Author: Glenn Hauman
Good Miracle Monday to you!
What? How could you forget that the third Monday in May is Miracle Monday? Elliot will be very disappointed in you…
If you have no idea what I’m talking about (Ma nishtana ha-laila ha-zeh mi-kol ha-leilot) Miracle Monday is the third Monday in May. It’s from a Superman novel of the same name written by Elliot S! Maggin and published in 1981. I highly recommend reading it, if you haven’t read it before– and luckily, some folks have put it online.
On Miracle Monday the spirit of humanity soared free. This
Miracle Monday, like the first Miracle Monday, came in the spring of
Metropolis, and for the occasion spring weather was arranged wherever
the dominion of humanity extended. On Uranus’s satellites where the
natives held an annual fog-gliding rally through the planetary rings,
private contributions even made it possible to position orbiting
fields of gravitation for spectators in free space. On Titan, oxygen
bubbles were loosed in complicated patterns to burst into flame with
the methane atmosphere and make fireworks that were visible as far as
the surface of saturn. At Nix Olympica, the eight-kilometer-high
Martian volcano, underground pressures that the Olympica Resort
Corporation had artificially accumulated during the preceding year
were unleashed in a spectacular display of molten fury for tourists
who walked around the erupting crater wearing pressurized energy
shields. At Armstrong City in the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility there was
a holographic reenactment of the founding of the city in the year
2019, when on the fiftieth anniversary of his giant leap for mankind
the first man on the Moon returned, aged and venerable, to what was
then called Tranquility Base Protectorate, carrying a state charter
signed by the President of the United States. The prices of ski lift
tickets on Neptune inflated for the holiday. Teleport routes to
beaches and mountains on Earth crowded up unbelievably.
Interplanetary wilderness preserves became nearly as crowded with
people as Earth cities. Aboard the slow-moving orbital ships that
carried ores and fossil materials on slowly decaying loops toward the
sun from the asteroids, teamsters partied until they couldn’t see. On
worlds without names scattered throughout this corner of the Galaxy,
where Earth’s missionaries, pioneers and speculators carried their own
particular quests, it was a day for friends, family, recreation and –
if it brought happiness—reflection.
Survey results so far: How much of a discount are you getting for your comics?
Well, let’s take a look at the numbers:
How do you purchase your comics and merchandise?
1. Comic store/comic retailer 69.23%
2. Bookstore 10.99%
3. Directly from the distributor (Diamond) 2.20%
4. Do not purchase comics 1.10%
5. Some other way (various people included buying from Amazon, borrowing from the library, receiving as gifts, or some combination of the above) 16.48%
Key Analytics
* 85.71% chose the following options :
o Comic store/comic retailer
o Some other way
If you don’t purchase your comics, how do you read them?
1. Borrow them from friends 3 17.65%
2. Read in store 0 0.00%
3. Read on line 6 35.29%
4. Download and read 5 29.41%
5. Receive comp copies (from publishers, etc.) 3 17.65%
* 64.71% chose the following options :
o Read on line
o Download and read
What percentage discount of retail, on average, do you receive for your purchases?
Frequency Analysis
1. None 18.06%
2. 1-10% 19.44%
3. 11-20% 30.56%
4. 21-30% 19.44%
5. 31-40% 11.11%
6. 41-50% 0.00%
7. 100% 1.39%
Key Facts
* 50% chose the following options :
o 11-20%
o 1-10%
What’s the retail value of merchandise you’re purchasing each week?
1. Less than $10 13.04%
2. $10-25 31.88%
3. $25-50 27.54%
4. $50-75 14.49%
5. $75-100 5.80%
6. $100-150 2.90%
7. over $150 1.45%
8. No idea, I download everything 2.90%
Key Facts
* 59.42% chose the following options :
o $10-25
o $25-50
* Least chosen option 1.45%: over $150
We’ll let the survey run a bit longer while we draw some conclusions. So please, if you haven’t already done so, take a minute and
click here to take the survey.
And the comic, a pure example of synchronicity in action, was brought to us by John Lustig at Last Kiss Comics. Go over and tell him we said hi.
Chris Hemsworth cast as Thor?
Nikki Finke breaks the rumor:
Chris Hemsworth, a virtual unknown to American audiences, had just been approved to play the lead role in Thor
by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and the film’s director Kenneth
Branagh. Hemsworth can currently be seen as “George Kirk” in J.J.
Abrams’ Star Trek reboot and also just snagged the lead in Red Dawn for United Artists last Thursday. (He’s currently filming Joss Whedon’s horror flick Cabin In The Woods
for UA, and I heard the studio was so hot on him that’s why it cast
Hemsworth in the action pic.) The 25-year-old hunk played “Kim Hyde” on
171 episodes of Home and Away, the successful Oz TV series where Heath Ledger started. Marvel Studios has scheduled Thor
for a May 20, 2011, release. The way Chris Hemsworth got the part of
Thor is one of those great Hollywood stories that happens only once in
a blue moon.
She goes on to explain how he (allegedly) got the part:
[ROAR Management partner William Ward] had
found Chris during one of the manager’s many scouting trips to
Australia. Ward brought him to Los Angeles and really put him out there
to casting directors and production executives. As for the major
agencies, I hear CAA passed on the meeting, Endeavor took it but passed
on repping him, and ICM was interested but dragged their feet. But
Ilene Feldman understood his appeal immediately.Chris
had read for the part of Thor but wasn’t given a test because a casting
director had nixed him early on. I’m told Chris’ younger brother Liam
(who’s also a ROAR client) then tested for the role of Thor, but Marvel
Studios President Kevin Feige passed. Then, after a conversation with
Ward (“You’ve got to reconsider Chris, he’s your guy”), Feige decided
to let Chris read again. And once Marvel put him on tape, it was “Oh my
god”. Branagh came to town last week and saw the Chris test and made
the final casting decision today.What a week for Chris since, on Thursday, UA picked him as the Red Dawn
lead. Brother Liam, who’s only been in Los Angeles for 3 weeks and
doesn’t even have an agent yet, just got cast the male lead in Last Song
opposite Miley Cyrus in the Disney film based on the Nicholas Sparks
novel. Both brothers live in William Ward’s guest house. Unreal!
I thought he was great as George Kirk in Star Trek— short scene, but very powerful.
Dollhouse renewed amid Hulu audience size controversy
First, the good news: Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse has been renewed:
The show will return for 13 episodes, with an option for more episodes
if required. Return is seen likely for Fall. The show budget has been
slashed, however the show is moving from 50 minutes per episode to 42
minutes per ep, which should help bring down some production costs.
The move will also mark a shift in creative direction of the show.
Now, why was it renewed? The story is that the Fox execs were comparing Dollhouse to Firefly in terms of TV ratings
(i.e. pretty bad), but also took into account that Firefly sold a truckload of DVDs and turned into a movie that made
an okay profit, and apparently predict a similar trajectory for
Dollhouse.
But I suspect Fox is looking at other info, to wit, the numbers on Hulu. Nielsen claims that Hulu had 8.9 million unique visitors in March, but comScore estimated a drastically higher 42 million. The folks at Hulu aren’t making specific claims, but according to the New York Times, it’s unhappy with the Nielsen numbers. Fox, being a TV network, already knows how shoddy Nielsen numbers can be, and certainly has accurate numbers internally from Hulu, as Fox owns a large percentage of the company. So they know things that mere mortals don’t.
This also suggests why Fox is holding off on episode 13, “Epitath One”. They’re certainly holding it for the DVD to goose sales, but they may even hold it for Hulu just to prove a point to Nielsen.
Hat tip: Obsessable.
CORRECTION: ‘Famous Monsters of Filmland’ trademark case
On March 27th, we wrote that “A long-simmering trademark dispute over who owns Famous Monsters of Filmland ended on Wednesday when a federal court in California issued a summary judgment against Ray Ferry, who had lost the trademark during a bankruptcy filing.”
The ruling was actually a temporary injunction. Quoting from Philip Kim:
At the request of all parties involved, I would like to clarify that
the ruling issued by Judge Gary Allen Feess was a “temporary
Injunction” not a “summary judgement”. A request and advancement of
this case would have needed to occur for a “summary judgement” venue.
No “summary judgement” ruling has ever been issued for this case so the
outcome of that ruling would be anyone’s guess.Ray Ferry, Connie Beane and I, of our own volition, constructed a mutual settlement that best served the public and the fans.
We regret the error and have appended a correction to the original article.
‘Human Target’ picked up by Fox
It’s official: Fox has picked up Human Target, the DC Comics series created by Len Wein, Carmine Infantino, and Dick Giordano, as a new drama series this fall. The show was apparently the best-received pilot at the network’s
screenings last week.
The show centers on Christopher
Chance (Mark Valley from Keen Eddie, Boston Legal, and Fringe) as a bodyguard with a unique
form of security: he assumes the identities of people in
danger, becoming the “human target” on behalf of his clients.
Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen, Nightmare on Elm Street) and Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies, House, Boston Public) will co-star in the project written
by Jon Steinberg and directed by Simon West (Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider). The two exec produced
the pilot with McG (Terminator: Salvation).
This continues a long streak of Len Wein’s comics work being adapted for the screen: off the top of my head, we have Swamp Thing, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, and Lucius Fox. Even Human Target has been adapted before, in a 1992 series on ABC starring Rick Springfield.
Will Nickelodeon’s ‘Troop’ make creating comics cool for kids?
Hey kids! It’s cool to create comics! TV says so!
Nickelodeon has given the green light to a new mixed live-action/CG animated series, The Troop, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Writer/producer Jay Kogen (Frasier, Malcolm in the Middle and many others) will serve as showrunner for the new science fiction comedy series, from executive producer Tommy Lynch (South of Nowhere, The Secret World of Alex Mack, etc.).
Slated to launch in fall 2009, The Troop revolves around Jake, an average teen played by Nick Purcell, who wants to create his own comic book series, who is enlisted by a school counselor to join “The Troop” a secret society that protects the world from monsters and creatures.
Comic writer stopped by TSA at airport about a script for BOOM!
Comics writer Mark Sable was detained by TSA security guards at LAX this past weekend when they discovered inflammatory material in a script for Sable’s new BOOM Studios miniseries Unthinkable. The comic series follows members of a government think tank that was tasked with coming up with 9/11-type “unthinkable” terrorist scenarios that now are coming true.
Sable was detained while traveling from LAX to NYC to attend a signing for the premiere of Unthinkable #1 at Jim Hanley’s Universe this Wednesday, May 13th.
Fans and friends were made aware of the TSA detention when Sable Twittered about the events after he was released.
Sable wrote BOOM! Studios a more in-depth version of the encounter to release to the public:
“Flying from Los Angeles to New York for a signing at Jim Hanley’s Universe Wednesday (May 13th), I was flagged at the gate for ‘extra screening’. I was subjected to not one, but two invasive searches of my person and belongings. TSA agents then “discovered” the script for UNTHINKABLE #3. They sat and read the script while I stood there, without any personal items, identification or ticket, which had all been confiscated.
“The minute I saw the faces of the agents, I knew I was in trouble. The first page of the Unthinkable script mentioned 9/11, terror plots and the fact that the (fictional) world had become a police state. The TSA agents then proceeded to interrogate me, having a hard time understanding that a comic book could be about anything other than superheroes, let alone that anyone actually wrote scripts for comics.
“I cooperated politely and tried to explain to them the irony of the situation. While Unthinkable blurs the line between fiction and reality, the story is based on a real-life government think tank where a writer was tasked to design worst-case terror scenarios. The fictional story of Unthinkable unfolds when the writer’s scenarios come true, and he becomes a suspect in the terrorist attacks.
“In the end, I feel my privacy is a small price to pay for educating the government about the medium.”
It’s a good thing the TSA didn’t know that Mark Sable’s destination, Jim Hanley’s Universe, is right across the street from the Empire State Building. Bad enough it was a script for BOOM!
Poppy Z. Brite’s ‘Lost Souls’ art by Miran Kim up for benefit auction
From Rachel Bevilacqua, who’s raising money for a child custody court case:
I’m overjoyed to report that a saintly anonymous donor has donated the framed and matted Miran Kim painting of the original cover artwork for the classic Poppy Z. Brite novel “Lost Souls”, and an Advance Reading Copy of the novel.
These items are now up on eBay, and the book will be signed by Poppy Z. Brite specially for the auction winner! This is a unique set of horror genre collectibles that I’m so grateful to be able to auction.
Please also send massive Slack Waves to this donor who wishes to remain anonymous, but who deserves an unstoppable juggernaut of Slack. This person is a really unique individual who deserves every kind of happiness, and it can’t hurt to have a whole bunch of people beaming Slack their way!
Thank you so much for taking an interest in my situation and helping me out, it means more than I can express to know so many people are rooting for me!
