Author: Glenn Hauman

In a somewhat off-the-usual track for news of this type, Michael Jensen at AfterElton.com cornered BBC America president Garth Ancier and asked him about Torchwood: Children of Earth, and Ancier dropped a few tidbits:

He didn’t yet have a firm air date as BBC America is waiting for the BBC to finalize their date, but he was fairly certain that it was going to be the first part of this summer, possibly late June or early July. 

He also said that not only would BBC America air the five episodes on consecutive nights as they are doing across the pond, but that they would also air in th U.S. the same day as they did in the U.K. meaning American audiences will have almost no lag time in seeing the series. (The U.K. is five hours ahead of the east coast of the U.S meaning the delay should be about that give or take). Ancier said the series might also air in High Definition, a first for BBCA.

Nice catch, Michael!

(By the way, the image is from the marvelously warped Torchwood Babiez.)

A quick wrapup of the mix of comics and politics:

• Obama meets Spidey. Yeah, yeah, everybody’s covered it by now. But most people haven’t seen Mad Magazine asking what Barack Obama will do during his first 100 minutes in office. Indecision 2008 has the sneak peek. Hint: lots and lots of cigarettes in the Rose Garden.

• And while we’re on the subject of Obama, one of his biggest boosters was Caroline Kennedy, who’s currently under consideration for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. And Caroline Kennedy’s been in comics a lot longer than most.

• Editorial cartoons are getting endangered, with newspapers beginning to fold up shop. Tom Spurgeon has a very informative write-up (boy, that’s redundant) on the problems at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and what that means for comics.

You can now go back to watching Meet The Press.

Time Magazine reports on the latest victims of the economic downturn by reprinting this letter to the employees of Rich Enterprises, Inc.:

From:  Richie Rich, President and CEO

My loyal employees,

There is no other way to say it, so I’ll just say it.  We are broke.  I unwisely invested all our company’s funds with Bernard Madoff, and now the money is now gone, never to return.  As of January 1, 2009, Rich Enterprises is no more.  You are all without a job, healthcare and pension.  And for this I am terribly sorry.

I was always known as "the poorest little rich boy," but today, that is literally true.  I have nothing.  Every asset has been liquidated.  My gold racecar that runs on cash has been sold.  My dollar-sign shaped swimming pool filled with diamonds has been drained.  I have had to fire my beloved butler, Cadbury, and he is now the personal valet of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.  Such is my poverty that I have had to shave the signature dollar sign fur pattern off my thusly-named dog.

Believe me, I have tried every option to avoid this catastrophe.  I appealed to my cousin and longtime rival, Reggie Van Dough, for a loan, but he too was heavily invested with Madoff.  Tragically, Reggie took his own life by riding his emerald-encrusted skate board under the deadly tank treads of Irona, my robot maid.  Best wishes, Reggie.  I hope you’re with Casper now…

Luckily, Bruce Wayne is still doing fine. Nothing’s stopping that Dark Knight money.

Not that Valerie D’Orazio (of the new Cloak & Dagger series, reserve your copies now!) found THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO UNLAWFUL CARNAL KNOWLEDGE FOR FANTASY ROLE-PLAYING GAMES "while searching for something completely different."

Not that she wrote it up on Occasional Superheroine.

But that it’s not comics, and it’s not complete. For that, you have to go to What’s New with Phil & Dixie:

Click through to find out the word. I’d tell you myself, but suddenly I am eaten by a grue.

In yet another example of print publications migrating online, The New Frontiersman has opened up a web site. It’s bare at the moment, but it’s expected to go live on Monday.

And according to AP, things are progressing on the movie release front:

Attorneys for rival studios fighting over the release of the superhero flick told a federal judge on Friday that they’re having fruitful settlement talks.

Attorneys for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. asked the judge to delay a hearing Friday so those discussions can continue over the weekend.

U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess agreed to continue the hearing but says a trial over whether to block the film’s March release is still set for Jan. 20.

Lou Karasik, who is representing Fox, told Feess that the delay would be "very, very helpful" to settlement discussions he deemed "productive."

Friday’s revelation surprised Feess, who noted that Warner Bros. had been seeking to move up the Jan. 20 trial to next week, citing the film’s marketing campaign and its March 6 release date.

Also, Heidi MacDonald points us to Film Esq., which has the best play-by-play of the legal wranglings going on around Watchmen.

Please please please… is there anyone out there who can translate this from Japanese? Because if I can’t, I’m just going to have to assume this is either DC’s last chance to publish a successful manga book, or Warner Brothers’ fallback position if Fox scuttles the release date of the movie. (Hat tip: Mike Sterling.)