NewsOK Comics Podcast: Reviews of Supergirl 47, Adventure Comics 4, Flash Rebirth 5 and Amazing Spider-Man 612
Like Pete Sampras in the 1996 U.S. Open against Alex Corretja, I fought off illness and exhaustion to bring you this week’s NewsOK Comics Podcast with Kyle Roberts. We talk about the excellent week DC Comics had, with new issues of Supergirl, Adventure Comics and Flash Rebirth, and about Spider-Man’s trip into the Gauntlet with Amazing Spider-Man 612. Check it out.
- Matt Price
Supergirl #50 to feature Michael Turner, Helen Slater
Tulsa-born writer Sterling Gates is joined by two Supergirl superstars for “Supergirl” No. 50. Artwork from the late Michael Turner will be the cover of “Supergirl” No. 50. A back-up story will be written by “Supergirl” actress Helen Slater and Jake Black. 
As revealed in the Superman family solicitations at Newsarama.com, the issue is set for release on Feb. 17 and will run 56 pages for $4.99. Joshua Middleton, the series’ regular artist, will provide a 1-in-10 variant cover for the issue.
It’s the second “Supergirl” news featuring Slater in recent weeks. The actress also provided the introduction to “Supergirl: Who Is Superwoman?,” the collection of “Supergirl” issues by Gates and artist Jamal Igle released this week.
- Matt Price
Character makes Savage return to comics
Doc Savage is making his way back to comics. The once wildly popular pulp character co-stars with Batman in the one-shot “Batman/Doc Savage” this week.
Brian Azzarello (“100 Bullets”) is the writer of the “Batman/Doc Savage” Special, illustrated by Phil Noto.
Doc Savage has a long history in comic books, pulp magazines, radio and even movies.
Moore author Mel Odom said Doc Savage was among his favorites as a youngster.
“I grew up on the character — tougher than Tarzan, braver than Batman,” he said. “(I) took my younger brothers to see the 1975 George Pal ‘Doc Savage’ movie.”
And Doc Savage could return to the silver screen as well. Aintitcoolnews.com recently reported Shane Black (“Lethal Weapon”) was working on a Doc Savage script.
Through his worldwide jaunts, Doc Savage came at least twice to the Sooner State.
“At least two Doc novels take place in Oklahoma, ‘The Secret in the Sky,’ May 1935, and ‘The Derrick Devil,’ February 1937,” said Larry Latham, pulp fiction expert and creator of the “Lovecraft Is Missing” Web comic.
Doc Savage was an adventurer and scientist who had globe-spanning adventures with his band of assistants.
Lester Dent wrote most of the 181 novels featuring Doc Savage, which were released under the Street & Smith “house name” of Kenneth Robeson. And Dent had even closer ties to Oklahoma than his “Man of Bronze” character.
Though Dent was born in La Plata, Mo., Latham said Dent lived and worked in Oklahoma from 1925 to late 1930, in Bartlesville, Ponca City, Chickasha and Tulsa.
“In Tulsa, he worked for The Associated Press office at the Tulsa World,” Latham said in an e-mail. Latham said articles by Will Murray, Dent’s literary executor and biographer and a personal friend of Dent’s wife, Norma, indicated that during this time Dent was an avid reader of the pulp magazines.
“He worked midnight to 8 a.m. and read a lot of pulps,” Latham said. “One of his co-workers, Lester Foster, sold a story, and so Dent took up writing as a way to make some extra money.”
He wrote 13 stories before selling his first to Street & Smith in 1929, living in Tulsa and working at The Associated Press, and also as a telegrapher at a Tulsa stock brokerage until 1930.
Dell Publishing in New York offered Dent a full-time job writing in late 1930, Latham said, and the Dents moved there. Not too long after, Street & Smith hired him to write Doc Savage.
In addition to Doc Savage, Dent wrote a variety of other pulp genres before his death on March 11, 1959. But there was one genre of which he wasn’t particularly fond.
Murray quotes him as saying: “I was raised on a ranch. Now wouldn’t I be crazy to go writing about something I knew all about?”
by Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Rock Band, Guitar Hero to highlight Norman library event
The Norman Public Library will host an adult gaming night from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13 in the Lowry Room. Those 18 and over can join in the games, which will include Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution, Halo 3, Left for Dead, and more. Systems available will include Xbox 360, Playstation 2, and the Nintendo Wii.
No registration is required for the event. For more information, contact Norman librarian Jamie Hale at 701-2620 or stop by the Norman Information Services Desk.
Tulsa author S.E. Hinton plans comic-book projects
According to MTV’s Splash Page blog, Tulsa author S.E. Hinton will bring several projects to comic books, from Bluewater Productions.
The first project will adapt Hinton’s young adult novel “Taming of the Star Runner.” That series is planned for early 2010.
According to the Splash Page, Hinton’s children’s book “The Puppy Sister” is set to be adapted, and Hinton
S.E. Hinton
plans to create an entirely new title for Bluewater. Don Smith, CW Cooke, Guilherme Rafid and Yasir Fajardo will collaborate on Hinton’s projects, according to the blog.
“I grew up reading S.E. Hinton’s books, so to bring these to a graphic novel format is a dream come true for me,” said Bluewater publisher Darren G. Davis at MTV Splash Page. “The best part is getting to work with Hinton one on one. We have talked about the new title, which is on the lines of her iconic work ‘The Outsiders.’”
Hinton is one of Oklahoma’s best-known authors. It’ll be interesting to see the local response to comics based on her work.
- Matt Price
Oklahoma writer Sterling Gates creates World’s Finest team-ups
World’s Finest #1, kicking off a miniseries teaming Superman and Batman family characters, is in stores today, written by Tulsa native Sterling Gates.
At DC Comics’ official “Source” blog, Gates is called a “writer to watch.”
“Gates has made a name for himself for his tight plotting and knack for strong and precise characterization,” blogger Alex Segura writes.
Meanwhile, at Newsarama, Vaneta Rogers has an extended Q&A with Gates about the series.
“The Batman universe is so full of change right now. So is the Superman universe,” Gates tells Newsarama. “Bruce Wayne is dead and Superman has left the planet Earth to be with his own people on New Krypton. The world is suddenly without its two greatest heroes. To me, that makes it a very exciting time for the DC Universe. You’re seeing new and different characters come to the forefront and stepping up to fill the void left with Superman and Batman gone.”
Gates talked to Nerdage back in September about the project:
“Each issue focuses on a different Batman-Universe hero and villain teaming up with a different Superman-Universe hero and villain,” Gates said. “So, you’re getting four great characters coming into conflict, and you just have to sit back and watch the fireworks.”
Gates said ” World’s Finest” also has some of his “all-time favorite villains.”
“Catwoman’s in there, Mr. Freeze, Penguin, Kryptonite Man, Toyman,” he said. “It’s gonna take all of these heroes working together to rein these supervillains in!”
- Matt Price
Contest to reward Peanuts look-alikes
Kristin Chenoweth, left, was chosen as a celebrity look-alike for Sally Brown, right.
Is your child a ringer for Linus, with or without security blanket? If your son or daughter has the look of a “Peanuts” comic strip character, you can submit photos at www.peanutsphotocontest.com.
Entries can be submitted through Nov. 3, and the grand prize is an all-expense-paid trip for four to Cedar Fair amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, home of Planet Snoopy.
Jill Schulz, daughter of “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz, will join judge Jo Frost (“Supernanny”) and two Oklahomans — Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood — in selecting finalists. The public vote begins Nov. 11.
High Moon takes Harvey Award
Congratulations to former Oklahoma resident David Gallaher, whose “High Moon” was named Best Online Comics Work at this weekend’s Harvey Awards in Baltimore.
Check out the comic for yourself at http://www.zudacomics.com/high_moon or in the recent print collection.
The Beat has the full list of winners.
- Matt Price
Related posts:
Oklahoma among inspirations for High Moon series.
Gates, Portacio headline Tulsa show
TULSA — A former “Uncanny X-Men” artist and the writer of “Supergirl” are among the scheduled guests at this weekend’s Tulsa Anime & Comic Expo.
Whilce Portacio, who drew “Uncanny X-Men” during the comics boom and was the creator of “Wetworks,” is among the show’s guests. Portacio is currently the artist of Todd McFarlane’s “Spawn.” He was the plotter and penciller of “Uncanny X-Men” following Chris Claremont’s exodus from the books in the late 1990s, and introduced the Bishop character in “Uncanny X-Men” No. 282.
Tulsa native Sterling Gates plans to return to his hometown, celebrating this week’s release of “Action Comics” No. 881, part one of a four-part crossover Gates is writing with Greg Rucka. Gates said he was looking forward to returning to his former stomping grounds.
“I always look forward to any time I get to spend in Tulsa, but what really excites me is to be a part of Wizard’s Asylum’s convention,” said Gates, current writer of DC Comics’ “Supergirl.”
“I always really miss Oklahoma’s beautiful fall weather, so it’ll be great to see Tulsa in the full fall swing.”
Gates’ next major project is “World’s Finest,” a crossover between characters from the “Superman” and “Batman” families of books.
“Each issue focuses on a different Batman-Universe hero and villain teaming up with a different Superman-Universe hero and villain,” Gates said. “So, you’re getting four great characters coming into conflict, and you just have to sit back and watch the fireworks.”
Gates said “World’s Finest,” which kicks off Oct. 28, also has some of his “all-time favorite villains.”
“Catwoman’s in there, Mr. Freeze, Penguin, Kryptonite Man, Toyman,” he said. “It’s gonna take all of these heroes working together to rein these supervillains in!”
“Dragon Ball” voice actor Sonny Strait also is scheduled to appear at the convention.
Comic-book artists scheduled to appear include Michael Lark (”Daredevil”), Tommy Castillo (”Detective Comics”), Josh Howard (”Dead@17”), Brian Denham (”Violator vs. Badrock”), John Lucas (”Deadpool”), Ben Dunn (”Ninja High School”) and Jeremy Haun (”Berserker”). Writer Gary Friedrich, the creator of “Ghost Rider,” is also a guest of the convention.
The dealer’s room of the show will be open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Evening events will run 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday. The event will be in Tulsa Convention Center, 100 Civic Center.
- by Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Whiteout writer Greg Rucka joins Oklahoma native Sterling Gates in Hunt for Reactron
LOS ANGELES — A U.S. Marshal investigating a murder at the bottom of the world is the premise of “Whiteout,” the graphic novel by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber, which was adapted into a motion picture starring Kate Beckinsale.
The comic-book limited series “Whiteout” from Oni Press was a big success in late 1990s. The sequel, “Whiteout: Melt,” nabbed the Eisner Award for best limited series.
At the press conference for the film “Whiteout,” Rucka said it’s an honor to see his creation make the jump to the silver screen, as a lot of comic books and graphic novels never make that jump.
“I’m still in awed shock that it made it this far, honestly,” Rucka said. “Steve Lieber and I created a comic to tell the story we wanted to tell. … All you can really be is incredibly flattered that this idea that you created in one format, because that was the format that you were working in, is something that somebody wants to take the time and the effort to translate.”
This month, Rucka’s moving from the icy wasteland of “Whiteout” to the heated action of “The Hunt for Reactron.”
The four-part crossover between “Action Comics” and “Supergirl” follows the “Codename: Patriot” storyline and features Supergirl, Nightwing and Flamebird on the hunt for Reactron, the villain who killed Supergirl’s father, Zor-El.
Supergirl and Flamebird, best friends in childhood, have been at odds since Zor-El’s death. But both want 
the man who killed Zor-El brought to justice. This Nightwing isn’t Dick Grayson, but is Chris Kent, Superman’s adopted son.
Rucka is co-writing the crossover with “Supergirl” writer Sterling Gates, a University of Oklahoma graduate.
“Sterling is fantastic, he’s a great collaborator,” Rucka said at the “Whiteout” film junket. “I’m loving writing with Sterling. He and I are doing two issues of ‘Action’ (and) two issues of ‘Supergirl’ together.”
The crossover begins in Wednesday’s “Action Comics” 881 and continues in “Supergirl” 45, on sale Sept. 23. The story concludes in October’s issues of “Action Comics” and “Supergirl.”
- By Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
