Author: Glenn Hauman

‘Watchmen’ battle leads to ‘Foundation’ going to Sony?

  • News
  • January 16, 2009

Okay, this one is complicated. Bear with us.

Variety reports that Columbia won an auction late Thursday for screen rights to Foundation, Isaac Asimov’s science fiction trilogy quad 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.

 

On fan battles, audience interaction, what’s real, and who’s stronger, the Thing or the Hulk?

  • News
  • January 16, 2009

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.

‘Watchmen’ legal fight settled

  • News
  • January 16, 2009

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?

(Hat tip: Mmike Wweber.)

It’s a boy!

  • Uncategorized
  • January 15, 2009

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!

PREVIEW: ‘Batman: The Brave and the Bold’ with Green Arrow, Speedy, Deadman and… Kamandi?

  • News
  • January 15, 2009

We’ve obtained preview footage of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode, "Dawn of the Dead Man!" airing this Friday, January 16 on Cartoon Network at 8:00 PM, guest starring Smallville‘s Michael Rosenbaum as Deadman. What is it with him and smooth headed characters?

In this week’s episode Batman and Deadman team up as spirits to stop Gentleman Ghost from raising an army of undead criminals. Green Arrow and Speedy join in the battle to save London. And Batman and Kamandi… Kamandi?!?… outrace a horde of monsters from the future. Take a look…

(more…)

Sales on Spider-Man/Obama bring new meaning to ‘brisk’

  • News
  • January 15, 2009

How brisk, you ask? This was the scene at Midtown Comics Times Square yesterday, with a man at the door keeping people waiting online outside in 22 degree weather.

That’s brisk.

At the time in the mid-afternoon, there were about 15 people waiting to get in so they could get upstairs and wait on another line to purchase the rapidly dwindling stock of Amazing Spider-Man #583. Cashiers kept all copies behind the register and were running at full tilt yesterday to handle the crowd.

Midtown wouldn’t give me a number for attribution, but said they’d moved "hundreds" of copies.

Mark Wheatley drawing ‘Lone Justice: Crash!’ video

  • News
  • January 15, 2009

Lone Justice: Crash! is the new graphic novel from the Harvey award nominated team of Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley. This two-fisted pulp adventure began Monday on ComicMix, but how does it all come together?

Mark Wheatley has taken the time to set up a video camera and show you exactly how he puts the entire package together. Take a look:

 

Patrick McGoohan, 1928-2009

  • News
  • January 14, 2009

Patrick McGoohan died Tuesday in Los Angeles after a short illness, his son-in-law, film producer Cleve Landsberg, said. He was 80.

Patrick Joseph McGoohan was born March 19, 1928 in Astoria, Queens, NY, raised in Ireland and the UK. He rose to fame in the British film and TV industry by starring in the 1960s television series Danger Man (renamed Secret Agent when exported to the US) playing John Drake, a role which made him the highest paid actor in England at the time.

McGoohan won two Emmys for his work on the Peter Falk detective drama Columbo, and more recently appeared as King Edward Longshanks in the 1995 Mel Gibson film Braveheart. He portrayed the father (and predecessor) of the Phantom in the 1996 movie.

But he was most famous as the character known only as Number Six in The Prisoner, a sci-fi tinged 1960s British series in which a former unnamed spy is held captive in a small enclave known only as The Village, where a mysterious authority named Number One constantly prevents his escape. McGoohan not only starred in the series, he created it, and wrote and directed many episodes. It’s currently being remade as a miniseries for AMC.

At the time of his death, McGoohan was mostly retired, living in Los Angeles, California with his wife of 57 years, Joan Drummond McGoohan. Along with his three daughters, he had five grandchildren (Sarah, Erin, Simon, Nina, and Paddy). On June 11, 2008, he became a great-grandfather to Jack Patrick Lockhart.

To promote its new reinterpretation of the show which just wrapped shooting and scheduled to premiere in November, AMC started streaming the original series in full screen last week. If you’ve never seen them before, go look.

Comic stores donating Spider-Man/Obama profits to charity

  • News
  • January 14, 2009

In the spirit of coming together, a number of stores are taking Amazing Spider-Man #583, featuring Spider-Man meeting Barack Obama, a comic that they know they’re going to sell out of when it goes on sale today, and are using the money to help others.

Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan has announced that they’re donating money from the sales to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Wonderworld Comics in Taylor, Michigan is offering a variety of deals: buy a store gift certificate for $100, for example, and get the Obama Spider-Man issue for free. Wonderworld is donating some proceeds to the Hero Initiative.

We think this should be encouraged, so if you are running any such benefits, or if you hear of any of them, send a quick note to us here, or post it in the comments, and we’ll update this entry to include it. (Hat tip: Patricia Montemurri, Detroit Free Press.)

2008 book sales figures and moments of zen

  • Uncategorized
  • January 14, 2009

First, the moment of zen:

 

 
 

 

So, since her next-to-last book only moved 126,000 units (we don’t have numbers on her new book yet) who should Ann Coulter be taking advice from?

Well, Stephenie Meyer, for one, who sold about 15 million books last year. (No exaggeration — her "Twilight" books held four of the top ten spots for 2008 in the US, according to Nielsen Bookscan.) Jeff Kinney, for another, who sold 721,000 copies of Diary Of A Wimpy Kid and 696,000 of Roderick Rules. (She should also be listening to Barack Obama, who sold 1.44 million books, though somehow I doubt she will; Jodi Picoult, J.K. Rowling, James Patterson, Christopher Paolini, and yes, Bill O’Reilly, who moved 387,000 of his new book last year.)

How about comics? Well, Secret Invasion moved 1.3 million issues total as the best selling comic of last year, I guess Ann has to listen to Brian Michael Bendis. And Peter David too, he sold about 460,000 issues of Dark Tower: Long Road Home. That will just make Peter’s day. Alan Moore, too, with the best-selling graphic novels of 2008– even 20 years old.

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