ve received more details from well-placed sources.
Due to lagging newsstand sales, MAD will no longer be found there. Instead, the magazine will still be available in comic shops, aka the direct market, as well as subscribers.
When it comes to new material, after issue #10 this fall, there will no longer will be new content in the monthly magazine. There WILL be new material in the end-of-year specials which will always be new.
Starting in MAD Magazine #11 it will feature “classic,” “best-of,” and nostalgic content from the last 67 years.
DC will also continue to publish MAD books and special collections.
Launched in 1952 by Harvey Kurtzman and William Gaines, the magazine received a relaunch and new #1 issue in 2018.
Hivemind has announced a new partnership with William M. Gaines Agent, Inc., the proprietors of EC Comics, for a number of film and television projects based on the hugely influential – and often controversial – comic book publisher’s groundbreaking legacy and library. One of the first endeavors of the partnership will be Weird Fantasy – a new television show inspired by the shocking and subversive sci-fi/fantasy series that collided visionary genre storytelling with socially conscious themes of racial and gender equality, anti-war advocacy, nuclear disarmament and ecological preservation to create some of the most impactful and hotly debated comic book stories ever produced. This is the first time that WMG Agent Inc. has made Weird Fantasy available for adaptation in more than two decades.
Changing the industry seemingly overnight in the early 1950s under the stewardship of publisher and writer William M. Gaines, EC Comics quickly became the dominant force of the era’s booming comic book industry, selling tens of millions of copies annually and generating intense, nationwide controversies with taboo-smashing, confrontational stories in series like Tales From the Crypt and MAD Magazine. EC’s unique formula eschewed superheroes in favor of science fiction, fantasy, war, horror, and humor – redefining comics storytelling with a newly sophisticated and artist-driven approach that would pave the way for the ascendancy of both Marvel Comics and the counterculture underground in the decades to come.
A lynchpin of the EC line during the publisher’s creative watershed,Weird Fantasy produced dozens of seminal stories that intersected razor-sharp social commentary with epic science fiction, high adventure and dark fantasy by some of the most celebrated comics creators to ever work in the medium, including Frank Frazetta, Wally Wood, and Harvey Kurtzman. Weird Fantasy‘s defiantly rebellious sensibility is perhaps best exemplified by “Judgment Day” – a history-making story by William M. Gaines, Al Feldstein, and Joe Orlando that championed the then-burgeoning Civil Rights movement and provoked a showdown with the Comics Code Authority, the pro-censorship organization that policed and sanitized the comic book industry for more than 50 years.
The new partnership is also slated to include a feature film based on the life of William M. Gaines, the former EC Comics publisher and self-styled comics provocateur who challenged the rigid moral code of 1950s America with shockingly innovative and deeply subversive tales of fantasy, horror and humor that sold in the millions…only to find his company investigated by Congress and his books burned in the streets in the wake of EC’s staggering success. Chronicling one of the greatest untold chapters in American history, the film will follow Gaines’ transformation from a staid, New York publishing impresario into a counterculture hero, guardian of artistic freedom, and champion of the First Amendment as his darkly humorous journey through the troubled birth of the comic book industry reveals the Red Scare-era witch hunt that nearly doomed an American art form, through the subsequent founding of MAD Magazine and eventual rise of Marvel Comics in EC’s wake.
Both projects will be produced by Gaines’ daughter and grandson, Cathy Mifsud and Corey Mifsud, for EC, alongside Dinesh Shamdasani, Sean Daniel, Jason F. Brown, and Hunter Gorinson for Hivemind. The projects will mark Gorinson’s first for Hivemind, where he also has joined as VP Brand & Content Strategy.
It’s Wednesday which means it’s new comic book day with new releases hitting shelves, both physical and digital, all across the world. This week we’ve got MAD doing Superman?!
MAD Presents Superman and the Miserable, Rotten, No Fun, Really Bad Day is by Dave Croatto and Tom Richmond.
Get your copy now ijn comic shops and boostores on Ocotber 17. To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with FREE copies for review This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site.
During New York Comic Con, DC Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee used their “Meet the Publishers” panel to kick of the Con and give a “State of the Union” overview of what comic fans can expect next from the home of the World’s Greatest Super Heroes.
At this year’s panel bestselling writer Grant Morrison made a surprise appearance. Morrison didn’t come empty handed either; lucky fans got a chance to see the newest art from longtime collaborator Yanick Paquette from their upcoming original graphic novel, Wonder Woman Earth One Vol. 2. Grant talked with Dan and Jim about his vision for this next chapter of Diana’s journey through Man’s world and what surprises readers can expect along the way.
The publishers had a little more “Morrison” in store for fans when they introduced Eisner award-winning artist and National Cartoonists Society president Bill Morrison as the new Executive Editor of MAD Magazine. Bill chatted with Dan and Jim about the legacy of MAD, the transition from New York to Burbank and his vision for continuing MAD Magazine’s role as America’s #1 home for humor and satire (in a field of one).
Are you MAD About Trump? There is no president in American history more deserving of being mercilessly mocked, relentlessly ridiculed and savagely satirized than Donald Trump. Luckily, MAD Magazine is here to do the job! #MADaboutTrump
An all-out comedic assault on the most idiotic idiot ever to reach the White House (George W. Bush and visitors included)! In these 128 pages, is a full-out assail to the chief, spoofing every aspect of Donald Trump’s career.
eaturing a foreword by CNN correspondent Jake Tapper, this book offers MAD’s best reprinted material with the sharpest satiric shots at “The Donald,” comically chronicling his rise from obnoxious businessman to really obnoxious reality show host to uber obnoxious “Commander-in-Tweet.” It’s going to be very, very, very good. Very good.
Please note: MAD will not offer refunds on this book in the likely event of President Trump’s impeachment. Sad!
MAD About Trump: A Brilliant Look at Our Brainless President will be available in bookstores everywhere on Tuesday, June 20th.
