Skip to main content

Platinum Studios

It's Business, It's Business Time. Part 1: Welcome to THE WOOOOORLD OF TOMORROOOOOOW

Submitted by Tim Demeter on August 13, 2007 - 14:18

You know when Tim is running ComixTalk for a week it's time for business, that's why they call him Business-Tim.

Internet! How are you? It's me again, your pal Tim. You may recall me from such internetery as GraphicSmash.com, Clickwheel.net, and Reckless Life. I'm gonna be taking a look at the changing face of digital comics we seem to find ourselves in these days over the course of the week as it relates to stuff I know enough about to comment on.

Today I'm going to take a broad look at what's going on right now and what it means to you. Yes, YOU. So why not click read more and read some more, because I know what you're thinking, you're thinking, aaaaaaaah yeeeeeah, it's time for business. It's business time.

Life in Links for Friday, July 13, 2007

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on July 13, 2007 - 08:56

HEADLINES

REVIEWS

DEAD TREES

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS

Mike Strang Vs. Platinum Studios Part 2; Is The Dream Really Dead?

Submitted by strangq on June 26, 2007 - 20:17

Congrads to Platinum Studios on selling Cowboys and Aliens to Hollywood, I'm sure the movie will suck as bad as the webcomic.  

Nah, that started off too negative.  This blog is supposed to be about hope.

Comics From Web To The Silver Screen

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 23, 2007 - 18:10

Variety reported this week that Platinum Studios' comic Cowboys & Aliens is headed for the movies in a deal with DreamWorks and Universal Pictures along with Imagine
partners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. I didn't actually think that the comic of Cowboys & Aliens worked that well (just not a very good story, poor characterization and the wrong tone) but the concept is killer and conceivably in the right hands could be a fun popcorn kind of movie.

It's been awhile since I first wrote about this back in May 2003, and it's no longer such a stretch to imagine a webcomic translated to a movie.

Rolling As I Get To It News Post

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 21, 2007 - 10:24

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS

AT&T Sponsors Comic Book Challenge: Top50 Announced!

Submitted by Coffman on June 20, 2007 - 13:08

Platinum Studios has announced the Top 50 in this year's COMIC BOOK CHALLENGE.

Tuesday News & Blues

Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 19, 2007 - 10:10

COMIXMEDIA UPDATE:  I'm still working on the site(s) upgrade. Current plan is to have this site rebranded as COMIXTALK by the beginning of July. I'll have another site called COMIXMEDIA as an umbrella site for comics-related projects I'm working on. The upgrade here went well except the current "theme" for the site is creating some problems so I need to get the site moved to a new theme pronto (current plan is to simply update the current theme to Drupal 5.1 specs)

Guest Bloggers Wanted: Interested in blogging about (web)comics on ComixTalk in July or August? Drop me a note at xerexes AT comixpedia DOT com

BUSINESS
Todd Allen breaks another piece of the story about DC Comics plans for the web. DC Comics' new online editor is Kwanza Johnson (who according to Allen had a similar job with Marvel back in 2000?!) Allen predicts a "big" 4th quarter roll-out of webcomics from DC.

Mike Strang posted about his unhappy experience working for Platinum on a work-for-hire contract and others (T Campbell) chimed in with comments. Joey Manley compared work-for-hire to sticking your hand in a meat grinder. My own personal opinion is that authors should keep their copyrights and that creativity and business are both better off under those circumstances. But in movies, television, music and especially comic books, work-for-hire arrangements have been used forever and are still being used. So long as you know what you're getting into I don't see anything inherently evil about it. Just be clear on the concept - work-for-hire means all of your creative work becomes someone else's property. (REMINDER: if you comment at ComixTalk please try to be civil and respectful of others.)

INTERVIEWS
T Campbell interviews Aaron Williams, creator of Nodwick, PS238, Full Frontal Nerdity, co-writer on Truth, Justin, and the American Way.

Jane Irwin interviewed Templar, AZ creator Spike about webcomics and "effectively whoring your way to higher pageviews." You can read the interview here.

Shaenon Garrity interviewed Rob Vollmar who writes the comic Inanna’s Tears (drawn by mpMann).

Lynn Lau interviewed Katie Shanahan creator of the off-the-wall journal comic Shrub Monkeys.

Finding Wonderland talks to American Born Chinese author Gene Yang. (link from Journalista!)

DEAD TREES: Life Meter Vol. 2 will debut at MOCCA. Life Meter is an anthology of video game- inspired comics, featuring stories and art by Bannister, Joel Carroll, Raina Telgemeier, Steve Hamaker, Jake Parker, Jeffrey Rowland, Queenie Chan, and many, many more.

JUSTIFY MY HYPE: I saw some plugs for Boxcar Astronaut and it is indeed a cute comic (it reminds me a bit of the syndicated Red Rover comic strip).

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 BLOGS
FLEEN speculates on whether Elfquest creators Wendy and Richard Pini will follow the path of Phil and Kaja Foglio to the web.

At the Webcomicker blog, Gilead writes about Dominic Deegan:

If there’s one thing I like about Dominic Deegan, it’s that the storylines move forward progressively. The comic tends to have storylines which are fairly self-contained, with a specific villian or villians wreaking havoc with a specific set of goals and a specific set of heroes undergoing a specific set of actions in order to thwart said villians. But instead of each storyline coming around the full circle and leaving the heroes in basically the same place as they were when they started in classic comic book “and so the world was saved once again, and John D and Suzy Q were able to return to their normal lives” fashion, the characters in Dominic Deegan mature and grow from their experiences, and with each storyline move progressively closer to the “happily ever after.”

Joystiq readers pick their favorite comic.

Odd factoid of the day - according to this blog post, VG Cats creator Scott Ramsoomair used to babysit this guy.

Never sign a Work For Hire contract with Platinum Studios!

Submitted by strangq on June 18, 2007 - 17:43

Stay away from Platinum Studios and any Work for Hire contracts if you feel attached to your creations. I feel as though I signed my soul over in a deal with the devil.
My name is Mike Strang and I wrote a comic book for them a horror spoof entitled WEIRD ADVENTURES IN UNEMPLOYMENT...

DrunkDuck At Wizard World

Submitted by Black_Kitty on May 22, 2007 - 20:47

Carly Mizzou is now taking sign-ups for Wizard World Chicago for DrunkDuck members. Like the previous two Wizard World gatherings, space will be broken up based on the number of users interested.

She also released the list of DrunkDuck participants for Wizard World Philadelphia. This year DrunkDuck/Platinum Studios will also be hosting a panel and a competition during the convention.

Update On Comic Book Challenge

Submitted by Black_Kitty on May 18, 2007 - 22:25

Platinum Dan recently announced that unlike last year's Comic Book Challenge, this year's top 50 entrants will all receive a prize in addition to the $595 that will be given to help with the traveling expenses. Prizes include comic software and Wacom tablets.

More information can be found here but below are the prizes: