TAKING THE POP OUT OF POP CULTURE
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FILM REVIEW: Avatar
01/10/10 (LONDON) Joel Meadows
Writer/Director: James Cameron
Cast: Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver
Avatar is a film that’s been about a dozen years in the making. James Cameron hasn’t made a movie since the monster hit Titanic back in 1997 and so there has been so much expectation for this picture that if it wasn’t the greatest film ever made, then people would be whingeing constantly.
SET VISIT: Positively Criminal with DEAD CERT
11/16/09 (LONDON) Joel Meadows
Last Monday, TRIPWIRE was lucky enough to be invited on set for new British vampire gangster film, Dead Cert. Shooting took place at a warehouse in Dagenham in Essex (the Eastern border of London for our non-English visitors.) While it is a film with a small budget (less than a million pounds), from what we saw it should look and feel like they spent a lot more on it.
FILM REVIEW: Surrogates
11/13/09 (LONDON) Joel Meadows
Director: Jonathan Mostow
Writers: Michael Ferris, John Brancato
Starring: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Ving Rhames
Surrogates is based on a Top Shelf science fiction graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Wiedele. Directed by Jonathan Mostow (U-571, Terminator 3) and starring Bruce Willis, Surrogates posits a world where everybody has an artificial avatar or surrogate made of metal and plastic and most of society live their lives through these surrogates. Willis plays a policeman who has to investigate murders of these surrogates but these killings injure or kill the hosts too so he is dragged into a world of intrigue and deceit. Not everybody is in favour of the surrogates and the leader of the rebel movement is self-styled “The Prophet” (played by Ving Rhames).
TRIPWIRE Gets Moor out of John Landis
09/01/09 (LONDON) Joel Meadows
One of the reasons why it’s great to be located in London is that there is always something going on in terms of film and culture. At the end of August for the past decade, FrightFest has been a festival celebrating the new and the classic in horror. In 2009, they showed An American Werewolf in London, presented by its director John Landis, to celebrate its imminent release on Blu-ray.
BOOK REVIEW: Thicker Than Water
8/30/09 (LONDON) Joel Meadows
WRITER: Mike Carey
PUBLISHER: Orbit Books
Mike Carey has made a name for himself as an established comic writer on titles like Lucifer, Hellblazer, Crossing Midnight, X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four but he has also displayed a deft hand for prose. Thicker Than Water is the fourth book featuring his Felix Castor character, an exorcist in a slightly alternate London who uses a tin whistle to banish ghosts to the netherworld.
FILM REVIEW: The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
8/22/09 (LONDON) Joel Meadows
Director: Terry Gilliam
Cast: Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole, Tom Waits, Heath Ledger, Jude Law, Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp
A new Gilliam film is always an event. Sadly, The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus was overshadowed by the premature demise of Heath Ledger. Luckily, Gilliam, as one of the most enterprising and imaginative directors still making moving images, managed to finish the film with the absence of one of its major players.
Nearly all of his films has serious flaws: with the exception in my opinion of Brazil, they are filled with visual flourishes and impressive setpieces but never quite manage to gel as a cohesive whole. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) was slated when it was released because the director went significantly over budget, his first attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote at the beginning of the Noughties was doomed to fail (although it did make a scintillating documentary, Lost in La Mancha, that came out in 2002) and Gilliam is having another go at putting that on the screen for 2011.
Two for Tuesday
8/18/09
TRIPWIRE reviews two graphic novels that discerning readers should check out.
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Starman started life as a spinoff out of one of DC’s sprawling crossovers, Zero Hour, back in 1994. Starman was one of the JSA’s founder members but DC hadn’t had much success trying to resurrect the name over the years: Jim Starlin turned Starman into an alien prince while the ’80s saw a straight superhero title, which ran for about four years before running out of steam. Robinson and Harris’s Starman was a little bit different: Jack Knight was the son of the original hero, Ted Knight, and he is thrust into the role when his brother is murdered. [MORE] |
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Richard Starkings’s comic series Elephantmen has a really big problem. Maybe I’m just biased by the prestige hardcover edition put before me to review, with a good intro and alternate covers included. Maybe I’m just easily influenced by gorgeous art from the likes of Moritat and splendid cover art by greats such as Ladronn. And maybe I simply have a thing for good stories that can stand on their own or be read as an ongoing series with an unobtrusive yet obvious arc linking them all. Maybe that’s it or maybe it’s because the entire package itself is nice enough that it makes me wonder how I’m going to fit Elephantmen into my comic buying budget every month. You see, that’s the problem with this series: it’s good enough that if people only read it and knew about it they’d be buying it in droves. [MORE] |
TRIPWIRE Discovers Rainbow Orchid
8/15/09 (LONDON) Joel Meadows
Recently TRIPWIRE attended the Rainbow Orchid launch that took place at the world-famous Foyles Bookshop on Charing Cross Road in London.
Rainbow Orchid, created by Garen Ewing, started life as a small press, self-published comic / graphic novel and now years later, it is published by large mainstream illustrated book publisher Egmont, who also publish Tintin amongst many other titles. So to celebrate The Adventures of Julius Chancer: The Rainbow Orchid Volume 1, Egmont took the Gallery upstairs in Foyles and invited people in the comics and publishing field to commemorate its launch.
FILM REVIEW: Inglourious Basterds
08/13/09 (LONDON) Joel Meadows
Director: Quentin Tarantino;
Starring: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth
I went to see this film at a screening room in London’s West End, in Soho to be precise. I am a big fan of war films and I count The Great Escape amongst one of my favourite movies. Quentin Tarantino has been threatening to make Inglourious Basterds for a number of years with the script floating around. So in 2009 we get to see what he has been playing with for the last few years.
The fact is that his last effort, Death Proof, one half of his and Robert Rodriguez’s love letter to grindhouse cinema, was an unmitigated disaster because his ear for dialogue had completely deserted him and its plot descended into amateurish farce about halfway through. So you might think that he has considered the mistakes he made with Death Proof and tried to focus on how a film like Inglourious Basterds could work. If you thought that, then you would be sorely mistaken.
TRIPWIRE Visits Carey and Perkins
08/10/09
Recently TRIPWIRE went to see Mike Carey and Mike Perkins signing at central London comic shop Orbital.
A Couple of Nice Reviews for the 2009 Annual
08/09/09
Over at Make-It-So-Marketing, a popular comics and culture blog on EBay, we just got a nice review of the Annual. He gets it. At 156 pp we’re not your average genre magazine. His wife Tina also reviewed our panel at SDCC which was well-attended.
And then there’s SciFiPulse cross-posting the review that we got at down-the-tubes.
Niche print is alive and kicking. (Even though you’re reading this on the Web of course.)
Thanks Guys!
TRIPWIRE Visits TITMOUSE
08/08/09
First of all, this is just a small part of the coverage we’re going to unspool about these guys in the coming weeks and months. They have just too much cool stuff going on and they have too many cool people working for them. So, completists keep checking back occasionally as we go along because specific show or person details won’t show up until the relevant reviews or interviews are done–and the overall profile might wait until a print issue of the mag hits.
Last week TRIPWIRE visited Titmouse, the animation studio behind everything from one of those “van tributes” and the psychedelic Total commercial to the online GI Joe Resolute cartoons with Hasbro to Cartoon Network’s death metal extravaganza Metalocalypse. But they’re also doing SO much more!
TRIPWIRE Visits Image Creators at Golden Apple
08/07/09
The Tyrese signing at Meltdown got all the press but Tripwire went to Golden Apple for a different Image signing (and not just because there was an Indian restaurant across the street!).
Three talented Image creators pooled their resources to sign books and entertain fans at their table, a post-San Diego glad-hand treat.
Buy TRIPWIRE directly from the source!
You can now buy Tripwire directly from us! Just click on the ORDER link above and you’ll see a page with the paypal app just like the active one below. Order first, order often!
Use the link below or the handy paypal widget in the sidebar. —–>
TRIPWIRE MAGAZINE PREMIERES THE 2009 ANNUAL AT COMIC-CON
7/13/09
(London)
Tripwire Magazine continues its yearly Comic-Con tradition premiering its third Tripwire Annual at the world’s best-known genre media convention. A stunning Jeff Carlisle full colour original Nick Fury cover sets the tone for the amazing content inside: We have exclusive interviews with Stan Lee, Joe Kubert, Bill Morrison of Bongo Comics, painter Phil Hale, storyboard artist Trevor Goring and many more. There are features on Tintin, the 70th anniversaries of both Marvel Comics and Batman, the 30th anniversary of Alien, Wednesday Comics from DC, Solomon Kane from Dark Horse and a dozen others. Company profiles include Euro-comics publisher Cinebook, art book impresario Flesk Publications and Book Palace. And of course there are over 20 pages of original strips from Roger Langridge, Kev Mullins, Declan Shalvey, Josh Fialkov & Kody Chamberlain and others. In all, it is by far the biggest and best issue Tripwire has published to date.
Inside Comic-Con’s Exhibitor Hall Tripwire is in the Small Press area at table S07. We’ll have the 2009 Annual available at a special show price. Also, we’ll have the 2008 Annual with the Doctor Who cover ready for David Tennant to sign (wherever he’s set up) and copies of the 2009 Superhero Special with its Kick-Ass cover in case you want to scare up a JR, JR sig. Plus of course we’ll have some Stripwire artists on hand: Roman Muradov and Kody Chamberlain will be at the table sketching and signing their work in the mag. There’s even going to be free swag!
Additionally, Tripwire has a panel on Thursday July 23rd at 10:30 am in Room 3. It will feature Editor-in-Chief Joel Meadows, US Editor Andy Grossberg and some special guests including UK columnist Rich Johnston from BleedingCool.com. Panel topics will range from comics industry gossip to features from the magazine including comics, movies, TV, culture and more. There will be pastries for the first lucky dozen attendees.
This may be the last US appearance for Tripwire in 2009! The magazine is not carried by Diamond this time around so retailers are invited to drop by the table and acquire issues for their Colonial stores.
Up to the minute details about guests and swag can be found on our Twitter: http://twitter.com/realtripwire.
THE TRIPWIRE 2009 ANNUAL IS PRINTING!
We’re proud to announce that the 2009 Tripwire Annual is on the presses and printing in time for Comic Con. If you want to check out some sample stories or see the final version of our cover, follow this link.
TRIPWIRE ANNUAL COVER IS IN
We now have our cover! Jeff Carlisle’s art is superb!
We’ll be selling this issue at the Tripwire table in the small press area at Comic Con International 2009. It will also be available in Late July / Early August from Barnes & Noble in the US, Chapters in Canada and Borders UK in the UK (naturally). Maybe you can pester your local comics dealer to get it if you have to. It will eventually be available via the “ORDER” link above too. But then you’ll have to pay for shipping. Cover is $15.95 US.
TRIPWIRE ANNUAL IS COMING ALONG
6/1/09
2009 Tripwire Annual pages for review
This link has moved to its own page here so you can read it.
We’ve made some pages available for preview of the new Annual. This is possibly the best issue we’ve ever done and it’s full of exciting content! Enjoy!
TRIPWIRE NABS GUILLERMO DEL TORO STRAIN PRINT INTERVIEW
(London, 30/05/09)
TRIPWIRE is proud to announce they have added exciting new features to their already jam-packed 2009 Annual. The magazine has landed an exclusive interview with award-winning genre master Guillermo Del Toro discussing his new novel The Strain as well as a few tidbits on Hellboy 3 and upcoming movie projects. Additionally, the magazine has attained an in-depth first look at Moon, the eagerly-awaited low budget British sci-fi movie starring Sam Rockwell and directed by Duncan Jones.
“The addition of these two top notch features compliments what already promises to be the best Annual we’ve released to date,” said Tripwire’s Editor-in-chief Joel Meadows. “We’ve got such a big issue already. With our cover feature looking in-depth at Marvel Comics and its 70th anniversary, or the Alien 30th birthday retrospective later on, the Bongo Comics interview with Bill Morrison who’s always entertaining, or even the Stripwire section with over 20 pages of original comics–it’s just a real pleasure to be publishing this quality material. Adding these two new features strengthens the magazine further.”
On the topic of making a better magazine, Tripwire has performed a little reorganizing at the printer as well. Originally the magazine’s 2009 publishing schedule included an Adventure Special for June, a Horror Special for Halloween and a Science Fiction Special for December. Instead the editors have taken some of the more timely content from the Adventure and Science Fiction Specials and folded it into the 2009 Tripwire Annual, making it bigger and better than they’d announced at solicitation. “We’re committed to releasing the best magazine we can,” offered Meadows, “and sometimes this means making adjustments on the fly.” Features now included in the 2009 Annual are an exclusive Joe Kubert interview, a profile on publishers Flesk Publications with sidebars about artists Gary Gianni and Mark Schultz, a feature on 80 years of Tintin and a look at Dark Horse’s Solomon Kane and other Robert E. Howard properties.
“Our first focus is on the Annual, and making it as exceptional as its two predecessors. When we saw several articles from the June Adventure Special and the 2009 Annual beginning to converge, we knew we had to sacrifice the one to make the other even better,” Meadows revealed. While the Annual has gotten larger than promised with the addition of the extra content, Tripwire still plans to do an Adventure Special later this year. “We’re looking at releasing an improved line up for the Special around Christmas with a big Conan cover and features inside that cover everything from Howard’s characters to a resurgence in the popularity of the pulps and many of the upcoming adventure movies and television shows for the next year or two.” And the Science Fiction Special? “First Quarter of 2010, maybe,” said Meadows with a laugh. “We’re still planning Fantasy and Crime Specials for 2010 and now the schedule is tightened. There’s so much we want to print, sometimes we have to make some painful choices.”
TRIPWIRE publisher and Editor-in-Chief Joel Meadows can be reached for comment at: joelmeadows@btinternet.com or 01144 208 959 4192
TRIPWIRE Annual 2009 is still available for preorder from Diamond Comic Distributors, 164 pages full colour, $15.95 US, item code MAY091149
An Enterprising Effort
Star Trek Review by Joel Meadows.
Star Trek Nemesis, released in 2002, was the last big-screen outing for the characters from the Federation Universe and it wasn’t exactly an unmitigated success whilst on TV, the series Enterprise sputtered to a halt in 2005. So it looked like the Trek franchise wasn’t just dead but buried complete with a wake and there was a realisation that perhaps there was no room for Star Trek in a world that had Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica in it.
Fast forward to 2009, Battlestar Galactica has come to a close and we are greeted with a new Star Trek film. The new feature is directed by J. J. Abrams, whose deft hand for genre steered handheld monster movie Cloverfield, and on TV has been responsible for guiding Alias, Lost, and the current genre hit Fringe. So when it was announced that Abrams would be at the helm, with his writing partners Orci and Kurtzman, Paramount must have wept with joy.
Tripwire Superhero Special in Stores Now!
4/2/09
The Tripwire Superhero Special is finally in stores in the US! If you don’t have a copy, go pick one up because it’s going to be months before we get our kindle version ready! And by then you’ll be faced with our upcoming Adventure Special and the 2009 Annual! Times a-wastin’ for you to read what influential people in the genre industry already have! What do they know about upcoming movies, comics and TV that you don’t? Find out!
Order here if you can’t find it elsewhere!
3/20/09
The Tripwire Superhero Special should be hitting US stores next week if it hasn’t already. It seems there was a little snafu with our UK shipping from the printer but everything should be right as rain now!
Meanwhile, explore our issues through the links up top! Enjoy!
PS: You will note that some links aren’t active as we build this site. Yes, we know it’s so very 90’s but we’re UNDER CONSTRUCTION! It takes a lot to manage a site AND publish a mag at the same time and we’re devoting all our time to the Adventure Special coming in June!
