Monthly Archive: August 2007

Comics Links

Toon Zone asks Philip Brophy to explain to them how wonderful Osamu Tezuka is, in connection with an exhibition of Tezuka’s work now in San Francisco.

The Beat has a whole load of Toronto Comic Arts Festival photos.

The International Herald Tribune looks at the recent increase in graphic novel publishing in the UK.

The Seattle Times takes a look at DC Comics’s new Minx line.

Scott Shaw! explains how, once upon a time, Archie met the Punisher. (It was the ‘90s – that kind of thing happened a lot.)

Comics Reviews

Comics Reporter reviews World War Hulk #3 and Booster Gold #1.

Boston Now reviews the graphic novel Re-Gifters by Mike Carey, Sonny Liew, and Marc Hempel.

SF/Fantasy Links

Paul McAuley explains why he writes short stories (and it’s certainly not the money).

Edward Champion is not happy – at great length – with Adam Gopnik’s recent profile of Philip K. Dick in the New Yorker.

Tor Books will be podcasting from Worldcon, with commentary from Tom Doherty and Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

John Klima lists some of the major SF/Fantasy short-fiction outlets (for ease in supporting them).

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Galaxy Quest is one of my favorite movies. I mean, go wrong with Alan Rickman and Tony Shalhoub, you know? And even the nominal stars of the ensemble, Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver, go down pretty easily in this brilliant vehicle. But there’s one scene that makes me cringe every time I see it.

The bad guy, Sarris, has coerced Jason Nesmith to confess to Mathesar, who idolizes "Captain Taggart" and the Galaxy Quest crew, that he and his fellow Terrans are ordinary actors, something Jason has been trying to figure out how to do without success for much of the movie as Mathesar’s people have no concept of, I guess, showbiz. But it’s the way Sarris forces his hand that makes me squirm:

Jason: Mathesar, there’s no such person as Captain Taggart. My name is Jason Nesmith. I’m an actor. We’re all actors.

Sarris: He doesn’t understand. Explain as you would a child.

Jason: We, uh, we pretended. [On Malthesar’s blank look.] We lied. I’m not a commander. There’s no National Space Exploration Administration. We don’t have a ship… It’s all fake. Just like me.

Mathesar: But why…?

Jason: It’s difficult to explain. On our planet, we, uh… we pretend to… to entertain.

I was reminded of this scene again just recently when blogger Skot Kirruk at Izzle pfaff! said much the same thing:

[begin quote] I try not to lie. And when I do lie, I try to lie in such a hyperbolic, overblown fashion that I hope that it is patently obvious that I’m just making shit up. I probably fail at this, though. It’s just too easy to lie. Writers lie all the time, because most of the time, life is just fucking dull. So we pull out our little tricks, and we lie. We insert or import in false details to serve an anecdote… Writers are liars. Don’t trust them.

And especially don’t trust me, assuming that you even consider me a writer, as opposed to some twitchy dilettante. I’m also an actor, so I’m also trained in lying. I think I’m pretty good at it… It’s no good protesting that when people go to the theater (and nobody does any more, but never mind), that the audience is damn well expecting that I lie to them: it’s my job. It’s no good because we are delighted to take those very same skills and exploit them for our own base wants and needs.

I have been taught to lie, we realize at some point. This could be awesome.

And so we do. But it’s more sinister than even that. It’s more sinister because actors aren’t just trained to lie, they are trained to lie with the unshakable conviction that they are not lying at all… Don’t ever listen to actors or writers, or worse, some unholy combination of both. They are liars and aren’t to be trusted. [end quote]

Naturally, I believe everything I’ve just quoted to be absolute hogwash. In other words, a lie.

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The Big ComicMix Broadcast kicks off our week long look at collecting toys with a shopping trip to one of the biggest online action figure dealers and a sneak peek at what the next wave of hot product will be. Then, speaking of hot product, it’s time for another dive into this week’s pile of new comics and DVDs ,including a preview of Image Comics’ Bonds #1 from creator Durwin Talon. AND we’ve got the latest news of Kristen Bell on Heroes  and Katie Holmes as…WONDER WOMAN?

Insert your own Tom Cruise joke here and PRESS THE BUTTON!

As the next season of Doctor Who is prepping up for shooting, casting information is flowing fast and furious. London’s News of the World reveals Joan Collins, of Dynasty and Star Trek fame, will be playing arch-villain The Rani.

The Rani appeared in the classic series twice, first with Colin Baker in "The Mark of the Rani" and later with Sylvester McCoy in "Time and the Rani." She was played by Kate O’Mara who, coincidentially, played Joan Collins’ younger sister in Dynasty.

The Rani marks the third Gallifreyan to survive obilvion by the Daleks. The News of the World calls Collins’ Rani as "Alexis Colby with a sonic screwdriver."

No word yet on when Series Four is expected to start, but it is likely it won’t begin until late April or May, after Series Two of Torchwood has completed its run.