Author: Glenn Hauman

Events around and about tonight, March 2, 2010

  • He’s too humble to promote it himself, but our own Marc Alan Fishman will be performing at Stand-Up Comics, 3429 Ridge Road, Lansing, IL tonight at 8 PM. Ask him about the thing he does with the strawberry jam and the gargoyle statue.
  • And representing Brooklyn:

Celebrate Women’s History Month at Munden’s Bar!

March is National Women’s History Month, and it’s coming in like a lioness this year as we bring you a Munden’s Bar story called “Good For The Goose”, written by Martha Thomases and
Valerie D’Orazio,
drawn by Norm Breyfogle, lettered by
Bob Pinaha,
colored by Matt Webb, and pulled together by ladies’ man
Mike Gold.

Read “Good for the Goose” now! Tell your friends! And don’t forget to leave comments!

Andrew Koenig: 1968-2010

Andrew Koenig, star of Growing Pains and son of Star Trek actor Walter Koenig, committed suicide. His boy was found in Vancouver, Canada on Thursday afternoon after being missing for almost two weeks.

Vancouver authorities held a press conference on Thursday just
hours after the discovery, during which a police spokesperson revealed
they had no reason to believe foul play was involved in Koenig’s death.

Walter fears his son’s battle with depression led him to take his own life. He and his wife Judy want to use the tragic news to warn
other parents to seek help if they believe their child is struggling
with their personal demons.

From 1985 to 1989, Koenig played a recurring role as Richard “Boner” Stabone, best friend to Kirk Cameron‘s character Mike Seaver in the first four seasons of the sitcom Growing Pains. During the same period, he guest starred on episodes of the sitcoms My Sister Sam and My Two Dads as well as the drama 21 Jump Street. In the early 1990s he provided a voice for the animated series G.I. Joe as Ambush and Night Creeper Leader, and had a minor role as Tumak in the 1993 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Sanctuary“.

For comic book fans, he may be best known for playing The Joker in the incredibly popular fan film Batman: Dead End.

Our condolences go out to the Koenig family and Andrew’s friends.

99 people in Star Trek costumes is a record? Klingon, please!

I call shenanigans. The article on Times Online:

Namco Bandai decided to organise a world record attempt for people
dressed as Star Trek characters on Valentine’s Day. After all, what
else would all these trekkies be doing?

The good news is that the world record is apparently in the bag. 99
people turned up at the Millennium Bridge in London on Sunday dressed
as characters from all generations of the pioneering TV show(s).

99 people in Star Trek garb is a world record? I’ve been to weddings with more people in Star Trek costumes.

Apparently, this is a world record because the nice people at Guinness never bothered to count before Namco Bandai wanted to promote Star Trek Online.

If nothing else, the group shot in Star Trek: The Motion Picture got hundreds of fans in Star Trek costumes, including David Gerrold and Bjo Trimble. (And before you say they were paid to be there, let it be known that originally the fans originally were there for free, and when told money had to change hands, a lot of the fans asked how much they would have to pay. Most of them never cashed the check they got for being extras.) 

I fully expect that this record will be demolished by a new gathering by the end of the summer.

‘It’s A Bird… It’s A Plane… It’s Superman!’ the movie (musical)

its-a-bird-its-a-plane-its-superman-4139527We here at ComicMix would like to remind people, in the age of talks of Christopher Nolan consulting on the Superman movie franchise (with David S. Goyer rumored to have a script called The Man Of Steel) that Superman Returns wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.

As a point of reference, we would like to show you what the state of the Superman franchise was like just a few years before Christopher Reeve took over the role. This is the televised version of the Broadway musical of It’s A Bird… It’s A Plane… It’s Superman! entitled, simply, Superman (and now I know why all the ads called it Superman The Movie).

If you’re at home on a snow day today, check it out.

Interestingly enough, MTV Splashpage reports that the play is being completely revised and updated (by setting it in the 1930s?) by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, a comic book writer going back to his roots as a playwright. It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman will run June 18 – July 25, 2010 at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas, Texas.

‘Diary Of A Wimpy Kid’ teams with Cartoon Network to promote movie release

diary-of-a-wimpy-kid-2271631For one of the most popular book series of the last few years, the movie adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid seems to be getting very little marketing push (as compared to, say, Percy Jackson and the Olympians) and it’s coming out in less than a month. But that may be changing.

Cartoon Network and 20th Century Fox are teaming up for a multi-week online and on-air promotion, including a behind the scenes look and exclusive clips from the movie which opens March 19th.  Beginning this week, viewers can go to CartoonNetwork.com where they can view digital diaries from cast and crew members from the movie and interviews as well as footage from the set and movie clips. The promotion caps off with a Diary of a Wimpy Kid on-air event when the movie’s star, Zachary Gordon, hosts “HarHar Tharsdays” on Thursday night March 11.

Check out our interview with Jeff Kinney here. And if you haven’t seen it yet, take a look at the trailer:

And if you look very hard, you can see Hit Girl in the trailer.

Dave Cockrum estate donates comics to Newark Beth Israel Children’s Hospital

dave-cockrum-9145621Kars4Kids, the national
car-donation program that benefits children, and Newark Beth Israel
Children’s Hospital in Newark, NJ, distributed a generous,
unique donation from the estate of Dave Cockrum, co-creator of Marvel
Comics’ popular X-Men series. The donated comics were part of Cockrum’s
personal collection.

“My husband loved to help people—he was
generous to a fault,” said Paty Cockrum, widow of the popular artist
and creator who died in 2006 from complications resulting from
diabetes. “Dave was extremely happy that the characters he created—such
as Storm, Colossus and Nightcrawler—became a part of the childhood
memories of millions of children. He knew that was his legacy. Dave was
also an avid comic book collector. I’m delighted that kids in need will
benefit from his personal collection.”

The comics were given
out on February 19 to children who
are hospitalized.

Kars4Kids
is a national organization providing for the spiritual, emotional and
practical needs of children from impoverished or dysfunctional
families. The national, 501(c)3, non-profit organization was
established in 2000.

Hat tip (and happy birthday!) to Clifford Meth.

Keith Knight Leaves Salon, Invades Google

Keith Knight will be at the GooglePlex in Mountain View, CA today at 11 AM. Keef will be showing his world famous slideshow consisting of his favorite and controversial Knight Life, (th)ink and K Chronicle comic strips.

Which is also as good a place as any to mention that The K Chronicles website has be revamped. Visitors can now comment, purchase prints and more. Coming soon will be access to the full archive of both strips, along with multi-page stories and strips going back to Knight’s college days.

You may have to go there now to read the strip, because after more than a decade of posting on Salon.com, the K Chronicles follows Carol Lay’s Story Minute in leaving the popular website. From Knight: “It was made clear to me that keeping the strip on the site wasn’t a priority. I thank Salon for the exposure.”