Fox is working on a pilot for the Human Target, based on the cult DC Comics character Christopher Chance, created by Len Wein, Carmine Infantino, and ComicMix contributor Dick Giordano. Christopher Chance operates by impersonating his clients in order to eliminate threats to them, making himself the target. The character first appeared in Action Comics #419.
The Human Target has already been turned into a TV series back in 1992, starring Rick Springfield. The new pilot is written by Jericho co-creator Jonathan Steinberg, and comes from Warner Bros. TV, McG’s Wonderland Sound and Vision and DC Comics. (Via Hollywood Reporter.)
The YIVO Institute presents one-on-one interviews with Al Jaffee, Jules Feiffer, and Harvey Pekar. YIVO’s “Comics and the American Jewish Dream” series kicks off Wednesday, January 21 at 7:00 pm with:
"The Mad, Mad, Mad (Jewish) World Of Al Jaffee"
A graduate of New York’s High School of Art and Design, Jaffee worked as an editor, writer and artist for Stan Lee at Timely (later Marvel) Comics during the 1940s. In 1955, Jaffee joined “the Usual Gang of Idiots” at Mad Magazine, where he’s been a mainstay ever since, entertaining generations with his Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions and Mad Fold-Ins. Join us as Jaffee provides snappy answers to provocative questions about his art and life, including his new book, Tall Tales, published by Abrams.
Series curator and moderator Danny Fingeroth, a longtime writer and editor at Marvel Comics, has spoken about comics at the Smithsonian Institution and The New School. He’s the author of Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero (Continuum) and The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels (Penguin).
Wednesday, January 21, 7:00
The YIVO Institute For Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street / New York, NY 10011
The series will continue with:
Jules Feiffer: Tuesday, February 3, 7:00 P.M.
Harvey Pekar: Tuesday, February 17, 7:00 P.M.
Admission to programs: $25 / YIVO members: $18 / students: $12
For tickets: call 212-868-4444 or visit www.smarttix.com
For more info visit www.yivo.org
If you’re like me, you’re wondering how to write blog posts on comics-related stuff and other neat things on the web, without getting too distracted by what else is on the web. It’s not an easy task, as anyone who’s seen my computer desktop, with 50 different windows open for different sites that I keep meaning to write up into blog posts are.
Luckily, one of those windows has an article from Cory Doctorow, who’s one of the most wired-up folks I know. IDW recently adapted a bunch of his short stories into comics, he’s one of the guys behind BoingBoing, and…
…sorry, I just spent ten minutes catching up on BoingBoing– apparently there’s a job opening for a science fiction writer, 16 grand for four months, but you have to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada, dang it.
Anyway, Cory’s written a piece about writing in the age of distraction, which you should read. Or at least open it up and promise yourself you’ll read it later.
Oh, and the picture of Cory is from xkcd. A truly amazing likeness. Wonder what else is in the archiv– no. Stop. Take the win. Stop and post.
Ted Rall and David Essman have released a new short animated political cartoon called "Behind the Rubric: The Bushies", a surrealist, rock-n-roll-super-group spin on the outgoing George W. Bush’s resume, along with what happens now that the band is breaking up…
Only mildly unfair and rude. Which for Ted Rall is pretty good.
Variety reports that Columbia won an auction late Thursday for screen rights to Foundation, Isaac Asimov’s science fiction trilogyquad series. The film will be developed as a directing vehicle for Roland Emmerich. This is a surprise development, possibly stemming from bad blood between Warner Bros. and Fox over Watchmen.
The property was originally developed by Fox and producer Vince Gerardis, then found its way to New Line (a division of WB) and went with Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne as the first major project announcement after the former heads of New Line got bounced formed Unique Pictures at WB.
Gerardis, whose "Created By" formerly represented the Asimov estate, was attached as producer. And Fox would have had to be compensated for its development costs. That became a problem for WB (can’t imagine why, after the pleasant experiences with Watchmen) and the studio let its option lapse, expecting to quietly make a new deal with a clear chain of rights that would have left Fox and Gerardis cut out. So it went to auction. WB bid for Unique and director Alex Proyas, Fox bid for Gerardis. Emmerich and Sony were last minute bidders– it seems that Emmerich’s partner Michael Wimer at Centropolis Pictures had been tracking the availability of the rights since he was Emmerich’s agent at CAA, and Columbia Pictures president Matt Tolmach grabbed it.
Just another Hollywood ending.
Foundation was originally published as a series of eight short stories in Astounding Magazine beginning in 1942, "Foundation" is a complex saga about humans who are scattered on planets throughout the galaxy, living under the rule of the Galactic Empire. Hari Selden, a psycho-historian who can scientifically predict the future, sees an imminent empire collapse, and sets in motion a plan to save civilization and the knowledge of mankind.
Patrick Nielsen Hayden makes a comment on Tor.com that really deserves wider dissemination:
"SF fans in general tend to be discursive sorts…"
Which is another way of saying that SF readers tend to get invested in not just the story, but the argument.
And once you care about the argument, you care about the people pursuing it.
There are dozens of ways to make this dynamic seem trivial or pathetic, but really, it’s just people caring about what’s real.
Speaking just as a reader, forget about as a professional, the plain fact is that in a world of limited time and options-that-exclude, given the choice between a new Charles Stross novel and a new Greg Egan novel, I’m going to read the Stross, because I know that if I want to talk about it afterwards, Stross is available for conversation and Egan isn’t.
There are dozens of ways to frame this as evidence of Egan being a hero of artistic independence, but you know something, I don’t care. I’m just a reader trying to have an non-boring life. Stross goes out of his way, via extra levels of interaction and availability, to make the whole business of novels and art non-boring. Egan doesn’t. Life is short.
It’s true. And in a field where the arguments are even more passionate (see above picture) the fan base can be even more intense, and it carries over to the field.
And the Internet makes it even more intense. Think about it: who constantly tops the lists of favorite comics writers? Neil Gaiman, Brain Bendis, Peter David, Mark Evanier, Warren Ellis, JMS… even if they don’t have a series running at the moment, they have a dedicated fan base because they immerse themselves in the arguments, in the culture. And yes, every one of the people listed have a blog. That’s where fans are nowadays. You’re here, aren’t you?
Mark Waid, the pre-eminent fanboy-turned-pro-turned-recent-blogger, has a great example this week where he talks about the six traits that a hero should possess, and then provokes a fight by asking people to try and convince him why Indiana Jones should be considered a hero– which makes a few readers ask him why, by his criteria, Spider-Man should be considered a hero. (And since he wrote what’s going to be the best selling issue of Spider-Man this year, if not this decade, he should probably have an answer.) The argument was compelling enough that I took an hour to formulate an argument and contribute when I should have been finishing this blog post. And that’s the point.
What about you? Do you think there’s such a thing as an anti-social comics fan, even if his social interaction is limited to arguing who’s stronger, Benjy or Bruce? And would you enjoy comics as much if you couldn’t argue them with somebody else, or is the solitary enjoyment of pleasure enough for you?
Oh, and that image reminds me of this neat Hulk vs. Thing art gallery I found. Enjoy.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. and Fox have resolved their dispute over Watchmen, with the studios scheduled to present a likely settlement to Judge Gary Feess on Friday morning and request that the case be dismissed:
Terms of the agreement will not be disclosed, but it is said to involve a sizable cash payment to Fox and a percentage of the film’s boxoffice. Fox will not be a co-distributor on the film, nor will it own a piece of the "Watchmen" property going forward. The studios are set to release a joint statement announcing the agreement Friday.
A Warners spokesperson would not comment on the settlement. A Fox spokesman said no final deal had been reached….
While [producer Lawrence] Gordon is not a party to the case, Warners is said to be pursuing the producer and his attorneys to reimburse it for the costs of the settlement. During the course of the litigation, Gordon’s then-attorney admitted that he negotiated Gordon’s 1994 separation from Fox without knowing about a pre-existing 1991 agreement on which Fox has based its lawsuit.
Boy, I wouldn’t like to be Gordon’s insurance company now…
In the meantime, it sounds like I will actually be able to see the film for my birthday. Which almost makes up for my impending decrepitude. And that’s worth a smiley face, blood stained though it may be.
Has anybody figured out how to make a blood stained smiley face emoticon?
Congratulations to ComicMix alumni Michael Dinowitz and his wife Judith on the birth of their newest child, a baby boy at 3:12 PM today. Little munchkin weighed 8lb 7oz and measured 21.5 inches long. Mazel tov!
The YIVO Institute presents one-on-one interviews with Al Jaffee, Jules Feiffer, and Harvey Pekar. YIVO’s “Comics and the American Jewish Dream” series kicks off Wednesday, January 21 at 7:00 pm with:
If you’re like me, you’re wondering how to write blog posts on comics-related stuff and other neat things on the web, without getting too distracted by what else is on the web. It’s not an easy task, as anyone who’s seen my computer desktop, with 50 different windows open for different sites that I keep meaning to write up into blog posts are.
From 
Okay, this one is complicated. Bear with us.
Patrick Nielsen Hayden makes a comment on 
According to 
