Monthly Archive: April 2016

REVIEW: Actionverse from Action Lab

actionverse-group-shot-550x345-1668401

We get a hell of a lot of press releases over here at ComicMix. That’s understandable, even though we’re not really a news site – for those of you who watch Fox News, there’s a difference between “news” and “opinion.” We get ‘em from all sorts of people and places and most of the larger comics publishers, except DC Comics. Hmmm… I wonder why that is?

actionverse-molly-danger-297x450-9787457Perhaps the publisher who leads the pack in sending out press releases is Action Lab. I say this because in the time it took me to write these words we received another seven releases from Jamal Igle. Yes, the artist on Supergirl and Firestorm and New Warriors and Iron Fist / Wolverine and all sorts of other worthy stuff. His creation, Molly Danger (Hendrix much?), is over at Action Lab where Jamal also serves as Vice President of Marketing. Our very own Ed Catto made him the subject of a Supergirl-focused column about two months ago.

Not a problem. Some publishers seem to send out releases every time one of their staffers goes to the bathroom. Jamal’s are actually informative. The number one secret to getting outlets to read your press releases is to always have something interesting or newsworthy to say. If we didn’t already have a publicity/marketing human here at ComicMix who could eat Jamal’s lunch, I’d kidnap him.

actionverse-stray-7672553So after receiving notice of Action Lab’s upcoming superhero universe, I let out a long, slow sigh. Damn near every publisher that indulges in heroic fantasy tries this, and a lot of them were as good as they were unsuccessful in the long run. Malibu’s Ultraverse, Dark Horse’s Comics Greatest World, Dynamite’s line of pulp characters… everybody meets everybody, but the established (and incessantly reestablished) universes at DC and Marvel preempt too much of the readers’ time and dig too deep into the readers’ wallet to allow even really good projects such as the ones I just noted any chance at traction. Which, of course, is the point: DC and Marvel used tonnage to crowd competitors out of the newsstand, now they crowd ‘em out by draining time and money. This is the purpose of capitalism.

I picked up my keyboard and dropped Jamal a note saying “let’s see what you’ve got” and he rapidly replied with pdfs of the six-part Actionverse miniseries. I read the run during my just-concluded post-MoCCA recovery, which seemed appropriate as MoCCA focuses on smaller, independent publishers.

actionverse-6758259This universe consists of many Action Lab characters: The F1rst Hero, Fracture, Midnight Tiger, Stray, and Igle’s own Molly Danger. If you’re not familiar with any or all of them, Actionverse is a good place to check ‘em out.

By definition, putting the band together requires the creators to succumb to originitis, where by necessity the story revolves around establishing who’s who, what’s what, and where it’s all happening. Actionverse is no different, but at least each issue focuses on the introduction of one character joining the evolving storyline. Structurally, across the six issues we’ve got us a story that is structured in a fashion similar to the first issue of original, Tower Comics T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents by Wally Wood, Reed Crandall, Gil Kane, and Mike Sekowsky. This is the highest praise I can offer to the first issue of a new super-team.

We’ve got us a fun, unpretentious, straight-forward super-team here that is devoid of Greek choruses, one that I enjoyed reading and will indulge in further. If you enjoy superhero comics but have grown tired of the DC/Marvel’s rebooting/reimaging/rebirthing reflux, check out Actionverse. Six issues, six weeks, by (gasp) Anthony Ruttgaizer, Jamal Igle, Shawn Gabborin, Ray-Anthony Height, Sean Izaakse, Vito Delsante, Marco Renna, Chad Cicconi, Steve Walker, Mat Lopes, Ron Frenz and probably a few others.

Shipping against Civil War II and Rebirth, I’d hate to see Actionverse get lost in the shuffle. And, besides, you deserve something new and different.

Marc Alan Fishman: Dear DC Entertainment…

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Dear DC Entertainment,

I quit. I’m out. I’m done. This past week I’ve paid actual money I earned to view Batman v. Superman, as well as Justice League: War (on Netflix. And yes, I know that’s not new, but it’s still new enough to count). I freely admit my expectations were low. Lower than low in fact. I was hoping for some decent visual effects, maybe a few more jokes since the last time, and I prayed for some semblance of lessons learned from Marvel.

I got none of it.

Instead, you produced 2 ½ hours of angst, rain, punching, and death. And then you took your New52 Justice League comic series and ran it through the wringer in order to produce it as an animated adventure designed solely to appeal to 13-year old bitter tweens. You’ve sullied both mediums so egregiously that I’m honestly having trouble concocting any legitimate snark for these abortions given birth in motion. Alas, I honest-to-Rao can’t do it. My eyebrow is not cocked high. No smirk remains emerging from the corner of my mouth. I sit here in a bent-over stupor wondering who specifically allowed for either of these films clearance to see the light of day. Especially given that Marvel hasn’t made a single misstep in their recent releases… and Age of Ultron wasn’t even half the quality of its predecessor.

It’s not a shame. It’s not sad. It’s not depressing. It is soul-crushing.

You clearly couldn’t have missed the tidal wave of the zeitgeist in the aftermath of Man of Steel. Nary a stone was left unturned where the public did not denote in every feasible outlet in print and online that Snyder’s Big Blue Boy Scout was a banal shell of his former celluloid self. In the wake of every Marvel movie, it was clear what you needed to do, DC. A little humor and life-saving could go a long way. But you never wanted that for us, did you? You couldn’t deal with a little humility in the face of your financial defeat.

(And before the DC flamers decide to load their Trump cards of the current box office numbers of BvS, let’s just make this abundantly clear: Marvel’s movie profits since Iron Man utterly decimate DC’s by billions. With a ‘B’. If you need me to show you the math on it… e-mail me at info at box office mojo dot com.)

Offering us up a fight between your biggest two licenses sounds good on paper, until you forget within two and a half hours to develop any other plot or characterization to build a universe with. Instead of that, you chose to celebrate murder, nightmares, thievery, matricide, patricide, and wanton destruction. Spare the death from that aforementioned list and replace it with snarky one liners? You get Justice League: War. In both pieces action trumped all else. And because of it, we your once loyal fans leave exhausted but not sated.

In contrast, lesser sequels at Marvel – like Iron Man 3 or Thor 2 – upped their action ante but kept the bigger picture in mind. Tony Stark was a PTSD-suffering futurist thinking about macro-metahuman issues. Thor contends with having to grow up and be the demi-god he was meant to be… all while the cosmic conundrum (building toward Infinity War) leaves Earth in the center of the battlefield. While both films were shadows of their original counterparts, neither left me in a punch-drunk stupor; wondering how a 20-year veteran of crime fighting suddenly dropped his guard over the coincidental nature of matriarchal nomenclature. A bit too complex a thought, I know. I digress.

DC Entertainment… I am ashamed of you. You hold in your possession the world’s most recognizable licensed properties in super-hero-dom. With the financial backing by the same financiers of the multi-billion dollar Harry Potter franchise writing the checks. With all the potential you’d ever need to level the playing field by the competition now nearly a decade ahead of you in world building. You’re akin to Ohio’s Governor when it comes to wanting the throne with literally no path save for chaos in order to achieve it. Look upon the world left in ruin. The smoldering ashes of fan’s hope left glowing hot by hours of endless, needless violence. All you’ve left to show for it are a pile of Martha and Step Brothers memes. You can lie to yourself with your international box office ticket sales. But you can’t lie to your fans anymore.

Now lay in the coffin you put in the ground and pray your rewrites and reshoots for Suicide Squad right your ship. That being said… I’m not holding my breath for it.

 

The Point Radio: Rey Mysterio Still Flies High

Rey Mysterio has flown high above the squared circle for both WCW and WWE and now he is bringing his brand of wrestling to LUCIA UNDERGROUND on the El Rey Network. Rey talks about the superstars of the past who have influenced him, his worry about getting injured and his connection to comics. Then music star Ray J takes us for a ride to show off his new dating competition show, DRIVEN TO LOVE.

Follow us here on Instagram or on Twitter here.

The Law Is A Ass

Bob Ingersoll: The Law Is A Ass #384

583334captainamerica6Sorry I’ve been absent the past couple of weeks. Blame it on the taxing business of prepping for the taxing business. Now I’m back. Not back with a vengeance – I’m not the Punisher – back with a comic book to write about: Captain America: Sam Wilson #6 .

I’ve been writing about the adventures of Samtain America, the portmanteau of Sam Wilson and Captain America I created, quite a bit. There’s a good reason for that, Serpent Solutions. As it’s been a couple of weeks since I wrote my last column, let me recap. (Oh, and DC take note. This is what a recap looks like.)

Serpent Solutions is a “legitimate” business made up of the villainous snake-motifed artists formerly known as the Serpent Society. It hired itself out to major corporations to do the dirty work said corporations couldn’t do. Although said operations were well within the corporations’ budgets, they were, well, outside the law. So the corporations hired Serpent Solutions. Serpent Solutions did the dirty work, then sold the results of their illegal operations back to the corporations which needed those illegal things to be done.

Serpent Solutions’ shareholder reports were a little vague on the services it provided for its clients. Fortunately, Captain America: Sam Wilson was more forthcoming. Serpent Solutions developed new patents for major pharmaceutical companies by kidnaping undocumented Mexican immigrants and having Dr. Karlin Malus use those kidnap victims in illegal genetic cross-breeding experiments. Dr. Malus developed new, hybrid species that Serpent Solutions patented those species and sold the patents to big pharma for obscene profits. Big pharma, in turn, planned to turn the new patents into obscener profits.

As sinister schemes go, this one was straight out of The Island of Doctor Moreau. Unfortunately, it was the Marlon Brando version, because this scheme, like that Brando movie, was monumentally stupid. Before I explain why, let me digress into some more of that endangered species, the recap.

One Dr. Malus’s subjects was Joaquin Torres. Dr. Malus cross-bred Torres with Samtain America’s pet falcon, Redwing turning Torres into a winged avenger. (“Eee-urp!”)  Torres escaped and scientists of the non-mad variety tried to undo the hybridizing. Unfortunately, back in All-New Captain America# 5, the Nazi vampire Baron Blood bit Redwing so Redwing had a vampiric healing factor, which got gene-spliced into Joaquin. Joaquin’s body healed all attempt to reverse the hybridizing, so his wings are permanent. (If it sounds like I’m making that up as I go along; I’m not. Cap’s writers are.)

The fact that Joaquin escaped and teamed up with Samtain America made Viper, head of Serpent Solutions, none too happy. It also made him quite loquacious. (Okay, the fact that Viper was a former Madison Avenue advertising agency executive turned super villain made him loquacious. Verbosity was in his both his job descriptions.)

In the big fight scene, Viper soliloquized more than if he’d been cross-bred with Hamlet, Macbeth, and Richard III. Viper monologued that Joaquin’s wings were Serpent Solutions’s property. The wings were the “result of [Serpent Solution’s] innovations and patents,” made for them under “a very strict work-for-hire” agreement. Which just proves super villains should be fight scened and not heard. Because nothing Viper said was even remotely correct.

See, kidnapping is illegal; even if the people being kidnapped are coming into the country illegally. Detaining them for the Border Patrol is fine. Kidnapping’s illegal.

Performing unauthorized gene splicing experiments on the people to turn them into people/animal hybrids is also illegal. As Dr. Malus’s medical manipulations happened in New York City, I’m going to go with NY Penal Law § 120.10, Assault in the First Degree. We have kidnapping and assault. There were probably more crimes, but these two are enough for our purposes. (Well, for my purposes, anyway, I’m too damned lazy to look up all the possible other crimes that may have been committed.)

Old court cases such as Riggs v. Palmer, have held that criminals can’t profit from their crimes. New cases do, too. For example, courts prevented convicted wife murderer Scott Peterson from receiving the proceeds of his wife’s life insurance policy. In addition, many states have some sort of Son of Sam law, which say that profits criminals earn from their criminal activities should be paid to the victims instead of the criminals. Under such laws, Joaquin, as the victim, could be entitled to the profits of Serpent Solutions’s crimes, his wings.

In addition, contract law says that a contract for an illegal purpose – such as kidnapping and criminal gene splicing – is not enforceable. So even if Dr. Malus was working under a strict work-for-hire contract, that contract wouldn’t be enforceable. Thus, the fruits of his experimentation would actually be his property, not Serpent Solutions’s. And as he conducted his experiments by way of kidnapping and assault, he wouldn’t be entitled to the profits of his experiments, either. (You were paying attention last paragraph, weren’t you?)

Ditto the big pharmas that hired Serpent Solutions. As aiders and abettors to the crimes, their claims to the patents are just as patently ridiculous, because their methods were patently illegal.

Any way you splice it, those wings belong to Joaquin. Which is a good thing because in Captain America: Sam Wilson #6, Joaquin became the New Falcon to Sam’s Cap. And a falcon without wings is just as bad as a criminal with profits.

Mindy Newell: DEATH OF A SUPERGIRL?

cbs-supergirl-death-of-superman-theory-729118I don’t know what the hell goes on in the minds of the CBS suits, or why the hell they are dragging their heels about Supergirl’s future.

But it doesn’t look good.

Monday night at 8:00 I turned the television on to CBS, only to see that Big Bang Theory was on for the entire hour.  This isn’t the first time the network has done this; so have other networks for other shows, and it’s almost always a sign that the show is struggling for life, that its ratings are not satisfactory enough for the suits to keep the show on the air. 

CBS is not a network noted for niche or cult programming, or a network geared towards the “coveted” 18-34 slice of the Nielsen ratings.  Their programming has been dominated by police procedurals (NCIS and its many spin-offs) and soapy dramas masquerading as law procedurals (The Good Wife, Madame Secretary), and reality shows (The Amazing Race, Survivor) with sitcoms eating up the rest of the airtime.  And the sitcoms are pretty standard fare; Big Bang is—im-not-so-ho—an outlier on their schedule.  I really don’t know how that series ended up on CBS, it’s so out of the box for them. 

Buffy, The X-Files, Twin Peaks, Star Trek, The Walking Dead, The Sopranos were all the “little shows that could.”  All started out incredibly low in the ratings—Buffy lost out to Seventh Heaven initially, and only showed up as a truncated mid-season replacement its first year—but slowly became powerhouses through word-of-mouth.  But the networks to which they belonged all gave them a chance.  It may have been because there was nothing to replace them with; it may have been, like Star Trek, because of massive fan letter campaigns in that pre-internet dark age which in 2016 would equal or surpass the number of e-mails on Hillary’s private server.  Or, and I think this is the most important reason these shows stuck around to gain fan-atic followings, it may have been because there was at least one executive who championed it, who really believed in it.  I just haven’t read or seen that happening at CBS.  Rather, I think they simply wanted to jump on the bandwagon of the CW’s Arrow and Flash, and ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  There was no one who really loved Supergirl for herself and the show’s potential.

I admit, I was not all that happy with Supergirl when it first premiered.  (You can check out my initial complaints here.)  But followers of this column know that I have slowly been changing my mind, and I’m here to say—in-my-no-so-ho—that the second half of the series has really started to come into its own. 

For too long a time the supporting characters—Hank Henshaw/J’onn J’onzz, Alex Danvers, Cat Grant, even Max Lord, Winn Schott, Jimmy Olsen, and Lucy Lane—were developing and growing and becoming people we cared about.  Meanwhile Kara Zor-el/Kara Danvers/Supergirl was stuck in Barbie doll land—and then sometime around the

Episode 13, “For the Girl Who Has Everything,”—which I admit had some problems—the “doll” showed some cracks and wear and tear.  And with Episode 16, “Falling,” when her Freudian moral super-ego becoming subordinate to her darker and selfish id, Kara Zor-el was a Barbie no more; like Pinocchio, she was no longer moving to a puppet master’s strings, always dancing and singing and play-acting, but suddenly self-aware.  Was it ugly?  Sure, but it was human, and suddenly the audience could identify with her. 

As of April 4th, and with the success of the Supergirl/Flash crossover—which absolutely rocked!!!! (and which was a big flip of the bird to that other team-up currently gracing movie screens)—giving the show a much-needed ratings boost, the series is still in renewal limbo, although Les Moonves, CBS’s president, has said that “all freshman shows are likely to be renewed.”

Not much of an endorsement, is it?

Hey, Moonves, let the girl fly!

Martha Thomases: Black Panther Is Back And…

black-panther-1-covers-by-marvel-comics-9247796When I went to my local comic book shop on Wednesday morning, I did, as always, chat up my buddy on the other side of the counter. “Did you read Black Panther yet?” I asked him. “Is it any good?”

“Not yet,” he said.

“My editor wants me to write a review, and I’ve never read any other Black Panther comics,” I said.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “No one else has, either.”

Okay, I doubt that’s true. There have been comics with the Black Panther in them for five decades now. The character wouldn’t be used if he didn’t have a fan-base. That’s capitalism.

Speaking of, this new run of Black Panther has been getting tons of publicity. Marvel has done a terrific job, getting write-ups in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Wired, among others. That’s because the writer is Ta Nehisi Coates, the National Book Award winning author of Between the World and Me, a book that changed my life.

Black Panther 1v1Between the World and Me was not written for me. It was written for the author’s son and, more broadly, for other African-Americans. That was one element that I found so refreshing when I read it. I don’t think this new Black Panther series is written for me, either. The only white faces I saw were in ads for other Marvel comics.

The story opens as T’Challa, the Black Panther, returns to the country of Wakanda, where he is king. In his absence, the country has been attacked, invaded, upended. His sister, who ruled in his absence, has been killed. His own people attack him, no longer trusting him to take care of them.

I found this opening to be confusing, perhaps because I’m a new reader. In the letter page, Marvel offers a link to their website with more information but the link wouldn’t open for me, and I had to rely on the Wiki.

This issue sets up the elements for a complex story of family relationships, warring political factions, the burdens of leadership and the quest for freedom. So far, I’m not too sure who T’Challa is or why he can’t speak directly to his people. I don’t like his mother. I don’t like this guy named Tetu, who tells a woman that what she feels “… was the agony of labor, Zenzi. It had to be done. It was the agony of birthing a new nation.” Because really, we needed him to mansplain childbirth to us.

Black Panther 1v2I liked the two women who defy the law to be together and help people. I hope they have more to do in future issues, and that we see T’Challa interact with more characters who have names.

Brian Stelfreeze has done a glorious job with the artwork. He manages to create scenes that are moody and exuberant at the same time. Laura Martin’s color work amplifies and expands the atmosphere. Wakanda feels like its on another continent, maybe even another planet, a mix of ancient tribes and technological wonder.

Coates’ first script is remarkably solid. He doesn’t rely too much on captions or exposition, letting the artwork carry the story.

He might just have a future in this writing business.

Gods of Egypt Makes Quick Trip to Home Video

GOE_4K_3D_RGB_Skew[1]SANTA MONICA, CA (April 5, 2016) – The ultimate struggle to rule the world begins when Gods of Egypt arrives on Digital HD on May 17 and on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack (plus Blu-ray and Digital HD), 3D Combo Pack (plus Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD), Blu-ray™ (plus Digital HD), DVD (plus Digital) and On Demand May 31 from Summit Entertainment, a LIONSGATE Company. Directed by Alex Proyas (I, Robot), written by Matt Sazama (The Last Witch Hunter) & Burk Sharpless (The Last Witch Hunter), and featuring stunning visual effects and production design, Gods of Egypt stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (TV’s “Game of Thrones”) with Gerard Butler (London Has Fallen) and Academy Award® winner Geoffrey Rush (Best Actor, Shine, 1996).

The ultimate battle between good and evil threatens to destroy all creation in this epic fantasy-adventure bursting with spectacular action and amazing special effects. Gerard Butler and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau star as rival gods Set and Horus, who are locked in a war to rule the universe. To defeat the merciless Set, Horus joins forces with a brave mortal for a journey that will take them across Egypt, through the heavens, and into the afterlife in an unforgettable quest to save mankind.

The Blu-ray and Digital HD releases feature an in-depth look behind-the-scenes with six featurettes, plus storyboards of deleted scenes. The Blu-ray release also includes next-generation DTS:X immersive audio, which replicates and conveys the fluid movement of sound to create a richer soundscape by moving sound to precisely where the audio mixer placed it.

Gods of Egypt will be available in the following physical formats on May 31:

  • 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack – $42.99 SRP
  • 3D Combo Pack – $39.99 SRP
  • Blu-ray – $35.99 SRP
  • DVD – $29.95 SRP

BLU-RAY/ DIGITAL HD SPECIAL FEATURES*

  • Deleted Storyboards
  • “A Divine Vision: Creating a Cinematic Action Fantasy” Featurette
  • “Of Gods and Mortals: The Cast” Featurette
  • “Transformation: Costume, Make-up & Hair” Featurette
  • “On Location: Shooting in Australia” Featurette
  • “The Battle for Eternity: Stunts” Featurette
  • “A Window into Another World: Visual Effects” Featurette

*Subject to change

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES*

  • “The Battle for Eternity: Stunts” Featurette
  • “A Window into Another World: Visual Effects” Featurette

*Subject to change 

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Year of Production: 2016
Title Copyright: Gods of Egypt, Artwork & Supplementary Materials © 2016 Summit Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Type: Theatrical Release
Rating: PG-13 for Fantasy Violence and Action, and Some Sexuality
Genre: Action/Fantasy
Closed Captioned:  NA
Subtitles: English and Spanish, English SDH
Feature Run Time: 126 minutes
4K UHD Format: 2160p Ultra High Definition 16×9 Widescreen (2.40:1)
BD Format: 1080p High Definition 16×9 Widescreen (2.40:1)
DVD Format: 16×9 Widescreen (2.40:1)
4K UHD Audio: English DTS:XTM Audio, Spanish 5.1 DTS Digital SurroundTM Audio, English 2.0 DTS Audio Optimized for Late-Night Listening, English Descriptive Audio
BD Audio: English DTS:XTM Audio, Spanish 5.1 DTS Digital SurroundTM Audio, English 2.0 DTS Audio Optimized for Late-Night Listening, English Descriptive Audio
DVD Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio, English Descriptive Audio

Force for Change Campaign Unites the World

Force for Change logoLucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and Star Wars veteran Mark Hamill announced a new campaign sponsored by CrowdRise in support of Star Wars: Force for Change, an initiative that inspires people to make a positive impact on the world. Starting Monday, Star Wars: Force for Change began matching the donations of Star Wars fans to four select charities up to $1,000,000!

To date, Star Wars: Force for Change has raised over $10,000,000 with the help of the amazing Star Wars community. This month-long campaign will lead up to “Star Wars Day” on May the 4th. The four select charities include the U.S. Fund for UNICEF in support of UNICEF Kid Power, American Red Cross, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and Make-A-Wish®.

“Star Wars fans are some of the most generous, thoughtful, and sympathetic people I have ever met,” says Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy. “I am so proud of the charitable work they have done over the years and hope this month-long donation-matching campaign will go some way to express our sincere thanks for their tireless efforts.”

Over the course of the four-week period, which culminates at 11:59pm (PST) on May 4th, fans will be able to donate through CrowdRise.com/ForceForChange to these four charities and have their donations matched dollar for dollar up to $1,000,000.During the first week, the first 20 fans to raise or donate at least $500 will win a Blu-ray of The Force Awakens signed by the cast[i], with more incentives to come. All participants who enter will also have a chance to win an all-expense paid trip to Ireland, including Skellig Michael along the Wild Atlantic Way, the location of the dramatic final scene from The Force Awakens[ii].

Show your Force and visit CrowdRise.com/ForceForChange now for more details.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is available now on Digital HD and Blu-ray Combo Pack
[i]  Must be at least at least age eighteen (18) years of age or the age of majority in your jurisdiction, whichever is greater, at the time of entry and an individual legal resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia. Starts on April 5, 2016 at 4:00am PST and ends as soon as there are twenty (20) individuals that have donated and/or fundraised at least $500 online on the Website here:  https://www.crowdrise.com/ForceForChange or on April 11, 2016 at 11:59:59pm PST, whichever comes first. To enter, follow the on-screen instructions to donate or fundraise. ARV: $500. For complete rules and eligibility requirements, Click Here CrowdRise.com/ForceForChange. Sponsor: CrowdRise. Prize Provider: Lucasfilm Ltd. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

 

[ii]  No Purchase or Donation Necessary. Must be at least at least age eighteen (18) years of age or the age of majority in your jurisdiction, whichever is greater, at the time of entry and an individual legal resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia. Starts on April 5, 2016 at 4:00am PST and ends on May 4, 2016 at 11:59:59pm PST. To enter, either (1) follow the on-screen instructions to donate or fundraise or (2) email Kennedy@crowdrise.com with the subject line: “Please enter me in the Win A Trip to Ireland and Skellig Michael Sweepstakes”, and your full name, birthday, address, email and “I agree to these Official Rules and CrowdRise Terms and Conditions.” Limit 200 entries per person. ARV: $4,999. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. For complete rules and eligibility requirements, Click Here CrowdRise.com/ForceForChange. Sponsor: CrowdRise. Prize Provider: Tourism Ireland. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Tweeks: iZombie Cast Interview WonderCon 2016 Part Deux

Welcome to Part 2 of Maddy’s interview with Rob Thomas, Diane Ruggario, Rose McIver, Robert Buckley, Malcom Goodwin, David Anders, & Aly Michalka from iZombie. It’s in this episode where we find out what they would do if zombies came to their town.

Dennis O’Neil: Technology Always Precedes Art

 

archie-jughead-550x288-7768786

Let’s hop on back 40,000 years into the past and watch a fellow named Urg make marks on a cave wall with a piece of flint. We happen to know that Urg has only recently learned that he can make these marks and he is now in the process of finding a use for them. Hey, listen… he’s now making sounds. Could they be words? Can they give us a clue as what he thinks he’s doing?

URG: Ar-chee! Jug-heed! Ann-tee-loop!

And now we fire up our time traveling whatsis and behold! – we find ourselves in the pages of a comic book. The panel we’re in shows those Riverdale High funsters Archie and Jughead strolling down a sunny street. Nearby, enjoying a snack of grass, is an antelope.

ARCHIE: Hey Jug! Isn’t that an antelope?

JUGHEAD: Sure looks like one. Wonder why the artist put that in!

Okay, half turn to the left or right, depending on your political preference, and we find ourselves in the real world – that is, the world we happen to inhabit. We’ve just snuck through a back door into this week’s topic (and yes, maybe I’m being generous in calling what follows a “topic.”) In one sentence, here we go:

Technology always precedes art.

That’s really all I have to say, but I’ll expend a bit more band width anyway.

Remember Urg? He found that he could put scratches on the cave wall and then discovered that these scratches could be pictures and suddenly he was an artist! Time rushed forward and Urg’s descendants put Urg-like scratches into clay tablets and then people had both pictures and writing and then later descendants of Urg invented paint and canvas and various kinds of printing inclluding high speed presses driven by steam and photography and radio and television and silicon chips and the bank width I’m expending…

Urg sure had a lot of descendants and a number of them, maybe without realizing exactly what they were doing, put gadgetry devised by someone else to expressing themselves and amusing their neighbors and pretty soon, there stood Disneyland. And much, much more.

That “much, much more” might be a problem, unless it isn’t. Cinematic technology can put spectacular images on the screen and if we have a toy, we humans will play with it. (I saw a planet explode just the other day.) And all those explosions and chases can serve the story that contains them, but on another level, they’re spectacle. What I fear is that the spectacle is overwhelming drama and theme and the other stuff that can be put on screens and so we’re collectively losing valuable gifts the ancients knew about, things like catharsis and empathy. Am I tilting at windmills? Maybe. Probably.

The exploding planet happened in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and I’ll certainly see the next episode in the Star Wars franchise.

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